Three pieces of tape hold the screen. However, the machine is so old that the screen is broken. Maybe cement will do the trick.
The keyboard is filled with more crumbs than a cruise ship’s kitchen because it doubles as a dining table.
There were these types of bruises and injuries seen in a crashed car set for trash.
This is my laptop computer, purchased 14 years ago.
That’s when Obama was campaigning for the presidency, the iPhone had just been unlocked, and the 2008 financial crisis revealed all its pain.
We paid about $ 600 for the Dell computer. I checked the other day and still sell laptops for that.
Apparently the one thing that hasn’t been hit by inflation is the laptop market. Although.
Somehow the machine keeps shuffling and, if computers can use a walker, they have one and aren’t ashamed of it either.
I’ve written two books about it, created hundreds of newspaper columns, wrote tens of thousands of emails, and made millions – and maybe billions – of keystrokes.
The computer battery likely died at the start of the Trump presidency. It takes a good 10 minutes to warm up first thing in the morning. Internet searches are faster on dial up than speed on light. And the “5” key sometimes needs to be pressed about 500 times to work.
Even as the computer goes on, it seems like there are more lives than an animal habitat for stray cats.
I always pass banners on the technology recycling activity as I sail through Murrieta and Temecula. Of course, it crossed my mind to have my laptop welcome there, if not give a standing ovation.
I just kept driving.
Having said this, it reminds me of how long I continued to drive a car I inherited from my mother – about 20 years.
While I didn’t feel my mom’s spirit as I put something like this column on my dinosaur computer, I did feel a certain kinship. It wasn’t my best friend like our three dogs were when my kids were growing up, but it was a loyal companion. And I don’t have to clean up after this.
I was asked why I didn’t throw it away. Release me and the engine of our collective misery. Newer computers are faster, sleeker and more reliable.
The lowest blow of all: Are you cheap?
The same things can be said about so many things in our disposable society, where some change their technology just as often as they change their underwear.
And while I have to read, exercise or focus on space while things seem forever to warm up, while Zoom meetings can sometimes fail more than a race, and while the computer needs more updates than a local broadcasting the news during a major disaster, I Established a passion for something more than what a collection of plastics and bolts should be.
I keep coming back to my favorite sayings of my 64 years: If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I use other computers all the time while taking turns teaching and they can also run slow, even stop working.
Mine just kept running like the little machine could, the turtle that would somehow win the race, and the old man who didn’t know what he would do without it.
Carl Love can be reached at carllove4@yahoo.com
