The winter ills

Its that time of year again. The creeping crud is creeping through town. Making the rounds. I was out for the last couple days. I still had to work but it was miserable. A true cold is not fun. Every year this happens, it starts with one person, and usually gets spread around the school, the kids bring it home, pass it to the parents, who go to work and spread it there. It seems like its a neverending cycle of illness.

I fixed the keyboard on my laptop. My youngest child has been pulling the keys off the keyboard. These keys are not easy to put back on like desktop keyboards are. So I ordered a new keyboard for my laptop. It was about $40. It came with no instructions, no documentation, nothing to give me a clue as to what I was doing. So, I did what I always do when face with a problem I can't see a solution to.

Google.

And google saved me again! There was a wonderful blog post with step by step instructions including pictures, that someone in the same predicament had posted. He had figured out by trial and error how to do it and shared with the internets his solution. After studying his blog for a few minutes, I was confident enough to get started. I removed the power sources, the panels that were in the way. Removed 8 screws. These things are tiny! After wrestling for a few minutes I finally was able to pry the old keyboard off the laptop. Ok, now time to slip the new one in. Not as easy I thought it would be. But after tweaking and prodding, I got it in. Reverse the steps put it back together, power it on. Great. Now half the keys don't work. I wonder what I did wrong here. oh well, you don't really need the 5,6,7,t,y,u,g,h,b,n,m, keys right?

So, I have two options at this point. Call my tech repair man. Or, redo it. Since I can't exactly call the tech man, I decide to go with option B. I again, take everything apart, darn those tiny screws!! After a cursory glance over, I can't see that anything is misconnected, so I just push a little on the keyboard cable, tweak the connection a bit. Then with everything still apart, supplied power, and tested the keyboard. (this is not recommended, try not to have power going to an electronic device that has its innards exposed) Voila! Its working perfectly. I still have no idea what it was that was wrong or how exactly I fixed it. But I don't mind, as I now have a wonderfully working keyboard. Which makes it so much easier to type.

I edited the last poem I posted. Somewhat due to advice received from a friend. And I felt that another stanza might be necessary. I like how it shows the dwindle in time, 2 years, 1 year, 1 month, and now I added 1 moment. If it works, it works. This is the first poem that touches a little on that "from the heart" writing. I felt its power when I wrote it. I have all these words running through my mind and I know I can shape them into something beautiful or ghastly.

That scares me.