You're right. Nerdiest post ever. LOL

And no DVD player? I know that had to kill you. ;)

Hey - it may be used, but we'll get you a better one when we get more cash. I'm next on the "need a new computer" line. :)

I'm glad it got to you okay. That computer has been passed around like a two-bit hooker. It was given to us by a client, we gave it to a friend, who gave it to her girlfriend, who gave it back to us, we gave it to Paige for a while (until she got grounded from the computer!) and now on to you (Paige is on the desktop!). If you haven't killed it by the time we can afford to buy you a new one, just pass it along to someone else. *grins*

I shipped over my HP full size computer and had to go to market here where I found the biggest screen I could find. You are absolutely right about a full size keyboard. It is impossible for me to use a keyboard on a laptop. Talked the partner out of getting one when I challenged him to try and read the screen. So instead I bought the biggest desktop monitor I could find which is larger than the first TV I owned.

I would not call this commentary nerdy.

"I started twisting more and more as the connection got harder and harder..." :)

"I copied and pasted a space between every word or used a friend's computer until I went out and got a cheap external keyboard."

Ican'tbegintoimaginehowIwouldcopewithabrokenspacebar.Oops.

That computer gets around too, Alex. Now I'm not saying it's a slut, but it started life as a business computer that had a lot of hands on it. When the first hard drive died in it, the previous owner gave it to me as a loaner because my own laptop had recently died. By the time I could afford a new laptop of my own, the previous owner didn't have a use for it and told me to keep it for some work I'd done for him.

Since I've owned it, I've loaned it to two different friends for extended periods, Alex had a previous encounter with it before, and my daughter used it almost daily until recently.

I have to say it's been a very faithful and reliable little laptop. I'm no fan of Dell, but at one time they apparently did build high quality machines.

I hope it serves you well. I think it's cool that thing has traveled to France - somewhere I've never been - and is still getting use long past when the original owner thought it was useless.

Bon Chance!

......just so you aren't running Microsoft Virus, er, Vista.

If you would like to avoid posting "the nerdiest post ever" for the rest of your life, Alex, I can pull out my old college Theory of Computability textbook and write a short essay about the special computability language developed by Noam Chomsky. As you read that text, you can actually feel your eyeglasses growing thicker.

Twisting the power cable on any electronic device sounds so familiar. My beloved Bose earbuds died that way. And now I am doing that same routine to my cell phone charger.

You are not a nerd, Alex, merely a plugged-in resident of the 21st Century, where PC woes are par for the course.

P.S. You do back up your laptop monthly, don't you?

P.P.S. (I know I'm not your mother --- I only impersonate her on the Internet.)

Bil and Jerame~ Seriously, thanks you guys. This computer might get around, it might be old, but there nothing major wrong with it and it can do everything I need it to, quickly.

Robert~ I know! Full-sized keyboard! It's great! It was $30 with a mouse that I don't use and it's lasted for a year and is showing no signs of dying. Plus I can take it over to French people's houses when I'm visiting and type away on a normal keyboard, not their crazy mixed-up version.

Polar~ Jerame was kind enough to install XP on it. I haven't heard much good about Vista....

A.J.~ Backed it up every two weeks; I knew death was eminent on the old Acer.