My beloved first generation blue clamshell iBook, which over the years I've pushed to the very edge of it's capabilities (according to the official specs anyway) with memory and OS upgrades, seems to be heading towards a resting spot on the shelf next to my old Powerbook Duo. There's a power related problem with the junction of powercord and computer that the Apple stores won't touch (because the unit is, gasp, six years old) and that the local techies won't either, at least not for something approaching the price of a refurbished iBook with a lot more capabilities than this one (local techies also offer no guarantees of their work).
Right now the computer is only getting AC when I either press down on the cord at a certain angle (and no, Apple laptop people, it's not the cord itself--every Apple laptop owner I've described this to has insisted the problem must be the cord, but believe me, it's not the damned power cord! I've got more than one power cord and they both check out! Obviously, that was the first thing I checked! Okay? Okay.). I can also accomplish the same effect by stacking a brick and a bookend on top of the power inlet, since the lamp is no longer heavy enough.
If I could make that make sense, I would.
So, I'm trying to scratch up some scratch for a new computational device and get through my finals. Then it's almost a month off school, during which time I theoretically will be doing a couple of freelance writing gigs and fictioneering like all get out. Possibly on the manual typewriter, looks like. Gotta check and see if typepad supports the Smith-Corona Portable interface of 1966. (That would actually be cool, kind of like the tech that top videolink controllers will use twenty minutes from now).