I Am Alive!!!

[MainStreet, USA]

I know I kind of fell off the face of DWT for a couple weeks lately, but I had a good reason. Two weeks ago I was on vacation in WDW, and during the course of that week the hard drive on my computer, a 4 year old laptop I had brought with me to store my photos from the trip, decided that it wanted to start sounding more like a lawn mower than a hard drive, and then just stopped working. So I spent much of my time and effort all last week shopping for a new computer, as well as re-adjusting to school after my wonderful week off in Disney. I still poked my head in on DWT from time to time from my school's computer lab (which is where I am now), but i really haven't been able to find the time to do much at all other than a stray post here or there.

But things are looking up. Just last night i dropped a large sum of money on a brand new laptop computer that should arrive sometime between the 11th and 17th, so I should be back with you guys in full strength sometime during that time span. And I do have a lot to say, especially coming off a vacation like that. I don't know if I'll have the time and energy to right a full, detailed trip report, but I think i can report on specific days or activities. I also have a few CM appreciation posts to make (three of them actually), a number of pictures that require uploading and sharing, and a few dining reviews. Of course, one more thing I need to start keeping in mind now is that I do go back home to Connecticut the first week of May (back to dial-up AOL and sharing the one phone line with 4 other people... meaning I'm never online), so I better get what I have to say out in a hurry... I'll only have like 2 weeks to say it all in!

So anyway, I should be back up and running again real soon. See you all then!

[MickeyBabe]

Nice to see you Don!!!

(I admit I had been wondering where you had gone, I blamed your school work load. )

I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

[GaRain]

Welcome back and I can't wait to hear about the trip!

And get rid of that dial-up already - you do know it is 2006.....

[MainStreet, USA]

Welcome back and I can't wait to hear about the trip!

And get rid of that dial-up already - you do know it is 2006.....

Tell that to my mom. She doesn't use the internet at the house, so what does it matter to her anyway? Besides... it's "cheaper".

btw... one CM appreciation post is now up in the CMs forum.

[disneydreamer98]

Hi Don!!! Yes, you were missed! Glad you are back and can't wait to hear all your reviews and see the pictures!!!

[tiggerguy]

you were gone?????

[Jiminy Cricket]

Was wondering what happened to you. Welcome back!!!

[disneydame2004]

That's great news about the new computer on the way, Don. Looking forward to hearing about your trip!

[trickster]

Looking forward to having you back, matey!!!!!

[MainStreet, USA]

Woo hoo... a full three days after I order the computer, I finally get an e-mail confirmation stating they got the order, and that they will send another e-mail when it ships. Now that's efficiency! At this rate I should have my computer by early August!

[MommytoMJM]

I wondered where you were too, hope we get to see you before you go home for the summer

[MainStreet, USA]

Woo-Hoo! I just checked the shipping status of my order and it appears that my new computer has arrived here at school this morning! Now all I have to do is survive through one more class from 2:15-3:15 before I can run over and pick it up. Oh boy... a new toy! I'm so excited to take it home so I can play with it.

I just bought myself a new mouse last night (because my old one had a PS/2 connection and my new computer only has USB ports and wouldn't be compatible with my old mouse), and so I got this neat little wireless optical one. This new computer has wireless LAN, and now that I have a wireless mouse and brand new battery (my old computer had a bad battery with a life of about 20 minutes) I will for the first time ever be FULLY wireless and can actually use my laptop as a laptop is intended to be used. Yay! No more being tied to a wall!!! Now I can post on DWT from the living room and watch the Disney channel at the same time... or catch up on my Disney gossip while in the middle of my Avionics class. This is so going to rock!

Now... if only there was a way to salvage my stuff off the damaged hard drive on my old computer. I lost a lot of stuff that means a lot to me because of that dumb thing (including the first four chapters of that book I started writing a few weeks back, as well as almost all of the pics I took at Disney this semester). Anyone have any ideas on how I might be able to recover any of that when the old computer wont even recognize there is a hard drive there at all?

[GaRain]

Wireless laptop - hey, maybe you can go to Starbucks or some other coffee shop with WIFI!!!!! AWESOME!!!

[MainStreet, USA]

Guess what? This is my first official DWT post from my brand new laptop. Hooray!!! Look Mom, no wires! And best of all, this one doesn't sound like it runs on an internal combustion engine like my last one did. In fact, I can't hear it running at all. Sweet deal!

[Conceited Ape]

New laptop? Yikes--I don't envy you any, Don, but glad you seem to have sifted through the Owner's Manual, the Shortcut Guide to the Owner's Manual, the Shortcut to the Shortcut Guide to the Owner's Manual, the single laminated Qwik-Start Sheet for those too impatient or dumb for the Owner's Manual, the 1,158 documents, the heaping fistfuls of notices in Spanish, and the 79-square feet of packing materials........