Equation of the Day: Laptop + Marble Surface = Bad

So, it turns out that computer hard drives tend to have some serious issues after a computer is dropped onto a 200-year-old marble surface. (This week's life lesson: laptops + marble surfaces = bad.) Does anybody have any name suggestions for the name of my new computer? (As you might recall, my current one is called "Hourglass", in honor of a certain character and very much with a pun intended on its lifespan.) Applecare is still going for the current computer, so I am going to try to get that repaired as soon as the new computer arrives. I'll thus need a new hard drive name for the present machine as well. I should also mention that my last hard drive failure occurred right after my only other trip to Italy, so I might need to stay away from that country.

By the way, here are the specs for my new computer (I hope it's readable even with the copy and paste):

MacBook 15 inch 1 Z0GH

MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen 1 065-8668
Display

Keyboard (US) & User's Guide (English) 1 LL065-8482
Country kit 1 065-8484

500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm 1 065-8667

Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter 1 065-8472

SuperDrive 8X (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW) 1 065-8466

Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter 1 065-8468

Apple Remote 1 065-8476

8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB 1 065-8458

3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1 065-8455

EMEA CC-HE contract uplift MacBook 1 S2366 (aka, Applecare)

HP Photosmart C4580 all-in-one 1 TS420 (my first ever printer!)



This computer is the most expensive Mac laptop ever purchased from Oxford's Mathematical Institute. (I am paying for it with money from my McDonnell grant that was set aside for a high-end laptop.) It is almost the most expensive laptop purchased through the MI, but one from back in the day when laptops were much more expensive slightly trumps it. It is nowhere close to the most expensive computer purchased through the MI, so I'll be sure to let you know if I ever approach that.

Oh, and why I am so giddy right now even though I was just in a shitty mood from this conference and am now spending lots of time getting my data back-up situation in order (there was a bit of comedy of errors involved there as well): Simple. It's because I'm getting a fucking powerful computer that will probably give me my biggest performance jump ever when compared to my previous computer.