Goodbye to an old battleship

See, last nite was TOUGH.

While I make some products, I also do some small scale distributing. Basically, I buy it, pre-sell what I can, then then turn it around as soon as it comes in. Easy Scrilla,(Can't help myself, feeling ghetto being next to Compton and all). The margins are not so good, but hey, the ROI is way better than the stock market. A truck brought in our distributable goods delivery late. My warehouse is really quite small, so I decided, hey, I'll handle the product, and have Fedex come for the pickup in the next a.m. So, I merrily build up the boxes to be reshipped, weigh, and lay them out by customer. So on my euphoric high I have a good sense of accomplishment. I'm usually on the phone, or doing accounting, and sometimes manual labor is just what I need to relax.

I start doing the invoices, and doing fedex labels. On the Biggest order, the printer, Della, tells me, "I won't work fo you no mo." I get the error screen, and fruitlessly attempt to giver her more power in the hopes of getting just one more out of her. By the time I'm on the verge of quiting, it is about 9 p.m., and I'm hearing the little Della cackle, "I won."



So back into the jowels of her guts I go tinkering about, and shaking her. Somehow, someway, the divine intervention of harmonic alignment and fung shui unite to give me just what I need. Pages print, Labels and Shipping Documents come forth.

But at such a cost. Spent like a prize fighter, I tapped gloves in respect to a mutually battered Della, and said, "No Mas."

So, today found me shopping online for a new challenger, a new muse. Oddly,the old girl still whispered promises of productivity like a siren's song. I guess in hopes of bringing my ship ever closer to the rocky shore for her last laugh. I resisted. Today I bought a Laser Printer Dell 1125, and a Vostro 1500 Laptop.

I hope that my next printer will have the same bond with me, I hope that the next printer will last as long as Della. I hope......

As for this old Dell Inspiron 600 laptop, I started my business with her. In my first months of company income, I bought her for the promises of better fortunes, dreams realized. In the 4+ years I have had her, I Loved her, cherished her, dropped her on her head a number of times. Broke the screen, replaced memory, got virisus, used it to email words of prose and love. Wrote many a post on internet forums that is sure to embarass me, drunk typed, and most of all, made some money. Feels sad that she is to be replaced. I may retire her like an old battle ship, I may take her to the cliffs in Pacific Palisades and drop the two into a beautiful oblivion.

My new Dell Vostro System Details Cost was approx $599
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5270 (1.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
1 320-5543 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD display with TrueLife for Vostro 1500
1 311-7263 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 DIMM
1 320-5558 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
1 341-4885 120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
1 420-7313 Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
1 420-7291 Google Small Biz Home Page Internet Portal
1 420-6581 Image Restore,Vista,Dell OptiPlex,Precision and Latitude
1 420-7658 Dell Support Center 2.0 for Dell Vostro
1 420-7292 Dell Welcome Application: Vista only
1 420-7293 Dell Icon Consolidation
1 430-0493 Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
1 410-1100 Adobe Reader 8.1
1 313-5527 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/o Roxio Creator
1 313-4783 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
1 313-5298 Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card
1 320-5547 No Built in Camera 1500
1 412-0998 Dell Exclusive MediaDirect Instant Play Software Application
1 410-1054 No Anti-Virus/ Security Software requested
1 312-0544 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, for Vostro 1500
1 412-0379 No software package
1 983-3920 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 987-6829 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 987-6977 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Return To Depot, Initial Year
1 983-4060 Type 7 Contract - Mail-In Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year
1 900-9987 Standard On-Site Installation Declined
1 420-7708 Dell DataSafe Online, 10GB for1 Year, for Dell Vostro
1 987-7479 VOSTRO,Datasafe 10GB,1YR(Incl w/price)
1 960-8851 1YR AUT. PC TUNE UP,VOSTRO, Included in Price
1 420-7659 Dell PC Tuneup 1.0, for Dell Vostro
1 310-8628 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System
1 310-8319 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
1 420-7189 DellNetwork Assistant 1.7
1 462-4506 Purchase is NOT intended for resell
1 310-8977 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forBSD Systems Boxes


Since I had to also buy the printer, my budget went down. I got both the printer and computer for under a $1k including shipping and taxes, and CA, wonderful $8 recycling tax.

If any of you have input on things I should add, lets do it now, as the build date is early next week.

Thanks guys,

Ed