New Lapto.... oh

My laptop computer has been limping along for a while, which is not bad considering that I've had it since September 2002 (holy crap... 4.5 years old... ancient for a computer.) I have chronicled the problems and part replacements on my blog; see "The Laptop of Theseus." However, it is currently on its last legs--it does not power up consistently now--I hit the power switch, I hear the startup fan kick on, but I don't get the "beep" or the BIOS screen. I can sometimes get it to start up if I unplug it and torque the case a bit, so I have just been leaving it powered up full time now.

Fortunately, I am returning to work with my former employer, and they are generous enough to buy me a new machine. So I ordered a new Fujitsu--I decided to stick with them, since my advisor and chief grad students have had no problems with theirs, and more importantly, I decided to get the three year extended warranty. I placed the order on the web on Monday. On Friday at 10 PM, I got confirmation that it had shipped. Yay! I figured it would be here in a few days, so I checked the tracking info:


Oh. Yikes. I had no idea they were shipping all the way from Japan. Oh well... I guess I'll see it whenever it shows up.

Incidentally, they included a free ZEN Nano 512MB MP3 player with the order (it was either that or an inkjet printer/scanner). Any idea for a good use for it? I already have an (old-school ghetto 10 GB) iPod, a 1 GB media card on my BlackBerry Pearl, and many CDRs of MP3s for my car stereo. Huh... no FM tuner, which would have been useful for listening to WBUR on the bus. Oh well.