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Ode to my computer

It has been a difficult few days for me. After an accidental dropping of my computer this weekend by one of Pat's friends, my computer would no longer turn on. It couldn't have been broken, I thought, since it only feel approximately two feet from the couch and landed on our carpeted floor. The problem was, I had my flash drive in the USB port and of course since I'm cursed with all things electronic, it landed right on the flash drive causing it to jam internally into the rest of the computer. Pat and I took it to the Apple store yesterday. I held the computer in my arms as we walked to the store to determine the fate of my computer. My lifeline. My love. After doing some testing, the Apple Genius, I believe his name was Jeremy - we will call him Dr. Jeremy, informed me that the results were not good.

The USB drive had been pushed into the motherboard of my computer on impact during the dropping. It would cost me over $800 to repair it. I felt like the walls were closing in around me. My computer is three years old (in fact, you can look to one of my very first posts in October of 2005 to read a blog I wrote about the excitement when I first purchased my computer and my frustration with my previous PC). Since you can buy a new computer for $1,100, investing $800 in the old one is just not worth it. Dr. Jeremy gave me a moment to process all of this information and apologized for being the bearer of bad news.

As the information started to sink in, questions started to fill my mind. When was the last time I backed my computer up? Weeks? Months? Within the last year? I couldn't remember. What are the odds they could get everything off of my hard drive? I asked Dr. Jeremy and just like any doctor, he couldn't make any promises that he wasn't sure he could keep. If I did purchase another Apple computer, they would do their best to retrieve the information off of my hard drive and move it over to my new computer. But they wouldn't know until they tried. He went on to suggest that I take a few moments to look at the notebooks on my way out and added that Apple will be holding a press release on Tuesday October 14th to release their new line of notebooks and suggested I wait until then to purchase a new computer. Come on Dr. Jeremy. Do I look like the type of person who has the money and decisiveness to just walk over and buy a new computer only moments after finding out that mine was ruined forever?

We did take him up on his suggestion to at least peruse the notebook section on our way out. But as we were looking at the options and the prices, Pat and I both knew that it was something we just couldn't afford right now. We're not sure how we'll even pay for our wedding and honeymoon in seven months so the computer is just not in the budget. The thought of going seven months without a computer was more than I could bear at the time. I suddenly felt sick and needed to leave the store.

Most people who know me well, can appreciate the fact that my computer is my most prized (and valuable) possession, aside from my wonderful fiance of course. On a recent vacation to Virginia Beach my digital camera also three years old, was exposed to a little too much salt water on a dolphin watching excursion and bit the dust (side note - the only warning we received before going on this trip was that we might get slightly "splashed." Translation - you might as well jump in the ocean. My camera was in it's case and underneath my shirt but still got a little wet due to the drenching of all customers on the dolphin boat). Long story short - I now have no computer and no camera. Already memories are passing me by. Pat and recently celebrated our 3 year anniversary. I have a scrapbook page of our previous two. Not this one. No camera to document it with. Halloween is quickly approaching and I have no camera to capture these memories. No camera means to pictures. No pictures mean nothing to scrapbook. You get the idea. Oh the pain! The pain!

Sorry, Mom & Mark. You purchased both my digital camera and my computer. I know I have let you down. I hope that you believe me when I say that these technological losses of late are not due to irresponsible behavior on my part but the curse of all things electronic that has been cast upon me.

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