"Change the motherboard"; "Angels"

New words from a new computer.

For the last month, the old laptop was a major pain. It would boot then freeze. And freeze. And freeze. The only thing that had any effect was to re-load the operating system. Which erases / erased everything.

I checked error messages. Read documentation. Did some research at work. Gads! "Change your OS to 'Plug and Play." "Change the motherboard." "Update the drivers." "It's the video card." "Try the power supply." "New battery." "Switch to Linux." "Boot from the floppy."

I debated trying to have it fixed. But I was beginning to suspect it was the hard drive. Expensive. And there's no guaranty it would solve the problem.

Therefore, I asked for an early holiday gift. And Santa was most gracious. And most understanding. Friday evening, I paid a visit to Best Buy and was surprised by the options and prices, The old laptop was 900 MHz, the new one is 2.4 GHz. At about 60% of the cost.

Yesterday at lunch, I returned and selected the one I wanted. Laptops are kept in what looks like a metal cage with one lock in the grillwork. And a second very serious brass and steel padlock through the struts. And only a couple of people seemed to have the keys. And then there was only a couple of places where you could check out. And then at the door, a clerk wrote the numbers on a form. This tells me that BB has a serious inventory control problem.

PAX!