Alas, poor Maureen.

...I knew her well.

She (my trusty main computer) has been a faithful companion, since late 1998.

She started her life as a top-of-the line P2-350, which was mighty impressive back in the day. Her heart was a solid 8 gigs of joy, and her 8MB of onboard videochip was a delight to behold.

Nothing was too good for Maureen. The years were very good to her. Lavished with luxury, she grew older... but like a fine wine, only improved with passing time. Unable to part with her as younger models made their debuts on the CompUSA catwalks, I did my best to keep my fair love in vogue with her contemporaries.

28.8 modems gave way to 56.6. Even that proved unworthy of her, and eventually DSL and Cable filled that wireless network void.

Onboard video changed over the years, through a progressive set of implants. Her current sparkling, crisp and vivid vision granted through GeoForce FX... now lifeless and dark under the cold reflection of a 20" glass monitor.

Her humble 64MB of RAM was no obstacle for my devotion. Gradually her memory improved, in fits and starts, until her active retention was stable at 2 gigs. She knew a lot, my dear Maureen.

Her sturdy 8 gig drive was joined by able assistants. Three of Maxtor's finest joined the brigade, each 120 gig strong. But they never forgot how they came to be, or strayed from their purpose. They all knew that they served under the most noble of drives... the dedicated OS.

Not even a complete motherboard swap caused Maureen a hiccup. She was complete, at the end. Having graced the world with her presence at an initial 350mhz, she blossomed into a mature 2.2ghz P4... with devices and accessories that would make a lessor debutante blush.

With pride, dedication and utmost care did she not only only live up to expectations... but surpass most any digital challenge that was passed her way. She was always ready to play a game, help edit some video, assist in writing e-mails, get serious work done when it was time to parse some spreadsheets. Such a joy to work and play with.

Maureen's tiny 8 gig heart stopped beating tonight. The other drives mourn with her, in silence.

I will miss you.
 
Damn - now you can't talk to yourself on IndieTalk. :weird:
 
you can heart transplant her you know. Im a skilled surgeon at replacing computer hearts...do it almost monthly unfortunately
 
My new love, classily named "Brooke", is up and running!
smiley_fatcat.gif


Turns out two of the four drives on Maureen were past their prime. (One was a backup drive, too.)

The two remaining ones have been placed into FireWire external shells, and run like a dream.

Now... there is a bit of amusement with the shell enclosures. They are CompUSA brand ones, and they have the most unusual instructions enclosed with them. Want to see what the instruction sheet reads like?

Click Here
smiley_creepy.gif


Enjoy the translation.
 
Back
Top