Category: Computer

In this day and age where everyone is carrying around a cellphone/organizer, it feels like people have offloaded the responsibility of memorizing data onto devices, which may indeed be the correct evolutionary approach. Our lives are so intertwined with digital technology that many of us won’t know what to do without it.

Have you ever forgotten your own cell phone number even if momentarily when inquired by a person or an application? I’m always surprised at how easily I forget my own cell phone number. How does that even happen? Yet for some reason I can still remember my old home phone number which I have not used for over 5 or 6 years. In fact that number is no longer in service. When I was in elementary school, we didn’t have cell phones, so I jotted down friends’ phone numbers in a little notepad. But after awhile, you basically remember all your friends’ phone numbers where you don’t even have to look at your notepad anymore. Nowadays, I can’t even remember my own parents’ cell phone number. Honestly if I lost my cell phone or if it’s out of battery, I wouldn’t really know a number I could call. 911? The fact is we no longer see the number. We call people by looking up their names. When a call comes in, you don’t see a number, you see their name. In fact if I see #s (meaning my phone doesn’t recognize it), I automatically send it to voicemail. The only time I actually use my cell phone # is when I’m giving it to someone, and when you don’t do that often enough, you end up forgetting it.

Then there’s the problem with sense of direction and just a general idea of where things are located. Maybe this is just my problem. I’ve been in the Seattle area for over 5 years and for the 1st 4, I had no idea where anything was in Seattle, thanks to my GPS. Did you know until I stopped using my GPS, I never knew how to get to Andrew’s place w/o it, even though I’ve gone to his place probably 5 or 6x before then. About a year ago, I decided I really wanted to know where things were. Fremont, Capitol Hill, Belltown, Ballard – these were all things that existed in Seattle, but I had no idea how they connected to each other or how to get from 1 to the other. I don’t recall the last time I took out my GPS, but it’s only around in case I get lost. Nowadays I draw little maps on post-it notes and it’s been working wonders. I now know street names, landmarks to remember, and I hardly ever have to look up how to get to the same place twice.

And of course there’s birthdays, anniversaries, and so on. I doubt I can remember people’s birthdays these days without Outlook and Facebook. Heck, I sometimes forget even my own.

Side note: I’m in the middle of typing up my “essay” for Jeremy and Janine’s wedding experience and that thing is huge. I should probably shorten it given I have like 10-15 headings already. But that essay will be posted eventually. I should probably upload the remainder of my photos too.

My aunt heard I was coming back to visit and asked my mom if I could take a look at her laptop to see what’s wrong. The computer repair shop quoted her $400+ for the parts/labor to fix her issue. My mom asked if I could help and I said I couldn’t make any promises (either time-wise or the ability to fix the issue).

She dropped by yesterday with the laptop. I tried to boot the computer, but the battery appeared completely drained. I plugged in the power adapter and it would appear to boot up, but nothing would show on the screen. I would hear the hard drive click several times and the computer would shut off.

I unscrewed the panels on the back where the hard drive and memory were located and noticed the memory were not seated correctly. I reinserted the RAM and booted up the machine and everything was working fine. It booted into Windows 7 with no problems. Apparently that was all the issue was.

Now I’m curious, did the repair shop purposely unseat the RAM? I asked what the issue was before they took the computer into the repair shop and she said the computer wouldn’t turn on. Upon further inquiry, she meant nothing showed up on the screen. I’m still not sure how RAM can be loosened like that unless done on purpose. Even if someone dropped the computer, I’m not sure RAM can be loosened and there were no signs that the laptop was ever dropped.

I’m still shocked at the computer repair shop for quoting a $400+ repair bill. Either they’re super incompetent, or they’re just ripping off unknowing customers (I’m guessing it’s more of the latter). If I knew which computer repair shop she took it to, I’d warn you guys, but unfortunately I don’t have that information.