Fodder for a post

Clearly I should have just gone to see Spiderman 3 today. Instead I spent the whole day fighting a recalcitrant computer and in the end resolved nothing. I'm still using my roommate's computer since my internet won't work (the wireless adapter insists it's connected but Explorer and Firefox don't think so). However, with her help I did accomplish the following:

• Spent sixty dollars on a new USB wireless network adapter on the theory that the old one was broken
• Reformatted my computer - resulting in much faster processing of the same errors
• Hacked someone else's wireless network
• Reloaded several programs from the internet while it was temporarily working
• Decided to buy a new wireless router then decided not to after the internet quit working again
• Managed to delete our wireless network and then recreate a new but unprotected one
• Crashed the internet on both computers
• Fixed the above on one computer
• Changed countless settings and then changed them back when there were no results
• Restarted the computer at least fifteen times but thanks to the reformatting this occurred much more rapidly
• Received the error message "Repair failed because the following action cannot be completed: The IP address cannot be renewed." approximately six hundred million times
• Googled the above error message and read long useless threads of discussion
• Wished for a computer guru among my close friends
• Tried to convince myself that a logical solution did not include throwing the computer out the window and buying a new one (but I do want a laptop...)
• Quit the whole process in total frustration
• Assuaged my irritation by a trip to Barnes and Noble and the purchase of the new issue of Real Simple and a copy of The Freedom Writers' Diary

I'm currently waiting for a computer genius to parachute onto my balcony...