Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Autopsy of My Recently Deceased Computer


The autopsy of my recently deceased computer revealed that it was yet another victim that was a direct result from my cooking. There have actually only been two 911 calls to the house concerning folks who had problems with something I had cooked but those cases were totally not my fault and death was not involved.
It had been a grisly, and slow death for my computer with many moments of the dreaded blue screen error notices and whirling fan noises, and then finally, and suddenly, the black screen with no response. Death. The internal organs of my once vibrant machine showed multiple exposure to heat, grease, dust and dog hair which resulted in its strangulation, asphyxiation, and clogged pathways. There was foreign matter on every board and the fan had been stuffed until it could not turn.. Death is never pretty but this one was bad.
My computer had lived its brief happy life in my kitchen about 3 feet away from my stove which I tend to use a lot. The fact that my grease hood quit working a long time ago lead my computer to fill in that job pulling the fumes and smoke away from the air, right to the mother board. Too much of a good thing finally gave way to the inevitable, slow and methodical death.
It is annoying how much of ones life can get wrapped up in the daily interfacing with a dang machine. The computer is a wonderful tool as a portal, transporting, educating, connecting, allowing us to interact and touch base with people we rarely see who are far away , and makes one feel part of something. When that fragile cord is severed, tho, to say it is "not pleasant" begs for clarification. It just sucks. Like falling off a high cliff without a net. With this untimely death of my computer with its clogged arteries, I first felt a panic, then a disconnection, sudden and very uncomfortable. All was black and gloom.
For the past week after the initial panic attack subsided, I managed to muster the resolve to begin the work of rebuilding my cyber life on another machine that would let me, once again, go where I want to go, and to do the chores and the fun things I did on my last computer. This began with moving files and programs onto a basically blank lap top that hubby Mark wasn't using. I have been in a form of limbo, in purgatory, at a point of non resolution and nonfunctionality while dealing with my grief and my reconstruction. What a royal pain that something has so much control over my life and created such emotional and functional havoc.
To temporarily escape this horrific disaster Mark and I took another road trip, this time to Atlanta, the other day to see the exhibit at the High Museum on Da Vinci's horse studies. A friend had seen my recent paintings of horses and had asked if I had seen it. She suggested that since I had not that I might like to go see the exhibit because it was quite impressive and that it was about to be closed.
The exhibit was centered around the work of Da Vinci, primarily of his commission to do the largest statue of a horse ever cast. For years he studied the anatomy of the commissioning duke's horses and drew hundreds of studies of legs, eyes, torsos, in every direction, and from every perspective, studying every proportion. The exhibit here had many of his original drawings, many done with silver ink on pastel papers, which over the years has oxidised and darkened, making the lines stronger and the drawn horses had such power and life.

There were fascinating translations of his notes famously written backwards to keep them secret. It was very cool to be seeing one of his hand written notes and drawings only 6 inches from my face. Seeing them in books does not give them the quiet reverence they deserve like seeing them in person.

The biggest part of the exhibit was about the horse statue tho, that was to have been cast in bronze but was never completed due to a war breaking out. A full size wax that was built back then, of the project, was apparently used as target practice and finally destroyed by the silly art loving French army during their occupation in Italy, an accomplishment right up there with having eaten the last of a now extinct species.

Recently an Italian firm took these drawings Da Vinci had done and recreated a resin of the horse, a full 26 feet tall version and finished it to look like bronze. Here it was now, prancing on the lawn of the High. It was extremely impressive in both its mass and size, but it felt as tho it might just finish that stride it was held in and come right on top of my head. Proportionally it made me feel like my Yorkie looks, compared to my horses when she stands at their feet and gives them hell with her barking orders. Marley has no idea about scale and no fear of being trampled. She rules the horses in my barn but his one might have been too much for even her.

Home again, home again, I am back somewhat reconnected with my new computer, sent bills out today, am blogging away, and am back to near normal on this thing. Still have got many programs to get loaded but horses are calling for me to bring them dinner so those things will have to wait. I am over the panic now and life with computers is moving on.

4 comments:

  1. That is a very big 'hard-foot puppy'. Gorgeous- glad you got to see it in person.
    Glad you're operational again, too. Perhaps this time the computer lives farther away from the stove?

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  2. wish i'd have known ya'll went there.. passed by it on Saturday and thought it would be cool, but alas, didn't have time as we were in a hurry to drive lost-elly around Atlanta forever.. good times.. heard the gig was crazy, hate i missed it. like your blog.. i may start one...

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