My computer crashed – every time I start it up, it slowly goes through all the steps of starting, and then…just turns itself off – and Michele – my tech-support – was in Canada so I was left with pretty much doing the same wrong thing over and over again. My plan was to drive over the Sierras to the East Side and do some hiking while Michele was gone, so I thought – which is the act of thinking, so it is definitely not the right word: no actual thinking was going on – I would take a couple of days off and, maybe, when I got back the computer would work. Like it was a sick dog that just needed a little rest.

I get most of my news off of the computer and, of course, use it to process my photos. I stay in touch with email and write this blog – which is a bigger part of my life than it should be – on my computer. All my phone numbers and addresses are on the computer – my calendar, my checking account. Everything! And it was all gone. Twenty five years ago, I'm not sure I would have cared if my computer went down, now it is as important as a car.