2006-06-09 - 11:50 p.m.
I am bereft!
Yesterday, a sad day, I lost something very dear to me. My second most prized possession. Second only to my cat.
I lost my laptop.
After a hard day of work, I returned home, with the notion to unwind and do a little internet surfing. I took my lovely, marvelous--splendid laptop computer--which I’ve had only six months--and sat down in a cozy spot. I turned it on, and the beautiful “Dell” logo splashed across the screen. Then--horror of horrors--the dreaded blue screen error-message came into view. For those who have loved and lost computers, you know of which screen I speak. Having been a computer malfunction veteran of a sort, I set out following the simple emergency protocols that I’ve learned during previous encounters with the dreaded malfunction beast. All to no avail. I was forced into a corner. There was nothing left to do--but call for…technical assistance.
NOOOOOO--AGGHHHHH!!!!!!! People who have experienced this phenomena know that it is almost better to just throw your computer in the trash, and purchase a new one, because it will save you precious hours of your existence. The last time I dealt with technical assistance, I was on the phone for literally--not exaggerating--NINE HOURS. Around the fifth hour, I should have given up…but you figure, “Well, I’ve been on this long…”
As I dialed the 800 number, I prayed a silent prayer that whoever answered my call would be located in North America. After several minutes on hold, I was shown once again the extent of God’s enduring sense of irony. The technician who answered over the crackly connection had an obvious east Indian accent. NOOOO!!! Forget irony, God hates me. Slowly, with much repetition, we went though the same measures that I had just tried and big shocker--the blue screen returned. He showed me some new measures and we ran some tests--still the blue screen prevailed. At one point, he had me remove a panel off the bottom of my laptop, and he then wanted me to actually REMOVE my hard drive. When I failed to recognize which device it was, “Um, I see a metal object?” he simply told me to replace the panel.
At this point, he started to itemize the steps we had taken. Anyone who has been in this situation knows that this is the moment that heralds bad news. “We’ve tried all these steps, and I’m sorry, but your hard drive has gone bad.” Gone bad?!? NOOOO!! Pictures gone. Songs gone. Documents gone. SIMS GONE!!! NO, NO, NO, NO! And at THIS point, I have no hair left, because I’ve ripped it all out.
Just so I wouldn’t jump across America and the Atlantic ocean to beat the tar out of him, he threw me a pebble of hope. He gave me the number of a hard drive retrieval company. Great…more technicians. So maybe, possibly, all is not lost. I will be getting a new (but blank) hard drive in the mail this week, so my computer will be working again, even if it is pitifully bare. Still, I weep.
Woe for the cashed hard drive! Woe!
Peace love and fuzzy bunnies (and functioning ‘puters)
Alley Kat
