IT wizards for the win

It was just over a year ago that I took my college-owned laptop down to the dim bowels of the admin building and surrendered it to the IT wizards. "I think it's possessed by demons," I told them. They scoffed at first, but after some hands-on experience with the quirky beast, they retired the machine and provided a new laptop.

Well, not exactly new. New-er, maybe, and less likely to suddenly start deleting everything I'd been working on. I've used that newer computer for about a year without incident, or without the kind of incident that made me want to go after it with a blowtorch. 

Yes, the USB ports were sometimes unresponsive, and yes, the computer refused to recognize the cordless mouse unless I reinstalled it every couple of days until I finally gave up and plugged in the corded mouse, and yes, sometimes the power adapter would joggle loose and fail to function, and yes, the laptop refused to run without being fully plugged in at all times, which kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop. But I was able to live with those quirks--until last week.

I think it developed tech leprosy--a loss of sensitivity in its nerve endings, a loss of response in peripherals. One day the touch-pad stopped responding, and the next day the keyboard, and finally the on-off switch. I could unplug every stinking cord and jiggle every stinking connector and press buttons with varying degrees of intensity and mutter dark incantations under my breath until eventually the thing would start working again, but the whole process took a lot out of me.

And so I submitted a ticket to IT, and lo, it came to light that I'm actually due for a new laptop this summer, and the blessed IT wizards waved their magic wands and made the new laptop appear, fully equipped with all my files, favorites, and programs. I've spent some time this morning updating the desktop slideshow, checking all my saved passwords, and looking in on files to make sure everything is intact and functional, and I have to say my office has been refreshingly free of muttered imprecations. With all this spiffy new tech at my fingertips, I'll have to find something else to complain about.

Now if only the IT guys could do something about the weather...