It is said that no drug addict sets out to be one.  Those few first hits are for their weekly recreational pleasure.  However, that occasional pleasure is so satisfying that what was an occasional weekend thing becomes a daily thing.  In time they no longer control the drug but rather it controls them.  They need their daily fix, sometimes more than once a day.  Something they once never needed becomes something they can’t do without.

While certainly not as destructive as drugs are, it seems in many ways technology is similar.  At one time we never thought about or needed a cellphone but now it seems we can’t go anywhere with one.  And for most, it isn’t an occasional phone call but incessant texting and internet searches for information we never needed before.  Perhaps to a lesser degree computers can become addictive as well.  It is only when our computer isn’t available that we realize just how much of an integral part of our life it has become.

I say this because a few days ago my laptop went belly-up.  The screen was so obscured that I couldn’t read much or do much with what was there.  Essentially I was without a computer.  My daily fix of emails and writing of my musings had come to an abrupt halt.  I suddenly realized how dependent I had become on that laptop.  I was a druggie in need of a fix.  Nothing less would do than to rundown to the corner (Best Buy), find the dealer (the sales person) and within short order negotiated a price for my fix (my new laptop).  From there it was home to get the new laptop up and running. 

Part of my problem was that all the data I needed was on my old laptop and not accessible.  The other half of my problem is that the fools at Microsoft have moved from Vista to Windows 7 – similar but not the same.  So after two days of struggling, I have the new laptop working, sans my old data.  Now I breathe a sigh of relief and I write this musing.  All is just about perfect with the world again.

As for retrieving my old data, I took the old laptop to a repair shop who quickly determined that the screen was shot – nothing that $200 and a few days can’t fix.  Now you may be thinking along the same lines as my wife.  Had I taken it to the repair shop and waited a few days then I wouldn’t have needed to buy a new system.  As I explained to her in hindsight, now we have a backup and she has her own computer, no need to wait until I get through writing something and finishing my sixty-fourth game of solitaire.  Now that we have two laptops, my anxiety level has gone down as has my pulse.  See – having two laptops is good for my health.