I am really glad that March is over. And not just because April is finally, really, spring – March just wasn’t a real good month for me! And it is going out like a lion –it has been snowing since Wednesday morning with a total of 3-5 inches of snow expected. At least temperatures have been warm enough lately that I know it won’t last long.
Last month I visited the dentist 5 times in 3 weeks. The first visit was just a regular check up. No cavities – YEA! But, I had knocked the corner off of one of my molars that already had some filler-stuff all over it. So, the dentist decided that it would need a crown. So, I went in one week later to get everything drilled smooth and prepped for my crown (1 hour office visit). It’s really hard to get me numb, so I had to get a shot 3 times, and once the dentist accidently poked my lip with the needle. He was mortified. They took a mold and put a temporary crown on it. Just 3 days later they called and needed me to come in to get ANOTHER mold done for the dental technician (30 minute visit). Eight days after I got my temporary one on, it came off (Saturday night) and I waited until Monday morning to go back in and have it re-glued (15 minute visit). It came off again on Thursday night, but since I was going in the next morning, I didn’t worry about it. So, I went back in that Friday to get my permanent crown put on. The dentist STILL had to drill a little bit off of my tooth to make the crown fit right, so I had to get numbed up again (30 minute visit). My crown seems good, but my jaw has been getting caught and popping since then. It does this every once in awhile, but it’s been doing this several times a day! UGH! I really like this dentist, but I have had enough for awhile!
Let me preface the next few items by saying I HATE talking on the phone... A week and a half ago I was helping my mother on some New Family Search stuff – she was on her laptop, and I was on mine. I tried to see the names I had ready for Temple work, but for some reason, it wouldn’t come up. Within a few hours, I found that there were a lot of things that wouldn’t work. I brought up my anti-virus information and in red letters it said that I had a virus warning that needed to be taken care of. I tried to click on the “FIX” button, but it wouldn’t let me. After messing with it for awhile, I finally called the number for customer service at my anti-virus company (Deluxe Shield – don’t EVER get this!!) and was on hold for 20+ minutes, and then as I was talking to someone, got cut off and I realized it was 8:30pm in the eastern time zone and they were closed! Did I mention that he had a very thick accent and I could hardly understand him? I was pretty grossed out, and I just didn’t have time to mess with it on Sunday (they have shorter hours then), so I tackled it again on Monday. Meanwhile, my poor laptop that I’ve only had for less than 6 months wouldn’t come up at all. I figured out how to go in to where it let me go back a few days and recover it from that point. I was pretty glad that I could do that and it worked just fine for everything. But, unfortunately, I still had the virus (trojan fake-something) and by the evening it was back to not coming up at all. I tried to recover it by going back a few days even earlier, but it wouldn’t work this time. So, on Tuesday I called the anti-virus company again. After going over everything, he finally decided that all my files were corrupted and I could recover it back to like it was when I bought it, but I needed to have recovery discs which didn’t come with my computer and I hadn’t burned any. So, I called several computer stores in town and nobody had them. I finally brought up the Hewlett Packard website and got their phone number. I tried calling them, but got cut off 3 times before I could even talk to a person. Out of desperation I finally decided to order online, although there are so many products that I wasn’t positive that I ordered the right discs. Instead of standard shipping, I chose the shipping that would get here in 3-4 days.
A few days later my discs arrived and I called the anti-virus company back. They could not find my name or email information, so there was no record of my problem or our previous conversations, so I had to start at the very beginning. (sounds like a song…) After explaining everything again and trying all the things that he tried to get me to do to it, the guy I was talking to put me on hold and when he came back he told me he had to inform me that there would be a charge for what we would do. I said No, their anti-virus software (which I have paid for) had let the virus onto my computer and I was not going to pay them to take it off. After a few seconds the line went dead – he had hung up on me!
So, I called Hewlitt Packard again and this time I did NOT get cut off. I talked to a lady that had an accent, but I could understand her most of the time and she didn’t have her repeat herself too much. I told her my predicament and because my laptop is still under warranty, she could help me out. She told me it would really be better to do this from the computer and not discs because they may not be the right ones. :o( She was able to get me back to the recovery part and even to save most of my files. This took a lot longer than was expected (over 5 hours, not just minutes), so I asked her a few questions about what to do once the files were all recovered and then got off the phone. It took me a lot of time to get everything back to how I want it, but my laptop is in working order again and I only lost a few files. Obviously, this time I have put different anti-virus software on it…!
The book for my first class (Human Resource Management) has arrived and I have read the first 3 chapters – it’s pretty much like Greek to me. My class doesn’t start until Monday, but I can go online and see that I have a discussion board (answering a question with info that leads to more questions and answering another question, etc) or an assessment (?) every week, and take the final exam (which I have to have a proctor for). ...Pray for me! I also got an email telling me I needed to go to the website for my school loan lender and log in to see new information. I went to the website, but it wouldn’t let me log in – I couldn’t remember if I had a user ID or password. I usually write them down, and I didn’t have any information, so I’m not even sure I had an account set up. So, I had to call them and once again, I got someone with an accent! Plus, we just didn’t communicate at all. Finally, after a long time, I thanked her for her help, declined to answer survey questions, and I got my user ID and set up a (new?) password. When I went in to see the information, it said that my loan was already approved (which I already knew), but the amount that they are sending the school is more than twice what I need. So, I called them back and found out I needed to talk to someone at my school because they are the ones that let them know how much money to send. So, I called the school, got an answering machine, and left a message. Several hours later I got a call back and eventually got it straightened out. They were going to send me extra living expense money that I would have to pay interest on – no thanks.
My car is making a stange noise in the front axle-area and I can feel vibrations in the floorboard, so I’ll have to take it in again tomorrow and see if my mechanic can figure out what is going on…
And finally, something positive - Randy and I went to the play “Dirty Rotten Soundrels” Tuesday night in Orem at the Hale Center Theater. The script was very close to the movie, although this production was a musical. We thoroughly enjoyed it – the story, music, and actors were all really good. This theater is quite small, in the round, and we were on the front row. I actually got my foot touched by one of the actors – that’s how close it was. We’re going out to dinner for his birthday tomorrow night and the kids are coming over Sunday between Conference sessions so that we can celebrate.
The rest of my family is doing pretty good – Randy’s website (music and sculptures at randymundy.com) is up (thanks, Amanda!), Jesse has plenty of work hours and found his lost dog, Tyler is finishing up another semester at school this month, Heidi is getting some physical therapy for her back problems, it doesn’t look like Ingrid actually has a hernia although she IS allergic to her dog, Jeff has extra remodeling jobs, and Dylan has been getting a lot more hours at work and has an appointment to get his Patriarchal Blessing.
I am super excited to listen to and watch the prophet and apostles at General Conference this weekend. What a great opportunity this is. Our world is good - :o)
