I Am ThinkPad (IAMTHINKPAD.COM)

To whom it may concern:

I wanted to share an amazing story about your ThinkPad! I’m a Director of Photography and my work takes me to all kinds of exotic locations all over the world.

A while ago we traveled to K2 Base Camp in Pakistan to film a documentary for National Geographic. Our ThinkPads went with us. Before we even reached our final destination, they endured multiple plane flights, a rugged 36-hour bus trip up the Karakoram Highway, and an incredibly jarring and dusty 9-hour jeep ride to a remote mountain village. From there, our ThinkPads traveled 10 days on the backs of Pakistani porters, over 65 miles of treacherous terrain, half of it on the dangerous Baltoro Glacier.

When we finally did reach the K2 Base Camp, our ThinkPads endured over three months of extreme temperature changes, from 70 degrees during the day, down into the low teens at night. It could literally go from summer to winter in one week.

Through varied temperatures from hot to freezing, and at sixteen-thousand-foot elevations, with no special high-altitude disk drives, your ThinkPads performed flawlessly. They helped us document our story every day… and served as a great source of entertainment to the locals.

Thank you ThinkPad!

Sincerely,
David Rasmussen
Director of Photography
Northern Mountain Films

To whom it may concern:

If this story had happened to someone else I never would’ve believed it. I’m a principal of a school in Manor, Saskatchewan, Canada. My days are busy and so are many of my nights.

One particular night I was finishing a speech to give for our graduating seniors. I was in a hurry to get to the auditorium and ran out of my office without closing the door. After the speech, I spent some time talking to parents and congratulating students before going back to my office.

When I returned to my office, my ThinkPad was nowhere in sight. I couldn’t imagine where it had gone. After asking several people in the hallway and searching all around, I finally had to give up and head for home. The next day, several people helped me look for my ThinkPad, but with no luck. A week passed and I finally had to admit that my ThinkPad was gone for good.

Time passed, in fact about eleven months of time to be exact. During that period there were storms, rain, and of course lots of snow. All in all we had about 4 feet of snow. Eventually, summer arrived and lots of activities filled the school grounds.

One day, some students were playing baseball and made a discovery in one of the bushes! There, wrapped in blue jeans was my ThinkPad. It was covered in mud and some of the screws were rusted, but it looked fine! The student turned the ThinkPad in to the office. I took it to our IT person to have him check it out. When he plugged the power supply into my ThinkPad it powered right up! Even more amazing, all of my data was still there.

Thank you IBM.

Sincerely,
Mickey Adams
Principal
Souris Moose Mountain School Division
Saskatchewan, Canada

“To Whom It May Concern,

“I have a pretty unbelievable story to tell you about my ThinkPad.

“I work in marketing for a large corporation on Florida’s gulf coast. In the summer, the weather here can change pretty quickly and tropical storms are always a threat.

“Fortunately for me, I work from home, so I don’t have to worry about driving into the office in bad weather.

“It was September 16, 2004. I was working on a huge report that my team and I had been putting together for six months. The news on the radio wasn’t good.

“Hurricane Ivan was churning up the Gulf of Mexico and heading this way. My husband was boarding and taping up our windows¡¦ but when the hurricane finally made landfall, it wouldn’t be enough to stop the storm surge.

“We lost power at 10pm, and soon after, we could see water coming in under the door..

“The storm raged for hours and eventually my home office was flooded with nearly four feet of water. At some point, my desk tipped over, and my ThinkPad sunk to the floor.

“The next day, the water had gone down enough to assess the damage. I went into my office and found my ThinkPad, sitting upright on the soggy carpet. It was wet and dirty from the muddy salt water. When I pressed down on the keyboard it had a crunchy feel. My heart sank. All my work..down the drain.

“I figured my computer had drowned, but I shipped the ThinkPad to my company’s help desk anyway.

“A few days later, I was working out of our regional office when I got an e-mail from our help desk - with my report attached! You can’t imagine how shocked and excited I was.

“Not only had I been saved six months work — but all of my other files were recovered too.

“Thank you ThinkPad.”

Sincerely,
Allison Gilmore
Marketing Operations
Pensacola Florida”

To whom it may concern:

I just wanted you to know what I think about your ThinkPad. I’m a trainer of EMS personnel and wherever I go, my ThinkPad always goes with me. I always knew your product was good, but I didn’t realize how good until…the other day when I was running late for a presentation.

When I got to my truck I had a little rearranging to do. So I set my laptop down and began moving things around. Needless to say, I was in a hurry and anxious to get going. I was in the truck and pulling out of the parking space when…You can’t imagine the sick feeling I had.

I didn’t want to look. My ThinkPad had a corner missing and it appeared to be warped. I almost didn’t have the courage to turn it on.

But, it powered right up!

Thank you IBM!

Sincerely,
Corporal Bill Wagner, NREMT-P, FTO, I/C
New Castle County
Emergency Medical Services Division

“Dear IBM, here’s an unbelievably true story about your ThinkPad that I thought you’d like to hear.

“I’m a computer technician for a major newspaper.

“We depend on our computers to get the newspaper out. It’s my job to keep the computers up and running.

“At work I have a desktop, but I use my ThinkPad at home to check email and to monitor the workflow.

“It was September 21, 2002. I remember the date because it was the day my daughter got married.

“I was at the church, saying goodbye to some of our guests, when my neighbor ran in to tell me that my house was on fire!

“By the time I got there, everything was pretty far gone. And what wasn’t gone was wet.

“I remember standing by, just watching helplessly, when a fireman throws my ThinkPad out the 2nd floor window. It landed below in a pile of wet debris.

“I was too dazed to think about it then.

“But, a couple days later, I went out to retrieve it. It was dirty, it was wet; and the outside of it had actually melted shut. I took it inside the house but I figured it was a lost cause.

“About three weeks later, I finally decided it was time to return my ThinkPad to the office.

“As I relayed the story of what had happened to one of my fellow computer techs we decided to see if the ThinkPad still worked. We had to use a screwdriver to get the melted case open. Then, we plugged in the power supply and I hit the power button. I couldn’t believe it. The screen fired right up!

“It was a bit warped, but it worked!

“My ThinkPad had survived a fire, water from a fire hose, a drop out a 2nd story window and days and nights under wet soggy debris. Not only did it start right up, all my data was intact. If I hadn’t been there to see it, I never would have believed it.

“Thank you IBM!

Sincerely,
Keith Jones
Computer Technician