Old Friend

We met in the Fall of 2005. I needed some help working on my Master's Degree. You had the tools to help. True, I paid for your services at first, but I think we both came to love each other in our own way. We have enjoyed many, many hours of special time together. Still, all relationships must end. Sometimes the relationship ends with both parties growing apart. Other relationships die when both partners discover someone else. I have been faithful, though, and you have remained true to me. Sure we have had our difficulties, but we worked through them. Still, I fear our time together is coming to an end. Old friend, you don't look well. You are slower to react than you once were. You forget things. Sometimes you simply stop and look confused. I wish you no harm, my dear friend Toshi, but the end is near.

You are showing signs of death already. Your screen is no longer capable of closing completely. You have cracks throughout your structure. Your keys only work with exactly the right attention. Your "A" key is especially finicky. You came to me with 40 gigs of hard drive, but somehow in the interim you now have 55...how does that happen? How about your battery life? Do you remember that at one time you were supposed to have an hour worth of battery? Remember that? What do you have now? 45 seconds? 2 minutes at best?

Do you remember when you used to play You Tube videos and the sound worked? What about the days when you could play a DVD? Remember those? I know, we have been through hard times, like the time you got some sort of liquid spilled on you. I believe it was wine (I expected you to appreciate it more). After that your left control key stopped working, as did your function key. Since then I have been unable to control your screen brightness, use your built in mouse pad, and a number of other things. And what is this thing with me typing a whole sentence and your screen showing the first three letters of that sentence for a very long time? It's a good thing I don't look at the screen when I type... Then all of a sudden the rest of the sentence shows up from nowhere! What IS that!?!

So, my friend, I will begin backing you up every night to the portable hard drive and when you die...I will mourn you very much, but Cora will mourn you too, since it will mean I have to share her computer with her...

Yes, your death will be an inconvenience, but I will miss you, too. We've had good times together. Remember that video with the dancing cowboy? Was he a dancer or was he drunk? I think you even had a ripple of electrons over that one! Remember all those nights I stayed up late typing papers? Your spell-check never failed me. You and I operate very well together, but our time grows short. Please, I beg of you, last just a while longer!