I’ve been working on editing three books and writing another, and my eyes, finally turning into little bags of sand as my ergonomically unsupported wrists began to turn into feeble hooks, prompted me to spend all of $200 to upgrade my computer stuff. I bought a 20” flat-screen monitor, an ergonomic keyboard and a wireless mouse to dramatically improve my quality of life.

And for two weeks or so, they did.

Now – you can see this coming – I’m keying in letters on my ergonomically-correct keyboard while my wireless mouse sits patiently by waiting for orders, and behind the 15” Dell laptop screen sits my 20” Dell 20” flat-screen monitor.

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At some point in January, I realized my body was having a toll taken on it, even as I tried to get back into my workout routine (yep, fully involved in P90X right now), and the problems stemmed from, when not P90-rolling, I was sitting in a quasi-comfortable chair staring at my 15” laptop screen, often for hours on end. Mind you, I’m not talking about sitting in a cubicle doing work – I’m talking about when I’m not working for money, but working for pleasure and the pursuit of money. Interspersed with that work for the pursuit of money, yes, I do quite a bit of Internetting, but the point is it’s my lifestyle and I don’t see it changing any time soon.

While I usually waste money, I considered a $200 investment into my ‘netting comfort something of an investment. I sleep on a mattress that cost less, and My Computer Chair was purchased for $20 back in the ‘90s, while my La-Z-Boy is a hand-me-down from my father, also about a decade old. For someone who writes and, when not writing, wanders around this here interweb for hours on end, I consider this a smart investment. I bought, in order: A wireless Logitech Keyboard with Mouse and the aforementioned Dell Monitor, and all were great for the primary purpose of writing and editing, and I’ve done a boatload of it in since purchased.

I spent last night in OhKaySee because I had a meeting, and when I returned home I promptly plugged the laptop (aka the brains of the operation) into the Newly-Purchased System, and while the keyboard and mouse work fine, the monitor now sits behind my laptop pissing me off.

The bags-of-sand eyes are already returning.

Once you get used to viewing anything on an HD 20” monitor, returning to the uncozy confines of a non-HD 15” monitor … suck.

The monitor works, as I’ve tested and re-tested and re-test-re-tested it. The problem, after a yoeman’s labor, is that the monitor does not detect a signal, and after multiple re-starts et al, it still doesn’t work as in it’s still not getting a signal. So infuriating is this is that, in spite of a vacation of sort from this site – currently occupied with content equal parts sadness, funniness and FB-ness, I have returned, taking a break from my writing, to gripe about it.

I’m at a loss. At the Internet hell that is Dell.com, there is no solution I can find to rectify the “no signal” business, and yes, Dell, I checked to ensure the monitor is plugged into the power outlet, and that the monitor is plugged into the laptop. Drivers are installed, and life is supposed to go on … in HD.

But it doesn’t. The original idea was I would power through my current writing project and then get back to my site, yet now I find it difficult to concentrate on anything other than the fact that I can’t figure out how to get my perfectly functioning monitor to … function perfectly.

So it is … I’ll continue starting and re-starting the laptop every 15 minutes until it recognizes the existential futility that I assume is an errant driver, makes it peace, and returns me to my HD glory. Until then, well, dammit.  

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If you were wondering, I have x amount of thoughts, since I’m breaking from my regularly-scheduled programming and posting something trivial:

First, the GOPers are erring in agreeing to this idiotic healthcare whatevertheyrecallingitnow thing tomorrow. No matter what happens, they’ll be spun into the ground. A good tactic to live by is this: when your opponent is attempting suicide, don’t do anything to stop them. I told dad that if there was a respectable GOPer out there (and there are, to be clear) every time TDL obfuscated his position or a position presented to him by a GOPer attendee, they would yell the Wilsonian “You Lie!” and walk the **** out.

Second, I hope it goes away, but hardcore social conservatives are starting to make hay about various gay groups suddenly taking an interest and a role in the Tea Party movement, and as a corollary, Conservative politics. I understand the pathos certain Social-Cons have about homosexuality, but I would advise them (none of whom read this site) to sit down and play nice. The gay community – more than almost any other community – has been rooked by TDL Administration, and they have the motive to be a vocal opponent of Donkeys in ’10 and ’12. This may pain certain people, but many gay people also happen to be Conservative – I suggest Social-Cons go throw stones at less helpful glass houses. When it comes to fiscal Conservatism, restrained spending, reduced taxation, strong national defense and Second Amendment dogma, if they are in line, I welcome Conservatism’s gay brothers and sisters more than any fussy auntie who would relegate their views inferior based on what they do behind closed doors or anywhere else. There is a forest and it’s composed of trees – forests, people, forests.

Third, regardless of what Glenn Beck said at CPAC or believes in real life, there is a big ****ing difference between GOPers and Donkeys. GOPers have failed me and those like me repeatedly, but if you have Conservative beliefs, we must work to giving them a hand up, not comparing them to those we despise. Glenn Beck (who I’ll be seeing, along with Sarah Palin on 3.13.10 in Tulsa) has his own agenda – I have no idea what it is, but in a rare case of Huck wisdom, CPAC was not Conservative by any stretch. There are many contradictions in that statement, but I watched as much as I could, and I sensed (as I did when CPAC allowed the JBS to have anything to do with CPAC) that CPAC went off the rails this year.