You know...

Or maybe you do not know... most people are STUPID. (As my friend Deb says, "I see stupid people: and they're everywhere I want to be!") Especially men. I feel SO much better for sharing that piece of insight. And now, to the whys and wherefores that caused me to make that statement!

I have had a "helper" here since I started treatment for nature's lovely gift to me (cancer). Sometimes the guy actually helps and sometimes, well, not so effing much. For instance, I have a complex and unique computer set up here at the house: main computer and two auxiliary units are in my son's old bedroom, AKA my office, AKA the guest room. And everything is wireless so I can access from my laptop if need be. Also located in the aforementioned room are various peripherals - a printer, a scanner, battery chargers, etc., and two UPS boxes (uninterruptable power sources, not shipping containers) as well as a TV set. My helper was told "feel free to use the equipment but DO NOT move it or play with the wiring." I told him this because I know how complex the whole thing is and I have not been well enough to think clearly and straighten out any electronic boo-boos, some of which I actually have the expertise to fix and some of which require a professional such as my son, who is 500 miles away.

So, one day a few months back, I came in from a hospital stay to discover the TV had been moved from its shelf and placed high in the air (so someone could be killed in case of an earthquake, I guess). The printer had been moved from its rightful place to where the TV used to be, and the two additional network computers had been disconnected. Oh, and did I mention my external hard drive was also disconnected. Long story short: I suffered with this for a few months. No access to files stored on the other machines, etc. Finally today I thought, oh screw this situation and the horse it rode in on, I NEED those files. I got down on the floor and started tracing cables. There were a lot of what appeared to be superfluous cables coming out of the UPS box and going nowhere, so I started tracing them back to their sources. Some could just be removed, they belonged nowhere, and some cables were hanging out the backs of the PCs.

Now, I know the difference between an ethernet cable (looks like a wider telephone jack cable), a USB cable (the various kinds of USB cables as well), and audio video cables. But I did not know where anything went. I called my son who told me to plug an ethernet cable into the Linksys router and put the other end in the back of the auxiliary computer. I did that and nothing. Turned out the auxiliary unit had been disconnected from its monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I reconnected everything and rebooted. Success. Sort of.

My main computer now recognizes the other one but I cannot access the other one from the main computer and the aux computer does not recognize the home LAN, which thanks to my "helper" is screwed up.

And so after this little tirade, I ask the universe, would you go into someone else's house and make changes such as my ersatz helper did to me? I sure as hell never would, especially after having been told DO NOT move anything.

Thanks. As usual, I feel ever so much better for venting. And thanks to JC Juanis who pointed out the other night that I have not blogged in a long time. I'm back!