The Computer Gods Are Laughing At Me

So I get into the office around 6:45AM today, per usual. Boot up the computer, hit control-alt-delete to get to the log-in screen, type my name and password, click the "ok" button, and...nothing. Nada. Zip. Mouse moves, but won't select anything. Can't escape the screen, can't do a thing.

Great.

The only way I can turn off the computer is to unplug it. Which I do. Then boot up again and go through the same thing, again.

Finally I give up and the log-in screen returns to the control-alt-delete procedure. I go through this about half a dozen times. Throw up my hands in defeat, log on to a co-worker's computer (she's on holiday). No problems there at all, though I need my computer, with my files. Still, I check work email via the webmail program and then check my personal Gmail account. Fine. Look up the office hours for computer support: 8:30 to 4:30. Huh. Some people work early, you know!

So I'm fuming and basically twiddling my thumbs when another early co-worker comes in (it's about 7:30 now). He asks if my mouse is okay. Well, yeah, of course it is. It moves, right? But just to be on the safe side, I take the mouse from the vacationing person's computer and plug it into mine. Presto! I have normal log-in.

Well, hell. It was my mouse.

Then I take my mouse and plug it into the other computer, but it's fine.

Huh?

So I remove the borrowed mouse, plug mine back in, and everything works just tickety boo.

Oh, for crying out loud. Sometime between logging off yesterday afternoon (and not touching the desktop at all, just my keyboard) and trying to log in this morning, the connection must have been jiggled enough that while the cursor was moving, it wasn't doing its mousy thing.

Yeah, okay, whatever.

I swear, the computer gods are laughing at me.