Three Days Without My Laptop

Three days ago, my laptop, which I’ve used faithfully for nearly six years, ran into technical issues. Upon starting it up, I was met with the message:

“To interrupt normal startup, press enter.”

Given my affinity for technology, I saw this as an opportunity to delve deeper into the workings of my laptop.

After some independent research, I discovered others had faced similar issues. Their solution was to access the BIOS system, adjust the optimized defaults, and then restart. Regrettably, this approach proved ineffective for me. Upon consulting with a few acquaintances, the consensus was that the issue might stem from disk damage.

So, I took my laptop to a repair shop and waited for their feedback. This meant a few days without my computer, which was quite a change from my usual routine. It felt strange not having it, but also kind of refreshing. Normally, I work during the night, between 8 to 11 pm, but without my laptop, I found myself going to bed earlier and turning into more of a morning person. Even though I didn’t have my laptop, I used my iPad to research companies. I watched interview videos on YouTube to understand companies better and learned how to answer behavioral questions.

Usually, I type out my thoughts on a document, but during this time, I either went over them in my mind or jotted down key points. This might have been a good thing. My responses felt more natural, as if I wasn’t just performing a rehearsed act.

Yesterday, I retrieved my machine. The technician had replaced the hard drive, leaving me with the task of resetting and reinstalling various applications. Fortunately, I had the foresight a month ago to backup essential documents on Google Drive. As such, the loss was manageable, with most of my pivotal academic projects safely stored either on Google Drive or the sisweb system.

Getting the laptop back brought relief, but it also made me think about the importance of backups and preparedness. It’s easy to delay saving important files or think that tech problems won’t happen to us, but this experience proved that unexpected challenges can and do arise.

Overall, it was a lesson in adaptability, preparedness, and the ever-evolving dynamics of our relationship with technology.