IT Alzheimer's

OK, long time no post again. I really need to remind myself to do this more!  I have no idea what I did all September, so you'll pardon me if I skip most of that month.

The only really memorable event of the month was the sudden mental illness of my laptop.  The poor thing was about 6 years old, and had been repaired/wiped twice already. Nevertheless, it was working just fine when I decided to back up most of my files on a Friday evening.  Luck? Karma? In any case, by Saturday morning, my computer got sick. No, not a virus: some nasty malfunction caused it to forget everything.  All of my files disappeared, even my profile, and every time the computer turned itself on, it asked to register new software and whether I wanted a tour of my new computer. Even just logging out ant back in caused it to forget whatever I had just done.  And yet all the software ran just fine... This was my fist case of IT Alzheimer's. No fun!

OK, so basically the laptop is dead. Now I need to buy a new one. That's fine, I was planning on getting one at Christmas, so a few months early is not a big deal.  But wait, problem: in Austria, all the computers have German keyboards, which I definitely don't want.  I ask around, and discover there are only 2 options if I want an international keyboard: order from Dell (UK) and wait about 3 weeks, or order from Apple, pay double my budget but get the computer in a week.  Hmmm, not liking those options.

And then, inspiration strikes: an ex-coworker of mine from the CNSC is coming to Vienna next week for a meeting. Maybe I can convince my good friend Hemendra to purchase a laptop cand bring it to me.  And, being the nice guy he is, he of course does so.

So now I have a nice new laptop (which I just discovered has a touchscreen. Why is that?), and also confirmation that you really should backup your files regularly, you never know when your computer will lose it!