Saying Goodbye

My computer is dying.

After five and a half years of reliable service it's dying a slow and arduous death. It's now succumbing to the siren's call of a simpler existence - a retirement with days full of Spider Solitaire played by 9-year-old fingers.

Most days this IBM takes time and patience to wake up and get moving. Opening a browser window is a process that requires much pondering on the part of the CPU (really - I can hear it thinking in the background.) And for some reason Word won't consider retrieving a document without permission from the printer - if it can even find the document through its shortcut.

It's not as if I'm surprised. I'm fully aware that my laptop is old. But I haven't been ready to let it go.

I've taken what may be futile steps to prolong the useful life of this well-used machine. I run anti-spy-ad-crap-ware and registry cleaning software almost daily, I do a full shut down whenever I'm not actively working and whenever the keyboard gets too hot - I've even moved all my photos and music to an external hard drive.

And yet it's not enough.

No matter what I do I can't seem to regain the glory days - those days when this laptop was shiny and brand new, an expensive tool in Nate's business school education. Back then it was significantly faster and more powerful than any computer we'd previously owned (it better have been, considering what it cost.) I eagerly anticipated every second of available screen time so I could avoid having to use my dinosaur (4 year old) desktop that employed a retrofitted ethernet card to get online.

I'm sure you can imagine the expectancy with which I looked forward to Nate's graduation and new job with its accompanying computer. The day this laptop became mine was a very happy one.

At long last those happy days are now gone . . .

I've lost all patience with this once-loved machine. If I have to stare at that little white "I'm ignoring you while I think about whether or not I want to respond" box at the upper left corner of my browser/document window I'm gonna throw this too-heavy, too-hot, too-old, too-lazy piece of c%@p across the room and through the wall.

Good thing my new laptop arrives tomorrow.

After months of denial, frustration, and aggravating research I finally bit the bullet and bought a new computer. And yet I'm still apprehensive about the quality and reliability of this new machine - can it possibly fill the void left by my geriatric IBM? I sure hope so - otherwise my walls better watch out because my best throwing days may still be ahead of me.