Never too old to learn to do new stuff

We usually hear of men and their "boy toys": 4-wheelers, sailboats, younger women, and on and on. I'm here to tell you that older women also can have "toys." Besides subscribing to DirectTV and getting a dish installed on the roof of this 75-year-old house, I had to --I say I had to--get a laptop.
I guess I killed my locally-built computer. I needed more RAM, the tech said, so I betook myself to Office Depot (not a good idea any longer, at least in Benton AR) to buy more RAM. And this was without knowing anything except that mine only had 260-something whatever in it. And, she continued, with the new DSL, what I had was not enough to make the high speed hookup noticeable.
So I get to Office Depot needing a gig of RAM. I came home with TWO sticks which I didn't order (I told you they were in a tizzy that day). I knew how to get into the tower, for I had replaced a modem when a storm took out the original one. The tech emailed me specific instructions. I located the existing stick, and followed the directions on the new package. As the clerk surmised, it didn't fit, so I took the original one out, carefully laid it in a plastic bag, sealed it and took all the RAM sticks back to Office Depot, positively the last time you'll ever see me there.
Sure enough, the two they sold me didn't fit. I returned one, and exchanged the open one for another flash drive to back up the one I already have. Zack ordered me a stick of RAM identical to mine. To be mailed in two days.
When I returned home, and replaced the RAM from whence it came, was I proud. The machine kicked back on. But the monitor stayed dark, and eventually, the motor of the computer went off. The hub light was on; the printer worked, but nothing else.
I called around to those computer gurus. Two of them said, try installing the RAM again. I did. Still nothing. Well, I betook myself to WalMart--whom I had earlier boycotted, and bought myself an HP Pavilion notebook on which I'm typing this post. I wonder if it will make it to its destination.