Sigh--Not a good day

I got qot a new laptop for work yesterday. Since I have TONS on my machine, it took me about 8 hours to get all the data copied over across the nework, and I started installing software this morning. Had the printers on, and about 1/3 of the programs. Put a CD in the tray, closed it, and it immediately started smoking! Yikes! Turned the machine off, and the D drive is fried. So, back it goes for repairs, and I'm back on my old machine--annoying, since it was moved to another desk in my office, and I'm now forced to sit with my back to the door, or move the computer back to the main desk until the laptop comes back.

Grrrrr.....

Ha! The old machine still has everything, and I was going to finish setting everything up before burning data to a DVD--the old machine doesn't have a DVD burner, but everything is backed up on CD's. Sigh. Apparently the laptop will be back in a couple days.

It's a Gateway. We don't get to pick--the 'process' is to indicate the minimum requirements you need and then IT orders machines in batches, usually in groups of power users and average users. If you're a power user, you end with something close to satisfactory, if you're an average user, you have a way over-powered machine. Not the best system, but I don't have much choice.

The 4 others that came in at the same time (1 like mine, 3 without as many upgrades) are all running just fine--I spent most of yesterday playing with 2 of them to see if they had the same faulty wiring. It was in fact a short in the wiring, burned out the DVD card. Gateway is sending out a new one, should be here tomorrow or Monday.

Back ups will always be an issue. The deparmtnet IT personnel handle backups on the network, but I don't trust that since finding out a year ago that their backup routine didn't capture about 1/2 the data my division has on the network. So, I handle my own backups, including network data for 10 offices, make 2 copies and take one home with me once a week. Not ideal, but more effective than nothing.