Ode to a laptop
I’m commonly about five years behind on most technological advances. For every technologically progressive act I take part in, there are at least eight that I don’t have – or really, understand.
Not to say I don’t have wants. But even when I acquire one of these new-fangled devices, I’m clueless as how to use it fully. It’s not that I don’t understand how to use it – I just don’t know when I’ll ever find a major use for it.
Case in point – our computer came with a DVD burner. “This is great!” we thought.
Well, we don’t use it much. We had grand dreams of building a movie studio, complete with digital camcorder and editing programs. Two problems arose – first of all, we couldn’t justify buying a camcorder we’d hardly ever use. Second, even if we had a camcorder, we would never allow ourselves time to edit movies.
So, now have a very expensive storage burning device. I use DVDs to store pictures and music. And that’s it. It’s handy, but not necessary.
The things I currently desire, technologically, make up a short list.
• Laptop
• Two cell phones (instead of Kerrie and I sharing the same one) with text messaging
• Mac computer
Yeah – it’s old news. None of these things are really that cutting edge. Sure, we’ve got the obligatory iPod, and we’re lifetime fans of Sirius satellite radio, but we don’t even have separate cell phones with text messaging. I think getting a laptop is a romantic idea.
PS3? Wii? I’m still stoked about my Dreamcast. I’m about eight years too late in everything.
Simply put, Kerrie and I are not a technological family. We will probably never abandon paper books and we enjoy the newspaper for it’s tangible newspaperness and we like magazines and watch non-cable television and listen to public radio. I love technology, but I’m too cheap and realistic to need most of it. I have a hard time paying money for something that has a high whiz-bang factor but little necessity. What a spoilsport I am.
What’s the point of all this?
Well, I can cross two things off of my list. I’ve acquired a Mac laptop (an older iBook G4) at work. And while it’s a work computer, it’s still a laptop that I can bring with me if needed. Going on a road trip? I can pass the time attempting to write short stories. Staying in a hotel? Wifi, baby. It’s fun. It’s exhilarating. It’s freedom… FREEDOM!!
So yeah – Ode to My Laptop and all of that.