a mighty good use for a heavy stone

it looks as though we ordered a new computer just in time. this one becomes slower every day, and its mechanical death rattles more pronounced. first there was the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2006, which naturally occurred a week before i had a 9-page research paper due, and about two days before an even more hideous lit paper was expected. then the Malware Massacre of 2007, during finals week, of course. i never did manage to rid this dreadful machine of all its viruses and whatnot. the various lesser crises in between these titled events should not go unmentioned—all of them pushed me to the brink of luddism.

i feel guilty about getting rid of a computer that still functions, however slow and stupidly. it’s such a waste. the monitor is still good, i’m sure i’ll be able to find a home for it, along with other peripheral parts—but the tower; not only would absolutely no one want it, but it would be a security risk giving it away. i’d love to break it down and make things out of it, maybe some jewelry out of the innards. we’ll see. i’m going to make it my goal to send as little of it as possible to recycling.

i’m also anxious about trying to transfer everything over to the new computer, and set up the internet connection—goodness, when i had to set up this internet the first time it took me about eight hours, and it reduced me to tears multiple times. i don’t know if i even still have the codes and shit i need to install it. this semester a bunch of my classes have online requirements, with due dates peppered throughout the week—and my gender through the movies professor was just talking about how he doesn’t accept computer-related excuses for turning things in late. ugh. i need to do taxes too. not need so much as want. how weird is it that i love to do taxes? turbotax makes it so easy, and i revel in that sense of accomplishment afterwards. the cd-rom drive on this computer is broken though, so i can’t install my lovely tax software until the new one comes. that was the last straw, actually.