Bloggin’ on the Bus

Yes, I'm composing this entry (or the first part of it, anyway) on UTA Route 8, on my way down to Nancy’s office and thence to the chiropractor. And yes, that means what you think it means.

I have a laptop.

It’s a nice one, too. It’s a Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv9000 with a 17” display, full-sized keyboard, wireless and Ethernet connectivity, and a DVD burner. And it was a sweet deal. Nancy found an ad in the paper for laptops at Office Depot starting at $500 for the basic models. The model I was most interested in—this one—was $675 after rebates. So I went in and took a look around. As it turned out, I found a flyer in the store for the same offer, but $100 less. So I applied for financing, and once that was taken care of, I ordered the laptop.

I say ‘ordered’ because they didn't actually have the machines in the store. It was a make-to-order sort of thing: tell the store what upgrades to the base model you want, and they build it to spec and ship it to you. I ended up getting just the base model (the financing wouldn't allow for any more than that) and getting all the paperwork from the store. Then, a few days later, the first half of my shipment showed up. You see, part of the offer was that it included an all-in-one HP F380 printer/scanner/copier. It arrived within five days of my order, and it’s a lot nicer than the Lexmark printer I've been using. It seems to use a lot more ink, though, and those cartridges aren't cheap. So I'm still using the Lexmark for most of my printing.

Anyway, after the promised two week waiting period, I still hadn't received the laptop. So I checked the website Office Depot had given me and it showed that the order was still ‘In Process’. It shipped two days after that—from Shanghai. Three days later, the laptop was in my hot little hands. I've been experimenting with it and getting it set up the way I want it ever since.

A few days later...

The laptop hasn't been the only news on the computer front. I finally got sick of things I wanted not being compatible with Windows 98SE, so I broke down and ordered a Windows XP upgrade from Amazon. It only took about two days to get here, so I spent a couple of hours upgrading that afternoon/evening after school. Again, it took me a while to get things figured out. And I ran into one major roadblock: The computer would no longer connect to the Internet.

Okay, don't panic, I thought. These things happen with upgrades. So I fumbled through XP's system menus, with which I'm still not all that familiar, trying to figure out what I could learn. I did manage to find out that my modem is an Intel Pro/100+, which XP said was working just fine. I talked to my brother-in-law Ben, who knows a lot more about such things than I do by virtue of doing such things for a living. He recommended I download new drivers. No problem, now that I have the laptop. So I did...and nothing happened. So, no longer knowing what I could do, I took the most extreme of measures.

I called Microsoft customer support.

I explained my problem to a helpful young-sounding woman, who opened up a case for me. Then, just as she was getting ready to transfer me to a techie, my cell phone cut out. Carp! I quickly redialed, hoping I wouldn't have to go through the whole thing all over again. Fortunately, and to my moderate surprise, everything was saved and ready to go on their end. The Indian woman (the accent gave it away) transferred me to a tech (also Indian, most likely) who started me through the diagnosis and resolution process.

He had me check the settings and confirm the make and model of the Ethernet card, then had me restart the computer in Safe Mode. And the strangest thing happened: I had unfettered access to the web. We then checked the programs that were installed and found a firewall I had installed under W98SE. So we uninstalled it and restarted the computer normally. Presto, problem solved. And all it took was 45 minutes on the phone.

I have to admit, the Microsoft experience was a lot less painful than I had feared it would be. The CS people and the techie were all quite competent and friendly, and I had minimal difficulty understanding them. Now that XP is installed on my desktop PC, the machine seems to run a lot faster. I've got two fully functional and efficient computers that can communicate with each other. And I no longer have to worry about those pesky compatibility issues.

Until the whole world switches over to Vista....