Readers, We Have a Problem

Early Wednesday morning last week, I was woken up by a noise like something rattling through Venetian blinds. I first thought it was Bennie, the cat, but she was standing in the middle of the living room alert and looking around. I couldn't find anything wrong, so I went back to bed.

Wednesday being Big Busy Day, I didn't get to log onto the computer until late that night. No luck. No power, no response, no nothing. It was acting like a large, steel brick. Great. It took a couple of days to work out, with Mark's help, that the power supply was dead. The noise that woke me up was the sizzle of a bug being incinerated as it shorted out the power supply. Damned bugs. We know this is true because Mark got a surprise when he hooked up the (we thought) fixed supply to power and he got a brilliant blue spark in his face.

That's the second time that power supply trouble has happened this year, and only the third time or so in eight years of computing I've had a serious problem.

I've been offline during that time. Today, I finally made it to the Public Library (Great place. Get your library card today!) and their public computers to check mail and post this announcement. The downside is abandoning you blog readers and not keeping up with events like I usually do. The upside is the enormous amount of free time I've suddenly discovered!

I spend waaay too much time online.

So, I need a new power supply. Money is very tight for me right now and as it stands it will be mid November or later before I can afford a new one. That's too long. I'm going to turn to you good readers to ask for help.

If you can afford to donate anything to Mr. Mike's New Power Supply Fund, please do. If you have already given via the PayPal link above, then DON'T DONATE AGAIN! Once is enough for a blog like this, really. That's plenty enough generosity. But if you haven't donated before, and can afford it after everything else is taken care of in your life, please help. I think I need roughly thirty to fifty dollars for a replacement.

Sorry to do this blegging (blog-begging), but I hope you understand. I have this feeling that's a weird cross between wanting to fulfill obligations and responsibilities, and being an addict.

I will try to get to the library every couple of days to check email, etc., but otherwise I'm offline to all intents and purposes. Don't expect timely replies. Thank you all for your forebearance and help. If you see any interesting stories you think I'd like, or might blog about if I was keeping up, send them on to the blog email addy above. I'll save them for later.

Thank you all, again.