Okay. THAT was horrible. I think the power cord just up and died, but in a dramatic fashion. I thought that it fried the battery, because when I was able to restart using the old power cord, the battery icon had an X through it. But the fan also wouldn't stop running even though the CPU barely had a load, and the keyboard backlight wouldn't come on. So after the backup finished (people, BACK UP OFTEN; don't be like me), I reset the SMC and the battery is now acknowledging that it exists and the fan stopped and the keyboard backlight is on.

This is a 2010 (or maybe 2011) machine, though, and it needs to be replaced. I was just putting it off. But I get the message, universe.

I'm an hour behind schedule now, though, and resigned to a late night.

Steph, I have a bunch of old Mac cords and stuff. If you need something, let me know, and I can see if I have it.

Thanks so much! Right now the old power cord is doing its thing despite being old.

And no reasonable employer is going to fire you for 12 hours of computer problems. It happens.

I just have so much shit due and don't want to be late with it. And I panicked and lost my shit totally.

(This post brought to you by Ativan, which I forgot I even had until Tim just walked into the bathroom and then the kitchen and then silently handed me a pill and a glass of water. Later he said he didn't know if that was the right thing to do, because "Maybe I shouldn't suggest a pill to solve your problems." I said, "ALWAYS GIVE ME A PILL!")

And now back to work.

And I have a call in to the vet's office at 9 o'clock at night. Harvey managed to bust open a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips and I am freaked out about how much onion powder there might be on them. Enough to harm an eighteen year old cat with renal failure or nah?

Do you have a good sense of how much he ate (or licked off)? I'm not even sure if that ingredient is actual onion or an artificial flavor. But, as a fellow owner of an old cat, I would call the vet, too.

Steph, that sounds like the exact same thing that happened to my old computer last year. It was about the same age.

The power cord wasn't an Apple one (I don't think), so that might have made it die. In any case, I backed up, and I'll scramble to get this work done and then go get a new laptop (which will probably be a delight in terms of speed, given how old this workhorse is). And hey, I can depreciate it on my taxes. #Iamold

You may want to give your editors a heads up, to let them know in advance. I've found that the more advance warning, the better. That way if you get it done on time, yay! You're a badass. If not, well, they know ahead of time and can plan.

I'm glad Tim gave you a pill, because my response to -

This feels like a panic attack.

was "It sounds like a panic attack."

The vet was supremely unworried about the possible toxicity of the amount of chips Harvey crunched down from the time Daniel heard the crunchy eating sounds to the time he sat up and shooed Harvey away from the bag of chips that he had torn open.

I'm sorry that your computer is causing you such trouble, Steph.

Yay for non toxicity! One time my cat got into a Hershey's bar and nommed a coupe little rectangles and a lot of foil and paper. I freaked out and called the emer vet hospital and they reassured me that Hershey's is mostly wax and sugar and that wasn't enough cocoa solids to be a problem, tho he had super mega zoomies from the sugar all night. Come to think of it, maybe that's part of the reason he's so bizarre now.

I was really hoping that a week on the east coast would clear up my breathing problems....but so far no and eyes keep swelling up. I forgot about those VA allergens. Making friends again with Benadryl and ketotifen drops. (Sorry zenkitty, not ready to trade just yet tho I very much appreciate the offer :)

"ALWAYS GIVE ME A PILL!"

Much easier than pilling a cat! Glad you were able to pull out of that panic attack, Steph.

(Sorry zenkitty, not ready to trade just yet tho I very much appreciate the offer :)

Well darn. :)

It's 2am why am I still up

Interview ma, asthma ma,leg ma. I ended up starting cooking while sister was in the shower, and just kept going. Corn & salmon chowder (with corn cob broth, a first); chard and chard stem, mushroom, onion, parmesan, and corn frittata; potato salad with some kind of interesting potato from the farmers market - they look like oval new/ red potatoes, but have more flavor and are slightly stripey inside, the way a beet is, yum; tuna salad; and steamed some broccoli to eat while I was cooking. It'd been too long, so I really went to town.

Meanwhile, sister bought her ticket back to MX today and leaves in 2 weeks. Those two things + venting = less stress. Thanks for listening.

Also yes to hiring cleaning people. I had someone every two weeks when I was working, but felt I should do it myself when I retired. Once I realized the floors hadn't been washed in about a year, because I hate washing floors, even though I did the other cleaning stuff, I was lucky to get my cleaning person back. Bonus is that it forces me to clean up papers etc. and to keep up attempts to declutter, because I have to do my share of tidying up so that she and her helper can do their job. If I forget or fail to do my part, she'll stack things it move then, clean under, around. Too long a post, but yeah, highly recommend it! Edit for spelling.