Who Am I?

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A nobody; a nitwit; a pilot; a motorcyclist; a raconteur; a lover...of life - who loves to laugh, who tries to not take myself (or anything) too seriously...just a normal guy who knows his place in the universe by being in touch with my spiritual side. What more is there?

13 October 2008

My Bonnie and My Laptop


First of all, I love Bonnie Hunt. She’s hilarious. I used to watch her sitcom, “Life With Bonnie” religiously. If you look up the word madcap in the dictionary, all it will say is, “Life With Bonnie (2002-2004).” Like “Fawlty Towers” and "Newhart," it was crazyzanyfun, and (unlike “Fawlty Towers”) it was largely improvised, which is what she’s good at.

Her new talk show, “The Bonnie Hunt Show” (what else?) allows her to showcase her wisecracking, improvisational talents. It is, to coin a phrase, hilarious. Oh God, she makes me laugh. Although she’s maybe not the best interviewer in the world, she comes across as very “real” and warm. Her smiling face brightens my day. As it will yours, if you tune in.

* * *

I need a new laptop. My old Dell has just about given up the ghost. It has been soldiering on valiantly, "playing hurt" as it were. One of the two hinges has broken. It’s only a matter of time until the other one snaps too and the screen comes completely off. But it's like the comfy old pair of jeans that have developed a slight tear in the rear where the pocket attaches that lets my boxer shorts show through. I know I really should throw them away, but it's hard. The laptop still works well enough. It'd be like tossing out an old friend.

It kind of irks me that I have so many dead laptops lying around. We all do. Somewhere in a storage shed there are three of mine that just…died. Laptops have become the epitome of planned obsolescence.

My friend Matt has just bought a new laptop from BestBuy.com. I think it’s this one.


Toshiba Satellite L355D

It should be delivered shortly.

Matt likes the wide, 17” screen and the fact that it has a full, desktop-style keyboard with the 10-key number pad on the side. He’s planning on using it in place of his antiquated (meaning “about two years old”) desktop. That we would even consider such a thing of laptops tells us how far they’ve come. Best part is, this computer is less than $600. Such a deal!

So I went to Best Buy today to look at laptops and probably buy one. They had one like Matt’s there, with the big screen and big keyboard. But I didn’t buy it. For one thing, it’s huge! It would need a carry-case bigger than the three I’ve got already. It’s so big that it would be cumbersome to carry around or even use on an airliner. Plus, due to the addition of the 10-key number pad, the main part of the keyboard is off-center. With the laptop centered on my lap (which is most often where I use mine), my hands would be offset to the left. In the store, it just didn't feel right. I don’t know how that would work out in real life, so I’m going to wait until Matt gets his and then give it a trial run to see.

Wide screens are nice, but…

2 comments:

Hal Johnson said...

I'll have to check out Bonnie Hunt now. I feel like I've led a sheltered life.

I've had my Apple iBook for going on four years now. It's had such a rough life that I sometimes wonder if I should get a new one before this one crashes. But, yep, I'm with ya on the old pair of jeans analogy.

Commuting by airline, my fourteen inch iBook works fine--fairly light and compact but not cramped to use.

Good hunting on your new laptop.

Anonymous said...

My first laptop was a Dell Inspiron. No complaints. My second was a Sony. No complaints. My latest one is a Toshiba. Let me put it this way, I've only owned it for three months. I have to replace the LCD screen this week.