$#%&@*!!!!

If I've been a little sparse on posting lately, it's not for lack of material - I just went on a nice tour yesterday of the geology of Western NY, including the stratigraphic sequence from the top to the bottom of Niagara Falls, glacial deposits and striations, and the coolest stromatolites I've ever seen. (It was even worth putting up with the whiny students, who I was TAing for. "Why do we have to climb this hill?" "Are we staying on the bus for this stop?" "I wasn't paying attention to what the professor just said THREE SECONDS AGO. Can you answer all the questions he just covered?" Not to mention the hung-over ones.)

It's not even because I spent both days this weekend TAing for the trip and basically had an hour or two each evening to eat, do chores, complete all my homework assignments, read papers, outline papers, etc.

No, it's because last night, thanks to Microsoft's oh-so-necessary Service Pack 3, my computer decided to crash completely and display the Blue Screen of Death - which it is still doing. So instead of being at home, getting ready for a long day of classes, I am at school, where I have been since 6 AM, trying to recreate all the work that I did last night that's due today. Fortunately I could get into the building and find a computer to use, but I now have no computer of my own, and likely won't for several days, if the IT people are able to help me with it at all. If not...well, I'll only have lost the files from this past week or so, but I'll be stuck with no computer and a very expensive doorstop.

Screw technology. At this point, I'd be perfectly happy to be out on a horse in the middle of the desert, writing about an outcrop in a NOTEBOOK with a PENCIL that I have to trim with a knife. (More specifically, screw Microsoft, for being so useless and because I'm stuck with them, since I can't afford a Mac.)