The Mysterious Mouse Malfunction

Some days our brains just don't seem to work the way they should. Today was one of those days for my friend Marie. I had an appointment today for what Marie brilliantly (and I mean this seriously) refers to as my "green poke" or "green test." You see, I take a medication called Coumadin (actually, I take the generic form, called warfarin sodium) which is an anticoagulant, because blood clotting problems run in my family. When you add in the fact that many lupus patients develop clotting problems, it was almost inevitable that I would end up with potential trouble. But as long as I take my meds and keep my levels stable, it keeps me safe. To make sure that the levels are good, there is a test that I have about once a month to see if the clotting time is in the safe range. Something that undoes the effects of the warfarin is high intake of vitamin K, which makes the blood clot faster. This vitamin helps in the photosynthesis process in plants, so it is found in high concentrations in green vegetables. I have flunked many a monthly test because I forgot and ate something like spinach salad or edamame or a tossed salad or green beans. Hence Marie's name of the "green poke." 

Marie picked me up about an hour and a half before my appointment to take me out to lunch before heading to the doctor. When we got on the highway, a combination of road work and snow had caused the traffic to slow to a crawl, so Marie decided to get off of the highway. After several minutes of driving on one of the busier surface streets, she said, "Can we get there from here?" She actually knew, but her brain, as I mentioned before, just wasn't in full gear. I reassured her, and let her know which street she needed to turn on. As we pulled up to said street, I told her that this was where she needed to turn. Landmarks hadn't clicked for her, I guess, and she thought we were further away from the street we needed.

After we turned, she asked if I was sure that this was the right street, and I told her that it was, and in a few minutes she would know that it was right. And that is exactly what happened. To add to the confusion, a couple of turns later we went onto a street that curves and changes its name. It is one of those situations where you are on Yates, and notice that there is a right turn onto...Yates. Very confusing. During lunch there were a few more of those moments, and we both laughed about them. Everyone has times like these, and it always seems to me that when we realize that we are out of whack, it makes us get even more out of it. I wanted to stress to Marie that she wasn't special, we all have our moments, so I told her about something that happened to me about a week ago.

I was having a leisurely moment one day when I suddenly remembered that I needed to get online and pay some bills. And I mean the same day. So I sat down on the bed and grabbed my laptop and my wireless mouse, and hit the power button. While the computer powered up, I turned on the mouse and was ready to go when my unlock screen came up. I clicked on the password field, and nothing happened. No response whatsoever. The mouse did have a little green light on, but no matter how much I moved it, no cursor showed on my screen. Crumbs, I thought. I must need a new battery. So I removed the battery and tossed it, replacing it with a fresh new battery. I sat down, pulled my computer onto my lap, moved the mouse, and...nothing. Argh!

The timing was inconvenient for a problem, so I tried to think of what else could be causing the mouse not to work. Aha! Maybe it was the little gizmo that plugs into the computer and receives the signal from the mouse. Maybe it was a bit loose or something. I decided to do the unplug it/plug it back in trick. And that's when the gizmo flew out of my hand and went under either the bed or the nightstand, I wasn't sure which at that point. Now I was getting really irritated. I got down on the floor to begin the search for the gizmo. As my body lowered to the floor, my gaze ended up on my nightstand. And my mouse. In my hurry, I had picked up Trent's mouse. All of the moving and maneuvering was being done with a mouse that was connected to another computer that wasn't even turned on. Although I felt like a grade-A nincompoop, I had to laugh about this comedy of errors. I found and plugged in the gizmo, removed the new battery from the mouse and replaced it with the original battery, and got down to business. The bill-paying took less time than the mouse song-and-dance that I had been through. But at least I was able to see something amusing about it. And hearing about The Mysterious Mouse Malfunction also made Marie laugh and feel better about how her brain was doing today. So I guess it was worth it!