Laptop KIA and a Hurricane’s Coming

There are times in our lives when we have learned not to procrastinate because x or y could happen.  Maybe it’s family demands, or health-related issues, but you get the point that you need to do what you can do when you can do it because if you don’t the opportunity will disappear.  Something happens.

I’d prepared ahead for a wacky schedule last week.  I had four glorious days with two of my angels and we had a wonderful time with games and dress up and tea parties and movies and all kinds of things.  It was the best week of the summer for this besotted gran.

During the week, things came up that weren’t rushed enough to cut into the time with the angels but meant I’d have to do a little scheduling adjusting this week.  That should have been a clue on something coming to call.

Galleys came in on Torn Loyalties. There’s two days minimum.  So I rearranged all the Monday and Tuesday items to Wednesday, and that would have worked out fine.  A little overtime, but not much.  So things were good.

Until Hubby walked into my office Wednesday morning and said, “Your laptop won’t wake up.”  And it wouldn’t.  Then came the trip to the service center where a compassionate Apple rep said, “It’s served you well…”  I went into mourning.  I’m not complaining.  I’ve worked that laptop hard for six years—really hard—and it’s been awesome.

That necessitated a trip to buy the new laptop, and since I was mourning and in a foul mood, I bought a new one and a new iPad.  Desktop, laptop, phone and iPad.  External backups—good to go, right?

Not exactly.  Different operating systems, different software versions.  No simple time machine backup would do it (though that’s blissfully simple!), so the rest of the day was spent making the devices all compatible and loading this and that there and there and getting all the systems squared away.  Fortunately, I only hit one snag.

At midnight, I thought I discovered the challenge—my desktop was trying to save me from myself and keep me from wiping out files I needed—but I decided I’d maxed for the day and would try that fix the next morning.  (This, thinking a solution was at hand, enabled me to sleep.)

And so I did a full system backup to a separate external drive for good measure, and then slept like a rock.  And the next morning, the desktop picked up that I’d done this and installed the new operating system without incident.

I was relieved.  Behind schedule by a full day and a half, but relieved.

Since then, I’ve been snitching little bits of time to at least see what the iPad is about and its capabilities, but honestly, I’m still going through thousands of emails (that’s not an exaggeration).  I finished the audio auditions and now have four books in production and one soon-to-be in production.  That’s progress!

The new cover came in on ACTS OF HONOR and I LOVE it.  The new cover came in on CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN, and I love it, too.  Both are fabulous, which was such a blessing, and then in came the cover copy on ACTS, and it was strong and well done, so that’s approved and off the desk, too.  More progress!

So it’s now Saturday morning, and the to-do list is down to three pages (and tons of email still) and Hubby says, you need to take a look at the weather.  It’s been raining every day, but it was sunny.  I asked, “Why?”   He says, “A hurricane’s coming to Destin.”

The hair on my neck stood on end.  I looked and sure enough, they’re predicting Isaac is coming to Destin.  That means forget anything else getting done.  It’s time to stop and prepare for the storm.

And I’m going to do that—after today.  Today, my angels will be with me this morning and this afternoon I have a very important engagement.  It’s a birthday party for a six-year-old who is my sunshine.  Celebrating her is my #1 priority today, and that’s that.

The rest just has to wait.

I’m not sharing all this to complain.  I have no complaints.  It all worked out.  I was able to get a new laptop right away.  The covers are beautiful, the galleys were in great shape.  Doors opened and things got done.  But if you haven’t gotten a response to your email, or a return phone call, you now know why.

Did I mention that of all times Hubby’s decided now to shop for a new vehicle.  Yep.  The hunt’s on, and I did the first test drive with him yesterday.  (I so hope this is a short-term hunt.)

Life.  What can I say?  We roll with it or get run over by it.

I will admit, I’m looking forward to Sunday.  This week, I need that day of rest.

Storm’s to hit Wednesday, so Monday and Tuesday we’ll be in prep-mode.

Hope your week has been calm and peaceful.  If so, gear up.  Something is coming… J

Blessings,

Vicki