Crack . . . sizzle . . . beeeep . . . beeeep . . . beeeep

That would be the sound of my computer last night.

After being out of town all weekend, I was anxious to get back on the computer. I am a computer addict, I admit it. But I thought it would be good for me to be away from the computer all weekend. By Sunday night, my fingers were itching.

When we got home, I opened the mail, and discovered my credit limit was raised to an astronomical amount (just what I need), and then I went directly to my office to boot up.

I checked email, did a little Web editing at FAQ Farm, and then disaster struck. The computer froze. It just froze. The mouse wouldn't move, it wouldn't restart - nothing. So, I turned off the power cord and turned it back on. I punched the blur Power button, and heard the dreaded noises. The computer wouldn't even turn on, and it did nothing but beep at me. (A noise which quickly grates on a fragile psyche.)

I yelled for my husband, who offered a very unhelpful "Huh." I was hysterical, I admit it. The only thing I could think of was of all the pictures I have taken on my digital camera that I hadn't backed up yet. The thought of losing all of Georgia's baby pictures sent me into a complete panic. I immediately called Tech Guys. They had helped me before in a computer disaster, so I had hopes they could fix my computer.

After my frenzied explanation for calling them at 8:00 on a Sunday evening, they tried to reassure me that they would be able to recover the hard drive - "Don't worry, ma'am." Don't worry? Was I not compelling in relating the beeeep . . . beeeep noise? I was beginning to think they weren't excited about dealing with a panic-stricken crazy woman.

They did tell me that if they came out, they would have to charge me the "emergency rate" which is apparently double their normally outrageous amount. As upset as I was about the thought of losing everything, I maintained a single strand of sanity and decided that I could wait until Monday.

They showed up at 12:08 today. Not that I was waiting by the door or anything. After all of my build-up, complete with breathing into a paper bag, it took the Tech Guy 10 minutes to fix my computer! Apparently, there was a big storm over the weekend when we were out of town. A power surge fried my memory. He popped in a new memory stick and I was good to go. I was almost ready to kiss him until he handed me the bill. After looking at the total (apparently new memory sticks are expensive), I was able to restrain myself.

Thank God my credit limit was just raised!