. . . And we're back.

After a computer-less month, ladies and gentlemen we are once again floating in space.

The really bizarre part is how, before I even did anything on my new computer, I was able to plug my old hard drive in and upload every single file from my previous computer onto the new. So when the new computer started for the first time, everything was exactly the same as it had been on the dead machine - only, it was a lot faster. It even restarted Firefox with the exact same pages that had been open when the computer died.

The one brown spot on the whole experience was the fact that my old Microsoft Office suite, which I had used since I got the old machine in 2008, no longer worked on the new laptop: apparently the old program ran on something called Power PC that the new OS Lion does not support. Which seems odd, because the result of this was that Apple made me go out and pay $100 for a new Microsoft program: seems like strange and (almost?) certainly unintentional collusion. I mean, seriously, they don't actually expect me to use whatever type of janky bullshit word processor Mac is hawking, do they?

And as an aside, I even managed to get an iPhone despite myself. Let me explain: as a belated Christmas gift I bought Violet a new iPhone 4GS - she is basically addicted to her iPhone and her old 3G was getting more and more decrepit as the weeks passed. So, fine, we go into the AT&T store with the intention of getting her the new phone. And then during checkout the clerk asks if I want an iPhone. I say that no, I don't want an iPhone. She says that the old 3Gs have gone down to $30, and that putting a new phone on Violet's plan would be only $15 or so more a month to her bill. Well, so I got a smartphone . . . I'm still not entirely sold on the idea. I am against smartphones on principle. I didn't actually get a cell phone of any kind until 2008, at which point I got a $20 pay-as-you-go number that lasted three years until the battery started to go. At which point i went out and bought another $20 cheap phone. But now I've got an iPhone. Honestly, it's fun and all, but so far I haven't really done anything but customize a ringtone and set a background picture. I don't see myself becoming as dependent on the phone as some people are . . . I just hate looking down at the tiny screen and trying to read a webpage or my e-mail. But not every situation is such that I can whip out my laptop and surf the internet at will, either.

Within two days, therefore, I joined the 21st century.

So, back to the old grind. Next week is the eighth anniversary of this blog - slightly less impressive than, say, Mike's eight anniversary, seeing as how he posts every day and I barely post at all. And yet, it's worth pointing out that whereas most blogs at some point slow their rate of posting and eventually just peter out altogether - usually the old "boy, it's been a long time since I posted!" post is the death knell - The Hurting somehow always manages to survive and return from even the most protracted malaise, like a particularly indolent and occasionally sarcastic cockroach. I'm going to keep slouching 'til the wheels fall off.