The Beast has died

I power on my computer this morning to get to work. I plan on searching for auditions, researching and...something is wrong. The screen is all funky and not good funky either...it looks bad. Half the screen is black, half the screen has these weird static-like lines. Uh-oh. Power on, power off. Still the same. Remove battery, replace battery. No good. I'm on the phone with my friend Suzie and I'm giving her the play-by-play. This is NOT a good time for my computer to give me issues. I need to solve this problem and now.

Three weeks ago, while standing on-line for The Moth with my friend Christine, a friendly looking guy came around with flyers for his computer repair shop. I thought he looks like a good guy and kept his flyer. I turned to the flyer for joeNYC this morning and dialed. The rate, as advertised was $25 an hour...Not horrible, depending on how bad it was going to be. I explain to Terrance on the phone that the computer is a Dell (I'll never buy one again), over 3 years old, the hard drive has already been replaced once, and I had a feeling it might be croaking but was hoping it would last me just a little longer....I can't spend too much.

I bring the computer in. Terrance boots up the Beast (as I call it) and let's out a low-pitch "Oh." Not good. That sound was not instilling me with confidence. His recommendation: get a new computer, probably not worth the cost the labor and parts, but there is something good. He can save my data for me. I come back with a USB drive, he saves all my data. Checking computer out: $25, Data save:$30. I ask what I can do with the Beast, Joe (the owner, who handed it out the flyers) says the recycling options out there aren't the best, but if I wanted to donate it to them, he'd give me a discount. I walked out with all my docs, music, pictures spending only $25 and am currently applying for a loan through my credit union so I can be up and running with a new computer in a few days! "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" should have been my theme song today. Currently on a computer at JetBlue Headquarters. Back to searching for more auditions! Need computer repair? These guys were really nice: www.joenyc.com