My Broken Lappy

Let me apologize in this post for the lack of posts of late. At the risk of sounding like I am making excuses let me explain why.
A while back, shortly after arriving in Botswana I noticed that my laptop’s power cable had begun to fray near the end and would occasionally lose connection, over the next few days the cord ot worse and eventually stopped working. I found that if I bent it at a certain angle I could get it to work as long as I didn’t shift the computer around too much. I decided that it wouldn’t last forever and I should buy a new cord so that when my current one finally died I would have a replacement on the way.
Well about two weeks ago the cable finally died, snapping completely apart at the part where it had frayed.

(Yes ALL of those parts should be attached)

Needless to say I was distraught. I decided to go out and search for a new one. But, as I am in Botswana there isn’t exactly a Mac store on every corner. I found out that there is place called the “Apple Center” and was quick to scurry over there. Much to my dismay they also didn’t have the part, they said they could order it but they didn’t know how long it might take to arrive. YUCK! So I decided that the one I had ordered (3 weeks before) would arrive soon anyways. In the meantime I was able to, temporarily, use another computer that lasted only a few days. Soon I tired of waiting and decided to return to ebay and bite the bullet in a big way. I found a replacement part that would repair my cable until the new one finally arrives. I took the leap and bought it and ponied up for the expensive international rush shipping that was supposed to take 3-5 days ($30 on top of the $15 part). So here we are, on the 8th business day, and I am still without a power cable. I did learn today however that I have had a package waiting for me in the post office since Monday. I hope it is the repair kit.
In the meantime Onkabetse has been very kind. He too has a Mac and we devised a situation where we have been trading batteries for the last week or so. He gives me his full battery and while I am depleting it he charges the empty one I give him. The next time I need to use the computer we trade back and so on and so forth. The system is not perfect and I eagerly await a time when I won’t have to bother him so much anymore but in the meantime he is being a real great guy about the whole thing.
So that’s my story,
Love to All,
Tommy