Stupid Thing of the Month

My buddy B.A. and I use his computer every Monday to record stories and podcast episodes. Lately, the darn thing has become more and more frustrating, as it tends to crash every time we get together and use it. If I had to guess how many hours of material had been lost due to that, well, I'd have to do math, and that's not going to happen.

We've taken to stopping and saving every seven or eight minutes, so that when it does crash, we only lose a little instead of a lot. I kept encouraging him to take it to the shop to get it looked at, because the frequency of its crashing seemed to be getting greater, but he has a) money troubles, b) trouble finding time, c) troubles with everyone else in the family claiming it is their computer and off-limits, and d) motivation troubles.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, and bundled the darn thing up and took it away, dropping it off at the Apple shop to be looked at. Everyone felt its loss, whether they used it to play games, sell things, send emails, or watch ungodly shite like "Flava of Love."

But yesterday, the technicians told him they'd fixed the computer and that he could come by and pick it up. It cost him some money, sure, but not as much as we had feared, and the problem had apparently been an easy one to remedy.

B.A. was greeted by adulation and flower petals as he brought it back into his house and hooked everything up again. He sent me an Instant Message, boasting about its new speed and efficiency, and how great things would be accomplished in the coming days. I'd never seen the man prouder, even though I couldn't see him and I could only read the joy in his typed words as he--

But then Big Anklevich went away, in the middle of our conversation. That sort of rudeness is usually how I treat others, not the reverse, so I was surprised, but sure enough, five minutes later, he was back again, sending me another IM.

His computer had just crashed, you see. Again.

Rish "Never Trust A Mac" Outfield