This past Sunday, I was fixing the DVD/CD drive in Max’s computer. He’d just come back from a week with GaGa and Marieka in Basalt. He wanted to play Lego Batman but the CD player hadn’t been working.

I was able to interest him while fixing it. He watched and even helped me.

I started complaining about his computer’s case. How I’ve built, fixed, broken, and worked on thousands of computers in my life, and this case has got to be one of the worst. There’s no room to get to the components, which is not unusual, but there’s no easy way to move components and wire harnesses out of the way. Nothing about the positioning or latches or screws makes sense. You even have to completely remove the power supply to get to the DVD/CD drive and front USB ports. And there are flathead screws securing the power supply — really???

Anyway, I’m complaining and Max retorts:

Max: “Who makes the computer?”

Aki: “Well, a lot of different companies. Like this piece is made by Intel, this is made by so-and-so…and I put it all together.”

Max: “No, I’m meaning, who makes this part [pointing] … the case?”

Aki: “Oh, that’s made by a company called HP.”

I flip a nearby identical case around — his original computer onto which I spilled tea a few weeks ago and killed the motherboard –and I show him the HP letters.

“See? H.P.”

Max: “You should call them. Tell them to fix their case. Tell them how bad it is?”

I chuckle and say, “Yeah, I should do that.”

I never would think to do such a thing. I am too cynical, apathetic, jaded from dealing with large companies as one of their ten million consumers.