R.I.P. HP

A few months ago, my computer, abruptly and unceremoniously, died. Not the sort of lingering demise most computers suffer these days, starting and stopping, offering up error messages for months, it happened quickly, simply flashing an error message three or four times, then the black screen of death. It went all at once, "both feet in the grave" as a mournful computer tech described it, leaving nothing of itself behind, no pictures of the kids, no expensive software, no operating system. Its lasting memorial, the bitter sting of images lost forever and a good round of kicking myself for not backing up more often. R.I.P. HP.