Zumba Classes and my Trip to Computer Hell

I’m typing and words are appearing on the screen so I must still be alive. I wasn’t sure about that when I laid down for a nap after my first Zumba Gold class. Hint: if you ever take one don’t plan to do anything afterward that includes close personal contact because Zumba will make you sweat like a wild boar. I knew I was in trouble when I pulled into the parking lot and saw a woman who I knew, from the boom box she carried, would be the instructor. She was pencil thin and was dressed like Workout Barbie in aqua petal pushers, a matching tank top and shoes and she had a ponytail tied with a girlie-girl bow. This was a class at the senior hall and she was no spring chicken but could that woman dance!

We started with Salsa and Merengue music then switched to some Bollywood with moves that reminded me of the belly dance class I took back in the Dark Ages only done in double time. Then we went on a Latin American tour starting with Jamaican Reggae. And at one point I felt like the Brazilian samba singer, Carmen Miranda, with a bowl of fruit on my head. We also did some cha-cha, ball-and-chain and other steps I learned way back when I was still learning long division and was taking tap and jazz classes at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio. Ohmygod, we even did some hip hop and did we ever get our Beyonce` on with butt pops and pelvic thrusts. I have never been the most graceful cow in the pasture but Zumba made me feel like I have six feet and a learning disability. As exercise classes go it was really fun! It was fast paced with no breaks in between the music tracks---Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan and others I’m not up on enough to know their names. When I checked my pedometer I’d registered over 5,000 steps in that one hour long class! I was exhausted but I liked it well enough that I want to find some Zumba shoes. That would probably help with that six-footed heifer look I took on during the class. Walking shoes with arch-locks don’t let you pivot, slide and get your Latin rhythm going.

The other news I have is I’m still in computer hell; you know that place where one problem leads to another and another. It all started on the 22nd of last month when my desktop was nearing its first birthday and it got an “update” from Microsoft that wiped out all my photos, documents, settings, contacts, etc. and turned it back to factory fresh complete with tutorials and welcome screens. (I’m using my backup laptop.)  My local computer repair guy said he’d never seen anything like that before and he was able to restore most of it because I have Carbonite back up. But he couldn’t get my incoming email in Outlook fixed, and said I’d have to contact my server. The server said my settings were all correct and I’d have to contact an online support. That online support turned out to be a place that remotely takes control of your computer to fix the issue.

Well, they fixed the email but in the process they disabled my keyboard. I calling them back and spent THREE hours with them online as they tried to uninstall and install new drivers and whatever else they were doing remotely. Finally, they gave up and sent me a check for $80.00 to replace my wave, ergonomic keyboard. I bought the new keyboard and after one try I couldn’t get it going so I took the whole ball of wax back to the local computer shop who couldn’t make it work either. Bottom line: they are wiping my computer clean, reinstalling windows and my Office Suit, then will add back my photos and files. What a mess! Never again will I let someone remotely control my computer. The computer guy said I was the third person in recent days to come in with a similar back story involving a remote control support site and they hadn’t seen that in several years. Another interesting thing he said is that most of viruses that people get on their computers, now, are coming from printing out coupons. I don’t do that but if you do, be careful! Go to the official sites for the stores and not to those coupon collection sites.

Next week I get to be a college girl again when two of my Olli classes start. I’ll also have time to take another Balance/Tai Chi Class and Zumba class and, I hope, I can get my desktop tweaked back to the way it was before it took me to computer hell. ©