My laptop died. Well, it is not dead but it has alzheimers or something. It just shuts down with increasing regularity. It started happening a couple of months ago with things like YouTube videos, which I guess take a lot of computing power to run or something. Then it started happening with simple tasks like email. Well, it was three years old so I suppose that’s about all the useful life you can expect.

So yesterday I went to the PX and picked up a new machine. I bought a middlin’ HP desktop with a nice 19″ widescreen monitor. Set me back $700. I looked at a Toshiba laptop with the same memory as the desktop for about $150 more, but you know I can’t see myself lugging a laptop around much anyway. So I will wait till I can afford something top-of-the-line before I take the plunge on another laptop.

So, this computer is ok. It runs Vista which I have heard nothing good about. So far no problems though. The pain in the ass is that all my bookmarks, photos, etc. are on the old machine. Ah well, I think it has enough life where I can get my hard drive stuff salvaged and transferred to a new home.

On a positive note, I was able to load and play CIV IV. Got it for Christmas a couple of years ago but the laptop didn’t have the systems required to run it. Then the CD/ROM quit working so I couldn’t even play CIV III. So it was nice to get back into some gaming. CIV IV is quite a bit different than its predecessors, so it will take some getting used. But I spent most of the day yesterday getting a feel for it and I think I’m going to have another enjoyable pastime to fill in the gaps when I’m not throwing darts.

And there you have the latest fascinating episode of my so-called life.

Cheers!