Three down in a week

I’ve had three laptops bite the big one in the last week or so. Not software related at all. One stopped working entirely and won’t even turn on, another has a completely non-functional display, and a third ate a hard drive … completely (and has a shot power supply to boot). I’m finally back online on a fourth machine, as evidenced by this posting.

The time away from a machine gave me a little time to reflect exactly how dependent I am on such incredibly fragile machines to be able to function in certain important ways. I can’t work unless I have a working machine, but I also use it for some socialization functions (email mostly) and creative things (music and design). If I had been born fifty years earlier, would I even remotely resemble the person I am today, who is so intrinsically linked to these machines?

I found it very interesting to see how I instinctively went over to look at the machines, though they were dark and cold, as though I was programmed to look at them. Somewhere in the distance, a bell is ringing, and I’m drooling. Makes me glad I don’t watch more television …