Uh...?

This whole death-of-Dell-motherboard has been fraught with annoyance and expense. Not the least of which is that I'm now running Windows Vista.

Did you know that a "backup" disk isn't the same thing as all your files burned to disk? Neither did I. Let me just inform you now, that if you're all self-satisfied because the last thing your dead computer did was make a "backup" with Nero 6, and you upgrade to Windows Vista, you better wipe that smile off your face right now. Nero 6 doesn't work on Vista, and a "backup" disk requires itself to be unloaded and decoded by the very program that compressed and encrypted and formatted your files in the first place. Do I sound like I know what I'm talking about? No? Good. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth and removing of computer components and furrowing of brow, I took my old hard drive and new computer to some experts. They fixed me up, somewhat. For $36.

Did you know that Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 is not compatible with Windows Vista either? Neither did I. Darn all my old-school programs. Buying the 6.0 version wasn't on my to-do list, but a somewhat pleasant (if expensive) exercise.

But believe it or not, worse than trying to retrieve all my photos from the hard drive was registering my new PSE program. One is required to take a test at the outset. And I'm not sure I passed.

For instance, they want to know the nature of my Organization (no, "dis"organization wasn't on the list).
But Agriculture/Fishing/Forestry was. Is this an agricultural organization? Could be...
Construction? Sometimes.
Non-Profit/Charity? Yep.
Healthcare? Every day.
Photography? Not as much as I would like.
Education (K-12)? Check. Pre-K too.
Hospitality/Food Service? Constantly.

The kicker is, these are on a drop down menu. I can only pick one.

THEN they wanted to know my position. Uh... At the computer? Seated?
Chairman/Owner/CEO/Partner? Definitely.
Accounting/Finance? Of course.
Administrative Support? That sums it up too.
Human Resources? Yes, three so far.
Project Manager? Always.
Purchasing Manager? Obviously.
Training/Development? It never ceases!
Creative Director? Yup!
Designer (fashion/interior)? Afraid so.
Musician? When necessary
Photographer? Yep.
Education Administrator? Absolutely.
Educator? For certain.
Student? Frequently.
Healthcare Practitioner/Medical Services? When needed.
Scientist/Researcher? Every day.
Social Services? Constantly.

I don't even remember what I selected. Probably "other." But really, it took me a very long time, because I didn't have a pie-chart handy telling me what I spend the bulk of my time doing. And really, if I'm talking parts-of-speech with one child, bandaging an owie on another, and noting that Organique has mastered standing alone, does that count as Educator, Healthcare, or Research? And what if dinner is cooking? I do not like to get 'wrong' answers, whether or not we're grading on the curve. It's the one area my perfectionist tendencies have full reign (unlike in housekeeping, where I could really use it). I must have struggled with those drop-down menus for quite some time.

Why couldn't they sum it up with Homeschooling Mother. Really, I think that says it all.