I’ve Had “One of Those Days” Before!!!

Remember a week or so ago, when I wrote about the fact that I was having “one of those days”. Many of you wrote to tell me that you had also experienced those kinds of days- well, while looking for some fill-in blogs to use while we’re struggling with moving our Sven sets and prop items to a different storage area- I discovered that I had also had “those days” before- and even wrote about it, though the phrase “hitting a bad cycle” was the equivalent of “one of those days”. Read what I wrote just a little less than two years ago!

“Have you ever felt that you’re stuck in a cycle of bad luck? Maybe it lasts for a day- or a few days- or a few weeks- or more…and, I’m not usually a superstitious person, but, lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m stuck in one of those cycles. Maybe it started with some automotive problems-just a random problem, it happens, accompanied by a large fee- but it continued past that. During some of the hot weather, my house seemed a little too warm, so I went to the thermostat to adjust it slightly downward- and was greeted by a totally blank LCD screen where I usually see the time, temperature, etc. My programmable thermostat had no programming (much like some local TV channels I could mention)- and, it would appear there is no way to turn the house air conditioning system on without the thermostat (any heating and cooling experts, please point out to me if there is a way…) So, it was waiting a day for a repair guy to come over, decide the ten year old thermostat had died, and replace it with a new one- at a sizable price. He also charged us because he had to go back to the company headquarters to get it, explaining that, since the company switched to smaller trucks to save energy, they couldn’t stock everything they might need on a service call.(Didn’t it waste energy to have to make a trip back and forth to get something they could have stored in a larger truck?)

(SVEN CURRENT NOTE: That was nothing compared to my air conditioning completely failing this year and having to be replaced- including a nice waiting period during some 90-plus degree days!)

Then came a night when I had trouble falling asleep. Finally fell asleep, but woke up an hour and a half later- and then couldn’t fall asleep AGAIN. Finally , I did fall sleep- only to be awakened about an hour before I had to get up by a loud beep and a female voice saying “battery power low”…and then repeating that, first in fifteen minutes, then down to ten or less. It was the smoke alarm located outside my bedroom- you know the one that I never quite remember how to open every time I have to change the batteries. So, I had to make an early morning climb to pull the darn thing down and remove the batteries for replacement. But-wait! There’s more! I was doing some research on my laptop computer when there was suddenly some sort of security warning. It didn’t look familiar. I also noticed an unfamiliar icon in the toolbar, representing the same security system. It warned that a virus had infiltrated my computer, and that I should run a scan and take measures that included buying an “AV Security Suite”. I could no longer get on the internet, and, when I tried to access other security stuff on my computer, it would plunk me right back to this “Security Suite” garbage. It turns out that the “suite” itself IS the virus- it disrupts the computer, blocks the real security, and tries to get you to buy their stupid crap. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear to steal passwords or create any other damage, but it’s an annoyance that’s difficult to get out of your computer. So, I’m dealing with THAT right now. I’m hoping it will be the final segment of this “bad luck cycle”…did I just jinx myself by saying that? We shall see…

(SVEN CURRENT NOTE: That WAS the final segment of the “bad luck cycle”- back then… I got rid of the virus and have a better security program now!)