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Little Piece of Plastic

I mentioned recently that I have a new laptop, so I've been having fun playing with the new toy (I'm a developer, remember? As far as I'm concerned, a laptop is a toy). Sure, it's meant re-learning a few things on the new machine, but for the most part, I've enjoyed having an upgraded machine that can do more than my old laptop could. I will also admit that there is something to be said for the Apple sense of polish. There are a bunch of little things that I just like about using the new laptop.

However, there is one little thing that seems to always mess with me. You see, the charger for the laptop is magnetic. There's nothing particularly problematic with that, except for that the charger comes with a little piece of plastic to cover it. I think that's largely because it is magnetic, so that you don't have lots of cruft messing with the magnetic.

Regardless of the reason, though, I noticed right away that there was an extra little piece to worry about. Sure, I could have torn it off and then immediately forgotten about it, but that seemed like a waste. Besides, the laptop was still brand new, so I was still in the "don't mess it up" phase. So I made sure to take off the piece of plastic, keep track of where I left it, and then put it back on. Yes, it was a little annoying, but like I said, I was still hung up on keeping the new toy as pristine as possible.

After a while, though, that feeling wore off. At that point, it would've been pretty understandable if I had just stopped worrying about that tiny little piece of plastic. Interestingly enough, though, I had just seen a "if you take care of things, they last" picture around the same time. And I kid you not, that thought went through my head right at the exact moment when I started to think, "screw it, I don't need the little plastic covering." So, I decided to continue to be diligent about holding on to that piece of plastic. In particular, I resolved not to lose the thing.

At this point, it's become something like a matter of pride. I want to keep that little piece of plastic alive for as long as possible, precisely so that the whole thing can last. And frankly, I can live with that. But it means that I have to watch a 2cm piece of plastic like a hawk whenever I use my laptop (hint: that's pretty often). I lead a rough life, I tell you.
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