My internal power supply on my laptop cratered last Wednesday night. I was sure I had bought the service plan when I got it at Best Buy, but they claimed I hadn’t. They said it would cost “about $200” to fix it. I took it back home and did some internet research. First, I thought maybe it was something I could fix myself. After all, I’ve replaced motherboards and hard drives, and installed CDs. When I found a “how-to” it started out, “first, take the soldering iron…” I searched for a local shop. I found a place called Top Tech Experts (not far from my daughter’s school) who said they would do it for $125. I dropped it off on a Friday afternoon. When I spoke with Alex there on Monday, he said they’d ordered a part for it, and it should be ready Wed or Thurs. I told him I really had to have it by Thurs and Wed would be better. They took it apart and changed some connectors and voila! It worked. I picked it up Wed afternoon. They seemed knowledgeable and professional, and I would use them again. And since they didn’t use the part (which hadn’t arrived by Wed), they only charged me $100. (Prices I found on the internet ranged from $99 + S/H to $145 S/H included).
In the mean time, some construction activity severed/damaged the telephone trunk line on Tuesday afternoon. No landline, no internet. The phone company helpfully said it should be fixed on Thursday between 8 AM and 7 PM. Thank goodness for Starbucks and their wifi hotspots!
Saturday is the Brazos Valley conference. I’m really excited about it. There are 3 of us from my CG going, and we’re going to carpool. I’ve got my copy of Tantalize ready for autographing (I may even take an extra pen). That and I’m really interested to see what Cynthia Leitich Smith has to say about (the first 10 pp) of my Earthbound manuscript. Hope it doesn’t turn out to be a case of ‘Be careful what you wish for.’