Lappy

For my 18^th birthday, my parents gave me my first laptop to take to college. It was a sleek and stylish HP, silver and thin---I loved it so much more than most of my friend's new computers! My Bubsie really did a good job at picking it out! (Later he told me that he bought the first one he saw in the store and didn't even look at any more.)

I named my computer Lappy, after a Homestar Runner cartoon. Lappy and I had some good times. He saw me through a lot—4 years of tests, papers, Facebook creeping, music downloading... we were really close! I even purchased a new $100 battery for him so he could last up to 5 hours on one charge!

Then last fall, Lappy and I began to have problems. He would randomly turn of his screen and then not come back on. This would prompt me to say hurtful things like "What a worthless piece of crap!" and "You're slower than molasses!" I think this is really what set him off. From that point on, our relationship was a strained one, and he would continue to find new things to interrupt my work. Most recently, he somehow loosened the connection between the computer and the power cord and would not charge at all! It's very difficult to work with a computer with no screen and no charging capabilities! Finally I bit the bullet and decided it was time for Lappy and I to move on… thus began what I refer to fondly as "The Great Computer Search of 2009 (In which Trace almost kills Katie for being so picky)".

I figured Spring Break would be a great time to start searching and because Trace was going to be home, I thought that he would be a valuable asset to my computer search (he knows lots of nerdy things about computers). We started at Best Buy, then finding nothing we moved on to about 45 different stores, all to no avail. Apparently, I was being a little to precise in what I wanted (an HP, not too big, not to small, black, not too heavy, large hard drive, lots of memory, built in webcam, etc.) but HEY if I'm going to be spending $700 (thank you student loans!) I want the computer to be what I want! While I didn't find a THE computer in the store, we did see some other interesting things:

• 87 Best Buy employees who wanted to help me "browse" and were quick to point out that "we don't work on commission!"
• 912 computers that were either too big, too small, too heavy, not black, no webcam, had a weird touch pad, etc.
• 4 METALLIC BRONZE computers that otherwise were exactly what I wanted, but that I could not bring myself to buy cause I hated the bronze (even though I had already decided that If I purchased a bronze computer, I was going to name it C3PO).
• 1 truck of Mexicans STEALING THE SOUND SYSTEM OUT OF THE BACK OF A JEEP IN THE ULTIMATE ELECTRONICS PARKING LOT AT 3PM!!!!!
• 0 computers that were exactly what I wanted

Anyways, to make a painfully long story short, after much goading from Trace (along with a LOT of lectures about how picky I was) I built my own customized laptop on HP.com that fit exactly my specifications. It just came in the mail last week, and I am still working on setting it up just how I want it, along with getting used to how the new computer works. Overall, I LOVE IT!! It's sleek, shiny black, super fast and thin! It even has the built in webcam (so I can talk to Trace on Skype) and a light-up HP logo on the front!

Even though I am sad to say goodbye to my first Lappy, I am beyond thrilled to have this new computer that I have fittingly dubbed Lappy 2.0.

Me in 2005 with Lappy #1.