The Battered Notebook Contest

Bring me your tired, huddled masses of notebook PCs. Those grease-stained, water-marked, permanently-dinged notebooks that have been your companions through thick and thin.

I love my notebook PC the same way that I loved my old blankie. It's all about the security. And now that I think about it, I've probably spent more time with it than most others in my family.

Of course my PC was never all that great; it's the memories (literally and figuratively) that are so strong. I know my machine so intimately that I can type in the dark. Actually, it doesn't matter if it's dark since all of the good keys lost their markings a long time ago. My screen has a permanent halo effect and my greasy palms have worn through the metal.(See photos).

It's only when I take it out in public that I realize what a loser I am. People stop and stare and ask how old it is.

"Three years," I answer.

"Wow, it looks like a relic," they reply.

"Nah, I'm just kinda hard on my machines," I say.

So I'll show you mine if you show me yours. Send photos to YTech_robinr@yahoo.com and I'll post the best.