Updates, Skype & Laptops

Well, it’s sure been a while since I’ve written. I hardly know where to begin. Guess it’s a time for a quick “summing up” of what everyone’s been doing.

The guys have been busy at work. Jonathan works pretty much full time, which is good. And since we’ve been back home from vacation, Jess has had a good bit of work, so no time to employ a lot of his “time users”! He’s got some work for tomorrow, but after that, he may be idle. Or he may get lots of work again. He just never knows.

As for me, it's the usual madhouse of housework and farm stuff, with school and internet work thrown in. Right now I've got "classes" Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and again on Saturday morning. Homework and regular work in-between.

Then it’s been raining and cooler here. The cooler part I like. The rain is a different matter. Like today . . . I felt fine this morning, though I slept in late this morning. However, by the time Jonathan and I finished grocery shopping and home again, I was done in. Jonathan carried in all the groceries while I put them away, we all had lunch, and then I napped. I seem to have a lot less stamina and a lot more pain during rainy weather.

But there was some pretty FUN stuff going on today!! For one thing, I had a Skype call with Richard and Ellie. She was in a silly mood, bouncing around like kids do sometimes, and didn’t want to talk. I went and got the two little orphaned chicks I have inside and showed them to her. Wow! She was instantly still. I’m not sure she knew quite what to make of these little peeping critters.

Then we got into the “I’ve got a present!” game, and she was sending me imaginary presents . . . I got an apple and toys and cookies and Lego’s. And she sent Sussern Papa a toy car, and Uncle Geek got some Lego’s. What an imagination she has!

Other happenings, well, my laptop is dying. It’s actually been on the way out for some time but I keep babying it along. The last couple of years I’ve replaced parts of the LED display, upgraded the RAM from 256mb to 512mb, and other things. But it’s so slow, has more problems, and only has a 30GB hard drive.

Of course, I’ve had this computer for 6 years! Which I think is pretty good for a laptop and the way it’s been bounced around in airports and on car trips. But it’s got a puny processor and is just all over puny compared to today’s systems. In 6 years, computer technology has come a long way baby! (Yeah, I tried seeing how much I could get for this computer on a trade-in, and the best I could find was $84.)

The latest problem is the laptop won't stay connected to power. I’ve already replaced the power cord once, and I think the problem is actually the wiring on the inside. I have to jiggle the wires trying to get it just right so the power connects, then make sure I don’t move the laptop . . . which kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop!

I’d decided to get a little netbook to tide me over, because I wanted to wait to get a laptop until I was making more money and could get a really nice one since I use it a lot. (I can’t stay sitting in a chair at the desktop for extended periods of time.) And I figured a netbook would sure be nice when we’re traveling – especially flying somewhere. Soooo much easier to carry around since they only weigh 2 1/2 pounds as compared to my heavy old notebook.

But then Jonathan showed me a flyer he got from Dell. Oh my. There they had this uber laptop on sale which included a little netbook with it. This little netbook has 1GB RAM and 160GB hard drive compared to the 512MB RAM and 30GB hard drive on my present laptop. Oh my indeed! What clinched the deal is the fact I could get both for less than the normal retail price of the laptop, and have a year to pay them off WITHOUT interest.

Sweet.

To make a long story shorter, after days of looking over these laptops, getting technical advice from Jonathan and Richard, and a “Merry Christmas/Happy Birthday” from Jess. . . this evening I ordered a new laptop.

I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

Of course, for a while this evening I wasn’t sure the deal was going to go through. To get the 12-month deal, you have to get approved for their credit, and it popped right up that we were, but after I placed the order, I got an email saying it was on hold because they couldn’t get the approval from the credit department and to call them.

I tried. I listened to elevator music for 45 minutes until the battery on my phone died.

Then I tried again on a different phone. After a while I actually got someone, and she said, “Let me look up the order,” and. . . the phone went dead.

So I tried once more, and fortunately, 3 times was a charm. I got through, she looked it up, and turns out they just needed to call me back at our home phone number and verify the order. We hung up, she called and asked if it was me (it was), and if I’d ordered a new laptop for such and such an amount (I had), and that was it. Mission accomplished.

I asked her if they did this because of the previous problems we had with someone using my credit card to buy stuff, and she said this was just routine. That’s great with me! They ought to do it for ALL purchases, not just the ones using their credit line. Then some idiot wouldn’t have been able to spend over $700 buying MP3 players using my name and stolen credit card info.

Other news! It turns out our traveling isn’t over, and we’re headed to Florida over Thanksgiving to visit the Sanfords, and Randy will be there too, so it should be a great visit. We always have a lot of fun there.

Well, it’s getting late, and the bird needs covered up and put to bed, so I’d better finish this up. Maybe I’ll actually get back on here sooner next time.

But for now. . . did you know????

I’M GETTING A NEW LAPTOP!!!!!!

Sweet.