Dear Franky--You & I Have Been Through A Lot.

My laptop had some sort of crisis last night and when I tried to start it up it basically told me that it could not find the Windows operating system installed on the laptop and I would have to insert the recovery disk and re-install windows.

So, I did and of course re-installing Windows means wiping your hard drive. I lost everything. My music (well most of it is on my mp3 player), documents, pictures, movies, ebooks, software, settings, my entire computer existence was wiped out yesterday.

My laptop and I have been through a lot. Honestly, the only reason I still keep it around is for sentimental reasons. It was my very first laptop and I've had it since 2006. Since then I have had to replace the screen, change the hard drive, fend off multiple virus attacks, re-install Windows a few times, and it keeps on going. That thing is a trooper. Mind you I was a broke college student when most of these things happened and I fixed all the issues myself because they happened after the warranty expired and I couldn't afford to take it to be repaired or to buy a new one.

I bought that laptop with the paycheck from my first summer job in the summer after freshman year. I was so happy that I was able to pay for it with my own money. I remember that I ordered it from Circuit City (which doesn't even exist anymore) and I made my parents drive to the Circuit City in the next town to help me pick it up because it couldn't be delivered to the one near us. When the screen cracked I ordered a replacement from eBay and replaced it myself, (I remember Mogaji helped me with changing the screen). When the original hard drive literally sputtered and died (it was only 60GB) I opened up the laptop and replaced it with a new 250GB drive. Whenever it got attacked by viruses (this hasn't happened for a while now) I would go through the process of running the virus scan, and then going into the registry to make sure nothing was left. I regedit-ed and msconfig-ed that laptop to the point where nobody else could use it but me. The laptop still has scars from the times when I opened it to fix something or when I dropped it. I lost one of the screws when I opened the laptop to replace the screen and that part of the top is still loose (that screw is probably somewhere in Mogaji's old dorm room). I have removed all the keyboard letters on the laptop to clean out the keyboard and I had a period when I thought I had lost it forever.

Franky is like my child which is why although everybody keeps telling me to get a new laptop, I haven't. Honestly, I don't want to go through the learning period that is inevitable with a new laptop. I understand how Franky works and I have become attached to him.


There is one strange thing Franky does that I have found interesting. First of all, Franky's batteries have been dead for over a year now. I haven't gotten around to getting them replaced so he cannot actually function as a portable laptop because he must always be plugged in somewhere. What I noticed about Franky (and this started last year) is that if you let my laptop go into Standby mode and then unplug it--even for a whole day--when you return to the laptop and plug it back in to restart it, your last screen pops up as if you never unplugged it in the first place! Franky does this without the battery plugged in! Its a little strange as I wonder how the laptop can basically remain in Standby mode and save that information with no battery and no power. But, thats Franky.

However, I have started considering new laptops because it is time to say goodbye. I have very stringent requirements for Franky 2.0 because I want one that will last me a while and I can grow old with. I'll still keep Franky around but it is time for a new laptop.

Oh and in case you were wondering, Franky is Japanese, he is a Toshiba.

Hopefully I am not the only one with an illogical attachment to an inanimate object.