Laptop Troubles Again

Two days ago the laptop battery died. Kaput! If the power cable is unplugged the screen instantly goes black. The battery light constantly flashes orange with occasional green. "0% Charged" is the constant message on the power icon.

Fortunately we recognized that it had died within an hour or so of the battery going bad. I was able to order a replacement from Dell that night and it shipped the following day! We should have the replacement battery within the next week.

In other news, I worked from home Friday so that I could be with my Mom and take her to her doctor's appointment at a local SDA internist to follow up the labs, x-rays, and other tests that he had requested to evaluate her health while she was staying here with us. I got in 7 hours of work (typical for a Friday) inspite of having taken about an hour off for the doctor's visit.

Without the periperals that I already owned for my own laptop (a USB hub and a USB-PS2 converter for my split keyboard) I would not have been able to work from home - I would not have been able to plug in both my GoldTouch split keyboard and 3M Ergomouse. I would never have survived for 7 hours on a laptop keyboard!

One other thing that is new: I just joined our church AudioVisual team. I have been going into the church at 8:30 AM every Sabbath morning this year to learn the procedures for both sides of the desk: sound board/video camera & projection (DVD/PowerPoint/VCR/Audio, etc.). The opening that came up today was for running the sound board one Sabbath per month. My first Sabbath to "solo" on the soundboard (32 channels) will be a month from today.

My hope is to continue working with the music team, continue to teach Sabbath School, and also substitute for others on the A/V team as the need arises this year. That, in addition to playing my new clarinet with the community band will likely be more than enough. Although every Sabbath this year I have gone out to visit one or more church members who are not able to get out to church as well. It makes for a full Sabbath, now that Jean is planning to go to the fellowship dinner most weeks.