Today (and the Next Few Days) I'm On The Laptop - Apologies For Equipment Failure

On Saturday night, after I returned home from the store, I reached to my mainframe computer and turned it on, only to be meet by a loud BEEP from my APC. I immediately shut the computer down again and reached behind my screen to see that the APC was pulsing with a red light. Time for a new battery - *sigh*. Checking my phone, I saw that Batteries Plus was open until 8:00 pm so I determined I would head over there as soon as I was finished with dinner.

The APC I have for my computer is quite similar 
to this one. DH has a larger one for his computer 
just a few feet away to the East. They have saved 
our computer systems through lightning storms 
and power outages. I wouldn't be without them. 

This isn't something I hadn't done before. I have two APC units in our computer room - one for DH's computer setup, and one for mine. I have two others at the shop (and a third currently not in use for a backup computer that I rarely turn on). I've changed a lot of these heavy brick batteries. It's pretty simple - pry the old one out, disconnect the leads, put the new one in, connect the leads, turn the APC unit back on and voila - ready to go.

The battery that I purchased is quite similar to this 
one and not too expensive for what it does. It's 
a brick, though. Heavy and clunky. 

EXCEPT ... it didn't go. The APC was fine - all green lights. The computer monitor and printer were fine - the other two things that are plugged into my APC. But my computer wouldn't turn on. I wasn't getting any response when I pushed the "Power" button. I should have felt a little resistence from the switch, I should have heard a small "click" when I pushed it, but it was like pushing dead air. The computer switch had broken.

 

All I need is my computer power button to be 
functional once again. I know my system is old, 
but I don't have the money right now to deal with 
Dale building a new one. He's been working on a 
new computer for DH for more than a year (the chip 
shortage has been a serious issue). 

Now, as a fix goes, this is pretty minor, and I didn't want to bother my Computer Guru with such a minor thing over the weekend, so I'll phone him today and try to drop the computer to him on Wednesday. The weather is supposed to be lousy on Tuesday and Wednesday, and he's not close by, but no matter. I'll drive out there twice on Wednesday - once to drop it off, and once to pick it back up. Whatever's necessary. I'm pretty sure it just needs a new ON/OFF switch to be fully functional once again, and it could use a good cleaning because I can't get to it at home to vaccuum it out periodically (which I should be doing, I know). I'll phone Dale when the sun is up and he's done taking care of the horses. Hopefully he can envelope me in. Meanwhile, I'm on the laptop for a few days, so my daily posts may be a bit different - not bad at all, but a bit different - LOL.

I love "Voodoo", my Lenovo laptop that I purchased more 
than a year ago. I use it constantly, and it's working out 
great for me. It's not what I usually use for my blog posts, 
however, so I beg your understanding if things are a bit 
more stumbly for a few days. 

 
Today I start work on my e-mail for our 4-Day End of the Year Sale. I need to make sure everything is accurate, that the dates are correct, and that I have all of the people added to my mailing list that I need to get added. Unlike most stores, we rarely run sales. We have clearance items at deep discounts all of the time - overstock from beads that just have too much quantity on our shelves. But a true sale - where almost everything in the store is reduced? Those things are extremely rare for us.

It's a huge sale, our 4-Day End of the Year Sale, 
and I'm starting work on that e-flyer today 
when I get to the shop, But I have a lot to 
do before then, so I have to get this posted and 
get out of here. 

 

We have our Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales where beads of various types are on deep discount, but those sales don't apply to much outside of our beads. Our four-day sale, on the other hand, applies to almost everything in the store including the artwork, Navajo weavings, Hopi and Zuni Katchinas, Pueblo pottery, sterling silver and turquoise jewelry, and various artifacts such as scatter fans and peyote rattles. This sale is a BIG sale, and every once in a while, we'll move some serious product. We all work all four days, and then we collapse for three well-earned days off. (Of course, DH and I have to come in to do the year-end printouts and reports and reset the computers for the new year, but that's relatively minor and doesn't take more than two hours).

 

So, I guess the rest of my month is pretty much scheduled for me. My crazy life. I had been looking forward to one more "normal" week before diving into our holiday schedules, but apparently my main computer decided against normalcy in my life. I hope it's the switch, that would, at least be an easy and relatively inexpensive fix. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow - again on the laptop. Slava Ukraini.