I knew this day was coming.  My old iBook, the computer I built this website on all those years ago, the one that saw me through my Masters degree, the one that was my gallant companion on many treks around Europe and across the Atlantic, has lived out its days.  On Friday, it went into a coma. 

[pause]

*sniff* *sniff*

We were prepared.  Its will was in order, its assets had been transferred to a trust fund (aka external hard drive), and we both knew we were living on borrowed time.  My only wish was that it would get to see its successor, a refurbished Macbook Pro.

Well, as any good steward of hardware does, I decided to do a post-mortem biopsy to see if we could cheat death once more.  And as it turns out, we have! Upon an examination of the energy intake nozzle array (power circuit board) I discovered a screw had come loose and created a short.  No idea where the screw came from, though.   So, with a few screws short, and a few more probably still loose, the old iBook started up once more, although this time with a bit of a burnt smell to it. It’s alive!

And to cap things off, my new Macbook (click the picture for a larger version) arrived today and is very snazzy.  The best part about all this, though, is that setting up my new computer took all of 30 minutes, because it automatically copied everthing from my old one.  One click and I was up and running on my new machine.  I’m truly amazed.

So the iBook may yet have a few more days of life in it.  Christian, you want it?

[This post brought to you by Emily, who encourages everyone to go out and hug a cow.]

[Update 3 Feb: It died again.  Really Dead.  I mean, I don’t think it’s gonna to be much but a paperweight now.  That’s ok, though, because Apple sent me a voucher for a free shipment of it back to Apple for recycling.  *sigh*  Goodbye, my friend!]