I just want to go hide in a book...

Hands up, everyone who would have thought that three-- count 'em, three!-- techs at DELL wouldn't know how to install sound drivers. It's amazing, but true. None of them had a clue.

After waiting all day Saturday for my new drivers disk to arrive, I decided to call. When I finally got through to tech services, I was told that the shipment of the disk had been cancelled. And they hadn't seen fit to tell me. Neither could the tech tell me why the order had been cancelled. But he did tell me something interesting that the first two tech reps hadn't seen fit to tell me: the drivers I needed were available for download from DELL's support site.

It took an hour and forty-five minutes to download the zip file. (We don't have high speed service out here in the boonies-- unless you want to go with satellite digital for $300/month.) While I waited, I read the notes on the download page that admonished me to read the "Read Me" text files before attempting installation. So, when I had the file downloaded, I did just that.

All I had to do was delete the hardware profiles for the sound card, reboot, and, when the "new device" was discovered, point the installer to the downloaded file folder to get the drivers. Worked like a charm. So why were the techs telling me that I had to run the setup.exe file (which doesn't work)? Go figure.

Speaking of imponderables, as I was watching the X-Files tonight, I found myself wondering why Dr. Scully never dives in to help the seriously wounded. I mean, even when Mulder has been injured, she doesn't do much-- though, come to think of it, he is the only person she ever patched up that I can remember...

But, even so, generally speaking, when someone is shot or injured, she doesn't do much. Tonight she shot that guy, Peatty, and didn't lift a finger to find out whether there was anything she could do for him-- or for the guy up on the landing who was presumably bleeding. Is she afraid of a lawsuit? What about the Good Samaratin laws? Odd.

But then, Dr. Scully couldn't have much experience in the practice of medicine, could she? She must have finished her residency, but then she joined the FBI, so when has she had a chance to practice on much else than cadavers? Hmmm...

Tell me, is there a policy in effect for FBI agents prohibiting them from messing with the injured/wounded? I'm just wondering.

The weather has turned cold. I guess that's part of why I just want to crawl into a book. I can do that in a nice warm bed. And reading a good book will help me forget the frustrations of the past few days. Sometimes I feel quite overwhelmed...

Days like this I feel trapped by all the niggling details of daily life. I'm stuck, always having to do some practical task first before I can do the things I really want to do. And days like today, even when I get a few minutes to do what I really want to do, I can't remember what that is. And that makes me feel even more trapped.

I'm going to watch the end of Lillies of the Field (Sidney Poitier got a Lifetime Achievement Award from SAG tonight), then I'm going to bed and read Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton. So far, they're the best vampire books I've read.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

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