Here we are at the final episode of What Every Freelance Writer Hates. Well, I don't need to tell you that I spent the rest of that evening feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve or like an adult on the eve of starting a new job. Many questions ran through my head, like:

 

Would I like this computer?

Would I miss the second cd/dvd drive?

Would Abdul really manage to get all of my thousands of favorites transferred to my new little baby?

Will I miss the floppy drive?

What am  going to do with all of my floppy disks?

 

I'm kind of a Sony loyalist, so I was feeling a little bit like Benedict Arnold. Despite being to nervous to sleep I was up relatively early the next morning. I sat on my hands while I waited for 'the call'.

 

'Abdul said he'd call first thing in the morning, why hasn't he called?' I kept thinking of the time I was wasting. I could be working right now if I had my computer. As a freelancer every minute counts. When I couldn't take not knowing any longer, I called Best Buy just to find out what their store hours were. That wasn't too pathetic, was it? It was 9 in the morning and the recording told me that they didn't open till 10. At least now I knew why Abdul hadn't called yet.

 

To make time travel, I took my shower and got ready for the defining moment. I was now dressed and only had my hair to contend with. With curling iron in hand, the phone rang. I dashed through the house like OJ racing through the airport in his pre-spousal murder trial days. I picked up the phone hoping I didn't sound too eager. To someone looking in from the outside, you'd think I was waiting for that hot date to call. I did have a hot date, and he would be faster than anything I had ever seen before. I would even bring him home on the first night.

 

Lucky for me, my marathon to the fun wasn't in vain, it was a member of the Geeks Squad from Best Buy. He casually advised me that my computer was ready for pick up. I was beyond excited. My computer was ready and it was still early in the day. I might get some work done after all. I told him I would be right over and hung up the phone. So much for not sounding too eager.

 

I made it to Best Buy in under 20 minutes and in order to calm myself down, I went looking around the computer department again. I thought I would buy that media drive to assist in backing up my work, but unfortunately, they don't sell fast enough to warrant Best Buy keeping them on hand. So I picked up USB launch pad and headed back to the Geeks Squad counter. I got my computer and passed the security check on the way out.

 

I was nervous walking out with the computer in my arms. Good thing it was small since I had to juggle it with the shopping bag, my purse and my car keys. I sat the CPU box on the roof of my car, unlocked it and carefully opened the hatchback.  I gingerly placed the box in the trunk, got in the car and drove home.

 

So much for plug and play. When I got home I had to adjust to Vista and also install my printer, tax software and other gizmos. It took me most of the day. But this computer was faster than anything I had seen in a long time.

 

I sat my old Sony hard drive aside, finished installing my wireless mouse and wireless keyboard. And then like a kid with a new toy train, I tested everything out. I was beyond excited. And what seemed like a huge setback became an incredible leap forward.

 

Shortly after, I picked up the shell that was my Sony Vaio and placed it out to pasture in my garage. It took me a week to finally hoist it into my garbage bin. I kept the hard drive so the Sony's soul was not in trash. It had served me will for much longer than it should have considering it was refurbished when I got it.

 

Good bye dear friend. It's time to retire to that big computer graveyard in the sky.

 

 

 

 

Laura Major