Friday, August 28, 2015

#1509 an unusual evening - with a splash of Foodie Friday

Usually on Friday I write about food, and I will write about a new recipe I tried this week, but I have to tell you about the unusual evening we had on Thursday.

It all started when I was driving home from the store. I had to pick up a couple of ingredients for the new recipe that I was trying out that night. I was about a block and a half west of my house when I look over and there are two people lying on the sidewalk. They did not look like they were moving at all and it was a not a normal thing to see in my neighborhood. At the corner there were three people standing and looking at the people who were lying down. Since I had stuff that needed to go in the fridge and freezer, I went on home. T was there and I told him what I had seen. That was when the fire truck came racing up the street, sirens blaring. I said, "I bet they stop right up the street." A second later a police car zoomed to the scene. I went over to check it out. The firemen had the lying down people sitting up, leaning against a fence. I spoke to the people who were standing on the corner, the ones I had seen when I drove by. The lady said it had taken the firemen a bit of time to wake the guys up. They were probably drunk and/or stoned. They didn't appear to be in very good shape. Shortly after, when I was walking back to my house, the ambulance came.

So that was kind of freaky.

MT came home a few minutes later. He was all in a tizzy because at one of the rentals, there were people who had moved an RV into the driveway of the rental property, at the invitation of the renter, and they were living there. It had been going on since early in the week. MT, when he found out about it, went right over and told the people they had to leave, but they ignored him and were still there. He gave the tenant an eviction notice. MT was cranky about the whole thing. Apparently there is quite a large fine that can be levied for allowing squatters like that. The tenant was freaking out, but he agreed to tell the people to leave.



While MT was dealing with the landlord issues, I made dinner. (Here's the food part!) I had some boneless skinless chicken breasts that I needed to cook and I was feeling like having some pasta. I got on Pinterest and found a recipe for Cajun chicken Alfredo pasta. I haven't made many recipes with Cajun seasoning (it was one of the items I had to pick up at the store), and I liked it. It is a blend of several different spices, but I wouldn't call it spicy, at least not the one that I got. It tasted warm, I would say.  The seasoning added warmth and depth to the creamy pasta. The dish was very easy to make - one pan! - and it was really good. I'll add it to the rotation for sure!


All through the meal prep and even while eating, I was fretting. The night before I had upgraded my computer to Windows 10 and I was worried that there was a problem. My computer is pretty old and it was running fine, but when I got up in the morning to check on the download, there was a message that it was taking "longer than normal" to update. Then the main screen came up and was flashing maniacally. I turned it off. Now it was evening and I had time to see what was going on. It was still flashing like crazy and there was nothing I could do about it. I got on my beloved iPhone and looked up Windows 10 troubleshooting, but couldn't really find anything that I could actually do since my screen was flashing every couple of seconds. The only thing I could do was Control-Alt-Delete to turn on the task manager, which wasn't helpful at all.

At my wits end and starting to get a headache from the flashing, I looked up Microsoft Support. The first that that popped up said Microsoft Support 24/7. I called the toll free number and Sahil answered the phone. We talked about what was going on and he said he could help me. We got the computer in Safe Mode and he ran some diagnostics. That's when I figured out he wasn't actually with Microsoft. I asked him the name of his company and told me what it was and that they were an official Microsoft partner. Then he told me that since my computer was old and didn't have a warranty and had some registry issues, among other things, that he could fix it for $200 for a one year unlimited warranty. That's about the time I freaked out. I must have been yelling a little because T told me later that I was acting like a crazy person.  In the end, I paid the $200. I didn't know what else to do. My computer was now in safe mode, but when I took it out of safe mode, it wouldn't be fixed and I  would still have to pay someone like Geek Squad to fix it. Sahil connected me to a technician, Om Prakesh, who quickly took care of the issues, downloaded a security program, Windows Defender, and made the screen stop flashing. I will admit that I was sobbing quietly at one point in the two hours I was on the phone with Sahil and Om Prakesh. Why did I do the upgrade? What had I done? I didn't want to spend $200!!

Now my computer seems to be working fine, although my favorite solitaire and spider solitaire games are gone. The games are still there, but slightly different. It's ok. The computer is working just fine; all my files are still here and it's ok. I rationalized it by saying that I probably need a new computer and I just extended the life of this one by at least a year, so it's kind of like having a new computer for $200. I try to be positive. I thought MT would be really annoyed, but he was cool and said that I probably did the right thing, so I felt better. T watched the drama and decided not to upgrade to Windows 10. He wants a new laptop anyway for Christmas.

To follow up on the squatters - they were gone today when MT drove by, so he feels good that we kept the tenant and lost the squatters.

Happy Friday! Here's hoping you all have a wonderful weekend!

1 comment:

Kteach said...

I think I talked to Prahed and Silhil or something like that when I had my computer problems lol, not funny! I did cry too but at least it was a brand new computer and had the warranty. This 3rd computer I have works OK but I sure not downloading Windows 10, I am happy with 7 :)

Glad the squatters are gone.