So my husband and I order a new computer from Dell a month or so ago intending this to be our new webserver that we have colocated in Virginia. Life being what it is with a 1 year old in the house, we haven’t had the time to finish getting it ship shape that we’d like. One of the things we need to do is outfit it with a second hard drive so that we can mirror the drives.

Unlike our Dells of old, this new machine has a proprietary case in which one must use a proprietary drive bracket to mount the hard drive. Despite the fact that the manual hints that a second, spare bracket should be included in the case, apparently it’s a separate part that one must order. $10 for a piece of blue plastic. Well, seems a bit much but fine. $8 shipping and handling. That’s highway robbery. an 80% markup to drop something into an envelope and mail it off is just absurd. But what can you do? Dell is the only place you can get this plastic and you need it to mount the hard drive. Fine. Grumble, grumble.

A couple weeks later, my package from Dell arrives and enclosed is a nice, shiny metal bracket. Not at all what I had very carefully ordered. This piece does not fit the case I have and will not work to mount the hard drive. Well, I’m going off to Arkansas for a week and have no time to deal with it until I get back.

Once I do, I have to deal (again) with Dell’s call center people in India. This in itself is not fun. I am informed that since the part number on the invoice matches what I received, I’ll have to do a return and reorder the part. This is where I get very nervous. What if whoever takes my order screws up again? I am dubious but again have no other options. I make a stink about this and am informed I’ll get the refund but don’t have to return the bracket I received. “I don’t want to keep the bracket I received,” I inform them. “I just want the one I need.” But at this point the person on the other end has pretty much tuned me out.

After dealing with the return folks, I’m transferred to the spare part order folks (again, located in India). I explain to them I need a blue plastic hard drive bracket. Not pink, not green, not magenta. Not metal, wood, not glass. The person takes my order and then puts me on hold to check something. The part I want is not available, which is why I was sent the metal bracket (which, as mentioned before, doesn’t fit). I am informed that had I ordered the hard drive from Dell, I would have received instructions on how to mount it (there’s probably a secret handshake or something). Well hard drives are not proprietary to Dell, and I wasn’t going to pay the extra $20 they wanted for a drive. So I cancel the order.

The next day, on a whim, I call Dell spare parts again. I order the blue plastic hard drive bracket. The nice Indian woman puts me on hold to check. Turns out, it’s available!! (Or so they claim.) I place the order.

That was last Tuesday. I haven’t received it yet, but I’m hopeful. But after all this drama, I will not be ordering any more computers from Dell. I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with all this hassle.

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Today I was playing in the living room with Mommy and Daddy. At one point, I toddled over to my mommy with my arms open really wide, gave her a great big hug and said, “Dad!”

Today Mommy and Daddy took me to Dr. Gatto for my one-year checkup. He said I weighed 22 lbs. 10 oz. and was 31 inches tall. He also said that I could start drinking plain old cow’s milk now. That must mean I’m getting to be a big kid!

I also got another shot. That didn’t make me very happy at all. I didn’t take a nap today because I was so cranky.

Wow, we just took a really long trip! Mommy, Daddy, Grandmommy and I all went by car to a place called Arkansas to visit my Great-Great-Aunt Peggy in the town of Diamond City. It took us two days to drive out there and two days to drive back, and along the way we drove through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. We saw the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis and drove through really wild thunderstorms in Indiana.

While we were there, we stayed in a place called the Big Cedar Lodge near a city in Missouri called Branson. Mommy says they have a lot of music shows in Branson, but they didn’t take me to see any. The hotel was really nice and we had a good time swimming in the pool and walking in the nature paths. They had a really neat kiddie pool that was just the right height for me to stand up and cruise in holding onto the wall.

Great-Great-Aunt Peggy was really nice to me. I wandered around her house and showed her how well I can walk. She’s 92 years old and is my mommy’s mommy’s mommy’s sister.

When we finally got back to Maryland, Mommy and Grandmommy went to the airport and picked up Uncle Boo.

Today was my birthday! I’m a whole year old today! And boy did I have a lot of fun!

First, a whole bunch of my friends came over. There was Ben and his mommy and daddy, Henry with his mommy and daddy, and Andrew with his mommy. The grown ups had pizza, soda, fruit and cookies. Us babies had fruit puffs and baby food. There were balloons and decorations and even a birthday cake. The cake had a Winnie the Pooh candle on it and everyone sang me the Happy Birthday song and then I blew out the candle (with Mommy’s help). Then the grown-ups had cake. Mommy gave me a taste of cake, but I spit it out. I don’t like the texture of cake and bread very much.

Then Mommy laid out a spoon, a spool of thread, a book and a dollar bill on the floor and told me to pick something. First I picked the spoon, and then I picked the spool of thread. Mommy said this meant that I would have good health and long life. It’s a Korean tradition that Calvin did at his party, and Mommy liked it so we did it too. Then Mommy gave me a pat on the bottom. She said that this is what her pop-pop used to do on her birthdays when she was a child.

Then I got to open all my presents. Andrew got me a cool thing of building blocks with a wagon to carry them in. Henry got me some neat books including a new copy of “Goodnight Moon” (I’ve nearly chewed through my old copy), and Ben got me some cool little cars that are all rubbery. I know I’m going to chew on those a lot!

I was so excited at the end of the day that I could hardly sleep. I didn’t even take my afternoon nap, but rather played with all my new toys. I especially like the blue building blocks (blue is my favorite color). Mommy and Grandma Lolo had to go out so Daddy tried to put me to bed, but I kept bouncing up and down in my crib so he brought me back down to play. When Mommy came home, she took me upstairs, nursed me, and then put me to bed. I fussed and complained for a little while, but I was so tired that I fell asleep in a few minutes.