Lost Weekend
Last Friday Norton Internet Security, my virus protection and firewall, updated my laptop. It looked like a routine update, but afterward I couldn't pull my email and my laptop hung up so severely that I couldn't shut it down without using the power button.

At first I didn't know the problem was Norton, so I spend hours trying this and trying that and rebooting dozens of times. Finally, when I shut off the firewall, I was able to pull email - one time only, and then everything was hung up and I had to reboot.

I couldn't find anything about this problem on the Norton web site and wasn't sure what to do next. Afraid to rush into something while upset, I did one more forced shutdown and went to knit on the front of Aguave.

Thinking that Norton might discover the problem and send out a fix, I just stayed off my laptop all day Saturday and knit. I knit for hours and hours listening to a book on CD. By the end of the day my hands hurt, my arms hurt, and my shoulders hurt but I was happy to be almost done with the front.

The fix did NOT come from Norton. Sunday afternoon DH found the problem being discussed in an online newsgroup and the solution was: Restore the default General and Trojan horse firewall rules.

Detailed instructions for this procedure are here. I hope you don't need them.

I followed the restore procedure. My laptop is functional again. I would hate to know how many hours were spent finding and fixing that nasty software glitch. At least it wasn't my hardware gone bad again.

Since I knit so much on Saturday, I needed to take a few days off. When I picked up the Aguave front on Tuesday, I noticed immediately that I had done the stitch pattern on the edges backward. The right side edge was on the left side and the left side edge was on the right side.

I frogged it. Yes, I frogged fourteen inches of the front. So, instead of starting armhole shaping on Tuesday, I cast on the front and started over again. (Frog = rip it, rip it!)

One of my favorite knitting books is Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti. Maggie says "Admire your work often."

If my subconscious hadn't been busy trying to figure out how to fix my laptop, and if my conscious hadn't been busy listening to a great story on CD, I might have taken that advice and seen the mistake before repeating it for six hours and fourteen inches.

Glory Update for Those Who Care
Glory had her one week check up last night. Dr. B. expressed amazement at the amount of fluid she is producing, but assured me the ear is starting to heal. It's just going to take a while.

He guessed about two more weeks of draining and then he can remove the tube. I'm to make the appointment after she has been dry for three days. The staples holding the skin to the cartilage come out a week after the tube.

Meanwhile, Glory seems to be happy and feeling fine. She's off the sedative as of today, but I have plenty left if she starts shaking her head or pawing at her ear or rolling in the mud.