I guess it's all about perspective. An eight-year-old child is considered young. An eight-year-old car or dog is probably more middle-age. An eight year old house is also considered pretty young. A shirt you've had for eight years? Old. And apparently, a computer you've had for eight years is not only considered old, it's laughable. We're talking OLD. Dinosaur-like. At least that's what I found out the other day.
I like electronics but I don't keep up. I have an ipod but it's 5+ years old. Ancient, I guess, in tech years. I have a flip cell phone with a camera that I have used only a couple of times, and when I text, I don't have a keyboard. (I keep my messages short!) And this computer? Eight years old. A bit slow, perhaps, but still does most of what we want it to. That is, until last week. Our printer (yes, also eight years old) had a jam that I couldn't clear. I heard a 'clunk' sound and thought, okay, is this it? I tried to clear that jam for a few days. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. No luck. So, a little research and we bought a new HP printer with a copier (woo-hoo!). Hooked it up, ready to go. For one day. Then it stopped working. Uninstall, reinstall. No luck. Back to Best Buy for another. Install. No. Call HP tech support. Spend 45 minutes on the phone. "Your computer doesn't have enough power to run this printer." Okay. Now what?
I called the store where we bought it and explained what was going on. He didn't laugh, but I could sense some incredulity in his voice. "We can't really do anything for you. A new computer costs $510." As he's talking, I'm remembering when we bought this thing and they told us it would never be obsolete because we'd be able to add new components, etc. "Well, too much has changed in eight years. Uh, you've missed about three or four generations of computers." I was a little embarrassed! I felt like I showed up at the prom in 1993 wearing my hair sprayed stiff and carrying a bubble purse. (Actually, I never went to the prom but if I had, I probably would have sprayed my hair stiff and brought a bubble purse! Oh, and worn a few rubber bangle bracelets.)
So, back here to reality. Let's try to re-hook up our old printer and see if the jam has cleared yet. Yes, it has! (I guess riding around in the back of the car, bumping all over the place, helped to clear that jam.) And in the days since that, our USB ports have begun to fail and I now have no way to download any pictures. I think it's time. So, now the real fun begins. Researching a new computer and trying to navigate all of that. We can't do it just yet so we're going to try to limp this old guy along a bit more.
I wonder if the new one will last eight years? Just in case, I've got a name picked out already: T-rex.
