O.K., so the fan on my powerpack has been making nasty noises lately, and I really can't afford to be without my means of making money (my computer). I didn't want to just wait until the thing ceased to function, because if it happened in the middle of a pay period and I was without access to funds, I would just be stuck until I got paid again, with no way to work (and make money). So, I took my computer into "Badboys Computers" which is our local computer repair shop.
I've been in Badboys before, reluctantly, when I discovered "Cheap Guys Computers" went out of business. The name of the place always confuses me, because I know BADBOYS and the guys working in that shop were no badboys (with their neat, freshly cut hair, and tidy polo shirts with the company logo on the breast, stamping them "officially sanitized for your protection" and those demeaning khaki's that anyone who has ever worked entry-level retail knows marks the person as a slave). I think a more proper name for this shop would have been "nameless, shapeless, strip mall computers," from my previous experiences there, purchasing parts for my daughter's computer.
Since I'm not confident enough to "fix" my workhorse myself, I brought my computer in. Squeaky-Clean-Computer-Employee-Guy-Steven asked me what I needed and when I told him my machine was making nasty fan noises, he said "OH. One moment, I'll get a tech for you."
About 10 seconds later he comes out from the back WITH A BAD BOY! (OH! They keep the badboys in the back! The guys with the ponytails, the funky suede shirts, Levi's 501's, and the strangely long fingernails that to the uninitiated seem like something only for homeless men with no access to clippers, but having been around badboys in the past I know means "in case I get in a fight, this long thumbnail works well as an improvised knife to shank someone with.") He took my machine in the back and came out about 15 minutes later to tell me, sadly, that because my computer is a Dell, their generic powerpacks don't fit, and either they would have to order one or I would have to call Dell and get one. (This gets re-interpreted in my mind as "next stop--the pawn shop to see what they have in a replacement for your computer, because you don't have enough to cover a new Dell powerpack.") So the guy goes into the back again, then comes out and says "Wait...I think I can make it work. The screw holes match up, but the new power supply is smaller than the Dell, so you'll just have an open space in the back of the computer. OK--make it so.
He puts the new one in and as I was paying for it up front with Squeaky-Clean-Computer-Employee-Guy-Steven, my husband is in the back with Badboy Keith, overseeing the closing up of my computer. After it's all put back together nicely, Badboy Keith decides to plug'er in and make sure everything is running as it should be. I suppose he was expecting Microsoft Luna, or Media Center Style Energy at the very flashiest when he booted my computer up, because my husband tells me he was seriously stunned, stood back and said "what-the-f" when the monitor started to boot up to "Winky at the Balloon Station" Birthday Suit(e) Bootskin XP, and then on to the full Birthday Suit(e) desktop, including all widgets and DesktopX features and CursorFX! My husband had to tell him, "Oh yeah...tomorrow is her birthday and she has all this stuff loaded up for that." 