Comments on: Requiem for a Craptop

By: Michael D.

Michael D. — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:05:37 +0000

Also proof of where my mind is currently is that I can’t spell “here.” Apologies.

By: Michael D.

Michael D. — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:04:50 +0000

Proof of where my mind is currently is that I sat hear reading those last two comments, and only ten minutes later did I actually get the HAL joke in the Will Smith quote…

Bob, I just assume that I offend everyone everywhere I go, that way, if I miraculously do make a good impression, I can truly bask in the joy of the moment (or past moments).

Is this why I identify with ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ so much…?

By: Bob Rehak

Bob Rehak — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:56:41 +0000

I’m tempted to answer that Will-Smith-style — “Aw HAL no!”

By: Dan North

Dan North — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:20:51 +0000

Did the Craptop sing “Daisy daisy” as you shut it down for the last time.

“I’m scared, Bob…….. I can ………. feel it……”

By: Bob Rehak

Bob Rehak — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:32:07 +0000

Michael: I’d forgotten that you and the Craptop came to know each other back in March 2008. Thanks for sharing these memories of your time together, and for reminding me that, as they said in the series finale of Quantum Leap, “the lives we touch touch others.”

But what’s this about offending everyone in the house (including the cat)? You were an exemplary houseguest! (It was your host who was having a rotten week.)

By: Michael D.

Michael D. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:22:14 +0000

I believe I had the honor of touching and utilizing the (in)famous Craptop spoken of here by Bob, though I did not think of it as a (Crap)top at the time. It seems just like yesterday (cue foggy screen morphing)…it was almost one year ago, as I dutifully and completely unknowingly offended all possible parties (including the cat) as a guest in Mssr. Rehak’s home for the SCMS conference. Though Bob-Borg and Katie were kind enough to have me in their home for a few days, I must admit that secretly, the opportunity to use the Craptop for even the smallest of mundane tasks was too great to pass up (as Bob had already been pre-eulogizing its legacy for me on the way home from the airport), and in the end, it became *by far* the most memorable part of my visit (except for the dinner party, that was good stuff!).

I often think about the Craptop (really, I do!) and its strange power to excite and bewilder in those few short moments we spent together, but more for its unwavering reliability and usefulness on those extremely cold mornings and evenings, as I checked email and responded to the innumerable requests for signed photographs that show up in my inbox every single day. Besides the required tasks, it also fulfilled the quite important aesthetically interesting, but entirely superfluous needs, such as very quickly loading the first HQ pictures of characters from Warner Bros. upcoming “Watchmen” film, which I believe I had the honor of personally revealing to Bob.

I must admit that I felt the extraordinary power in my fingertips with every laborious, but click-worthy tap I made on the keyboard, I felt the glorious hummm of the CPU, I felt the aching pixels of the monitor fight for my use — even though they were growing weaker by the day — I even felt the undeniable sense of self-worth coming from all Apple products as they trans-phonetically input “I’m a Mac, better than a PC” into your brain upon each touch of a letter. Truth be told, I have already informed Bob that I am considering a Mac for my next computer (though that’s hopefully not too soon). What hypnotic power is this? I will miss the Craptop, as I have yet to miss my own PC version of the Craptop — a 1998 Campaq Presario that I just cannot let slip from my hands (despite my owning a fully-powered and quite powerful, single processor Sony Vaio).

For your willingness to give up that which you can no longer sustain, or can sustain you, Bob, sir, friend, scholar, you are indeed a stronger man than I.

By: Bob Rehak

Bob Rehak — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:57:17 +0000

Chris: I do love mise-en-abyme, so plentiful in this era of nested screens, feedback loops, and fractals.

Jon, thanks for the condolences and the sweet thoughts on our laptops’ angelic afterlives …

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:16:52 +0000

As one who also struggled through the loss of his laptop this past summer, and who needed to put it down, I pass on my condolences. Rest assured, though, that our laptops are playing networked games together in the big Apple orchard in the sky.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:40:53 +0000

Love the mise-en-abyme!

By: Bob Rehak

Bob Rehak — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:45:44 +0000

Rich, thanks for the info! I didn’t know about Swarthmore’s (former) policy of selling the old machines back to their owners, but it makes sense (as, unfortunately, does ITS’s objection that it entails more work from them down the line). For my part, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that the Craptop came to play such a vital role in both of our lives, because technically the machine was for my use and not my wife’s. I’m committed to using the new machine exclusively for work, which means Katie is weaning herself from internet dependence (her choice, as we still have my desktop computer in the chilly basement, along with an aging PC laptop that seems, by today’s standards of ergonomic sleekness, to weigh about fifty pounds).