8.16.2007

We Only Want What's Best for Him

Nigel

I decided that my high school graduation present was going to be a laptop.

I even made a big deal about how I needed to get it early so I would know how to use it. My mom took me to the Best Buy in Topeka, where she spent a ridiculous amount of money on a Compaq Presario 1070.

It was a pretty nifty piece of equipment back then. Not top of the line, but just underneath it!

Oh man I loved that machine. I got it home and opened up the box. I named him Nigel.

That's right. I name inanimate objects. Yes, his name is Nigel! Don't make me come kick your ass!

Ahem. Anyway. I used Nigel quite a lot. He was my constant companion for many years. But, I changed and outgrew Nigel. Kinda like in this song:

I could never bring myself to get rid of him, though. And a year or so ago, I tried to turn him on and he wouldn't boot. Some kind of errors were happening. I knew it was the end, but still I hung on.

The other day, I was doing some cleaning and throwing away of crap when I looked at my pal Nigel.

It was time. He was just sitting in a corner. It was time for him to go. Into the throwaway pile he went.

I couldn't go through with it. I can't just abandon my good friend!

So I did some looking around and found that it might just be a small five dollar battery causing the problem. The other problem? Finding the stupid battery!

After like an hour of trying to find the right size screwdrivers and attempting to gently pry pieces apart, I located the battery:

Nigel

See that shiny silver thing with the black box around it? That's the battery. I had no idea how I was going to get in that far.

I managed to pull out the keyboard and yet still the stupid thing was practically out of reach. But some careful pulling and prodding, the battery came free. I looked it up and all the local Radio Shacks have the battery in stock.

So it looks I may have a ten year old laptop that works. That is, if I can get it back together.

Nigel

Oh and if the motherboard isn't fried.

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