Kat with a K: Not a Good Day

April 29, 2007

Not a Good Day

Yesterday was patently Not a Good Day. But it was also a day in which I realized just how wonderful my friends are, and so I ended the day feeling lucky and grateful as well as sad.

The plan had been simple: do homework all day, basically. Maybe take a break to work on my resume or find my summer clothes. But pretty much just homework. (My final presentation is a week from Tuesday.) But. Just as I was getting started, the kitten started scratching the sofa, and I reached for the spray bottle, and somehow between the two of us my mug of coffee ended up spilling directly onto my laptop. I flipped it over and shook it out, and started to panic, because, in addition to needing it for all the homework I'd planned to do that day, my laptop held the only copy of the assignment I'd finished the night before. (I know, I know.) Becoming suddenly computerless in the last week of my last semester was not really a viable option.

So I called a friend who knows things about computers (which is pretty much the understatement of the year) and he told me to bring it over in the afternoon. (In the morning, I got a rather surprising amount of work done, considering I was computerless.) The verdict: apparently I am very, very good at getting lots of coffee into my computer. Especially my hard drive. But he got the hard drive out and copied over my files, so the scariest issue was resolved. Then he gave the computer a bath in distilled water, which was rather amusing to watch. (Pictures are forthcoming.) His wife gave me tea and poundcake and we knit and talked while the various scary computer surgeries were going on. The computer is still in pieces at their house, drying out for a few days. I am currently using a spare laptop they let me borrow so I can at least finish out these assignments without worrying too much. They were both amazing, and I don't know what I would have done without them.

And then I got home, and got the loaner computer working, and was starting to feel better about things, and my father called. As soon as he said "Hi, Katie," I knew someone was dead or in the hospital, because he's my dad and I know that voice. It was my uncle, Tony, my maternal grandmother's brother. He had had a heart attack in his driveway that afternoon and died. I know it shouldn't have been shocking - he had to have been in his 80s, because my grandmother is almost 80 and he was older - but I was shocked anyway. And extremely sad. I know "great-uncle" doesn't necessarily sound so close, but he had been one of my favorite relatives since I was little. I've always been close to his wife, as well.

Of course, that also meant that I didn't care about the timing or it being the last week of school - I had to go to Florida for the funeral. After a few minutes of panic about homework and travel arrangements, I started looking up fares and coming up with various plans. As I was beginning to realize that it would be both more affordable and logistically easier for everyone involved if I just traveled with my parents, a friend pointed out that she lives near the airport my parents use, and offered to let me crash at her place before and/or after my flights, and to drive me to/from the airport so I didn't have to pay for airport parking.

So. I'm sad and things are chaotic and I still don't know what days I'm traveling or how I'm going to get everything done or if I'm going to have a usable computer at the end of it. But boy, do I have awesome friends.

Posted by Kat at April 29, 2007 08:51 AM

Comments

I'm so sorry for your loss & for all bad things seeming to happen at one time (boy do I know how that goes).

I'm so glad you will be getting to travel with your family & that you have really great friends there for you!!

Safe travels! :)

Posted by: Leah at April 29, 2007 10:36 AM

Kat, I'm sorry to hear about your great uncle. And your computer stress. It feels so overwhelming when everything hits at once like that. I'll be thinking of you as you travel.

Posted by: Sonya at April 29, 2007 11:18 AM

I'm so sorry for your loss. No matter their age, we still miss the ones we love when they are gone.

Your friends rock on all levels -- it must mean you are covered in good karma :-)

Aside: I just finished watching all the Apple vs. PC ads on the Apple site (yeah, I'm a nerdy lame-o, what's your point?) and it occurred to me that no major computer manufacturer has ever addressed the coffee-in-the-keyboard/laptop issue, which is one of the major user problems out there. I mean, who HASN'T encountered this tragedy at some point? There's a whole subset of waterproof keyboards made by third-party mfgs, but Microsoft or Apple? totally silent, afaik. /digression

Posted by: kmkat at April 29, 2007 12:51 PM

Yikes... that IS a bad day. I'm glad the computer issues were resolved with relative smoothness. I'm sorry about your uncle.

Posted by: miss ewe at April 29, 2007 02:11 PM

So sorry to hear all your sad news!

Thankful you have good friends to lean on. Boy, we all need that, don't we?

Posted by: Amy at April 29, 2007 03:13 PM

...and that's the main thing!

Posted by: Nora at April 29, 2007 03:49 PM

Oh, Kat, I'm sorry to hear about your great uncle. :( But I'm glad things came together for going to the funeral.

And very glad that you computer was rescued! I've had a spill or two and it's SO stressful. Many of them (but by no means all) were cat related...

Posted by: Chris at April 29, 2007 05:21 PM

You DO have awesome friends! I'm sorry about your Great Uncle, that's very sad. And isn't it nice to know there are so many people who care about you?

Posted by: carrie at April 29, 2007 07:38 PM

I'm so sorry to hear that! Sending hugs....

Posted by: --Deb at April 29, 2007 09:15 PM

Gosh...what a day. I am surprised you had time to post.

It will all subside in a few days. Hang in there.

Posted by: Jenni at April 29, 2007 09:52 PM

So sorry to hear about your great uncle. What a day. *sigh*

Posted by: Jeanne at April 30, 2007 11:25 AM

{Kat} I'm really sorry about your great-uncle. It doesn't matter how old loved ones are; they just should never die!

Posted by: sprite at April 30, 2007 04:56 PM

I am sorry for your loss. I understand about the closeness. It's not just the blood thickness that makes the relationship, it's the family closeness. I pray all goes well for your travel plans.

Posted by: Chris at April 30, 2007 09:01 PM

I am very sorry about your great Uncle!

I was relieved to read that you didn't lose all of your work in your laptop! It's wonderful to have good friends like that.

Posted by: Karen at May 1, 2007 09:32 AM

I am so sorry for your loss, but glad that you are able to go to the funeral. And that you have good friends to lean on.

Posted by: Ruth at May 1, 2007 02:09 PM

I am so sorry about your uncle. It is so hard to lose someone so dear. Take care.

Posted by: Jennie at May 1, 2007 02:26 PM

Good friends, indeed. I've been through both of these things, though not on the same day. I didn't find anyone who could save my hard drive, and lots of international travel was involved in the funeral mess, though (and, their age at death just doesn't matter, it's still a shock - maybe it's worse, because we've come to think of them as ageless and somehow permanent). Good luck with the last week of school stress and I hope the family is able to get together safely and grieve the loss of your great uncle the way you all need to.

Posted by: Krista at May 2, 2007 10:03 AM

Thinking of you. Hope everything works out OK. Sorry about your loss. Miss you.

Posted by: Cory at May 2, 2007 03:08 PM

I'm so sorry about your great uncle.
I'm glad your homework and data was salveable and I hope your laptop dries out and works again.

Posted by: BigAlice at May 2, 2007 04:41 PM

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Great uncle is just a label and he was more than that to you.

Posted by: Carrie K at May 3, 2007 10:42 PM

I'm so very sorry for your loss. You're amazing to go through all that at once and yet still contemplate your good fortune in life. {hugs}

Posted by: Carol at May 7, 2007 04:52 PM

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Sending you a great big hug. x

Posted by: mrspao at May 8, 2007 09:38 AM