My office

I have been living on my sister's farm, in Laveen, AZ, now for a year. It's totally different, that's for sure. I have my own business, "Comfy Pets of SouthBay", in which I am trying to get up and running full-time. I also merchandise, on a part-time basis, to bring in extra income. Anyway, the one thing about living with relatives is that you have no space of your own. The home is not yours, so you can't really change anything. Plus, I have no area for an office. Well, that's not entirely true, we do have an office, but it's such a mess, that we haven't had the time, or energy, to clean it up, even though we keep saying (my sister & I) that we will. So, I do my office work on the kitchen counter, which I like to spread out all my stuff. This, of couorse, drives my sister crazy. She hates clutter, which I have never totally understood since the entire farm is one big clutter. Part of my business is that I do house sitting, so I could be away from 1 to 15 days @ a time. One of the worst parts is, that I always have to rely on the customer's computer. There are times when their system might be down, they don't have a computer, or I just don't like the fact that I might push the wrong button and their computer will crash.....ummmm......sounds like my mother. So, I thought of a perfect solution. I would purchase a Sprint Broadband card. This would enable me to use my computer anywhere. So, I purchased the card, and then tried to install the software. Well, that was when my nightmare began. I barely put the CD in my computer, when I received an error message. It said that I was missing some type of file on my computer system, and to install this file, or contact my computer tech (what computer tech?) for support. And, then it hit me.....I do have a computer tech. His name is Ed, and he is in my Chamber of Commerce Leads group. So, I called Ed, first thing in the morning (this all happened yesterday, March 6th). I had to leave a message, and being the impatient person that I am, I kept wondering why he hadn’t returned my call yet. Well, it wasn’t that long, to be truthful, and when he returned my call I didn’t even hear my phone ring. So, I called him back, explained what was going on, and he said that he would be more than happy to assist me.

When I arrived @ Ed’s, I had no idea that I would be there for more than 2 hours, he tried to install the software. And, to my surprise….he was having just as much trouble as I was. Now, I didn’t feel like such an idiot. We ended up having to call the Sprint Tech Support, in which I was on his speakerphone, and when their tech started speaking “Computer Geek”, I said, “I am going to let you speak to my computer tech.” Oooh….I have a computer tech, how cool is that?

After trying this and that, we ended up having to download the older version, of their software. Yes, you heard me correctly, the older version. Apparently, there is a bug in their new software. Now, why wasn’t the Sprint store, where I purchased the software, made aware of this bug? Um, go figure. So, after all that, the older version was downloaded, and you know what happened next? Well, Ed’s house doesn’t receive Sprint signal either, which is why I wanted to go to his house in the first place since the farm only gets the signal about 1% of the time, so we weren’t able to connect. It did state, however, that I was in a “Digital Roaming”, but I would have to pay more for that feature. I don’t think so.

Ed then began cleaning up my hard drive. Who knew that there were so many programs and files running, that I could not physically see, the moment my computer is turned on. He said that a lot of it was junk and did not need to be running, and that is also how spyware gets into our system, as well. So, he disabled quite a few of these files, and you know what? The moment I re-booted my computer, it instantly came on, without me waiting for minutes and minutes for the screen to pop on.

So, this morning, when I woke up, I went to my chamber of commerce leads club meeting. I then went to my favorite hangout, Starbucks, which I am sure is a lot of people’s favorite hangout. Anyway, I ordered my coffee, sat down on their biggest table (did I mention that I like to spread out my paperwork?), and turned on my computer. It is so neat that it goes on quickly. I then held my breath, as I inserted my “Sprint Broadband Card”, and waited. When I saw that I had a signal and it was connected, I felt like I was in Heaven.

I began working on paperwork, answering emails, checking accounts, etc., and you know what? 3 hours went by, very quickly. It was so quiet there, it was like I was in my own little world. But, then I had to leave for my pet sitting duties.

After performing my pet sitting and some merchandising assignments that were near due, I headed to my next office space, in which I am @ now….the Library. I have been here now, for almost 3 hours. I wrote out two reports, check my emails, accounts, etc., and I am loving this broadband thing. I could definitely get used to it, that’s for sure. But, soon, I will need to unplug my computer, pack it away and head back to the crazy farm. Did I mention we have 9 horses, 6 dogs, 1 cat, 2 pot-bellied pigs, and 1 cow named “Suzi”? Well, with all that, it gets kind of crazy there. And, it’s rarely quiet. You want to hear more farm stories? Well, you will have to check out my other blog, “Living on the Farm”.

With that, I say goodnight. Better start packing up my office now. Hey, it's dark outside....exactly, how long have I been here?