Nerd Alert

Last April, I came home from Thailand for 5 weeks.  It was a planned trip which allowed me plenty of time to decide what to pack.  The catch was: my sling.  When I was flying home I still had a broken collar bone and three broken ribs, so I was rockin' a baby blue sling.  With one arm incapacitated (I could hold things in my hand, like my passport, or a drink, but not pick anything up), I had to strategically plan my packing.

I wanted to bring lots of things home.  I knew I would be moving home at the end of the year, so I wanted to make the trip as productive as possible, bringing as much home as I could.  With only one good arm, this was a challenge.

I ended up boarding the plane with one 23- kilogram bag and a purse.  And, yes, my bag was exactly 23 kilograms.  I have a pretty impressive knack for packing bags exactly to the weight limit, and never over.  It started when I was moving back and forth to Tulsa, but I have perfected the gift over the years.  The perfect example was the cruise.  My one checked bag weighed 49.5 pounds.  It's a long way from my days of packing for two weeks in one teeny tiny backpack, but I have already addressed that issue.  Don't judge.

The days of packing for two weeks on my own.

The days of traveling for a week with my family.  Yikes.

Let's get back on track.

I went home with one suitcase and a purse.  I was only carrying my purse onboard, so I decided to leave my computer in Thailand.  I knew I would be at home and I would have access to my family's computer, so I didn't think twice about it.

When I returned to Thailand, and booted up my little computer, I immediately noticed a difference in battery life.  Sitting in my closet for five weeks didn't do the battery any favors.  My computer seemed to be unable to hold a charge at all.  It was very, very frustrating.  One of the beautiful things about owning a laptop is the ability to take it where you want, without worrying about it.  I used to take it downstairs, outside, to friends' houses, to coffee shops and never think twice about the power cord.  Well apparently, my laptop didn't like hanging out in a closet, and was rebelling against me.

I thought that the battery issue would pass with time.  But, I'm a computer idiot, and I was very wrong.

When I came back to the States in December I watched with envy as Garvey and Chip went for what felt like days without plugging their computers in.  Silly, sling.

Garvey made fun of me for my lack of battery life, and judged me as I frantically ran to get my power cord before my computer died again.  He went into my Utilities folder and opened System Profiler, something my computer idiot self had never opened.  He looked at the Power section and laughed.

"What?  Only 300 life cycles?  Poor condition?  That sucks."

Well, thanks for that, Garvey.  As though I didn't already know I had problems, you had to show me how to constantly check how serious my problems are.  That's awesome.

But, here is my moment to redeem myself.

Since that afternoon in Arizona I have been nursing my battery back to health, to the best of my ability.  I allow my computer to fully charge, and as soon as the green light clicks on, I unplug it.  I allow my computer to die, and then I plug it back in.  A month and a half later, and it looks like my hard work is paying off!  Last night I checked my System Profiler, and my battery's condition is Fair!  No longer, do I have an extremely sick battery in "Poor" condition.  No, siree.  My battery is just a little bit sick and in "Fair" condition!  Woo hoo!

Green light on?  Time to unplug!

2:47 after unplugging it for a few minutes?  I'll take it!

Read it and weep.  (I nearly was weeping last night)  Condition: Fair

Nerd alert.