Ernesta's Tale

Well, I'm back. Some of you may not have known I was gone, but my beloved computer - Ernesta - was under the weather for a while. It started last Friday, when I turned it on and it beeped (never a good thing) and said, "Fan Error." After numerous attempts, we finally got it started, and it was making a strange whirring noise. "You know," Donny said slowly, "I think it may be a fan error." This is why he is so successful at his job.

So like generation of manly men before him, Donny concocted a DIY solution: Prop the computer up on little cardboard boxes, thus allowing air to circulate. It worked! For a day. Then the whirring noise returned. So we called the IBM service center in Israel. They have this great system where no one can actually answer your question. They just throw the phone back and forth to each other. "You need a new fan? Let me transfer you to the sales department."

"You want a new fan? Well, I need the item number. Let me transfer you to the support department."

“You want a new fan? This is the support department, you need sales. Let me just…”

“NO! I scream. Please, please, just let me order a fan.”

Then they told us if we wanted them to install it, it could take up to (gulp) five days. Donny looked up fan installation instructions online, and it turned out they were super-complicated. Not like, “Insert Fan Here, Stupid.” The entire computer had to be taken apart, beyond even Donny’s capabilities. Ernesta would have to go.


So on Tuesday morning, I bid Ernesta a sorrowful goodbye and Donny gently took her to the hallowed lands of Givat Shmuel. I prayed for Ernesta’s speedy and safe and speedy return.

Of course, when Donny got to the service center, they were mightily confused that we were bringing it in to get fixed, yet had already ordered the part. They didn’t know where to send him – Sales? Support? Sales? Support? It was befuddling, to be sure; the employees had to be sent home early, holding wet washcloths to their heads and mumbling feebly.


Luckily five days turned out to be one, and on Wednesday afternoon I got the much-anticipated phone call saying that my computer was ready!! Yippee-kie-ay! It was 2:00. Ariella was already home, and I figured if I went right away, I could avoid traffic. So I picked up Yaakov (because really, what’s fun with 2 kids is even more fun with 3!) and off we went.


Aside for the big children deciding a computer-service center is a great place for a game of tag – and here I was worried Nadav would be the problem. Ha! – and of course, the double-line-waiting (You pick up your computer here, but you pay for it here), it went pretty smoothly. That is, until I drove home and ended up on Kvish 4 going the wrong way. Ha ha! Drat you, signless intersection in Givat Shmuel! Luckily, it was fairly easy – even for someone as directionally-challenged as I am – to turn around at the next exit. We only lost 15 minutes. And even luckily-er I had Shugis for the big kids, and a pacifier for the little one. We were home by 4:00, just in time for Ariella to have a playdate. And for Ernesta and me to have an emotional reunion.

So, folks, I am happy to report Ernesta is back with us, whir-less and better than ever! Yay!