By GEORGE ROBERTSON, M.D.

It finally happened. Our computer went on the blink. The monitor wouldn’t come on and we had to bite the bullet and get it fixed. Actually, we didn’t really have to have a computer. There are still many homes without one, but after being wrapped up in the many facets of the technology it was as if we couldn’t live without one. After all, what would the grandchildren do with nothing to play their games on.

We took the malfunctioning, now ancient, instrument (one 5 years old) to a local repair shop and was told that repairing it was not an option, since the technology had advanced so far beyond what we had that there would no longer be parts for it. My thoughts returned to the repairing my old 1953 Ford auto. If the fuel pump or something else went out I could always find a parts store for the replacement and even put it in myself.

So in the storm of the technological deficit (no working computer) we headed down the road to a big computer store for a fix.

After looking at all the new shiny models which would of course require new printers, scanners, keyboards and the like, I could see the cash registers heating up.

Another thing I could see, that neither my wife nor I liked, was having to reinstall all the programs on the new machine. So painful was the thought that I determined once again to try to just fix the problem with my (out of date) hard drive. I finally found a store that didn’t have a line of people waiting for the latest new model and a salesman who would listen to my dilemma. He promised to try his darnedest to fix the old machine and at least transfer as much data as possible from it into a newer version that would also be compatible with my printer and the other still functional accessories.

So, if you don’t hear from me for a few days it will be because I’m still trying to figure out how this model works. Oh, I forgot, while I don’t have email, facebook, I don’t twitter, or surf the web, I still have a phone.

Editor’s Note: George Robertson is a physician with Family Medical Associates, PC, in Lebanon.