"Beep Beep" Baby

Tonight was our eighth anniversary, and for the first time in a long time we got out away from our kids. Unfortunately, because of two weekdays of icy roads and my husband having to tele-commute with our home laptop, the laptop suddenly crashed and we knew we needed to get it fixed tonight during our special little outing.

The Mac Store has a geek-corner in the back where they fix their products. But the way this guy interacted with my husband and the laptop was uncanny to me. I couldn't put my finger on it at first.

The geek took our laptop back and expertly began to assess the situation. He bent down, put his ear against it, and listened. He reported while still listening, "It seems the hard drive is still in place, so that's a good sign." My husband breathed relief. The geek continued, "And when did this all begin? How many days ago?" My husband gave him the recounted story with deep concern.

"Mm, hmm," the geek hummed back to my husband. Next he put his fingers on a magical array of what seemed random keys, and held them there. "And, at what part in this series did the crash actually take place?" he asked.

My husband answered in that fine way all computer people can. The geek continued, "Mm. Yes, well. We've had one beep, and we're waiting for that last beep. And..." (pausing) "there it is. I'm sorry, we're going to have to send it to a specialist. What would you like to do at this point?"

Turns out we took our little laptop home with us 'cause the specialist guy was booked with bad traveling conditions, too.

I have been to the doctor's office for my kids, too many times to count. Concerned mom discusses the situation with the doc expertly examining the child. I realized why it felt so familiar; this was the man-version of doctor visits I had never known till tonight.