In Mourning...

This weekend the laptop I have been using for almost five years died :( I knew it was coming. Over the last couple of months, I would be typing along and the screen would just go black on me. After losing over an hour of work the first time it happened,  I learned very quickly to back-up everything. Saving every few minutes and not relying on auto-save  When I was done for the day, I'd download the new version to Dropbox (we'll get to my duh moment in just a second)

The unknown of when my computer would decide to quit on me was frustrating, but at least it still worked. I'd usually be able to get it back up and running without too much hassle.

Saturday, it did again. I didn't panic, thinking I would be able to get it running again within the hour. Yeah, no. Thirteen hours later, I was still trying to get Windows to load. I'd pretty much given up when it finally came on. I was so happy, and immediately got busy, only for it to go black on me within five minutes of starting. It booted right back up. Then went black. Over and over again. I couldn't get it to stay on and I finally had to accept the fact it was done.

I didn't realize how attached I was to the machine until I no longer had it. I don't have the money to just go out and buy a new one, so I've been switching back and forth between using my son's laptop and my roommates. And using them is so different. Just feels wrong.

I love my computer. Yeah, it's old. Runs really slow. But I know it. It's familiar. It's a part of me.

My son's keyboard is smaller, my roommates larger. Both make typing difficult. My fingers could fly over mine. I didn't have to worry about missing a key. But on these. Sigh. I can't seem to type a word correctly. Constant backspace, backspace, backspace. Yesterday I accidentally and unknowingly hit the "Insert" button. Every time I'd write something, it would erase anything in its way. Shouldn't have been a big deal, right? It's not like I haven't hit that button before. But I knew where my "Insert" button was. It took me fifteen minutes of cussing and wondering what in the heck I'd hit, to finally locate that stupid button on her keyboard.

On top of that, neither one of them have Word. I've used Word since I started writing. I know it like the back of my hand. I, unfortunately, have no idea where I put my CD, so I've been forced to use Open Office. It's just different enough from Word that I hate it. I had to look up how to put in a dang em-dash because the way I did it in Word didn't work. And leaving comments in critiques? Why do I have to jump through hoops to do so? All the tools are located in different places, and I have to search for them. It's dumb really.

Now on to the only good thing that has happened from my computer crash.

Dropbox.

Guys. Seriously. I felt so stupid when I realized this. I've been using Dropbox to back-up my stuff for about two years now. I had no idea I could open the document directly from Dropbox and work in it and it would automatically save my changes. I know...duh. I'd been opening my WIP from my desktop and after I was finished for the day, I'd close it and then copy it and save it over the existing copy in Dropbox. This discovery has been awesome. And I love it.

Anyway, enough of my ranting. I needed to get that off my chest. I know it will take some adjustment and I was going to need to buy a new computer eventually. I just wasn't ready. I miss my ratty, old computer.

Abby