I have lost a dear friend. My laptop died last week. This was almost entirely my fault, and I am wracked with guilt. I can offer one tip – DON’T get frustrated enough with anything (and by ‘anything’ I mean your laptop) to slam it shut. Really. I am very sad at the amount of data I lost. However, I am incredibly grateful that I had MOST of it backed up to an external hard drive.

The death of this friend has led to something good. I got a new computer. It is my holiday (I say that because it really wasn’t for any particular holiday…just happened to fall within the ‘holiday season’) present from Rich. It’s sleek and fast, and tethered to my desk. That’s because it’s a desktop computer. heh heh heh. I love it. Eventually, I will get myself a nice little NetBook for travel, but for now, I can’t possibly ask for anything better. Here it is before it was set up, and after set up, with me staring intently at the beautiful glowing screen:

It runs Windows 7, has more RAM than I thought was possible. I can actually listen to music AND use PhotoShop at the same time. Can you IMAGINE?! I am enjoying it immensely. Mmmm. Windows 7. Ahhhhhhh.

Every day, I discover new stuff I had on the old computer that I need, and have to re-install it. Today, I realized the new computer didn’t have Google Earth, which is essential, as far as I am concerned. I have now re-installed it, and uploaded all my GPS waypoints, including geocaches that I have not yet found.

This beautiful new machine is so exciting! Thank you, Rich, for your help in keeping me geeking out connected!