Beloved,
I need more hours in a day, time is going so quickly that I can’t
get all I want done. Does that sound familiar? Hey, I’m retired,
I’m supposed to have more free time. This has been a week of
doctor appointments three days in a row, with quite a few things
to accomplish which had deadlines. Today was the deadline on doing
something with my IRA CD which was mature last week and I had only
10 days to decide what to do with it before penalties ensued.
My week actually began last Saturday when this lovely young man,
Barry, brought back my computer all renewed. I had met him when he
stopped for a reading at my booth within the Expo a few weeks ago. I
knew he was a human angel the moment I set eyes on him which was
confirmed within the reading. I have a desk top computer which is a
Windows XP which Microsoft is not even supporting any more, that is
how old it is. It is so full of my book and all that went along with
it, such as the book in EBook form, audio form, CD’s, photos, etc.
I did not know how to take it off so I could get what I needed onto
a new computer. I also have a laptop which is XP but it is much
quicker on the draw than my desktop.
This wonderful young man offered to put Windows 7, more RAM and get
an external hard drive for me to download all my files on. He would
do this for free and I would only need to pay for what equipment he
would need to upgrade my computer. Here was a young man that I had
only met once and I trusted him to take my computer and do what he
said. You know when you KNOW.
He brought his young son, Anthony,9 years old with him so I got to
meet another beautiful young boy who is definitely an angel also.
Barry is a single dad so you know he is even busier than a married dad,
yet he offered to help me free of charge and he lives 45 minutes
away from me. I must remind you that I find it much easier to give
than to receive. His help and concern blew me away, I was so grateful.
My son and grandson unexpectedly showed up that day also so it was
quite a busy day as I was listening intently to what Barry was
trying to teach me about my new refurbished computer. I find
computers to be the most challenging thing in my life. Barry left at
8pm and my brain shut down, it would do no more thinking that day.
The next day, Sunday I decided the first thing to do was to down-
load all my files to the external hard drive. Barry had taught me
the day before how to put two pages on my screen (I had never done
that before) so I could see what and where I was downloading. After
a few tries and two phone calls to my son, I managed to get them all
downloaded. Phew! I was feeling confident and I had noticed that
there seemed to be no Free Cell on my computer so I decided to
Google it and put it on my computer. What could go wrong with just
downloading a simple Solitaire game?
Well, I tried several pages and I must have hit a button or clicked
somewhere because all of a sudden, CONDUIT showed up on my computer
and was my search engine. I called my son, Bruce and he said we
could fix that. After 6 hours of attempting to just that, it was
still in my computer as it showed up as my search engine. We finally
gave up for that day but needless to say, I was not feeling peaceful.
Why is it I can think of just what is needed to calm down AFTER
the episode is over.
I had done a stupid thing to try to download something and now I
felt invaded. In all my years on the computer, I had never had
what they called a virus on my computer. I would not touch that
laptop as I was afraid if I even sent an email it might infect
someone else.
The next day Monday, Bruce and I tried again. I had called and left
a message for Barry to see what he would suggest to do. Bruce called
Microsoft a few times because you get different technicians so if
one doesn’t know then the next one might. Microsoft called it a
virus but it really wasn’t the kind that might spread but I was
taking no chances. I only touched it when my son was guiding me to
do things.
I belong to a Pitch league so I went to play cards and then went to
Staples. The two men that I trust were not there so I asked another
technician what it could be and what could I do. He said they
would remove it but it would cost $150. I called Microsoft and
they said they would remove it for $99. Although I was quite upset,
it did not “feel” like I would have to go that far. Barry called me
back and had suggestions but my son and I had already gone that route.
Barry works with computers all day but does not have much expertise
with viruses.
The next three days, I had doctor appointments and other duties
called me besides, like trying to decide on airline tickets before
it was too late. My eye has healed and my vision is 20-20 so that
is good news. Finally, I called my granddaughter Holly, and
explained what had happened and asked if she could help. She said
she could so we proceeded to use LogMeIn so she could take control
of my computer. Poor Bruce did not have that capability so he
was stuck trying to explain to me what places to go to and then
what to click on for all those hours. This was at night and when
Holly asked me for my password for my new computer, my mind went
blank and I could not remember if Barry had given it to me or not.
WE tried a few but she ran out of attempts so we decided that we
would try again the next day, Thursday after my doctors appointment
and her and her partners two doctor appointments.
When I woke up the next morning, the password came to me as I
remembered what Barry had told me. Oh, why had I not remembered last
night? I was still feeling quite guilty about the situation I had
caused and all the effort others were expending to help me out of it.
Holly and I finally got together again last night and she was able
to get into my computer. It always amazes me just how quickly
someone can work when they know what they are doing. I really
was not aware at the expertise my granddaughter had. She is a
manager of four people at UMass that take care of the 1200 computers.
She went through all that Bruce and I had done when we removed 181
places where that darn thing attached itself but the one thing he
forgot to check was the HOME page. When she reached that point and
cleared it, my computer went back to normal. It seems it is some
kind of attachment that makes money for its owners by the amount
of places that are visited by the computer. By taking over the
search engines, it was in charge of the whole caboodle. Hooray,
I am free.
Today I had a phone appointment with USAA which my other son, Steve
recommended to put my IRA in mutual funds. I have as much knowledge
about that as I do computers so my brain was put to work again.
We were on the phone for two hours as I asked many questions then
needed to make many decisions. My IRA CD is at a local Credit Union
so they did not have the capability of “wiring” my money to this firm.
I needed to make a trip to get this all settled as my 10 days
of grace were up tomorrow. I would have ensued penalties if I had
not done so but it was handled beautifully and then was mailed
off to the firm. Whew!
You know when they said this was the time that everything we did
not want to look at, will show up. They were not kidding. I got
home at suppertime today so that is why this is late. I certainly
do not intend for this to become a habit. I like to write you in
in the morning when my brain is fresh and inspiration comes much
more easily. Of course, my brain has not had much of a rest this
week as well as the tension that kind of slows it down.
I wanted to use my new desktop to write my first newsletter to you
and I got on fine but when I tried to copy and paste, guess what?
I can’t find the buttons anywhere to do that. I have more learning
to do and acclimating to Windows 7. So I am back on my
desktop which is dependable if not slow, At least, I know where
the buttons are so I can write or paste what I wish to share with
you.
After reading all this, I think you need something to relax you.
Something that will bring your creativity to the forefront while
you just sink into peaceful bliss.
Love Penetrates All Obstacles – Nostrie
Tiempo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9TE50uuxlI&feature=player_embedded
Love and Light
Mary Grace
www.IAmMaryGrace.com
www.TheWoundedChalice.com
http://www.waleson5.com/marygrace.html
PO Box 403
Wales, MA 01081, USA
413-245-3977