The Electronic High Colonic

I downloaded Ad-Aware last night because Spybot, after months of good service, decided to stop detecting threats and abort scans in medias res. According to Ad-Aware, my ancient, creaking jalopy was infested with 635 pieces of spyware. Most of them were tracking cookies, but 13 were trojans and Web hijackers. Oddly, no viruses were found. When the same scan was run on my newer computer, it found 499 bits of ne'er-do-well. Good Lord. It's a wonder neither of them died on me.

Speaking of repair, a top-ranking member at the Super Sekrit Crip Cabal coordinator of the FSU SDRC recommended a wheelchair repair shop, and so I wrote a letter of inquiry as to the services they provide. Turns out they accept Medicare and are willing to do on-site evaluations, and so I'll be making an appointment to have my Bouncing Betty serviced within the next few days. Thank God. The poor chair needs it.

Alas, I will still be responsible for the 20% co-pay, dammit; it won't be pretty. My seat cushion alone is $600, and the arms will be $70. The seat back is $140, and the brakes are $35. Excluding labor, that's $169. Shit. Shit. I'm sure labor will add dollars to that, but it's not something I can postpone. If I have no chair, I have no life. Maybe I can convince my mother to cover the co-pay as my birthday present. It's hardly a frivolity.

After all, she told me that she was buying me a laptop for Christmas, and that I should start shopping around now to see which one(s) would suit my need and last a few years. My last laptop was a Toshiba Satellite Pro 435, and it was hardy, but I've heard wondrous things about Thinkpads and IBooks. Any thoughts? Bear in mind that my needs are limited to durability, word processing, and Internet access. Everything else is gravy.