Techie Mishap

Woe is me! Last night, my CD drive kapooted on me. First time I tried, I had difficulty pushing in the CD, it was as if something was lodged deep in its recesses. I pushed and urged, and succeeded in coaxing the CD in, but it just wouldn't read. Feeling slightly frantic, I tried again, and this time the CD slid in, shook its hips for 10 sec, and popped right out. By this time, I could feel the panic rising in me, so I grabbed a pair of scissors (in the absence of a ruler) and tried to dislodge the suspected food particle (possibly tiny bits of Mamee - BBQ flavour as I've been munching on that in bed for the past few nights) in the drive. But I found none, and in the process of probing and poking, possibly aggravated the drive. For the third time I tried to insert the CD, it got totally stuck. The stubborn CD refused to budge. F***!

I brought my baby to the clinic straight after work today, but the GP attending to it said the problem was a lot more serious and she would have to refer me to a specialist. I asked her what the charges were, and she calmly replied that it would cost $100 for the specialist to touch and inspect my babe, and another $500+ to replace that faulty limb. I struggled to maintain my composure, but I was feeling pretty distraught by then. Despite the mambo-jumbo going on in my head, I managed to rationalise that my 3 year-old baby is obsolete enough as it is (I've been ridiculed for owning my humble G4 when Powermac and G5 were already ubiquitous). It just wasn't worth spending that kinda money on a gadget which I was already thinking of replacing next year.

If you're thinking "where's your warranty?", that shit expired exactly 35 days ago. So you can imagine my frustration! I swear there's some kind of tech conspiracy going on. Have you ever wondered why nothing happens to your gadget during the period it's covered by a warranty, but the moment the warranty expires, that damn gadget decides to flip on you? Or how when you think you're lucky and ain't needing that expensive warranty because nothing untoward has ever happened to your good self, your usually unadventurous gadget decides to do a dangerous somersault and break its back?

The motto of the story is: Getting a warranty on your gadget is like buying life insurance. Always insure your tech gadgets for as long as possible, no matter how lucky you pride yourself to be. That little bit of money can really save you loads in the long run, should your lucky stars burn out.