Rest Days Make Me Happy:)

I was afraid it was going to start off wrong because I woke up naturally at 7:30am when my alarm usually goes off for swim practice! But I rolled over, put a pillow over my head and woke up again at 9am…a respectable time for a required ‘sleep in’ day.
I grabbed some breakfast in the cafeteria…the dishwasher was broken so we had to eat everything off paper plates and Styrofoam bowls with plastic utensils. I chatted with my teammates and friends about what we each had planned for our ‘rest day’.
On my schedule was to clean my room, do laundry, shop for some supplies, catch up with emails, write a blog, watch some TV, maybe see a movie, and lots of other relaxing activities.
As soon as I returned to my room, I turned on my PC like normal and started folding laundry. When I looked back at my computer, I was puzzled because nothing was showing up on screen…not normal. I tried some simple fixes…jiggle the plugs, restart the computer, push random buttons, etc. Nothing was working…well, everything WAS working…but nothing was showing up on the monitor.
So my next solution was to turn on my laptop and see what Dell Support offered…I searched the website and logged on to Chat with a Dell Service Rep. After only 10 minutes of waiting, I was explaining my problem to someone who could help. He had me try all sorts of solutions…I was jumping back and forth between my laptop on the bed and my PC on the floor. I had the cover off, I was unscrewing things, I was taking ‘cards’ out…each time looking at my monitor to see if anything was showing up.
After about 50 minutes of chatting and trying the suggestions, my service rep said that my Video Card must have died and he would get a new one in the mail right away! I didn’t know what to say (good thing I didn’t have to SAY anything because I was typing this conversation:), I guess my computer is still under some sort of warranty and Dell has a great system! The new video card will be here in 1-3 days and all I have to do is put the new one in the computer and mail the broken one back to Dell! And to finish off the whole experience, our entire ‘chat’ was emailed to me…so I guess I can try all the solutions again if I get bored?!
That took up most of the middle of my day… so I switched my plans around and decided to go shopping later in the week. Instead, I finally sat down and put a big stack of photos I’ve been saving into a scrapbook. I had fun writing fun captions and having a bit of nostalgia remembering some good times (Golden Goggle awards in NYC with Dustin, Navy Seal day in San Diego, relaxing on the beach in Honolulu, etc). I also put some race memories into the scrapbook…it’s just going to be filled with random things that I want to save…photos of myself and friends from magazines, race articles that I’m mentioned in, etc.
After that I uploaded some things I’ve been saving to sell on e-Bay…like my textbook from my favorite class (Statistics)…we’ll see if there is anyone out there who even wants it!:) Jaz and Jess called on their way back from meeting with our coach (my meeting is tomorrow morning) and I met them in the cafeteria for dinner. Still eating on paper and Styrofoam with plastic utensils…so now that the day has gone in a complete circle, it’s time to say “good night” and get some well deserved sleep after a big productive rest day!
Tomorrow I’ve got a bit of everything on the schedule…starting with a run, meeting with my coach, a little bike ride, and finishing off with an afternoon swim practice. I should also start my packing for Nationals…I’ll be in Long Beach for 4 days this weekend.