My laptop is on its way out. The hinge died in its sleep, unbeknownst to me, and has been overcome with a vice-like grip of rigor mortis. To even open the device from its closed state is like pulling open the seized jaws of a mummified crocodile. Today, when I simply had had enough, I ripped open the thing like King Kong pulling that T-Rex’s mouth off, and the screen went black. Not like a TV that loses a signal but you know it’s still on, but black-black, like unplugged. Considering I have important files on there not backed up into my external hard drives yet, I kind of had a freak out. Thus, the surgery began.
Removing the anodized back-plating of its internal organs was simple enough, just a bunch of tiny screws. Yeah, sure, I may have stripped all but four of them but those four will keep the whole enterprise structurally sound for the foreseeable future. Then, luckily, it was just a matter of seeing the connection between the screen and the motherboard. The worst-case scenario would have been to see the connector in its proper place, yet with a severed cable between it and the screen. This would have meant my laptop had become an absurdly weak desktop, needing peripherals just to work. However, I was happy to see the dangling connector all in one piece, simply unplugged from its rightful place. In she went, and the screen lives to fight another day.
I told myself when I bought this laptop in 2018 that i would not contribute to E-waste, that I would make it last. After all, it’s still plenty snappy and could easily be used for a couple more years if taken care of properly. Except we know I’m not doing that. For 600 bucks in 2018, I’d say I got what I paid for and then some, and considering I want a good amount of photography and even videos to enter the equation on this website eventually, I will need something that can do more than quick web browsing and MS Office work. What can I say, I’m part of the problem. Are you any better? The doomsday clock is stuck at 100 seconds to midnight and you’re gonna judge me for wanting a new computer even though it’s not, strictly speaking, “necessary”? Grow up. I’ll recycle this old bag of bones, don’t worry.
Last thoughts: still binging The Office since its release from the peacock vault here in Germany, and my instincts from previous watch-throughs are all still present. The most prominent being that Ed Helms’ character Andy was poorly conceived from the start, never given clear direction, has a couple good ongoing character jokes but is mostly just an in between of Michael and Dwight but less relatable and more annoying than both of them. The second Andy tells Pam he’s into Erin (Ellie Kemper), Pam should’ve said “dude you’re 43 and she’s 25, get a grip” but instead we get the worst romantic arc in the series. There’s an episode where Dwight “shuns” Andy, and pretends he doesn’t exist. When I have the free time (and a capable laptop), I’m seriously tempted to do a fan-edit of the entire series called “The office: The Shunned Cut”, where every scene with Andy that isn’t absolutely necessary or gut-bustingly hilarious gets cut, like he’s just some weird office phantom with occasional comments. What’s that? What about when he becomes the literal boss? Yeah that can all go too. We all pretend it didn’t happen anyway.
So, that’s it. PCR test tomorrow, hopefully will be back in the workplace by next week. See you tomorrow.
Nick
Nick Denardi 