April 10, 2013

  • On a Positive Note...

    I am struggling.

    I want a new laptop.

    I have a laptop. I bought it in 2004, it runs Windows XP---very, very slowly--and I let someone else borrow it until she gets a new one, but that just cleverly disguises the fact that I have almost never used this laptop in the 9 years I've had it. For one, I have a desktop (two, actually.) I didn't use the laptop I have because a.) I don't like the keyboard, b.) I prefer a mouse to that whatever-it's-called on a laptop and my mice kept dying, c.) I don't really have a 'lap', d.) it's slow, e.) I have a desktop that I'm used to. I used it when I went to Alabama. But not all that much. In the best of times I go to Alabama twice a year.

    I was always going to go sit outside in the summer and use my laptop. Never did.

    I love the whole idea of laptops. I just...don't tend to use them.

    I want a netbook because they're small. All reviews assure me I won't like a netbook because they're a.) slow, b.) not very powerful, c.) going out of style.

    They can't multitask. I almost never multitask. My desktop multitasks, although it took me months to realize this because the computers I used when I learned computers threw their CPUs in the air and died if you tried to multitask.

    They won't play games. I play solitaire, Mahjong and spider solitaire. I don't think those are the games they're talking about.

    How powerful does a computer have to be to run Word?

    I was reading yet another get this/not that report this morning and it assured me an i3 computer would be too slow and drive me crazy. My desktop is an i3. It's  speed demon compared to the last one.

    This is what I do on my computer. I write documents on Word. I process photographs on Photoshop Elements. Occasionally (not often) I listen to music. I have about 427 other ways to access music. I play spider solitaire. I look at facebook, Xanga and my email. Occasionally I consult Wikipedia. That's it. Oh: I like to put files on my flashdrives. I shop on Amazon.com. I download Kindle books. That's it.

    I also scan 35mm photo film, but I would do that on my desktop.

    It used to be I would describe what I do on my computer and the salesman would assure me I need the bigger, better, more laptop. (That was also in 2004.)

    In 2004 I had some vague idea what operating system, number of cores, what type of CPU and what kind of game card I was looking for: I don't have a clue any more.

    For a while I was looking for computers with optical drives: then I discovered you can buy an external optical drive for $8.96 on amazon. REALLY.

    The bottom line is, I don't need a laptop.

    The bottom line is, I need a car.

    Work done on the eaves.

    A better dog fence.

    A paid lobbyist in Washington to keep the legislature from reducing my Social Security benefits. And one in Lansing to keep my governor from cashing in my pension plan. With rising health costs, drug costs, costs of living and reducing social security, failing pensions, and the steady hits my meager investment funds keep taking, getting older is looking more and more like heaven on earth. I should have practiced living in a cardboard box when I was younger and my joints flexed more easily.

    And now I need to go check on my collected balls of tin foil and string.*

    *Does this make sense to anyone? My grandmother collected string (I believe she cashed in the tin foil balls during the war.) It has something to do with The Great Depression. All I know is that as the End of Times approaches, everyone will need balls of tin foil and string. And maybe some tires.