It was not a good day for my beloved Compaq Presario R3000. First, after more than a year of running like a dream since an emergency hard drive transplant in May 2006, it suddenly went haywire. If I didn’t know any better I’d say there’s a worm involved. Dinger.

I backed up my can’t-live-without-em files and proceeded to reinstall Windows. (In the weeks leading up to the 2006 hard drive transplant, I had to do this once a week. Every Sunday night after work, I’d have to give my baby an enema. It was gross.)

The OS CD would not comply, however, and tonight I resorted to desperate measures: the other OS CD. Or, as it’s more commonly known, the French version.

The good news is that my computer is now Bill 101 compliant!

Sadly, I think this, combined with recent sluggishness on the part of my USB ports and the fact that the computer is more than three years old (“They don’t make them like they used to,” said the exceptionally helpful man who replaced my hard drive last year), means I’ll be buying a new one very, very soon.

I think I’m going to make The Switch. Pray for me.