The adoption took place in July of 2006. I brought my bundle of joy home on a sunny afternoon and immediately my life was changed. I couldn’t believe how different things could be.

Everything went fine for a few years, but then the sickness started. At first it was little things. Slow to wake up, general signs of unhappiness. Every now and then something would happen that would point to bigger problems.

Then the surgeries started. One part after another began to fail, but I was in denial. I knew it couldn’t last forever, but each new day we had together was a victory. Until today.

My computer has finally died. This morning I turned it on and after a few minutes of work, the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD) appeared. I restarted the computer, and immediately started to make sure that my important files were backed up to my backup hard drive. That being accomplished (thank you, Lord!), I started to work the problem.

I tried a system scan for virus infection, on the off chance that this was a virus telling my computer to crash. The scan wouldn’t function, because the computer crashed.

Then I put my OS disk in the drive and told it to restore my PC to the last install point, which was a week ago. It did so, and then it crashed.

I resigned myself to reformatting the hard drive, and reinstalling the OS. I started this process, but before it could get very far, it crashed.

I finally looked at the details in the BSOD. The words “hardware error” leapt out at me like the death knell of a bell. Looks like it’s time for a new computer. I’m headed to Fry Electronics to purchase parts. There may be a ceremony later, when I have scavenged whatever parts I can from the dead PC.

Goodbye, old friend.