The plug thing! It's not plugged!

Day 5

My laptop has been useless since Thanksgiving. It kept telling me it couldn't connect to the internet, and as that is mostly what I use a computer for, my brand new Dell was basically a paperweight. I tried calling Dell tech support, but they told me it was a software problem, on which I should spend upward of $100. No, thank you. There was  no way I was going to Best Buy during the holidays, so I waited until last night to bring it in to give the Geek Squad a shot at fixing it.

The guy behind the counter took one look at it and said, "Oh... it's your anti-virus software. It's blocking you from going online. It would be cool if it told you that, but it doesn't." He uninstalled the anti-virus software and told me to get a different program because that one sucked. Obviously.

I went home only to discover that I didn't have half of my power cord. I had the piece that plugs into the laptop, but the part that plugs into the wall was missing. I had watched the Best Buy dude unplug the cord from the socket and hand it to me... so I knew I'd had it when I walked out of the store. I just didn't have it here... now... where and when I needed it. Crap.

I walked back out to the car, checking the ground on the way. I searched through the interior of my car, which is a disaster area, so it took a while. Nothing. I walked back into the house, got my purse, went back to the car, and trekked back to Best Buy. I parked in the very same parking spot, and checked the ground, retraced my steps all the way back into the store. No power cord. Well, shit. So I bought a replacement one. Since I was already back at Best Buy anyway, it seemed to make sense. I came home, checked the ground again on my way back inside - just in case - and plugged in my new power cord.

This morning on my way out to my car to go to work, guess what was laying on the ground right behind  my car. Yeah... the power cord to my laptop that I apparently had to walk by four times and drive right over twice.

Now my laptop and its power cord are happily reunited and working just fine. It also has new anti-virus software. (Thanks, Clem!) At least I will get back the 80 bucks I blew on the other power cord when I actually find the motivation to go back to Best Buy and return it.