Giant.

Steven Jobs on June 12, 2005

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

System Restore

Last Sunday the NY Times did not appear on the front lawn.  That's the second time it's happened since we moved to Olathe, KS.  So, Sunday afternoon, I logged onto the customer service website (which will NOT be linked here) so that I could complain and get a credit for my loss.
Because John was making arrangements to fly to CT for his cousin's funeral, I probably paid less attention to the computer workings than I usually do.

I am not a neophyte.  I understand about viruses and I know better than to click on random links but Monday night, I had a virus message.  I ran my virus software (Trend Micro) and it told me there was a Trojan that couldn't be quarantined or cleaned.  Apparently I'm not the only one.  Was I a latent victim?

I tried to delete the offending file.  Nope.  So I shut the machine off and went to bed at midnight.

Tuesday night, I ran the virus scan again.  In Safe Mode.  It appeared to be deleting bad stuff but when I finally was prompted to restart, the virus message  YOU ARE INFECTED still appeared.  I shut the machine off and went to bed after the late news.

Wednesday night, I tried everything I could think of.  My virus scanning software no longer worked.  The freaking whatever-it-is virus had completely taken over (even CTRL_ALT_DEL) did not work.  (I was urged to contact my adminstrator.  I'm the administrator, dammit!)

Tonight, I came home with a determination to wipe the damn thing clean and start over.  I created the eight System Restore discs back in the fall of 2004.  John's dad had just died.  John was still in Connecticut, caring for his family.  We lived in Germantown, TN.  Carly was in college, Charlie in high school.  Dottie still ran around, crazy, when we put dog food in her bowl.  I worked at one of the most dominate NBC affiliates in the country.

Five years later, as I put the discs into the CD drive, I thought back.  Rewind.  Fast forward.  The death of Clyde.  The death of Bernice.  The death of my job at WMC in Memphis.  Move to Syracuse.  Move to Baltimore.  Move to Kansas City.  Friends lost, friends found.  Eight discs took just over 53 minutes to load and copy. 

Good times. 

I'm in a good place now. 

Can't wait to see what the future holds!