Farm Fresh Blog

"Anger is like the hot coal we pick up to throw at another,

only to burn our own hand."

                                   Budda

Years and experience are teaching me that if I wait long enough, I will eventually see the good in a situation so it is pointless to fly off the handle.  Now Other Half may argue that I still fly off the handle pretty frequently, and he's right, I may still do it, but at least I "try" to recognize later that not only was it a waste of energy, but that God has a plan. I had one of those "Ah HAAA! moments" last night that forced me to sit up and marvel at how Things really work in Life.

There are certain things guaranteed to pull my chain.  Computer problems are one of them. I love my computer. I am a Bitchy Bear without my computer. These events led up to my Ah Hah, God Knows What He's Doing moment:

* Old Laptop got terminally ill last summer.

* Took Old Laptop to uppity rude, know-it-all computer guru boy who took my money and then informed me that Old Laptop was sick. The files were wiped clean and he could not recover anything. Too bad. My Loss.  "Learn to back up your files, M'am!"  I mourned the loss of many, many, many old photographs that were now completely lost.  These included some of my favorite photos of Bloodhound and Ancient Arabian Stallion.  Threw a fit. Got over it. Bought a new laptop.  Packed old laptop away.

* Found cool photoshop program for New Laptop. Loaned program to Very Responsible Dear Friend so she could play with it.  Very Responsible Dear Friend accidentally broke the disk.  She was almost hysterical. Program was already on my laptop so I was unconcerned about loss of disk. Very Responsible Dear Friend told me about another free photoshopping program called Picasa by Google.  I was interested but don't need it because I have a photoshop program on my laptop.

* MONTHS later (Friday) New Laptop gets sick.  Opt against taking it to Uppity Rude Know-It-All Computer Guru Boy who "fixed" old laptop and instead take it to Police Department Old Friend who is also a computer guru.  She finds virus and dispatches it. Accidentally leave my power cord in her office IN INTERNAL AFFAIRS over the weekend.  They are closed over the weekend. (unless of course I was to accept a bribe, abuse a prisoner, or get caught snorting cocaine on the 5 o'clock news)   

* Start to throw a hissy fit.  Bitchy Bear begins to emerge.  Then a thought popped into my head.  OLD LAPTOP!!!!  It's wiped clean, but it can STILL get on the internet. I dusted the cat hair off the case, plugged that puppy in, and it booted right up.  It was like the Heavens opened!  Trumpets blared!  Angels sang! (or maybe that was just the Windows Tune, but nevertheless, it was music to my ears!)

* Downloaded a few photos from digital camera into Old Laptop.  Realized I have no photoshop program to re-size them.  Hmmmm . . . Remember Picasa.  Download free Picasa from Google.  What happened next was almost frightening.

Every photograph I had EVER put on Old Laptop was ferreted out and uploaded into Picasa.  EVERYTHING! Picasa found photos I didn't even remember taking.  Five years worth of photographs were pulled out.  It was like I hit the payoff at a slot machine!  With tears in my eyes I watched the tiny thumbnails of photos load. My mind raced back to all the frustrating events that led up to this moment - everything that had seemed like a tragedy, or a least a major pothole, was actually a blessing - waiting like a bud to bloom.  

So I will sing it loudly from the rooftop, "Have Faith!  Everything will be just fine.  Just wait and see."

(That is true unless, of course, you are a pedophile and have kiddie porn in your computer.  Obviously no matter how hard you try to erase that stuff, Picasa would pull that crap right out and probably hand it to the police.  Thankfully, I am boring and only had 5 years worth of animal and flower pictures!)