La Jalapeña

Last week my pc was taken hostage by a powerful virus, thanks to the handy work of my boys. We have talked numerous times to our boys about internet safety, and especially about uploading anything on the web. Both my husband and I take that caution very seriously not only for their protection but for the safety of our pc as well.

This was not the first time we have had a pc affected by a virus. Some years ago the problem was so bad we had to get rid of our computer and purchase a new one. This time around my husband loaded our then new computer with every spam and virus protection he could find. Darn thing was slow because it was "carrying to much weight". Parecía una tortuga everytime we would do anything on the computer- turn it on, open a document, go on the net, and on and on. Ijole!! Que molestia!! Eventually my husband weeded out the extras and kept the strongest protectors on.

We don't stop at just talking to our boys about internet safety, we also have other safety measures in place. We have only one computer in our household which, we keep in the kitchen. This is the most visited room in our home because my guys are piglets- they eat too much. When they are on the computer, we can easily look over their shoulders to peek at what they are looking at. We also ask them questions about which site they are visiting. If they are viewing e-mail, we remind them to clean out any spam mail they might get and never open mail from unknown people. As you may recall, my boys are teenagers. As long as we are alive, we will continue to drive it through their heads about internet safety as well as other life issues. It's what we do, we're parents.

Do they listen? Si. Most of the time. Sadly, both my husband and I cannot be watching every little move our boys make in life. It takes just one little click and...... disaster! I noticed it at first. The computer was moving like a tortuga. Then it was my husband who discovered the tell tale sign of a virus- the search feature (for documents) was gone. By this time the virus had been running and taking hostage of our programs for a couple of days. After doing a virus sweep he was unable to delete the culprit. This was highly unusual because we typically can detect them and wipe them off but this virus was very different. It buried itself deep into our system and we couldn't get rid of it. The only alternative we had was to re-install XP.

My husband is the official "I.T. guy" in our household so he took care of it. (I thought, okay go for it.) I gave very little thought to my documents, pictures, and videos. (He's taking care of it.) It had been nearly a week by then without me being able to use the computer. I was limited to my smartphone. By the way, smartphones are not laptops. Yes, I could have went to my local library to use their computers but.... *rolls eyes* my schedule was too jam packed to include a trip to the library. With firework season, I have little time to do anything extra. Sorry, that's another story.

Anyhow, I lost everything. (((sigh))) I'm trying to do my yoga breathing as I recall this event. The man of the house assured me and re-assured me that he would be able to retrieve everything. The week ended and sure enough my documents and pictures were recovered.... but I can't open them. He still needs to fully install everything including the audio in our system. ((((((deeep sigh)))))) As for my videos???? Gone! *ROARS* GRRRR!!! x(

I cannot even begin to describe the anger that is brewing in my chest as I share this with you all. My boys were grilled about their click happy fingers. As for my husband......*bleep* *bleep* *bleep*!!! That's it!! This is far more than just losing my computer for more than a week and everything that is important to me that it contained. (my videos are still missing) It's about sharing everything with my husband. With the exception of my make-up, clothes, shoes, and tampons, we share everything else we have. I'm tired of sharing things that get broken by him or the kids. Things that get disorganized by him and the boys. Things that get misplaced because they don't know how to put anything back EXACTLY where it belongs.

Yes, I know I am married and that's how the cookie crumbles. Enough is enough!! I want a laptop that will not be shared by all. I want something that I know if it falls apart or gets lost it is because of my carelessness. I just want something that means a whole lot to me, to my self. Is that too much to ask for? Yes, I know I am a princess. :p So what of it!

As a result of all this drama, I also learned my lesson about backing up my important files on an external hard-drive. I'm mostly mild mannered thanks to my yoga practice but every now and then the Jalapeña in me pops out. I am now saving my pennies for my Mac Pro. (Yes, I am very spicy!!) Nope, I'm not sharing either- no matter how much I love my husband and boys. Hands off guys!!