Clean and Pure

A week. It took a full week to get our PC fixed. A full week during which I was cut off from the Internet.

Yeah, I got a little twitchy. But funny thing was how liberated I've felt during the past few days. Knowing I couldn't log on, I didn't fall into the massive time sink that my laptop is. I didn't spend hours surfing blogs or following links. And I didn't feel guilty about any of it.

In fact, rather than do any writing on the laptop, I used old fashioned pen and paper. I sat at my dining room table and worked just like I used to in the old days. I'm in the midst of some heavy duty world building, so I had my research books spread around me, taking notes on loose-leaf notebook paper. Really, it was a trip back in time to my college days.

I loved it!

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't give up my computer for all the tea in China. But I got such a sense of accomplishment when, at the end of a work session, I had a stack of papers full of my notes to show for all of my efforts. Sure, when I shut down my laptop at the end of the day I have new files and higher word counts. But it's not something I can see or touch.

Anyway, we're all fixed. Nearly broke down and took the PC to one of those computer doctors, but the hubby decided just to scrap the whole thing and start from scratch. It worked, and we now have anti-virus software to (hopefully) keep this from ever happening again. Even better, we're still married after the harrowing experience, despite my singing sixteen choruses of "I told you so" and the hubby giving me grief about how much work he had to put into "fixing" the computer (which, I reminded him frequently, he broke in the first place...).

Did I mention exactly what kind of torture I think should be used on people who create and spread computer viruses?