New computer!

Last week my Dell laptop crashed … not on the floor, but it might just as well have been thrown from the highest building in Gaza.  (I think the tallest building might be 14 or 15 stories).  Two IT wizards checked it out and said they could not recover my files from the hard-drive.  I’ll take it back to the USA and keep my fingers crossed that someone can recover those files.

With the help of my good friend in Gaza, today I purchased a new laptop (Samsung) for $280.   It was loaded with programs all in Arabic but he installed programs in English.  Whew!  I suspect this computer arrived via the extensive underground tunnels that Gaza operates between Rafah and Egypt, but I didn’t ask.  It didn’t seem like an appropriate question. 

I love the keyboard with both English and Arabic letters! 

I asked about the warranty and was told there is none.  Stores in Gaza can’t offer warranties because how in the heck are they going to return it to the manufacturer for repair or replacement?  No way. 

I was surprised to learn that this storeowner would accept my credit card because I’ve been told that credit cards aren’t used anywhere in Gaza.  He processed the transaction just like any store in the U.S. would and the transaction was approved.  I hope he gets his $$ from the credit card gods in the sky.

So now I’m back in the blogging business.