Peace in the Valley?

Well, my laptop is home; my bank account has diminished a bit; it's (the laptop) is behaving more like a Good Little Boy and less like, well, the Me of 1955.

Here's what astonishes me: I was without it for only a bit more than 24 hours (while the guys from Pat's Computer Rescue rescued it from the problem that was not allowing me, in Word, to use the Save-As feature, the Copy-and-Paste feature). Just a little over 24 hours. But it might as well have been 24 years.

Ever since I brought it home (a little after 4 yesterday afternoon), I've been "catching up"--doing on it all the things I'd been unable to do while it was away at Bad Boy Camp. There were those Quicken files to update, the journal to catch up on, the files I needed to cut-and-paste-and-print. Etc.

I just this moment (about 11 a.m.) finished all the tasks I was unable to do while the machine was in rehab. And now, of course, today's work on it looms ahead of me like some great cataract that threatens to overwhelm ... and drown.

How did I ever become so dependent on it?

I remember my mom had one of the first computers in the family--an old Apple II with an "interface" that allowed her to print on her electric typewriter. My younger brother, also very early in the computer-buying thing, had a device that fit over the keyboard of his electric typewriter, and the computer would "type" his pages for him; I believe he did his dissertation this way.

Joyce and I held off until, oh, about 1982 or so (?) when we bought a Kaypro II (see photo), a device that at first was just a curious novelty--and then became something necessary, something we had to "share" (like movie popcorn), and "sharing" soon became ... an issue. We both were doing a lot of writing; we both soon "needed" a machine that allowed such easy repair of typos, etc. For you puppies out there, the Kaypro II had two slots for floppy drives: The upper one held the disc for the program you were using (we used Perfect Writer); the lower was for you to save. Those floppies didn't hold much--in the K's rather than in the TB's. (I just checked: You can get a Kaypro II on eBay for about $50!)

So, we were now a two-computer family. And on and on it's gone--through desktops and laptops and an iPad or two. All are wonderful at first. Until they aren't. And it's time for it to visit rehab--or a landfill. (I exaggerate: We recycle, of course!)

Getting a new one is nice--but a pain, too. All that set-up. Copying. Gnashing of teeth, uttering of grievous execrations.

I've had my current laptop only a year--and, until recently, it's been fast and great. And now it's a bit slower and not-so-great.

Hmmmm ... sounds familiar. I think I'll avoid mirrors today ...