December 16, 2004
It's Raining, It's Pouring
Have you ever noticed that when things get difficult, bad stuff tends to sort of fall out of the sky? It is the end of the semester here at the University of Minnesota, which means long-awaited (and ignored) due dates are fast approaching and dreaded finals are right around the corner. In my case, I turned in two major papers yesterday.
All of that run-of-the-mill stress isn't nearly enough, of course, so my laptop decided to crap out on me just for the hell of it. Before I get to the complaining, I just want to say that I am a huge fan of laptops and I can't imagine ever not owning one. I love the fact that you can take them anywhere, I love the fact that they don't take up the entire surface of a desk, and I love the fact that I can surf the internet and write e-mails from my bed if that's what I want to do (and often it is).
With that said, I've had an astounding amount of trouble with laptops, which no doubt has a lot to do with the fact that I use them constantly and like most people use a desktop. They aren't nearly as sturdy as desktops, obviously, which leads to problems. Much like what happened to me a couple years ago with my old laptop, the power cord suddenly stopped working the other day. I'd plug it into the computer, and instead of recognizing the source of power and starting to run on it, the laptop would do nothing. That meant the battery would continue to drain, meaning at some point you cease being able to use the computer at all.
So, long story short, I am sending it in to get fixed today, and while HP claims it will be back to me, fixed, in "five to seven business days," I am expecting to see it again shortly before I graduate (which, if you haven't been paying attention, projects as sometime around 2027). Hell, even if it miraculously returns to me in a week, I'll have it just in time for winter break.
So here I am at the end of the semester, with all sorts of papers to do and studying to be done, and my stupid laptop, which I depend upon for nearly everything in life, from school work to baseball writing, is useless. All of which is a very long way of explaining why this insufferable rant that has nothing to do with anything interesting is all I have for you to read today.
Today at The Hardball Times:
- Rivals in Exile: Strange Arrivals and Sad Departures (by Ben Jacobs and Larry Mahnken)
- The Steroid Controversy (by Kevin Gilligan and Joseph Capizzi)