Blow-Up

no, not the movie (which is a good movie), my computer. Yes, that is why I haven't posted because I haven't had a stinkin' computer. Yes so I get back to Tamba... happy me... Get back to Tamba and three days later we get our last big rainstorm during the day (which is a sign that it's one of the last rains of the season). So we get the daily rainstorm and it's great beause I love rain.. yadda yadda and then all of a sudden a huge CLAP! thundercrack. In our house. A lightening bolt came into the house, surged our power, blew out my surge protector and my computer.
yay. So I confirmed that my AC/DC cord was completely burnt out too as well as my modem.
So the trick of course was seeing how to get an adapter to Tamba. That is the real question, isn't it? Is it as easy as it sounds you ask? Oh yes. It's a piece of cake!!!

so I call Toshiba. They can send me the cable but it's $100 and $50 to send fed-ex. Then to Fed-ex to Dakar where my friend will pick it up and have my public transport driver stop by and pick it up and take it to Tamba the next time he comes, will be $172. Otherwise the Toshiba person suggests that I go to the nearest Toshiba authorized dealer. Do you want to see if I have one in your town, he asks me?

No. I say. I can guarantee that you dont even have one in my country. The agent is not convinced. Oh let me check. You are where??? I said, Senegal, West Africa. "Africa, Africa... yes, well we have an agent in Kenya..." I'm like, Okay there are like 20 countries between here and Kenya. I said, do you have any other countries that are closer...? "South Africa dot dot dot" (obviously doo-dad is not near a map). I said anything in WEST Africa. Finally at the end of his list he mentions Ghana (only 4-5 countres away) and Morocco (only 2 countries away)

Okay that was helpful. I go back to option 1 about getting the cord from the states. But I also don't want to bankrupt myself doing so. I decide to double-prong my approach and actually contact Morocco (figure 2 countries away is better than 5) to see if by some miracle they can mail me a cord soon. So I call and they say that somebody is traveling to Senegal next week. I ask when... they can't say. Next week they insist. Doesn't sound sure to me. I say, Okay do you ahve the right cord. They say, well write me an email. so i write an email. I get an answer back the next day saying what the guy said on the phone... Someone is travelign to Senegal next week and can bring one then. So I write back again asking a price, when they are coming and if it is compatible with my computer. Pesky American.

I don't hear anythign. i am about to break down and break my bank and do the Toshiba to mother to my Dakar friend to Omar Sy (the driver) to Tamba route. I figure at least I know all the players. But I call Morocco a day later just to confim. Oh, says Moroccan dude. I will mail the cord tomorrow. Hmm. that is interesting. Okay. so I bag sure but expensive US route and decide to follow Moroccan route. So lo and behold I find out that the cord was delivered to Dakr and should be there. I call my friend in Dakar to see if he can go pick it up. Then I call Omar to see when he is coming to Tamba. I coordinate with him to go meet up with my friend, get the cord from Morocco but delivered to dakar to bring to me. I get this to happen. Saturday, the cord arrives!

Good news is that it fits. Bad news is that it wasn't the entire cord. Only the top adapter part an not the part that plugs into the wall. I'm not sure why. But that is the way it is. But good news is that I managed to use Brook's old laptop plug to fit into the top part of the cord. We have lift-off. But I have realized that my USB ports are totally burnt out.

This was after, entretemps, I had to go to Sonatel with my burnt out modem to get a new one. You know.. i will spare you the modem part of the story. Long story short is that I managed to get a modem and get it installed and everythign is fine. Although i can't hook up to dsl through this computer... only through network which I am accessing in Dakar. See. It's complicated.

But all in all I think it explains why I haven't been online. But see what a juicy and informative story you get for having waited for it? yeah... alright don't comment on that