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Peninsula Daily News Port Angeles, Washington Copyright 2000 Eric Rush www.ericrush.com |
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When my old notebook computer died and I began to transfer my e-life to a new one, I felt as though I were moving into a new house: The new house is nice but the move is unsettling. I was wrong. It’s worse than that. My old computer was obsolete and out of production when I bought it. It is the only laptop ever made with an ergonomic keyboard, and that feature alone made up for the machine’s deficiencies. Constant travel does not appear to have been good for it. Between carrying it with me to work, on vacations, and on hunting trips, it accumulated damage, though gradually. It didn’t matter that the hinged port cover on the back fell off. It was open most of the time anyway. When the screen began dimming a few minutes after it was turned on, I didn’t like it, but I didn’t want to send it to New Jersey for repair and be without it for weeks. So I learned where to squeeze the computer to brighten the screen again and tolerated the problem. Then the computer became confused as to its power source. The little battery symbol did not change to a little plug-and-cord symbol when the computer was plugged in. It always thought it was running on the battery, and it always insisted the battery was 75-percent full, even when I took the battery out of the computer. Sometimes the battery would run the computer and sometimes it wouldn’t. The only times I am not near AC power are when hunting or camping, so rather than send the computer out for repair, I bought an inverter so I can run the computer from the truck battery. Then, not long ago, the computer refused to cooperate with the printer. Occasional Blue Screen error messages became constant, and the problem was not in the printer. Sensing impending doom, I copied important data files to disk, forgetting to back up only my huge e-mail address book. A few days later, the computer died in its sleep and would not respond to the On button. On my way home from Seattle the next day, I bought an inexpensive new computer. I’ve spent three full days so far “moving in.” Many programs I use came on disks or CDs but have been upgraded now and then with downloads from the Internet. I’d forgotten how many hours such downloads can take. I’ve used my writing software long enough that I don’t remember all the customized changes I’ve made in it, so the new one doesn’t always do what I expect it to do, and setting up the new version has been tedious. The new computer, or the new version of Windows, doesn’t like my fax program. I found that out when I tried to fax a letter to the repair center regarding the old computer. My fingers and wrists do not like the conventional keyboard with straight rows, so I’m going to send my obsolete computer out for repair, even though I have a new one. When it comes back, I’ll leave it at home and use it for most of my writing because it is comfortable, and I’ll take the new one to work. Since differences between my new computer and all other new computers are minor, I’d rather risk beating the new one to death with travel than the old one that can’t be replaced. I say this now, while my new computer feels like a new house. I don’t know my way around in it yet, so I am not comfortable with it. If my old machine is gone too long, I may be so well adjusted to the new one that the old one will seem shabby and inadequate, and I will have spent repair money needlessly. Not quite needlessly, though. There are several hundred e-mail addresses locked in the old machine that I need. Now, after three days of moving electronic furniture and learning anew how to find my way around, I realize it’s not the same as simply moving into a new house. It’s like moving into a new house after the old one has burned down. The new house may be better than the old one was, but you still miss your old sweater and slippers. |