Chillin' in the Mountains with a Fried Laptop

I've spent the last couple of days chillin' here in Hendersonville, NC with my old buddy Eric and his wife Marian, who have made me feel right at home with their southern hospitality. Eric and I were like brothers in high school, but we don't get to see each other too often anymore. Since he's moved to NC, we're lucky to see each other every year or two, usually when I'm on a motorcycle trip through the area.

As much as the time spent with Eric and Marian was nice, it was extended a bit beyond my original plan because of a fried laptop. I woke up Sunday morning thinking I'd do a short post and then pack up and hit the rest of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Upon firing up my laptop, however, my browser and desktop got totally highjacked because of two Trojan horses that made their way into my system (I am - admittedly - an asshole for not keeping my internet protection software up to date. Not a good thing when you're using all sorts of random wireless networks). I spent the next few hours furiously trying to clean them out and restore my system to health, but to no avail. I finally gave up and went to Staples for the latest security suite by Norton, which I installed and ran on my poor, sick laptop.

Anyway, eight hours after I first fired it up, it was sort of working ok again (although I no longer have a "desktop" to speak of - when I go into my Control Panel I don't even have settings for a desktop anymore). Thank God I backed everything up before I left! However, I basically lost a whole day to this bullshit.

Let me say two things here: one, always, always, always keep your security software on and up to date. After working on random networks with laptops for about eight years, I never had a problem until now, but I was just lucky. Two, there is a very special place in Hell for the fuckers who create these viruses and other assorted malware. If I ever, ever meet someone who does this sort of thing, I will make Donald Rumsfeld look like Mr. Rogers and Abu Ghraib will look like a petting zoo. I will make a special trip to Home Depot just for devices to torture the fucker with and it will be sloooooow.

Thanks - just needed to get that out of my system...

Anyway, today I'm headed back up to the BRP to ride the last piece from Asheville, NC to the Great Smoky Mts. National Park. After that, I'm headed back to I-40 and will likely end up somewhere around Knoxville, TN. From there I'm headed to the Blues and BBQ capital of the South, Memphis, TN.

See you on the road!