Kevin from Bangkok

There is nothing that tests one's patience and sanity like a broken computer. I generally pride myself on keeping a pretty level head in intense situations. I can keep cool through yelling in my face, intense physical pain, or emergencies, but I might fall apart if my computer freezes while I'm trying to load my e-mail.

Thailand is hard on computers. Several of my friends have had to get repairs or new computers since coming last year. Only months into my stint I'd lost my 'b' key and acquired two lines of dead pixels up my screen.

The last several months my computer has been slowing down, like a wind-up toy that you painfully watch get slower...and slower...and slower.........

And then 3 weeks ago it got worse. A blob of dead screen appeared at the bottom of my screen. Small at first, but the successive time has seen a slow, creeping progression of dead space up my screen. As of last week it completely covers the typing area for Facebook chat, making it a guessing game of what will actually show up once I hit enter. The growing blackness of my screen is fittingly analogous to the growing anxious blackness of my soul as I watch my computer, my dear and beloved companion these 4 years, slowly, painfully, and irrecoverably die.

For a while I've had my eye on the Asus eee Pad Transformer Prime. This baby packs a powerful punch of awesomeness. If Tolstoy's War and Peace were a computer (i.e. the most amazing creation of all time) it would be THIS computer. So I Craigslisted it.

And I found Kevin from Bangkok.

Kevin got into some kind of accident a month ago, and to pay his medical bills he's selling all his stuff, including his almost new eee Pad Transformer Prime. And selling it for $200 under new! I wanted it. But it had already been posted for 3 weeks.

Wednesday, June 6th:  Me - "Is your computer still available?" (summarized for brevity)

20 hours later: Kevin - "Yes it's still available."

I spend the rest of the day making arrangements for a friend to pick it up in Bangkok.

10 hours later: Me - "I'd like it! I have a friend in Bangkok right now who can come look at it."

The next night, (Friday): Kevin - "There's a guy coming to get it tomorrow."

My disappointment is deep, but with a persistence that is a genetic trait from my father, I persevere. I search, I seek, I browse Craigslist. Kevin's add is still up.

Sunday, June 10th: Me - "Hey, I noticed that your add is still up on CL. Did that guy pick it up? I'd love to send my friend over to buy it if he didn't."

Nothing from Kevin. Silence. So I enlist my friend Caitlin to e-mail Kevin an inquiry. She uses a childhood e-mail address and a fake name. Nothing. Silence. Add is still up on Craigslist.

Thursday night, June 14th: Kevin - "That guy never showed! You still want it?"

Kevin sends a similar e-mail to Caitlin, who politely declines, leaving the door wide open for me!

Friday morning: Me - "YES! Please get me your contact info so my friend can come get it. He's there until Monday, or I can hop on a bus tonight!"

Nothing from Kevin. Silence.

Friday night: Me - "Hey Kevin, can I get your phone number so we can arrange a pickup?"

Silence.

By now I'm annoyed. I've spent two weekends wondering each day if I need to get on an all night bus so I can snag this awesome deal in Bangkok.

Saturday night: Me - "Hey dude, please tell me what is going on. I'm trying to make arrangements to pick up the computer, but I haven't heard from you. My friend is headed back to Chiang Mai on Monday, can he come pick it up? If you've sold it that's fine, just PLEASE tell me either way."

Sunday night (that's 3 days after he offered it to me): Kevin - "Hey dudette, sorry you know I have a life I am not online 24hours a day! That guy said he'd come back to get it. His phone and e-mail aren't working. If he doesn't show in a couple of days whoever comes to my office first gets it."

Me: - "If you want cash in hand by tomorrow morning, let me know, I'll have it to you."

I haven't heard from him.

Whatever Kevin, I don't want your computer anyway. You probably left crumbs in the keyboard.