not quite fixed

but getting closer and closer. After a month of panicky kernels, I am getting closer to figuring out what is wrong with my computer. We think that we have maybe narrowed it down to being a problem with my wireless card, which means that I can use my computer again as long as I don't try to get online with wireless. I really don't know what I would have done if I had not been able to use a computer at my office to search message boards and help sites to figure out what is wrong and then how to go about fixing it. A bit ironic, I suppose, that in order to get my computer working again I need another computer . . .

I have never thought of myself as a computer expert in any way, but (especially since I have a mac) I feel like I am probably more qualified to work on my computer (and fix other small problems with other computers) than many other people here, just because I have been around computers for a long time. I also have figured out a secret- in this time of technology, it is not any magical skills that are really needed most of the time, but rather the not so magical skills of asking the right questions and looking things up.





















This is exactly the kind of computer expert I am . . . also maybe why I've thought I might want to be a librarian- I'm good at looking up the answer when I have no idea!

Kernel Panic

For some reason, kernel panic sounds like such a funny thing to be wrong with my computer. Like, "hey how are your kernels doing?" "they're going CRAZY, it's a PANIC!"

In reality, a kernel panic is a pretty serious problem, making my computer basically unusable for the moment (as in I can't turn it on). Luckily, I have a great dad who knows a thing or two about panicky kernels and is sending me the tools to unpanic them. But in the meantime, I am only able to get online at the office, only occasionally and several things are trapped on my computer (like written blog posts and pictures), so I will be a little bit behind in updating here for a while.

In completely unrelated but coincidental news, the same day that my kernel panicked, my camera panicked too. Hopefully, the pictures from Romania and my crazy tubing trip can be saved . . . relying on my great dad for that too . . .

I must have pissed off the computer gods . . .

Apparently, I pissed off someone upstairs that has particular control of things like laptop charging units . . . again . . .

Really, I had a feeling it was coming. The charger that my dad sent me in February (remember how excited I was?) was already not in great shape- it was from my old, old computer that was urinated on by my cat when I was in on vacation in Israel a few years ago. Let me tell you, cat pee does nothing good to a computer. Anyway, so this charger was in fact even older than the one that had been broken and although it was not damaged in the cat pee incident it had some wear and tear on it. The iffy electricity situation in Albania took care of what was left of it in just two short months and I looked down yesterday and noticed that once again although the light was on, there was no charge entering my computer. So once again my computer is dead (well almost, I think it might turn on one more time if I asked it real nice) and once again I am stuck waiting for what will hopefully be a suitable replacement. To make matters worse, a few weeks ago my TV stopped working so good (I have a theory that it has something to do with a satalite switch to HD or something) and now I have mostly the same channels, but with a lot less clear quailty (and I no longer have my former main source of TV entertainment- Junior TV). Since I don't exactly pay for the cable I have, I'm afraid to complain about it to anyone so I'm expecting to do a lot of reading in the next few weeks . . .

MUN awsomeness

I was in Tirana this week for the Model United Nations conference. Three days long, 15 schools, 150 students- it's a big deal! I'm really proud of the 7 girls that I brought to the conference. They have worked really hard for the past four months learning all about issues like global warming and human trafficking and the position of Burkina Faso (that's a small country in West Africa). Most of them did not have any idea how to do research on the Internet and I think they all had never heard of Burkina Faso before! They represented themselves, their school, Peshkopi, and Burkina Faso very well.

I'm really glad that I participated in this project. MUN was one of the best parts of my high school experience and I love that I was able to share this with some great kids. The best part has maybe been when one of my girls told me that she is now much more interested in politics and that maybe she would like to try to be a diplomat! She is a super intelligent, sharp girl and I can totally see her as the next Albanian ambassador to . . . someplace!

My big role in the conference (besides calming my girls down) was to design the "crisis situation" that we introduced on the last day. We decided to have one big event that would be dealt with in all three of the councils (Security Council, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council) and after much deliberation with the other volunteers (our big chance to debate), we decided on the not very likely (but theoretically plausible) major flood of the Nile River. Was it caused by global warming? Thousands of refugees! The kids did a great job of handling the situation and really impressed me with their collaboration. Also I need to give a big shout out to all the other PCVs for helping out with the crisis (not to mention all the other great things that they did at the conference and before).

The conference wasn't perfect, but I know that my kids learned a lot, I learned a lot and I'm already thinking about how we can make it even better next year . . .

