Frogputer down!

You know what they say, life is what happens while you are busy making plans.
I was working this morning merrily away in my notebook, making good progress, December all written up, edge coming along beautifully, when suddenly my screen turned really dim, and then black.
AAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!
An emergency visit to the Geek Squad turned out some bad news/good news: my hard drive is in good shape, however my monitor backlight is kaput. That means the computer would have to take a long drive to the repair shop, and $300 and a couple of weeks later, I would have it back in working shape.
Now, that hardly makes any sense. My computer is a dinosaur that was top of the line when I bought it seven years ago, but now my cell phone has already more memory and capability. Would I pay half the price of a new computer to have it back? hell, no.
You know, some people have green thumbs. I have a sort of an electronic thumbs. My small electronics thrive and survive forever. My cell phone was three years old and in great working order when I finally succumbed to the delights of the Android smart phone. My notebook was going to be 8 this Christmas. It had never been to the computer doctor. Never had a virus. It was missing some keys after my sons peeled them, but I managed to work around them. It has moved house three times. I have had the computer longer than the husband. I had been saving for a while to buy me a new computer for Christmas. And today suddenly I found myself having to make a hasty, joyless purchase and spend all my self-Christmas money. I harassed the poor Best Buy guy with many dumb questions, just because I had not had time to research, I gave my husband three emergency phone calls while staring at computers (he is not a very electronic-savvy person, and therefore he is capable of making a more common sense decision without getting bedazzled by the toys), and finally I wasted a whole morning milling around the store, filling out service papers and trying to extricate myself from the myriad service offers and warranties and such they try to slap on you every time you buy an electronic.
In the end, I came home a lot poorer and still without a computer. They have to transfer all my data to a backup disk, and make a recovery disk for my new puter (I was appalled when I found out they don't give you these any more). When I get them, I will have to spend a miserable couple of days re-installing all the software.
While I do have backup copies of most of my stuff, the charting program may or may not be recoverable, which means I would have to buy a new one. And I am broke. And it is expensive. But I will manage.
All this puts me hopelessly behind in my pattern writing, and with a couple of deadlines looming dangerously ahead. So I better get caught with the knitting instead!
Did I mention, yarn diet till next year???

Anyway, I would like to finish on a happy note. The minipattern is looking good.
Here is a little laugh. If you are not one of the thousands that has seen this YouTube bit, I hope you will laugh as hard as I did. Good, clean fun!

Grover vs Old Spice