I’d probably be a whole lot more likely to blog these days if not for the fact that my PC is in the shop. I’ve been working with a stylish little Sony VGN-S150 for just over two years, and on the 13th, the day before sitting my first minor exam, the hard drive up and called it quits (one last cyberkinetic protest of its overuse). Fortunately I had everything backed up; nothing important was lost. But the laptop isn’t under warranty. And there just isn’t enough change in my pockets for a new PC, so I loaded it into a box and shipped it to Sony’s San Diego repair facility–exactly two years to the day after I sent it off for repairs the last time. In Dec. ’04, it was a manufacturer’s problem with the display. It was the second time I’d returned it for its glitchy screen, but at least it was under warranty, so the headache was only the time without the thing. This time around, it’s time without the thing and unforeseen expense–three hundred plus chips to be approximate. Still worse is that they can’t (or won’t) recoup anything from the hard drive, so I have to reinstall software, customize apps, and so on. Not exactly what I wanted for the holidays, but not exactly something I can go without at this point, either.

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