Computer Geriatrics
I think my laptop had a little stroke last weekend. At some point, the “8″, “i”, “k”, “+” and a couple other keys quit working. Powering down didn’t help. I found a spare keyboard in my closet and plugged it in, but found the space bar only worked intermittently, so I pitched it back into the closet and faked my way through various tasks. I did this by cutting and pasting the missing letters into a Word document, then whenever I needed one and couldn’t think of reasonable synonyms, I’d ‘Ctrl-C’ the fugitive letter and ‘Ctrl-V’ it into my text. It felt both incredibly resourceful and incredibly stupid at the same time.
I went to eBay and found a replacement keyboard for sale pretty cheap, and I bought it, dreading the day it arrives and I’ll have to undertake the disassembly of the laptop.
I had just finished scouring the internet for some schematics about how to take it apart when I noticed that the keys had started to work again, the industrious little electrons having found an alternative path around whatever thrombosis had caused the outage. It’s stayed fixed for a full day now, and I’m crossing my fingers.
Still, in the past when I’ve found myself adding components to a computer, it’s really time to look for a new one. Just one more task on my lengthy list, another learning curve I’ll reluctantly mount. Not to mention the expense.