$40 bought me a replacement battery on ebay, and I just spent $29 on an additional 1GB RAM. All that's be left to buy is a new power adapter (which I've been scoping out and it looks like I'll be able to get one for $50 or less) and Lucy will be like new. Lucy and I have a bond. We've been through a lot. I've broken her a couple of times, she's pooped out on me once or twice, but somehow we always find our ways back to each other - Lucy warm and toasty in my lap and me with hands poised over the most comfortable, familiar keyboard in existence, eyes fixed on the LCD. Yes, I am a computer geek. More appropriately, I'm a Mac Geek.

Before we left California, we took her to an Apple Store to diagnose a long overdue issue that rendered her useless for over a year. (What can I say, I was lazy about it!) The Genius at the Genius Bar in Thousand Oaks literally repaired her free of charge in 10 minutes and sent me on my way. He said to me as he corrected the issue (which basically was that the battery needed to be reset and the OS needed to be reinstalled), "This is the most well-loved notebook model that Apple has ever come out with, statistically." And I literally almost cried when I agreed and said to him that my PowerBook G4 was like my little sidekick.

She's old. She's speckled, she's dented. But she's mine. And I think that I'll forever love this silly old computer.