The house was a jumble of activity today, as slowly the end of our so-called “suburban renewal” is coming into sight. The master bath is still a mess, but all the tile is up and waiting to be grouted tomorrow. The new stove and refrigerator came today, and next Thursday the refinished “big kahuna” office desk and credenza will be delivered (meaning I’ll be able to get my office back), and the plumber will be here to install the new bathroom hardware. After that, there’s just some minor tile work left (less than a day’s worth) and then it’s finito! At least we hope…

Taxes have been paid – well, our estimated taxes, at least – as Tracey hustled down to the post office 10 minutes before it closed to deliver our extension request forms and personal checks for the feds and the state. When will they actually get done? A lot depends on how well our PC rises from the dead.

Which brings me to the damned PC.

About two hours ago, I was actually pretty hopeful. Tracey had dedicated the morning to downloading Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player 11, and every freakin’ driver she could find from Dell support that met our PCs requirements. She doesn’t know how she did it, but our wavy, screen painting internet issue got resolved, and after she installed Outlook Express, we actually got two weeks of e-mail downloaded. So far, so good.

Tonight I was tasked with installing more software from various executables and disks we had laying around all over the garage. Things were proceeding rather nicely. Then, just as I inserted the very last software disk needing to be installed (ironically, TurboTax 2009), the computer froze. I’ve checked the cables and the mouse batteries, and those appear to be OK, but somehow we’re at some point that Windows doesn’t like. I saw the words “Keyboard failure” during the boot, so maybe our wireless thingumybob that supports our wireless keyboard and mouse is malfunctioning – who knows? Either way, I believe tomorrow will be perhaps the most critical day of this PC’s life, as right now it’s on a shorter string than slumping David “Big Papi” Ortiz, if you know what I mean….

Oh, BTW, we hit 90 for the first time today. It won’t be the last. Looks like I’ll be taking my first dip in the pool this weekend. Surf’s up!

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Pool temp: 74 degrees