Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 3, 1995 TAG: 9504050057
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONTY S. LEITCH
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
What shall we call it? ``Spring fever?"
Something a little harsher would probably suit better. As a friend of mine so delicately put it, ``You sound like a frog.''
I did.
And then, my cat got sick. Wheezing, hacking, sounding remarkably like a frog, too.
Do cats get spring fever? Can they catch if from their people?
Me, I've treated primarily with television and ice cream - a couple of remedies I've always found soothing, if not always efficacious. The cat, I rushed straight to the doctor.
A couple of injections later and a day on the couch, and he was fine. My spring fever went up and down, up and down.
And then, my computer broke.
It must be true that misfortunes come in threes.
I had just sat down to complete some work that I thought mighty important, when there was this little pop and the smell of electricity filled the air.
The repairman I called said, ``Uh-oh.''
Now, I'm fine, the cat's fine, but the computer's still in surgery. I fear it will die on the table.
Maybe it's time. Before this crisis, I went out looking for new software and discovered that no one makes software for a computer like mine anymore.
We just passed its fourth birthday, for pity's sake! But that must be about 400 in computer years. Several generations of RAMs and ROMs, of processors and co-processors, of drives and ports and DOS, it seems, have come and gone.
In the software stores, the clerks looked at me sadly and clucked their tongues. ``All our customers have ... ,'' they started out, by way of explanation.
Well, I guess they're right. How can I be one of their customers if I can't buy from them what I need?
At least the cat didn't die.
At least my fever's eased.
So, while I wait to see if my computer will live, I've been entertaining myself by looking at ads for new ones. Daydreaming, you might say. ``Oh, to own a computer for which software can be had!''
But I find the distinctions among what's available now too subtle for common folks. Too subtle for me.
Of course, I've had a fever and everything's a little fuzzy still. So it's probably no wonder that after a while, all of the numbers start to run together.
The cat has his opinions, of course. He wants a 486 at 75MHz, at least, with 8MB RAM upgradeable to 72MB, a 16-bit stereo sound card with speakers, dual speed CD-ROM, and .39dp SVGA monitor with Windows installed.
I tell him that will cost a pretty penny.
He says it would be worth it if we could find the new software we want.
I tell him, ``We don't need Windows.'' I tell him even he wouldn't like Windows the way he does, if he didn't have that difficulty with the keyboard.
``Cat and mouse,'' I say. ``It's perfectly obvious why you like that silly application!''
He says I should have another bowl of ice cream. He says, ``You're getting cranky again. Take your temperature.''
Monty S. Leitch is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
by CNB