I regret to inform all of you of the sad death of Motherboard, some two
weeks ago. It was Mrs. Mac Motherboard, so the loss is expecially hard
felt. It was murdered in the midst of a promising life, poisoned by an
experimental application of a solvent last year that prematurely
retired her partner, Mr. Hard Drive, from her valued presence.

Doesn't that sound better than saying a few months ago, I spilled a
solvent that killed my hard drive, which also, unknown to me, damaged
my motherboard. The motherboard died a few weeks ago, and I have been
Officially Offline since. Ok, I admit I have gone to the medical
library and sent a few emails by logging into the Yahoo page for Spain,
which somehow gets around the "You Can't Use Yahoo Mail" policy (or any
other email except university). And I have asked a friend to email a
few select people for me. However, since my Spanish is not all that
goodo (bueno joke, Bobo), I hated imposing on my friend, and going to
the library is time consuming, my contacts in the last few weeks have
been extremely limited. It has been like a vacation. Sure, I went
through withdrawls, but once the crack-bugs stopped crawling all over
my skin, I found the loss of internet was not all that much of a loss.

Ok, I'm lying. Not being able to get to my beloved (and expensive)
journal sources left me feeling like a sailboat without a sail. Or
mast. Or rudder. Or paddle. Or planking. Or rope. Or varnish, nails,
or wood. Just the anchor and 100 feet of water.

Also, I discovered literally hundreds of emails that I never expected
that have filled dozens of Yahoo inbox pages. I tried to go through
them, but, sadly, I simply just don't have time. I wish I did, but I
don't. My only viable choice was to delete the mass, unread. So,
essentially, the last two weeks or so are electronic limbo. If you sent
mail in the last couple of weeks, don't expect that I read it. I've
probably deleted it with the hundreds of unexpected emails, FMLs, spam,
and whatever else was there. If you sent something important, better
send it again. I'll say it again: do not expect I read anything in the
last few weeks.

Anyway, I am now back online, and since the guys that replaced the
motherboard suggested it might have damaged the hard drive when it went
out, so that was also replaced and upgraded (they showed me electronic
squiggles that I didn't understand, so I lied and said I did). I now
have enough memory to put every book ever written on my computer, so I
should have room for my PDF ferret references! I'll be installing all
my applications over the next few days and expect to be 100% by the end
of the week. Computer-wise that is. Brain-wise is another matter: I
still have to stick a hundred or so dvds and cds in the reader to put
everything back on the hardrive.

Dr. Demento, The White Album and The Wall are the first to go back on.
Then I'll worry about Word and other stuff.

Again, because the backlog of email was beyond my time constrants to
read or even skim through, I have deleted it. If you emailed me in the
last couple of weeks and did not get an answer, expect I trashed your
email. Sorry.

Bob C
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[Posted in FML 5636]