Minus one laptop

The update on my pooched laptop is that it's in for a solder job to try and tighten the AC connection pin.

If that works, great. Laptop is as good as new.

If it doesn't work, it cost me minimal money (a whole lot less than replacing the entire motherboard), and I don't have to buy a new laptop quite yet. (In the meantime, I'm stealing time on the desktop computer to pay the bills and check my e-mail.)

Ideally, I'd rather not get a new laptop until next year at the earliest. While the ones out today are infinitely more powerful than my current machine and come with neat gizmos like built-in webcams, I'd rather wait until Blu Ray drives become the norm on laptops so that my machine will be at least high-definition compatible with the winning high-def movie format.