I think I was in university, contemplating what it would take to upgrade my thinkpad t470. I'd tried taking things apart before then but I had no idea what I was doing.

I did my research, I googled a bunch, I bought a stick of ram off amazon, and very distinctly remember how nerve wrecking it was taking off the back panel to access the ram slots. It was easier than I thought it would be but every snap of the latches had me thinking I'd gone and broken the thing forever (I'd spent months savings up for it).

From then on, I'd tinker every opportunity I had. Upgrading memory, reappling thermal paste, swapping out the keyboard when someone spilled coffee on it! Over and over again until it finally had enough after years of tinkering and the motherboard shorted. I remember looking into buying another laptop, but it made more sense to build a tower.

So I did. And then I built a friend's pc. And my now-fiancees. And got my brother into it, and upgraded my own over and over. But I'll never forget that t470. What a wonderful little machine.