Computers and Croissants

Hello friends!  I hope you are all having a good week, and not so many computer troubles as I am!  I took my laptop in to be looked at earlier this week due to a seemingly faulty battery and fan.  They kept it for a few days, ran a few tests, and I finally got it back.  Unfortunately, there now seem to be new issues or quirks that have appeared, and as so much of my school work and writing revolves around this computer, I can only hope nothing else happens to it.

Luckily enough, that same morning my dad and I decided to try Le Pain Quotidien for a quick breakfast.  It's a cute, rustic styled French bakery where they not only serve freshly made pastries and breads, but also full organic meals.  It reminded me a lot of the La Boulange chain of cafes in the Bay Area.  I ordered a hot breakfast tea (which came in that cute little bowl-cup) and a butter croissant, while my dad tried their oatmeal with bananas.  We're not "foodies" in anyway, shape or form, but we thought the food was great, and reasonably priced too!  My personal favorite was their five fruit jam.

Always nice to find a new gem in the same neighborhood I've been shopping in my entire life!

Disappointments

Hello, all. Do you ever have those days where every little thing that goes wrong seems to be much more important than it really is? I'm definitely having one of those days.

Last night, my MacBook Pro decided to crash on me. Now, I actually managed to not freak out too much, as it had happened before and I was pretty sure that I knew what the problem was. Instead, I calmly set up an appointment with the Genius Bar at our local Apple Store, and took it in this morning. The "Genius" was very nice, and the poor guy worked on it for nearly an hour before conceding that it was a harddrive problem that he couldn't fix. Fortunately, I can get the harddrive replaced for free. Unfortunately, we may not be able to retrieve any of my files from the computer, which (ironically enough) I was starting to back up when the computer crashed. 

Needless to say I left the store trying not to freak out in public. But what can I say? I have all my writing, all my music, all my artwork, and all my pictures from freshman year on that computer. Losing all that is like losing an entire year of my life. Well, that's probably a little overly dramatic, but that's how I'm feeling right now. Thankfully my dad knew of another repair shop, so we took it there where they are trying to diagnose the problem and see if they can save the data. That being said, until I get the new harddrive, I am stuck using this very old computer that I got in seventh grade:

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm thankful to still have a computer to use at all. But for a self-proclaimed internet junkie, this is a blow. This computer's ability to perform even the most basic of tasks on the internet is spotty at best, and it cannot handle videos at all. But, at least I can still write for all of you lovely people. In fact, this whole experience has really forced me to realize just how addicted to technology I am. Between my laptop and my Blackberry, I am almost completely controlled and indebted to the machines in my life.

To add insult to injury, I received an email from Threadless.com informing me that my design has been dropped from voting, and will therefore not be getting printed. Apparently I didn't get enough positive votes within the first 24 hours it was up. I blame the computer meltdown, as I didn't get to do half of the promoting I had planned. Well, that and the fact that it was only my first design and I'm still learning how to draw for an audience. I guess I'll have to just keep designing and submitting!

Thanks for listening to me rant. May the end of your week be better than mine.