Technology: A love/hate relationship

My frenemy technology decided to bitch slap me three ways to Sunday in the past few weeks (Hence my absence from around these parts). Literally, three ways. The laptop hard drive, DRV hard drive and my car's tires and something in the engine crapped out within about 14 days of each other. Not so convenient for someone who blogs every day and is trying to launch a design business. 

That saying about good shatty things happening in threes ... Yeah, it's pretty much true. Long story short: We were able to recover all of our precious data (Always, always, always back up your work in the cloud or on an external hard drive) and actually save the laptop's life via a new hard drive; the cable dude switched out the defective DVR for a shiny new one and my car got new shoes and is in the shop as I type hopefully getting the check engine light ish repaired. 

There were a few moments during this ordeal when I thought about selling all of my stuff and heading to the hills just to spite technology. Then I came to the realization that I love Words With Friends (hello, new obsession), cold milk, driving with the sun roof open, America's Next Top Model marathons and receiving picture messages of my nephew on the iPhone ... All of which are possible thanks to that ho technology ... too much. 

This mini-break from all of the gadgets in my life was really an exercise in appreciation of the wonderful things they allow me to experience and a reminder not to depend on them too much, which is super easy to do given their convenience and possibilities. 

But most of all, it's reaffirmed how much blogging has played an important role in my life during the past year. I've "met" people from around the world I otherwise wouldn't have if it weren't for the power of technology. 

Now, to catch up on my projects, reinstall 43 gigs of musical goodness and rebuild my bookmarks folders. Oh, technology, I hate lurve you. 

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Five for Friday

I treasure weekends. You see I rarely had the luxury of any weekend day off while working in newspapers, which sucked. I'd usually start my work week on Thursday or Friday as Bruce's was ending, so we never could take a spontaneous day trip or enjoy watching college football together. Everything had to be planned months in advance, and life doesn't always work that way. Well, it can as evidenced in my constrained situation, but how boring. And if something came up at the last minute, forget it.

The plethora of Facebook status updates revealing people's plans for Friday-Sunday used to make me envious. I was happy for my friends, but wished I could have time off with my significant other like the majority of the rest of the working world.

Granted things are much busier, which is a pain. But at least I can do the crowded, pain-in-the-ace stuff with Bruce without figuring it out 85 years in advance. The freedom of jumping in the car and heading to Sedona, taking the entire day to finish up a home-improvement project or simply relaxing with a cold beverage and good conversation is absolutely worth celebrating.

And that's where my "Five For Friday" series comes in. Each Friday, I'll pick five activities, goals, emotions, suggestions, etc. for the weekend. I may or may not get to all of them, but at least I have the opportunity and choice to now.

My Five for Friday:

1. Hang our black + white photo gallery on the living room wall

2. Get a knob for the coffee table and other assorted items for projects around the townhouse

3. Laugh

4. Swim in our complex pool to combat the 90-degree temps

5. Acquire some beautiful blooms for the living room

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