kfitz

Toys!

Today has begun the summer’s intended mad spending of money. There is, as with everything, an up side and a down side to these expenditures. The up side is that it isn’t wholly my money I’ve been spending; I’ve got a collection of small grants that are supporting the purchase of some books, some software, and some equipment this summer, all in preparation both for the new media class I’m teaching in the fall and for the new project I’ll be working on in the spring.

Some of the money is mine, though. The IT folks are about to replace my three-year-old college-owned Powerbook with a gorgeous, high-end G5 and a big-ass Cinema Display (the cost of which is heavily subsidized by one of those grants), so I’m replacing my home iMac (the original flat panel) with one of these. So a little switcho-change-o here, from office portability and home desktop to home portability and office desktop. Which only makes sense as I rarely work anywhere but my desk in the office, but I have a lovely wireless network in the house. (This will also help me avoid those late-night runs to the office to pick up the Powerbook the night before a trip, after a last-minute decision that yes, maybe I will bring the computer after all.)

The down side is, of course, that all this ordering was done over these here internets, and that coupled with the knowledge that the charges will hit my credit card long before the reimbursement check hits my inbox leaves me feeling a bit like I’ve spent all this money for the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes from looking at pictures of stuff you might like. Internet shopping is mighty convenient, yes, but I do miss the instant gratification factor of walking out of the store with new toy in hand.

The other slight bummer is knowing that I waited a couple of days too long in ordering the Powerbook; I’m leaving town again on Thursday, and there’s only a snowball’s chance that the thing will be here before I go. Ah, but it’ll be here on my return, and that will cut the end-of-trip bitterness just a bit.

There are more expenditures yet to come: I haven’t ordered all of the software yet, and there are a few peripherals I need. Oh yes, and one of these days I’m finally going to have to pay someone to come put blinds in my damn windows…

[UPDATE, 6.25.05, 6.07 pm: Holy moly! I placed the Powerbook order exactly three hours ago, and along with it ordered a new laptop sleeve and a networkable all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine (there was a great rebate deal, and I have no home printer). And I just got an email message saying that sleeve and printer have shipped! On a Saturday! Alas, though, no Powerbook: I upgraded the RAM and the hard drive, and so there are probably a couple of days yet before that one hits the shipper. Sigh.]

[UPDATE, 6.25.05, 9.03 pm: Good gravy, I love these guys! I just got home from dinner out to discover an email message, time stamped 6.49 pm today, precisely 3 hours and 45 minutes after the receipt of my order, telling me that my specially configured Powerbook has shipped. Here’s hoping everybody else is half this efficient. (I’m looking at you, FedEx Ground.)]

[UPDATE, 6.27.05, 7.34 am: FedEx now has tracking info up, and estimates that delivery of these items will take place on Wednesday, which at least in theory puts me traveling this weekend with lovely new computer, one that I bet gets more than 40 minutes out of its battery…]

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