Complicated

I really hate it when something that is supposed to be simple gets all botched for no good reason and turns into an unexpected project.

Case in point, today Aaron and I went to an expo center in Jersey to check out this supposed big electronics blowout sale. Great, right? Sort of. There was more crap than anything else. There were also a lot of vendors selling random items such as clothing (most were questionable at best), gawdy belt buckles and jewelry and for some reason, every knockoff iPhone or iPod device you can imagine. Luckily, there were a few vendors that had stuff worth looking at.

We picked up the Guitar Hero World Tour bundle (awesome), a new monitor (also awesome) and a new nifty keyboard. Ah... and our troubles begin. Once home, Aaron installed the monitor (huzzah!) and the nifty keyboard with a built in mic and web cam. The computer did not approve. It began acting all wonky. After trying several things we decided appease the machine remove the offending accessory and to wait until we got a new computer to install the keyboard. The computer, however, was already displeased and decided it had had enough. The mouse stopped working. After unplugging and replugging wires, cursing and snapping at each other, I walked away and Aaron restarted the thing (again). The mouse was still inoperative and then we got a "what the hell?" message (a message we have never seen before and had no idea what to make of) that got stuck up during the reboot. And there it stayed. We had to call our friend Daren to help over the phone. He was stumped for a bit. Aaron worked on it for a bit with Daren throwing out more ideas. I hung back on the couch pretending to read, seething a bit behind the new issue of Rachel Ray.

So now, the computer has it's old, crusty-ass keyboard back on and the mouse cable is all out of place (fear of upsetting the computer is keeping us from putting it back where it used to hang out) but it is up and running again. It only took about an hour and a half. Sigh.