I don’t think anyone who has a cat can be a hundred percent materialistic. If you’ve ever lived with a cat for any length of time, you know that every so often the cat will decide that you have become too attached to something, and they will destroy it.
I’m not sure if it’s jealousy or some deeper, more spiritual insight. The cat is either thinking, “The material objects of this world are temporary comforts that distract you from spiritual growth.” or “Hey, they keep looking at that bit of plastic there! I’d better get rid of it before they get so distracted by it that they forget to feed me!”
Somehow I suspect it’s the latter.
Whatever the impulse behind it, one of the kitties (not that I’m naming names, Isaak) decided that it was time for me to get a new PDA. It’s not like he brought this up in some deep conversation about how much the technology has advanced or anything, he just decided it was time. Plus, he wanted to see what kind of noise it made when it was pushed off of the coffee table.
So this nice little Handspring Visor that I’ve had for ages now has a distressing habit of flickering out when the screen is touched. That’s a big problem for a touchscreen device… I backed everything up and took it apart of course. I think there’s something in the geek rules about that. If something high-tech of yours is acting flakey, you’re obligated to take it apart and poke around, even if there’s no chance in Hell that you’ll be able to fix anything. If you don’t try, the international council of geeks shows up and takes away your pocket protector or something…
Anyway, I was able to see what the problem was, and there’s a remote possibility that I may be able to do something about it… I’m not sure if it’s a design flaw or what, but if anything touches the back of the screen, it goes blank. There’s some little plastic nubbins inside the case that the screen clicks into that keeps it from rattling around loose and bumping into things. Or at least there should be. In mine, there are some little cracked bits of plastic where some of the nubbins had been… I may be able to do some kit-bashing and stick something in to do the same job.
If not… Well… It’s just a temporary comfort that distracts me from spiritual growth. Besides, the technology has advanced a lot since I got it, and I’m probably due for a replacement. I understand they make them with cell phones in them now…
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