I practically live on my laptop. But this morning, when I tried to start it, I kept getting a message saying Windows couldn’t open because a fan wasn’t working.

I panicked, not only because of my two blogs, but also because I’m running ads online right now for a new roommate to move in after Oct. 1 (my roommate is moving back to Florida). I pretty much live paycheck to paycheck, and my car needs repairs (I’ve been driving the company vehicle for the time being but it’s really only for work purposes). I was all set to take this thing over to Geek Squad tomorrow and worry about the price later, and I told my roommate I needed a few minutes a day to borrow her Notebook for a few days so I could check my messages about the room (and write a short, sad post saying there wouldn’t be any new posts for an indefinite period of time).

I always thought my roommate was sort of a mental lightweight, but she actually is smarter about computers than me. She had me take the battery out and clean up its compartment, and blow a fan into the vent area in the back (where the fan is). Both were caked with dirt and now it’s working fine. So that’s one thing I can stop worrying about for now. I felt pretty stupid, but that’s better than not having a working computer. I need that like I need a hole in the head.

Oh, wait. Maybe I do have a hole in my head — where “common sense” should be. 😳