I Lost My Computer–I Am On a Roll!

Tamahome the Third is Dead.

I can’t believe I got to numbering my computers. Though it does make sense, bearing in mind the crotchety miner in Grizzly Adams (remember that show? No? I’m sorry) who stopped naming his mules because they died so fast, and started numbering them instead. I have fond memories of Number Seven!

Truthfully, I started numbering because I never got around to choosing new names (also the rest of my gadgets are named for others of Miaka’s guardians–the portable hard drive is Mitsukake, the MP3 player is Chiriko–umm, back to the post), but I should probably just make it official. I realized last night as I applied for a Dell Preferred Customer account that they’d better prefer me–I’ve bought five computers from them in twelve years, and I was applying in order to buy a sixth.

Before anyone makes any smart remarks, please be aware that all of those but the recently-deceased Tamahome the Third are still computing. I update my desktop when I notice it’s not moving as fast as I want; I don’t wait for it to die. I’ve only replaced one computer due to sudden death before, and that one was an eMachine I bought at Best Buy because I believed the saleseman’s assertion that the difference between it and a Dell was just the name.

Yeah, that dang thing lasted me about a year. I’m smarter now.

So anyway. About a week ago, Tamahome the Third started doing this thing where the mouse froze and the screen jumped and nothing I could do would make it stop except a hard restart. I backed him up ahead of schedule (first things first!) then did some general hard drive cleanup, took a can of air to his innards, and hoped I’d solved the problem. No such luck–he did it again yesterday morning. So I pondered a bit, and then I decided I’d order another desktop. I could have taken him in for service, yes–but you have to pay them to even find the problem, and then pay them to fix it, and in my experience it’s generally more cost-effective to simply buy a new computer.

Last night I ordered the new computer. This morning the old computer won’t boot up.

Sigh. I’d hoped Tamahome the Third would limp along for another week at least. Luckily I still have all those other Dells I bought, including this beloved little netbook of mine. He may run XP, but Hotohori is still going strong even after the kid knocked a cup of coffee over on him while we were in Pinetop.

Yes, I totally should have known she’d put her feet on the coffee table without even looking at it. What was I thinking?

Anyway, I won’t be around much for the next week, probably. I don’t really like laptop computing unless I’m in a hammock with a cool drink by my hand, and I don’t currently have a hammock.

Tamahome the Third is dead. Long live Tamahome the Fourth!*

*Name subject to change.