the introduction of gateway ii
Ooh, well. That was fun. No, I wasn't gone because I was one some fantastic vacation, or had some awesome last few weeks. Actually, my computer kicked the bucket.
Introducing Gateway I. Nice, a little slow, 'bout... five years old, and running off a second graphics card because the first one is shot. Oh, and once got nearly killed by lightning. Everything on it was fine, and then... poof. It would boot, do its loading thing, but... nothing. No screen. No... nothing. It was as if the monitor wasn't even connected.
So I hurried on down to Best Buy. Explain my situation to an overly friendly guy that stood too close to me. Seriously, what is up with that? Personal bubble, anyone? But, I digress. He hands me a new graphics card for $150 and tells me it'll fix my problem, since it sounds like my graphics card went.
Drive home. I install it, and... no. No cookies for me. So after an hour, I lug Gateway I into my truck like I'm kidnapping it, and drive back to Best Buy with it. Guy that still stands too close to me takes it apart and goes, "Oh! Your computer isn't powerful enough to run it." It requires twice the power my computer has to run. So, he offers me an external power source, or a different graphics card. I pick the latter.
Thirty minutes after compu-surgery, still nothing, and after Stands Too Close guy turns it on and of a million and one times, shakes his head and says it's not going to work, that my PCI Express slot is shot and I'll have to deal with using the computer's broken graphics card. Which shows everything in blue.
Did I mention my computer got into a fight with lightning and lost?
So I get in my car with a dead Gateway I and, you know what? I actually cried. I felt like such a loser, but all my stuff -- however little -- was on that computer. Not only did I feel like a loser, I felt like an idiot for never taking the time to back my files up.
So I sniffled and drove home. And then WWIII began.
Here I thought Bill was going to be sympathetic, maybe make a plan to get a new computer, anything. No, instead, he crawled into bed and went to take a nap. No apology, no comfort, zilch.
Let's fast forward through thirty minutes of my absolute wrath, shall we?
Now, for a third time, I'm back in Best Buy. This time, with Bill, who I'm suspecting is still smarting from the tongue lashing I gave him. I've got the credit, so in the end, I financed what's now known as Gateway II.
So, Gateway II is here. Windows Vista is here. It's nice, it's got lots of eye candy and it's faster than my old computer. The only problem is that I've still got pictures and two gigs of music on Gateway I, and while it hasn't crashed yet, I can't get it to boot up. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not letting it finish scan disk or not. And while music doesn't really bother me, paid music does. I got a little carried away with purchasing MP3 albums through Amazon.
I am still beating myself up over not backing up any of my music.
So, in the grand computer scheme of things, that's where I stand.
Oh, boy. It's been a long week.
Introducing Gateway I. Nice, a little slow, 'bout... five years old, and running off a second graphics card because the first one is shot. Oh, and once got nearly killed by lightning. Everything on it was fine, and then... poof. It would boot, do its loading thing, but... nothing. No screen. No... nothing. It was as if the monitor wasn't even connected.
So I hurried on down to Best Buy. Explain my situation to an overly friendly guy that stood too close to me. Seriously, what is up with that? Personal bubble, anyone? But, I digress. He hands me a new graphics card for $150 and tells me it'll fix my problem, since it sounds like my graphics card went.
Drive home. I install it, and... no. No cookies for me. So after an hour, I lug Gateway I into my truck like I'm kidnapping it, and drive back to Best Buy with it. Guy that still stands too close to me takes it apart and goes, "Oh! Your computer isn't powerful enough to run it." It requires twice the power my computer has to run. So, he offers me an external power source, or a different graphics card. I pick the latter.
Thirty minutes after compu-surgery, still nothing, and after Stands Too Close guy turns it on and of a million and one times, shakes his head and says it's not going to work, that my PCI Express slot is shot and I'll have to deal with using the computer's broken graphics card. Which shows everything in blue.
Did I mention my computer got into a fight with lightning and lost?
So I get in my car with a dead Gateway I and, you know what? I actually cried. I felt like such a loser, but all my stuff -- however little -- was on that computer. Not only did I feel like a loser, I felt like an idiot for never taking the time to back my files up.
So I sniffled and drove home. And then WWIII began.
Here I thought Bill was going to be sympathetic, maybe make a plan to get a new computer, anything. No, instead, he crawled into bed and went to take a nap. No apology, no comfort, zilch.
Let's fast forward through thirty minutes of my absolute wrath, shall we?
Now, for a third time, I'm back in Best Buy. This time, with Bill, who I'm suspecting is still smarting from the tongue lashing I gave him. I've got the credit, so in the end, I financed what's now known as Gateway II.
So, Gateway II is here. Windows Vista is here. It's nice, it's got lots of eye candy and it's faster than my old computer. The only problem is that I've still got pictures and two gigs of music on Gateway I, and while it hasn't crashed yet, I can't get it to boot up. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not letting it finish scan disk or not. And while music doesn't really bother me, paid music does. I got a little carried away with purchasing MP3 albums through Amazon.
I am still beating myself up over not backing up any of my music.
So, in the grand computer scheme of things, that's where I stand.
Oh, boy. It's been a long week.