Carlsbad Ka-ching and More

To continue our Carlsbad tale, Rick and I were fitted for new golf clubs on Wednesday. Rick really went down there with the idea of new irons and wedges and that's all he ordered. Still...the cost of his new clubs will basically be paid by President Bush and Congress thanks to their economic stimulus check which we will hopefully receive in a month or two. And, although I know I went with the thought of ordering some new clubs, I ended up ordering everything! That means new driver, fairway woods, irons and a putter....the cost? Well, let's just say Rick and I won't be going on any cruises for a while...a very long while.

So we came home on Thursday with pockets empty and what happens when I turn on our beloved 4-year-old desktop computer...yikes! The first attempt resulted in the monitor going black for a moment, coming back and then repeating the cycle over and over. I turned off the computer, tried again and the same thing happened...only much more frequently. Soon the display got all blocky and distorted followed by everything just freezing. Damn! All I could see was more money flowing out of our pockets at the thought of having to buy a new desktop after just spending so much money on something as frivolous as a set of new golf clubs.

Now I know zip when it comes to anything technical about our computer but being a librarian has taught me that a little bit of research can sometimes help what seems like a lost cause. So I got out my laptop and started searching for troubleshooting solutions. I soon discovered that it sounded like my graphics card was failing and, lucky me, when I went to our local computer mega-store, I discovered that my $55 graphics card was on sale for $50 plus they were offering a $40 rebate. What did I have to lose?

So today I went through all the basic troubleshooting steps in Safe Mode including using System Recovery. When nothing else seemed to cure the problem, Rick and I opened up the chassis (I think that's what it's called) and easily replaced the graphics card. And the result? Well, I'm composing this post on our desktop so, at least for the moment, I think everything is fixed.

I have to admit that I'm pretty proud of myself and, most of all, I'm relieved to know that I can enjoy my new golf clubs without feeling guilty for spending way too much money. Whew!