Last week I mentioned that my laptop was having issues – I couldn’t turn it on without plugging it into a wall socket. This was terrible for me since I couldn’t work on a computer out of the house. I like my coffee and cigarettes without having to take a break from the keyboard.
Anyway, I brought my laptop to the service center on Sunday and got it back Tuesday – pretty good service IMO. According to the salesman, the laptop I bought was a flagship product, so it supposedly had a higher priority when it comes to servicing. Not sure if he was spewing bullshit since the other salesman told me that my laptop was eligible for a 1:1 replacement if there was anything wrong within 2 weeks (which turned out to be false). Even the rep at the official service center told me he was surprised at how new my laptop was. He also mentioned that it was the first time they had received the device for servicing since it was a brand new model (almost 2 months old when I bought it).
But whatever, I got it back and it seems to be working fine for now. Hopefully I won’t have to take it back to the service center anytime soon. Apparently there was a problem with some battery connector or something in the laptop. They reattached it properly and it’s fixed.
It made me think about how unlucky I was: buying a malfunctioning laptop, which was supposedly the first of its kind to be malfunctioning to be brought to the service center. I’ve had pretty good experiences with all the hardware that I’ve bought throughout the years, rarely encountering any issues that weren’t of my own volition. I guess there’s a first time for everything.
Also, it kinda made me realize how dependent I was on technology. The past couple of days without a laptop I felt utterly unproductive even though I had access to pen and paper if I wanted to do any writing. Not to mention, I had my fully functioning desktop at home. Maybe it’s just a mindset I have that I need to address. I can work anywhere, including at home. There’s no reason I need to be outside drinking coffee and cigarettes even though it feels great, especially since it’s raining right now.
Luck, a concept created by humans to explain how fortunate or unfortunate people can be when things happen out of their control. While I don’t believe in luck, I do find myself saying it sometimes, “good luck!” when the occasion calls for it. I don’t know where I’m getting at here, but I guess I was unlucky that I bought a malfunctioning laptop. However, in hindsight, I could have avoided this by: buying a different laptop, asking for another unit instead of the one they provided me, not buying a laptop, buying a laptop from a different store, buying a laptop on a different day etc. So was it really out of my control? If I decided to stay home one day because of riots outside, and my condominium collapses and I die indoors – is that luck? Who’s to say that I wouldn’t have been killed in the riots either? Was I meant to die on that day? Would that mean it was fate?
Yeah, I’m rambling again.
Which brings me to one of my all time favorite scenes from a movie:
Also, somewhat related: The Butterfly Effect – an audiobook documentary by Ron Jonson about the effect of free pornography on the world. It’s free for now, so add it to your audible library first if you haven’t got a few hours to spare at the moment; it’s worth a listen.
Speaking of things worth listening to: The S-Town podcast has been amazing. I’m 2 episodes away from finishing it, but so far it’s one of the best stories I’ve heard in a long time. It does a great job at pushing the podcast medium as a storytelling format, with characters so outlandish and a story line so compelling it could have been easily passed off as fiction. Check it out if you’re in need of a good story for your long commutes.