My darling notebook

Warning: The following post is sprayed with a lot of simple computer jargon..

This blog is dedicated to My Darling Notebook

In case you're wondering which notebook of mine gets all that love, its my laptop (or lappie) as I call it! When my anna first bought me the lappie, I was in complete awe of it.. And when we were configuring it, I was asked to name my very first laptop. And impulsively, I named it "My Darling Notebook" and it has remained its name since.. And I had no idea what the repurcussions were... In time, I burst out laughing... Every time I shut down the system, it would ask me innocently, "Turn off My Darling Notebook?"

Why am I writing all this? I was trying to fulfill the dream or rather, the vision I blogged about in my previous post... thesis in a coffee shop. I am at the Starbucks galleria... About 2 hours ago, while I was downloading a PDF, the system abruptly sprang up this blue screen that said "System Error.." and before I could read any further, it shut down... I was shocked.. but figured this was My Darling Notebook's way of asking me for rest. And who was I to deny it... I gave it rest.. for 2 whole hours... Snuggled in a comfy sofa upstairs in Starbucks, armed with a coffee I didnt wanna drink (but an essential part of the vision), with my notes, papers, headphones, etc., I start up My Darling Notebook.

He starts up innocently enough and it takes me a few minutes to realize that something's terribly wrong.. He's at the "Windows is starting up screen" for full 5 minutes before asking me for my password and for a full 7 minutes after that.. NOTHING.. I am in primary shock now... And instead of giving him time to start up, I do what most panicked people do, hit all sorts of icons, the Start Menu and anything else I can think of. He doesn't take this well and he's hung for another 10 minutes, giving me the blasted hourglass - his processing signal... All this sounds like less time.. Please sit next to your comp willing it to start and watch how the time crawls - you'll know then. When I hit Ctrl+Alt+Del next is when my secondary shock comes.. the screen doesnt appear for like, 7 minutes! I am the poor soul who doesn't know she's supposed to have tertiary and other whatever-ary shocks to follow. I decide I will give My Darling Notebook more time and go to use the restroom. Tertiary shock is when I am back and STILL the Task Manager hasn't come up. Out of sheer panic, I keep the power button pressed for a few seconds, a forced hibernation for My Darling Notebook. By now I am sure, one of my RAM chips has crashed.

I start Him up in Safe Mode and it takes 4 minutes in safe mode to get the Control Panel up. I right click on My Computer and try to get the damned properties to check the RAM. After 2 whole minutes, 704MB, He proudly announces (which is what its supposed to be). Thats when the first tears of anger spring up... My whole research is royally screwed if My Darling Notebook decides he's had enough of his memorable existance. I am now talking to him and coaxing him to spring up with life... He doesn't listen for 10 minutes more.. And I have Him started in normal mode now. I decide not to hit any buttons hastily but to give Him "waking-up" time. Meanwhile, while I can, I get AdAware working... better to untrash Him when I can... In time, His performance improves and slowly but surely My Darling Notebook is making a recovery...

Lets hope He lives a long and fulfilling life... Three Cheers to Him!!

PS: I had my Wallpaper as the Cincinnati Downtown nightshot. I swapped it for a few trashy moments to a 'Pirates of the Carribbean' one, to fulfill my obsession with the series and the "crash" happened soon after. One of the first things I did in 'Safe Mode' was to restore it back to the Cinti one... Supersition does work sometimes, huh?