New computer, new start.

Sometime during the wee hours of Wednesday morning, my computer became severely crippled.

When I turned it on Wednesday morning, the mouse and keyboard did not work. I tried unplugging then re-plugging the cables, restarting the computer, putting fresh batteries in the wireless keyboard, restarting the computer, cursing at the computer, shutting it off, putting it in safe mode, damning it to hell, shutting it off again, and then repeating the whole process twenty times.

Tuesday night, tired of the insanely slow processing of the computer, I decided to clear out some unused programs. I tried to make damn sure I wasn't un-installing anything we needed but maybe I did. Either way, I couldn't re-install the necessary drivers for the computer because both mouse and keyboard failed to work, even in safe mode.

I went to Best Buy and tried to explain to the Geek Squad guy there what had happened. He suggested a new computer. He said diagnosing my old one would cost $59, with additional fees to repair it.

I told him I would think about it.

As I browsed the new computers, I thought back to all the times I had cursed and screamed at my old computer. All the times I banged the mouse so hard that the trackball would come flying out. All the times I wanted so, so, so badly to strap on my steel-toe Corcoran boots and kick the crap out of the processor.

About $250 (just my personal estimate) to fix a '03 Dell, with a few more years of cursing and ripping my hair out....or a new computer? On the shelves of display computers, I saw a Dell Inspiron 530 for $449. Our government tax rebate was arriving soon. My mind was made up.

It took a trip home to pick up the old processor, $99 to transfer the files from old to new, then a third trip back to Best Buy to pick up both computers. Other than some inital struggling with (and cursing, oh yay) Windows Vista, the new pooter is ok.

But I love that it's a zillion times faster!

I know this information is totally irrelevant to the blog but I felt the need to mark the event.