The End of an Era

This is Belle.

Belle was my first computer, my big high school grad gift. She got me through four years of college, working a lot of late nights, spending (I admit) far too much time racing around the internet with me, and traveling cross country repeatedly. She's been dropped, has stuff dropped on her, and suffered a dirty-plant water bath in her early days that nearly did her in.


This is her infamous O-nub. Sometime in my first semester of college, I dropped my cordless phone on her keyboard and the O popped off. A few weeks latter it just gave up, and I got used to typing with that little nub. It's a miracle the keyboard didn't melt, as much time as I spent pounding away at it.

Check out the external wireless card. Like a pioneer's covered wagon, it's time has gone.

And dig this. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a P/S2 port. I don't think you can find P/S2 peripherals in Siberia anymore.

Her biggest problems were internal. Belle possesses a mere 128M of memory. Go ahead and laugh. I think a law has been passed against that in the years since her purchase. The point is, Belle hit her stride a while ago, and has since become more and more sluggish. Pitiful, the object of constant ridicule from myself and anyone who has ever been in the same room with her. It's time to retire.

Enter the new love of my life and center of everything I do, which arrived yesterday (well timed with my return from California, by the way). I know, it's not high end in any respect, but it functions.

Don't be sad, Belle. You did your work well for many years, and will now go on to be of service to my eldest younger brother, and you will live in my memory forever as my faithful workhorse. It's just, the new kid has 1G of memory, twice as many USB ports, a functioning CD drive...


...and an O key.

(By the way, I welcome suggestions for naming the new machine.)