PS- my computer cord arrived in the mail just hours before I was supposed to leave for Tirana. I literally was jumping up and down in the post office I was so excited. I think I'll bring the post office ladies some candy next week to show my appreciation for always dealing my crazy self . . .

Plot me uje

This morning as I headed to the office I could immediately tell that something was wrong as I saw my coworkers sweeping piles of water out the front door. It looks like one of the taps in the bathroom is broken and as we were all in Tirana for the past two days, when the water came on, it came on hard! The whole office was flooded with about 6 centimeters of water- enough to get all the computers sitting on the floor wet (even though when the office flooded last summer we put the computers off the floor slightly with styrofoam). So, we spent the morning sweeping out the water, sorting out the computers and cords and hoping for the best. Hopefully, the computers will dry out with little damage. In the meantime, since my computer is still out of commision (why is it that when I am waiting for a package it seems to take forever- it has been three weeks and it is killing me! Must be something about a watched pot doesn't boil . . . ) I am at the office of another NGO where they have graciously allowed me to use the internet for a few minutes (the local internet cafe is also not working now as there are power cuts and they don't have a generator).

Isn't it a bit ironic that I didn't have running water for most of the month of January (I have it now, thank God!), and now what is causeing problems is too much water!

This is not really what I wanted to come back to from my first weekend out of town in 6 weeks. On the bright side, I had a great weekend with friends down in Berat and got to see a movie in Tirana. The next few weeks promise to be very busy with the Model United Nations conference coming up next week, a training for Outdoor Ambassadors the week after and a big meeting with community members here to finish the Design process for the World Vision project somewhere in between.

laptop withdrawl

So my computer is having issues. Or rather my computer plug is having issues making the rest of computer just not work at all. This little piece of metal and plastic makes such a difference . . .


Anyway, so for the past two weeks or so, I have not been able to use my laptop. For the most part, it is just an annoyance more than a real problem. Luckily, I am able to use the internet on computers in the World Vision office. So, I am able to check my e-mail, write blogs etc. The big problem is that I tend to do a lot of things off-line at home and then bring my computer in (such as writing blogs). Also, (and this is the part that makes me feel the most like a spoiled brat) I like to watch tv shows and movies at home on my computer, and I like to download podcasts with news and other stuff. Without my laptop I can't do either of these things and it makes me just feel annoyed.


Without the movies and tv shows on my computer, I have been reading and watching Albanian tv more. I am lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) to have a tv and a hook-up to my neighbors satellite. I don't have a lot of channels and occasionally for what seems like no reason at all my channels will change. What I have: 4 or 5 Italian channels- these would be great if I spoke Italian, but as it is I don't and they are really annoying because although they have a lot of shows and movies that I would like to watch, they are all dubbed! So I can't watch them at all without being bothered by the fact that I can't speak Italian (btw a lot of Albanians learn Italian at a young age by watching programs on tv). 1 French channel (same problem as the Italian channels). 2 German channels- one a German shopping/random other stuff channel (occasionally they have poker tournaments?) and EuroSport a German sports channel- I watch this sometimes if it is a sport I like, cause it doesn't really matter what language sports are in, but I don't really like watching most sports, so . . .

And then various Albanian channels including: news, cartoons, and a few regular networks with a mixture of programs. Also available- Big Brother Albania channel. Yes, there is an entire channel devoted to Big Brother. It's big here. And people watch it. . . all day long. The channels that I watch most often are the ones that have most of their content in English- DigiFilm and Junior TV. Now, on the satellite service there are 4 or 5 DigiFilm channels (basically HBO-type movie channels). I only get one DigiFilm 7- the action movie channel. Which means that occasionally there will be some lost gem like the whole Terminator trilogy or Superman 2 or Bond movies or a good recent action flick, but more often it is full of Jean Claude Van Dam and Bruce Lee movies that I never had an inclination to watch before . . . The other channel, Junior TV is basically the Disney Channel, full of the Olsen Twin movies, Hannah Montana and everything else rated PG or less. I watch this channel much more than I would care to admit, and even more embarrassing is how put out I get when one of the movies is dubbed (like SpyKids 2 the other day), and how I usually watch the dubbed movies anyway (at least they are dubbed in a language that I more or less understand). . .

My only hope is that the package from home with my new computer cord comes quickly. . .