A note from Lazarus, my Dell laptop computer.

I can't even imagine it.  Living as a desktop?  They just sit in one place all the time... one house... one desk...  one room.  They never move around.  Or, at least rarely, and when they do, it's a huge hassle and everybody hates it and gets all crabby.  They get wrapped up in tons of bubble wrap and travel safely in the back of a car until they move to a new desk in a new room, and set up there.  They don't see any of the world.

Then again, being a laptop almost took my life.  I died once, you know.  A kind friend resuscitated me.  But... well... I've never really quite been the same since then.  It's been almost 8 months since then.  I'm a lot slower... Thinking or doing anything is very difficult for me now... 

Being a lap top can be hard...  I've been tossed around in different bags, subjected to hot and cold weather, and lots and lots and lots of travel.  I've been to four different countries, and over a dozen different states.  I've seen wireless networks in coffee shops, libraries, airports, houses, and sometimes stolen from kind neighbors who didn't secure their connection.  I've been almost rained on in a park, braved thunderstorms under the overhang of a library fire escape, and put up with higher voltage European outlets. 

I suppose being a desktop would probably have spared me some of the pain of all this...  I could have had a comfortable desk for the past 3 years of my life.  I'd probably look a lot better, with a lot less scratches, and wouldn't had to have had my rubber feet super-glued back on 3 times...  I'd probably still be running better... be better taken care of... never have to feel the cold or the heat... never have to be shoved into a dark bag with books and clipboards scratching my surface... 

But then I think about everything that comfort would have robbed me of...  and I realize... I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything.  I've been able to see the world.  And even if it means a premature death for me, I don't think I could ever trade in this life of movement for one of safety.  This is the life I was built for.  Literally.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7675927.stm