Four down, thirty-six to go

Jesse's dad delivered three Mindtriggerz computers this Saturday to the families who completed their training, the fourth was delayed as our little Harvard prodigy was ill. I felt a certain melancholy in letting them "go" - or perhaps it is more the reality of what we are doing and why. I know it is good work but some days it is just very hard.

Incredibly, in a couple of the homes Jerome visited there were old non-working computers tucked away in closets. One dad asked if we could fix his old machine and Jerome responded: "We only fix computers for little people, not big ones" and then was given the old computer to be donated to Mindtriggerz. Jesse would love the irony in this - we give a computer and take another one in its place.

Joyce was our "runner" hustling back and forth between Liverpool and the Park loading systems into her car for Jerome to deliver. Laughing all the way. James was here along with Jon and while the guys replaced parts and diagnosed my dysfunction (one of the machines I couldn't get to boot was due to the fact that I'd plugged the monitor into the wrong port - ha ha, yeah), I cleaned speakers and mice and demonstrated not only how I make the machines sparkle to "like new" but also the ultimate results of my comet/windex mix. Sandpaper hands, an abrasive unto themselves.

When Jesse's dad delivered the infamous STICKER MANIA monitor last week to be cleaned I was like "no way, no, can't do" but then after checking the quality of the resolution I realized I had to fix it up. I joked about stickers being the bane of a mom's existence then buckled down to work. I suspect this monitor had been stacked away somewhere for quite some time, there was a great deal of dust and embedded grime but after fifteen or so minutes of buffing it with my steel wool knuckles, well, I finally got it clean.

Actually, it took a lot longer than fifteen minutes and much more than my sad cracked hands. I scraped each sticker with my fingernails (now all shredded to the quick) and had to bring out the big guns for the large plastic hook attached to the side with the dreaded double sided rubber adhesive. I won't go into too many details as to the plethora of cleaning products I unsuccessfully tried but finally I discovered the magic potion: Guardsman's Citrus Spot Remover. It was an "omg" moment and as is evident by this post, I am very proud of myself for the monitors pre-placement renewed condition. There are a wide variety of "things" I am not so good at anymore but it seems cleaning is not one that I've lost just yet.

For me these systems are a demonstration of my continued love for Jesse, and Jesse loved "shiny." So they will be.

<3