My beloved laptop, the Pink Flamingo, has gone to the great tech graveyard in the sky. I had her since 2008 and she has served me well, producing two short story collections (Sourdough and Other Stories, The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales), numerous articles, random short stories, drive-by and Lair of the Evil Drs Brain interviews, not to mention the PhD.
But all things have their time, even beloved laptops, and so the Pink Flamingo, though she tried to keep going over the last six months, struggling with the demands of an insane writer, finally reached the point of crap-out. I feel like I killed a puppy, but a writer cannot 
go on without a laptop, so meet the Silver Badger, successor to El Pinkie.
Silver Bagder is a Dell Ultrabook, as light as light can be, sleek and silver, with a backlit keyboard and he starts up with roughly the same speed as a Ferrari. He is new and different. We will need to get used to each other, and I will never forget the Pink Flamingo – I would be nowhere without her.
Vale, Pink Flamingo.
