Dear IBM,

Today, as I stood in the security line at PDX, with shoes in one hand, laptop in the other, I was mildly annoyed at the two pre-teen boys who chose this time and place to reinact the world wrestling championship. Mild annoyance turned to severe dismay as I was unintentionally dragged into their plot. One of the boys made a spectacular rebounding move off of me and onto his brother. I was fine, but my laptop dropped four feet to the floor.

The escape key, living up to its name, lay next to the carcass of my trusty travelling companion in black, my IBM R51.

Admittedly, this laptop is a true brick. It's heavy. But to my shock and delight, when I picked it up and reattached the wayward key, it was 100% fine. No problems with the screen. No problems with the keyboard. Booted right up (well, as fast as Windows boots up, anyway).

My Dell used to crumple at a sideways glance. I never expected a laptop to survive a crash like that. So thanks, IBM. Let's hope Lenovo is keeping up the good work, too.

BFF?

Holly