Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie - The day... my computer... died

You may not have noticed, but I haven't written a blog post in over a week -  my computer's life expectancy is nearing its end.  I know, I know, it's not fair comparing the death of my computer to such an awesome song.  The only thing remotely comparable is the line "ten years we've been on our own"- my computer and I - almost a decade with the same old faithful - and then it's not really a full ten years - only eight I think, so it's a stretch of the imagination even then.

 

I woke up this past Sunday morning, sat down at my computer, turned the screen on and squiggly lines greeted me making it almost impossible to read anything on my screen.

After changing monitors, changing video cables, making sure there were no different electronics close by, by reasonable deduction, I figured it must be the video card gone bad.  That sounds easy enough to fix, but my computer's CD drive has also been broken for a couple of years and you need to re-install your drivers once you install the video card.  Before you go thinking I'm all technical minded, I read all this on the internet.   

It's not that I don't have other computers.  I have a new laptop and another perfectly good PC that my hubby uses all the time.  The trouble is, I'm not comfortable using those computers to write.  My "old faithful" is my security blanket.  She holds pictures of my grandchildren throughout the years; she's given me extra income by using her to sell on Ebay, Craigslist and Etsy.  She's been with me while going from dial-up to wired to wireless.  She's brought words to life in front of my eyes and she holds all the pages of the book I'm writing.  She's expanded my social life by helping me to find old friends and new friends through Facebook and blogging.  Her little green light is a welcoming glow when I walk in the room.

She hasn't always been perfect.  Her health starting failing a few years back.  The first thing to go was her media card readers.  No problem - I just bought her an external one, and she seemed happy enough.  Next to go was her CD drive.  I haven't had to install any software so that hasn't really been a problem until now.  A few months ago, she had brain overload, but don't we all have that at one time or another?   I just took her to a good head PC doctor and he fixed her right up.  My dilemna is: should I spend more money on her health care, or should I just pull the plug?  It's not like she has health insurance or anything and if I fix this problem, who's to say that something else won't happen tomorrow.

 I know it's not a good excuse, but I haven been able to sit down and write this week.  I suppose it's just the "comfort" thing.  Laptops are just awkward for someone like me who has used a PC since they were invented.  The hubby's PC is in the sunroom which is too bright for me.  And words - they're just not flowing without "old faithful" sitting by my feet.  I suppose for now, I'll try to get accustomed to the sunroom computer.  In the meantime, I may take Old Faithful to the PC doc and see what his diagnosis is.

But, I'll never forget that Sunday morning when I turned her on for the last time.

I can’t remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride, But something touched me deep inside The day the music my computer died.

Note:  Click on link above to hear the real version of Don McLean's song from the '70's - one of the most debated and dissected songs in American music.  They don't write them like that anymore, do they?