OOPS.

Can I just say that I am not a big fan of Florida?
There are so many reasons.
It might just be that I was born in the north country, as we refer to the Adirondacks.  I like mountains all around.  In the Adirondacks, beauty abounds just about everywhere.
Florida, not so much.
It's flat, folks.   FLAT.  And there is way too much cement and blacktop.  And traffic.

Who would do this???   Gravel for your front yard, your back yard, your entire yard???

We did take a ride over into the middle of the state, to Myakka City.   I sent some loopers there, and the name fascinated me.  So one day when we were out and about, we drove out there.
It is definitely more picturesque, more interesting, less congested.
But it is the other end of extreme.  There is NOTHING there.......for convenience purposes.

Ah, I guess that in spite of the dreary, cold, icy, bitter, snowy winters in upstate NY, it is still a pretty nice place to live.
There are mountains to hike, pristine ponds to paddle on, back roads to explore, farm land, forests, everything a country girl could want.  But still there are small towns, small cities, places to eat, and shop, if that's what you need to do.

Just don't be there in January and February, because it's nasty.

I am, however, grateful for the sunshine and warm temperatures in the south.   This is where two years of misery were left on the side of the road.  This is where my headache lost its control of me, and my own new normal beckoned with waving arms.

It is  where I got my groove back.  I know it.  I feel it. And it's good stuff.
I will always remember Florida as the place that something huge  happened to me.

Now, there is some leftover disturbance...... stuff............ from having three surgeries on your head.  Or it could be age, or it could be a combination of the two.  But I am clumsy sometimes.  I drop things.  I break things.  I have lost that ease of movement that I used to have.  It causes me occasional distress.

So the other day, when I was having breakfast, I spilled cereal on my MacPro laptop.   Yes, I did.  Oh, the horrors.
I wiped it off almost immediately, and sighed BIG.....it seemed ok.

Then about 20 minutes later, a screen popped up, said turn your monitor off, then blackness.   Oh, my.
No matter how many times I tried to turn it on, it would not come on.  It did beep.

I need my laptop, folks.  Bad.   For my business, for NETFLIX, for my blog, for my sanity, for my google map addiction.
So I did what any faithful Mac snob would do, I found and called the Apple store, made an appointment for 1pm that day.
It was only 15 miles away, and we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, which is always good, and I had the tempura battered fish tacos.  So, so yummy.   Put me in such a good mood, I imagined getting my laptop tweaked and heading out with it as good as new.

Then on to the Apple store, which was mobbed.   I sat and waited for a while, and finally a tech came to help me.  He tried this, and he tried that, and then said he would take it in the back to pop it open, and would be right back.

About 5 minutes later, he appeared, put his elbows on the counter, looked at me over his glasses, eye to eye, and said one word.
"MILK".

gulp.


Yes, it's true, I have been the beneficiary of an expensive lesson this week.  He pulled the hard drive, which was spared, and I will buy an external enclosure for it, so all my data/pictures/etc are saved.
But the rest of it, history.  It is presently on Ebay being sold for parts.  Wish me luck.

I opted for a smaller, lighter, otherwise identical version, with the 13" screen.  And to optimize my Netflix experience when I get home, I bought Apple TV.

For some people, this would be the kind of thing that would ruin your day.  But I just looked at it for what it was, decided what I was going to do, and chose not to waste another minute on it. 

It's all about perspective, and mine has had an almost complete overhaul.
Amen.