The Blue Screen of Death

The Blue Screen of Death. See it over there? That's what happened Wednesday afternoon.

Believe me, this is not what you want to see when you're struggling to finish a book that doesn't want to be finished. I'd had a funny feeling for a few days that I was heading toward trouble: the laptop was making garbage truck noises, hanging up for no reason, generally laughing at me behind my back. Thank God I paid attention and kept the book in progress backed up or I would be writing this to you from a rubber room somewhere and I've been told it's not easy to type when you're in restraints.

Anyway, I lost lots of addresses, some files I loved, lots of time and the money it'll cost to buy a new laptop but all in all I guess I escaped without major damage.

Still, I have to ask why on earth do I seem to kill a laptop every single spring? It's starting to freak me out. Is this some odd neo-pagan ritual, sacrificing a major piece of computer electronics to BIOS, queen of the ethernet? It certainly hasn't saved me from subsequent computer disasters. They happen as regularly as clockwork. Our guest room looks like the Electronic Boneyard. Clearly our house is the place where laptops go to die.

Anyway, this is coming to you from Roy's laptop and yes, he's holding his breath until I hand it back to him all safe and sound. Can't say I blame him. When it comes to laptops, I'm Freddy Krueger's older sister . . .