Just to recap:

Blue Screen of Death – Part I
Blue Screen of Death – Part II
Blue Screen of Death – Part III
Blue Screen of Death – Part IV
Blue Screen of Death – Part V

And now for our continuing saga…

I get home from Circuit City and check messages. I still need to pack for a trip to Savannah. Becky still needs to pack for her weekend convention. Piles of clean clothes cover my bed that must be put away. There’s a message from Chris, his boss isn’t coming for dinner (there was a slight chance he’d be joining us – dodged a bullet). Then I get an e-mail from Chris. His boss is coming to dinner. Great, in the midst of the “delivery” tonight, Chris’s boss would be here with us. Well, at least that will force me to stay calm. I feel like I’ve entered a 50s sitcom.

Becky calls, she’s finished rehearsal, can I pick her up?

I go over to the high school to get her. We stop at the bakery to pick up some cookies for dessert and bread. We stop at the dry cleaner to get my blazer for Savannah.
We get home. There’s a message on the machine from Mike. Kim, come back to the store, you have an $834 store credit for a new PC.

Holy Shit!

Panic mode. Call Chris. When will you be home? (it’s almost 6:00 now). Not until 7:00. Think, think, how can I get a new computer, pack, cook dinner, all tonight.
Becky – quick go pack for your trip. Chris, as soon as you get home, light the grill. Instant Message Amy, Amy – what does Larry recommend for a PC, I’m heading to Circuit City to buy a new one. Larry’s reply, “Don’t get your PC at Circuit City.”

Great.

Call Rain’s husband, Mike. “Mike, long story, I’m on my way to Circuit City to buy a new PC. What do you recommend?” Mike’s reply, “Don’t get a computer a Circuit City.”

Great. I explain the story to him. He gives me advice.

We head out the door. I’m calling Sammi. She’s on her way home from Hebrew School. I finally reach her after she gets home. “Sammi, daddy’s boss is coming to dinner. I need you to put away the jacket you just dropped in the entrance hall, scrub the potatoes on the counter and put away your clothes on my bed.”

“Mom, is this like in those movies when the Dad brings the boss home to get a promotion?”

“Yes!”

“Do you need me to wipe down the kitchen counters too?”

“No.” Thank God Anna cleaned the house today.

We get to Circuit City, head straight for the computers, narrow it down to a Toshiba and a Hewlett Packard, choose the HP, get the store credit from Eric who apologizes for everything, gives me his card, and tells me to contact him if we ever need anything from Circuit City, and twenty minutes later, approach the Customer Service desk to pick up our new machine.

There, Mike comes along side of me and whispers, “You know, in the end, it was the memory.” I guess they didn’t have the memory chip in stock to fix the machine.

At 7:05 we leave the store with our new computer.

So in the end, if they had just done what they said they would do, check the hard drive, and the memory, this would have been resolved with no strain to me, and about $50 bucks to Circuit City instead of them being out of $834 and losing a customer for life.

Oh, and dinner was okay, we dropped Becky’s stuff at Lisa’s for the weekend, I got packed for Savannah (though for the second time in my life, ended up with two different shoes, though this time, at least, one for each foot), and Becky’s has already grown to love her new machine.

Thanks for reading.