It started on Monday. Our desktop computer, which is 9 years old and runs a Windows operating system that's 3 versions behind, began to show signs of old age. At first we thought that it had contracted a virus, so I worked that angle. No dice. Almost everything is backed up, so we didn't worry too much about that, but the computer got sicker and sicker. Eventually I tried to "repair" the operating system. That failed. By that time I was no longer able to get the computer to boot up, even in the "safe mode". So, just for fun, I tried to reinstall the operating system. That failed too. The conclusion: the hard drive is broken! So what to do?

On Thursday, while Nancy was with her stitchers' group, I drove to Best Buy and came home with the computer pictured above. No, not 2 of them. I borrowed this picture from the Dell web site. The new computer is about 1/8 the size of the now semi-useless desktop sitting on the floor on the other side of the room. As far away as possible. By actual measure, the top of the new computer is 10.5 inches off the surface of the desk. As opposed to the old desktop, which I couldn't even lift to the top of the desk. I have the new one up and running, but we're still trying to figure all the ins and outs of Windows 8. That's pretty much everything that got done this week. We'll be back to our real photos next week...I hope!

Oh, yes. One more thing. I realized last night that I didn't have all the files associated with our email system backed up. Ugh! I still have most of our contacts on my laptop, but all the events entered on the calendar are gone. And so are all the saved emails. Bummer.