My hunger strike has been postponed… but not because I’m drawn back to Windows.  My laptop has taken the greatest of all headers into the pavement.  The LCD screen died about 6 weeks ago.  I ordered a replacement from some on-line store and it wasn’t complete.  Rather than send it back I decided to try and make it work.  No such luck.  The thing was a piece of crap, non-OEM screen and I managed to ruin it in my efforts to make it fit.  $300.  Poof!  Gone!  Wasted.  Nice.  So I contacted Dell to see how much they wanted for a replacement screen.  I was thinking it would be pricey, maybe in the $400-$500 range.  I think the people who decide on prices for Dell not only smoke crack, I think they chase the dragon and finish off with Tequila.  They wanted just under $900 for a new laptop screen.  The laptop isn’t worth that much.  Needless to say, I told him to go to a special place.  Thieves.

While trying to figure out what my best course of action was going to be for fixing/replacing my laptop I was the recipient of another special present:  my hard drive crashed.  Now here I am, using a nosebleed PC running Windows.  My precious laptop, my companion, the extension of my fingers, now has no hard drive and no LCD.  Yeah, it’s sitting in a corner.  I want it to think about what’s it’s done.  Disrespectin’ me… Hmmph!  I should introduce him to a few of my old cell phones.  Let them explain what happens when I grow displeased.  And now I’m in the corner sitting next to it.  Sulking.  I liked my laptop.

Dead laptops are a problem.  Data lost on disk is an even bigger problem.  My backups weren’t up-to-date and I’ve now got data in limbo, trapped on a magnetized metal platter.  I need to drink my own Kool-Aid when it comes to backup strategies.  Now I’m getting ready to send the disk off to a data recovery service.  I stopped by Rite-Aid and picked up some Astroglide and a pillow suitable for biting for the treatment I’m about to receive.  Data recovery services are more than a little pricey.  This should be not fun…

Colin