Ah, technology...

After all the frustration with my computer(s) and the networks I need to use for work we finally figured out what the problem is today. It only took 2 weeks. Sheesh. Even though IT had shipped me 2 replacement laptops and troubleshooted each one it turns out that the computers had nothing to do with the problems I was experiencing. I use a peripheral piece of equipment to hook the laptop up to a regular monitor, keyboard, and mouse - that piece of equipment is corrupted and is causing all the issues.

So, all this stress and all the time lost when I wasn't able to get any work done was thanks to a small piece of plastic with a few USB hubs in it. It's an easy problem to fix, but the problem of catching up on 2 weeks of work isn't so easily remedied. Grrr.