Don't sprain anything . . .

I had to give myself a pat on the back -- while trying not to sprain anything in the process. My laptop bombed -- don't really know what it was but got the blue screen of death from Windows. So, I wiped the hard drive clean and attempted to reload Windows. Attempt failed. I thought maybe my disc was scratched or something so a friend provided me with an extra copy of Windows that he had (it is all legal! I am not a software pirate!). Anyway, I wiped the hard drive again and loaded the OS. Everything loaded fine and I was happy. Getting the latest Windows update, etc. and then . . . . . . it boomed again! So, I am thinking -- this cannot be a software problem. Did some research, asked around and determined that I maybe need a new hard drive. Was going to take the laptop to Best Buy or Microcenter and have them fix it for me but before I did that, I thought I would take a peek "under the hood" so to speak. Lots of unscrewing and careful manipulation later -- I figured, I could probably do it myself. I went to Circuit City to try to get a hard drive from them but they only had the REALLY big ones -- 160GB! Bear in mind, the current hard disk on my laptop only had 60GB and it is no where hear full. So I went to Microcenter to try to find a smaller one. Found a 80GB from Seagate that said Ultra ATA on it -- who knew that Ultra ATA is the same as IDE? Well, I know now. LOL! Got the hard drive home and read the packaging -- Recommend installation by the professional -- oh oh! Will I be able to do this myself? Maybe I should take it back to Microcenter. Oh well, let me give it a try -- doesn't really look that difficult! Besides, I've installed hard drives and even second hard drives on desktops before! Ok, deep breaths!!!!! Opened the case again, remove the WiFi card, remove the old hard drive, slip in the new one -- making sure to stay grounded and not pick up any static electricity. Put back the WiFi card, close the cover -- put only one screw back and power on the laptop. Deep Breaths!!!!! Viola! It worked. Recognized the hard drive, installed the OS, updated the patches, installed all the drives and I am back in business. I have to say that I am kinda impress with myself but I think that fear was the biggest obstacle in this whole process. One thing that I do have to say though -- no STATIC ELECTRICITY! You don't want to fry your components before you install them! Now, I am thinking of maybe replacing my DVD/CD RW drive with a DVD R/W drive. We'll see. LOL!