Eric's Beijing Diary

My letter "A" broke down awhile back, so I took it to the place I usually go to in Zhongguancun. They called and told me the price for a new keyboard was 300 RMB, and they thought that was too high a price, so they told me that since it was an old computer, I should just live with it. But even a very old computer works quite well if you can type. Typing is not somehow more important on a new machine. So I tried to fix the letter A myself. I got it so that it would work most of the time, but I would have to hit it just right. Well, the other day, it broke completely. Typing without the plastic key in place is really frustrating. Not that I'm that fast. Dad swears up and down that he typed 150 words a minute when he was in high school. I find it hard to believe that anyone could type 150 words a minute. I can't type anywhere near that fast. He was in a contest in high school in Ray. They sent him to the finals in Williston, but he got disqualified because his ribbon got stuck. That wouldn't happen today. Anyway, as I was saying, 150 words a minute is way beyond me. But I do like to be able to do 40 or 50, and even that is tough when you have to keep trying to find that little rubber grommet with your pinky every time you need an "A." Drove me nuts. I finally called Chris today and he referred me to another place in Zhongguancun that does repair. They told me they didn't have new ones...I guess they're reconditioned or something. Or maybe just non-factory parts. But their price was 240 RMB. That's 40 bucks. But I think a keyboard would cost more than that in the States. I think if you're buying a whole computer it would probably be cheaper to get it in the US. But parts are cheaper in China. Again, that's partly because they are not genuine factory parts. But I can't really tell the difference. Five crazy clowns jumped quickly into the big box. Every key works.