This afternoon at 2:30 my six-year old IBM laptop passed into eternal slumber.  Her declining health had started to worsen significantly in the past two months: first a crash once every two weeks, then more frequently, until yesterday there were three consecutive crashes while trying to create a PDF file.

I was able to briefly revive her after those crashes, but it was touch and go all morning, a disturbingly human rattle coming from somewhere inside as if she was literally falling to pieces.

My laptop is survived by her primary user (me) and frequently-backed up data in an external hard drive.  A few recently added fonts and programs may have been lost, as was the document that was left uncompleted by her demise.

My employer is making arrangements for another laptop to be sent from the United States.  In the meantime, I will be working from Tawn’s computer.

In lieu of flowers, do a kind deed for your computer and back up your data today.