Rant #2,931: Misery

Yesterday, I was full of misery on Independence Day.
 
Not about the day itself, but on everything that happened during the day.
 
As you know, I am having both pool and computer problems, and they continued yesterday.
 
Let’s start with the computer.
 
I turned on this very computer that I am typing this Rant out on, and as it did all weekend, it would not immediately boot up.
 
What it does is that it goes into the screen before the boot happens, and then sits there with a white screen.
 
What I have to do to get it to work is to pull out its plug from the wall and than put it back in, which I assume resets the computer and allows it to work.
 
Of course, that is a warning sign for problems, akin to having to start up your car twice to get it to run.
 
I don’t know how long this situation will go on, but I will go with it until the thing doesn’t boot up at all; I can’t afford another computer right now, or quite frankly, period, but if you have to, you have to.
 
I am a writer and I need something to write with, so I do believe a replacement computer is in my future … maybe reconditioned, but a new computer nonetheless.
 
That exterior hard drive is also shot, although I got it to work briefly yesterday, and I did get off of it some files that I wanted. I will see what I can get off of it today, if it works.
 
Funny, I placed a bid for a cheap replacement for the drive on eBay—literally a couple of cents was all the party was selling a used version of what I have—but then for the first time that I have ever used eBay, the auction was pulled. I don’t know why, but the seller told me it had nothing to do with me; he just had to pull the auction.
 
Maybe he tried the drive himself, and found out that the drive he was offering was as shot as mine is. Who knows.
 
Now we can talk about my pool, the bane of my existence at this point in time.
 
As you know, this has been an ongoing problem for weeks on end, and a few days ago, it appeared that we had solved the problem that we had with the water in the pool.
 
The poo    l store we use even told us it was safe to go in, after a few more things were done to make it good.
 
We did those few more things, and it was “everyone into the pool” yesterday …
 
Or so I thought.
 
I actually went into the pool, and the water was fantastic … but the problem persisted about the safety of the water.
 
Part of the pool appeared to be good, the other part was filthy, and my wife and I spent an hour digging out leaves and branches and dirt and whatever else was in there that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
 
But the more we cleaned, the dirtier the entire pool got.
 
My wife never went in, and I came out after a while as frustrated as I have been in a long time, probably since I was job searching and coming up with bupkis.
 
We called a few places that clean out pools, and since it was the holiday, no one was in, but we left messages and hopefully, at least one of them will call us back.
 
It is only July 5 today, and if we can remedy this situation that has cost me several hundred dollars to this point, maybe we can use the pool this summer.
 
I just don’t know at this point.
 
So I sat around a good part of the afternoon in an abyss, without the use of the pool on a perfect swimming day and wondering about my computer, and how I could extend its life for as long as possible—
 
But I still had our Independence Day barbecue to look forward to.
 
In the recent past, when barbecuing, I have used no-name-brand barbecue coals that I found in a local store sometime last summer.
 
These coals are the best coals I have ever used.
 
They get ready really quickly, and for about $3 less on the price.
 
Anyway, I used up these coals during our barbecue on Father’s Day, and to my dismay, when I was looking for coats the other day for the July 4 barbecue, I could not find this non-brand anywhere, and I had to settle for the popular name brand we all know, for $3 more in price.
 
And when I started things up yesterday, these coals were not doing what they were supposed to do, or at least were taking their time to do it.
 
It was taking our hot dogs, hamburgers, sausage and ribs forever to get done, so I had to do something I have never had to do before, which was to take the food off the grill, replenish the coals, and hope that more firepower would get things going which it finally did.
 
I had to add in twice the number of coals than I started out with, so I was basically using twice the amount of coals at about 25 percent more in price.
 
Everything worked out fine, but it all just led to my feeling of frustration and misery for the day.
 
Today, yes, it took me basically two starts to get the computer running, and I have not tried the hard drive yet, but I will.
 
Maybe things will all work out, but right now, I feel really defeated.
 
But I have to push on, as I know that all of these problems will eventually work out for the best …
 
What’s money anyway?
 
A mere bag of shells, a mere bag of shells.
 
I have to keep telling myself that, over and over and over and over again ... .