Got up this morning and powered on my computer to take care of e-mails and check out new Pixie postings ... when this blue screen appears ...

"Windows Protection Error ... reboot your computer."

Needless to say after five attempts I decided this was perhapes not the solution to my problem. Machine's under warranty (as many of you know all too well), and so I called the technicians (many of whom are becoming first name friends). They had me use the QioclRestore disks ... reformating the hard drive and rebuilding Windows and other original software.

Then the rest of the day was spent recovering my stuff from backup disks.

I think I'm starting to hate this machine. Had it a year ... but it's been to California twice to be serviced since November and then, this time, had me tied to it all day. Frustrating. But, at least I'm back on.

Guess it could be worse ... er ... maybe I don't want to say that.