Computers, cows and painting

Hello, hello.
How about a little update on what's been going on around here the past few days? This is in no particular order:

- My new computer has been slowly falling apart, physically. It needed a new case, so the Dell service dude came out, spent over an hour taking my computer apart, got to the last three screws and informed me he couldn't get them off without stripping them. Then he did a very mediocre job of putting my computer back together and informed me I would have to ship it off to Dell to be fixed. The entire time he was at my home (three hours total), he was mildy insulting in manner and beyond idiotic in his dealings. I was steaming mad when he left, and am now without my computer for another few days. This is not ideal as I am back to writing this week, and took my first round of wedding photos last weekend. I NEED that computer, and spent extra money when I bought it for in-field repairs because I knew how problematic it would be for me not have it for a week or two. I could wring that Dell guy's neck. On a side note, I do appreciate my mother letting me use her computer as needed until mine is back in my loving arms.

- The first wedding of the summer went wonderful. Perhaps the most beautiful day I've ever seen on Casper Mountain. Rain the night before, mid-70's in temperature, and no wind! The couple was fun, relaxed and happy. I can't wait to check out the pictures and start editing. One high note was stopping by the camera store where I bout my new camera and lens to get a couple odds and ends, and having the wonderful man there send me out with a rental lens free of charge to try out. Made my day, and it was a great lens that I used a lot! That's one of the benefits of buying equipment in a store over the internet in my opinion.

- In addition to my computer, my "ranch camera" is STILL being repaired. I was told one week, and we're on week three now. I have missed an entire spring of brandings, sorting, shipping and general cattle work. In my line of work, and personally as well, this is a very big deal.

-We just finished trailing the last bunch of cows to their summer pasture this morning. The bulls are out, cattle settled, and we're selling our steers later this week due to the dry weather. Cattle work is wrapping up for the spring. We had unusually cool weather this year, which helped us out a lot. All in all it went great and a good time, if not a lot of sleep, was had by all.

- I have decided that if you ever start a painting project, it multiplies out and never ends. I've painted my room and bathroom in the new trailer, and am moving on to the doors and closets later today. Then.....hopefully.....the paining of the walls will cease and I can move on to a couple furniture painting ideas. Perhaps trying to squeeze it in between loads of cows is part of why it seems to be taking so long : )

- From chasings cows one day to donning a suit to meet with folks in D.C. the next, all without the usual camera hanging from my shoulder, it has been a great spring! Looking forward to posting more photos in upcoming weeks, and getting back to more regular posting. Hope all is well with each of you : )

My Last Post

Hopefully this will be my last blog post...on this computer! I ordered a new Dell last week, and it's due to arrive any day.
To put things in perspective, I bought the computer I currently use in 2002 or 2003. The poor thing is ancient in terms of computers, and does some funny things. It won't let me reply to comments, or comment on certain blogs (at least I think it's the computer and not me, I really do read and appreciate all the comments on here, and have tried to comment back). I've just spent the last 30 minutes trying to upload photos for a blog post with no luck. It takes 20 minutes to start up each morning, and about the same amount of time to shut down each evening. You don't want to know what happens if I don't turn it off each night.
This computer has been a part of my life since college, where I used it to get my degree. It was used to type my first column for a newspaper, and edit the first set of wedding pictures I took. It got a bit of a break while I worked at the Roundup, but I still had to use it for certain functions becuase my work Mac had some glitches.
It's also what I used to write the stories and edit the pictures that paid for the new computer.
I chose to stick with Dell because any technology company that makes a laptop that lasts a decade is A-Okay in my book. It's not like they were easy years where I fired it up every few days either. I know lots of people have good and bad luck with any computer brand, but mine with Dell has been exceptional. I also realize that many people prefer Mac's to PC's, but my personal experience with Mac's has been pretty mediocre.
So, Dell XPS 15z, I hope you're as great to me as the Dell Inspiron 1505 was!