Oz got a new PDA, the result of a little retail therapy while I was in Ohio. When he went to install its desktop software on the PC, the PC choked. The little hamsters who run the hard drive cried "No more!" and lay down. He defragged the hard drive to little effect and then the machine went into constant reboot mode.
At this point, I started browsing the Best Buy site and quoting computer prices at him. That PC is my old one, purchased in 2000 and ridden hard since. Though parts aren't actually falling out and rattling around inside the case, some have ceased to function (though I expect the sound card merely needed to be re-seated) and Oz has reinstalled the OS at least once. It's been adequate for his at-home computing purposes, which mostly involve reading comics, but has become resistant to change.
It grew less resistant and stopped rebooting itself when I quoted the prices for new desktop systems and listed the specs in its general direction. This is totally not magical thinking. When I said, "So, wanna go to NTK?" the little hamsters in the old PC hopped back onto their treadmills and started scurrying like mad. Not falling for that, Oz started filling his pockets, the equivalent of me picking up my purse, and we hit the road.
Now Oz can read his comics really fast. A sleek black PC has replaced the two putty-colored machines under the table and an enviable LCD monitor has kicked aside the two giant putty-colored CRTs which have been dominating that whole corner of the office for the past couple years. The old machines are stacked in the corner.
In theory we'll have a net reduction in clutter out of this.
Eventually.
297 words | June 25, 2007 11:11 PM | Wired