??????????The New Year’s momentum suffered a setback with the crash of my Toshiba laptop. Diagnosis: a cracked monitor caused by someone walking on it.  Say what?!! Granted I don’t always close the case when I leave it for brief periods, but I treat my computer with a writer’s care and respect.

Nonetheless, the evidence was compelling: a crack at the bottom resulting in one third of the screen showing signs of life and two-thirds of the screen decidedly dead. The crack looked something like a bird claw – and we don’t have a bird. However, we do have two dogs and a rather devious cat who, even at age 19, likes to leap on things. Hmmn.

While I waited for the replacement, I played on my iPad. Between attacks of restlessness, I managed to fritter away many guiltless hours on social media and computer games. The new laptop was ready in a week, and after dealing with the idiosyncrasies of Windows 8 (##@%^^!), I was able to settle back to work.

My initial focus has been on producing a PowerPoint presentation for my half of the May book launch. My fellow tête-bêche author had provided the framework: twenty slides with accompanying dialogue to advance every fifteen seconds. Although working with PowerPoint was a new experience, it became enjoyable once I got into it.

So I’ve selected the twenty slides and produced the dialogue, but I haven’t figured out the fifteen-second advance bit. Not a problem. Bob will provide a lesson when we meet next week. Or, better yet, maybe he’ll do it for me.