Upgrade

While my parents were gone last week, my best friend, John, came for a few days with his son TJ. They came last September as well and it was good to see how TJ has grown. While sitting here chatting on Wednesday afternoon, we talked about some upgrades John had done for his dad's computer. After a little more discussion, we thought my 5.5 year old machine could do the same.

Of course, we didn't have the parts or tools we needed to do the job. However, that was fixed by an online purchase and overnight shipping. Less than a day after contemplating the task, the tools were in hand and ready to begin.

After lunch, TJ took a well timed nap and John started to take everything apart to add a new hard drive. He and I remembered our high school years of adding new, or fixed, components to my computer. Mom would come home from work and find what looked like an explosion in an electronics store, and two grinning teens. John considered waiting until they returned so we could get the same reaction, but figured pictures would work.

About two hours after starting, and a trip to the hardware store, the new drive was added to my machine and all parts put back in place. The next step was getting the software loaded again and everything working with the new drive. This part of the job started at about 5:00 in the afternoon.

By 2:30 in the morning, we had tried a few attempts unsuccessfully to get everything loaded. At that point, we went with the easy solution. It thankfully worked, and another nine hours later while I was at a doctor's appointment, everything completed and the upgrade was a success. I don't notice a big change in most tasks, but it generally runs much better.

The best part was spending time with John again and catching up on the last few months and future plans. It will most likely be a couple years before he can come again, but it was a great time in the quad life. I'm thankful for these times and look forward to what may come.