I retired my Sony CPD 200sf Trinitron computer monitor today. It was in failing health for the last couple weeks. I took it down to a nearby high tech recycling center where they will break it down its component parts and prevent it from poisoning the water table of somewhere in China or West Africa. As devices go, it carried little or no sentimental value for me... though it was a very good monitor.
I didn't realize how good a monitor it was until I found the receipt that I kept with the owner's manual. I bought it in November of 1997. In terms of the age of a bottle of scotch, that's just passing out of adolescence. In terms of a car, that's heading toward the old age home. In terms of computer hardware, that's almost like finding a wooly mammoth eating dandelions in your living room.
A lot has changed in my life since I got that monitor. Back in November of '97, I had almost 2.5 years to go until the completion of my dissertation. I was going to move one more time in the same town before finishing graduate school. Heck, the town in question isn't even in the same area code that I listed on the extended warranty application back then.
I won't even get into the fact that I was making about 1/3 then of what I am making now, was so single that I hadn't had a girlfriend for two years and wouldn't really for another year, and was probably in need of prozac... because I wasn't really sure that I would ever finish grad school.
Of course, quality costs... in this case over $700. But hey, the monitor lasted 8.5 years... it was worth it. I bought a Viewsonic VA912b 19" flat panel yesterday. The monitor is dead! Long live the monitor!
said drgeek
on 2006-06-17 at 11:49 p.m.
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