Isn’t it amazing how so many of us have become dependent upon our daily dose of computer time? I remember the first computer we bought for Perfect Daughter way back when she was a seventh grader. It was a TI. That’s Texas Instruments for those of you not living near here or for far younger birthdays than mine. The memory was a specialized tape recorder and everything had to be in code. We thought it was a great step up from the programmable electric typewriter. The TI lasted until we bought the first of our PC’s about two years later. This one was amazingly faster than the first one, and we were so glad to have it – until it lost PD’s junior English paper the night before it was due (natch!). It was there somewhere. We could see all of these funny little symbols, but the translation that we could actually read was not going to come out of that thing! That was probably CRISIS #1, but I didn’t learn my lesson- nope, no way.

There have been several upgrades in our household and at work since then, and we have managed to mostly control the “catastrophes” to just a few. We now have a desktop PC upstairs in my “office” (she said VERY loosely) and a newer laptop downstairs. This does not take into account the IPOD, IPHONE and Blackberry connections we make constantly throughout the day. We email, Twitter, Blackberry, text, Tweetpic, blog, seesmic, TweetDeck, Twitteriffic, search, research, and…(insert whatever techie verb you can think of). Fortunately, most of the time we do this without a hitch.

HOWEVER, earlier this week that all changed on the laptop. Suddenly, Google was no longer my friend. It didn’t seem to know that I existed, that we had a long-standing affair. I was rejected, discarded, and left to wonder why. No blog. No Gmail. No Reader. Zip. Nada. Nothing. I ran the virus scan manually. That didn’t fix it. I tried to System Restore and got a message saying that it couldn’t be done. Uh oh! It finally began to dawn on me that this was not a normal “incident.” I checked the upstairs computer; it seemed to be okay although a bit slow.

I’m not a very patient person, and when it comes to solving mysteries related to the computer, I am especially impatient! I gave up after a couple of days and called my personal “tech helper,” Thomas. He worked on the desktop and performed some “abra-cadabra” on the laptop. The dt worked fine – he says it is time to retire it, but it was still no go on the laptop. Now mind you, I have Norton Antivirus, Spynomore and Malvarebytes (not endorsing) but the virus got through anyway due, now I realize, through my negligence. Yep. Even though I pride myself on being aware and taking all sorts of precautions, I made a wrong click without thinking. After some research, I was able to figure out what went wrong and set about correcting it.

WHY DO THESE PEOPLE DO THIS!!!! I’m ready to vote in life sentences without parole. Anyone care to join me???

If you start having problems loading Google, look in the url for “redirection” and anything that seems to be labeled with “ abcjmp.” If this happens, then you’ve got IT. Email me if you need help.

I’m not sure what the point of all of this was other than to vent, so now I’ve done that. Maybe hanging would be better than life sentences. In the meantime, I’m baaaaaccccckkkkk!

After the computer meltdown – mine not its- Hubby was still on the golf course. Not wanting to eat out again this week (been one of those), I pondered the pantry and came up with the following. When Hubby asked what we were having for dinner, my reply was simply, “Pasta stuff.” He understood perfectly. Try it with or without your own computer crisis.

Pasta Stuff with Shrimp (or Chicken)

This would easily feed 3 as a main course, 4 with side dishes.

Saute until soft:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups frozen seasoning blend (love it!)
1 –2 teaspoons minced garlic

Add to the vegetables:
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
* We prefer spicy.
1 15-ounce can stewed tomatoes with garlic, basil, and oregano
3/4 can water
Simmer slowly until reduced and thickened.

Meanwhile: Cook the desired amount of preferred pasta. I used whole wheat penne, but just about any denser pasta would work perfectly. Drain well.

Chiffonade about 5 tablespoons fresh basil (cut it into small strips).

Grate desired amount of fresh parmesan. I used about 1 – 1 1/2 cups. Hubby likes his cheese!

Just before serving, add desired amount of frozen, shelled, deveined, precooked shrimp (which is what I had on hand in the freezer) and heat thoroughly. You could substitute some precooked chicken strips if you prefer.

Add the pasta to the shrimp and tomato mixture. Stir. Spoon into serving bowls, sprinkle with lots of fresh parmesan, and garnish liberally with fresh basil.

I served it with a tossed salad and garlic bread. Mmmmm. We had enough leftovers for lunch the next day.