Stumbling into the 21st century

I bought a laptop yesterday. In fact, I bought the first one the salesman showed me. It may appear that I made a rash decision by not shopping around and comparing various models, but I have been thinking off and on about getting a laptop since Christmas. Over the past few months, I've talked to various tech-savvy friends and "built" a few computers on the Dell web site. I knew what I wanted and needed in terms of processors and memory, and I did some comparison shopping online before I set foot in the store. I would have bought it online, but I am one of those people who likes to see what they're getting--hold it in my hands, try it on, take a spritz from the tester bottle--before I fork over the money for it.

My decision to finally break down and buy a laptop was made in part by the fact that my current computer--a Dell desktop that is at least seven years old--has been showing signs of old age recently. It's slow at startup, makes churning noises while running, and sometimes just flat out refuses to do what I tell it to do. It's served me well during its tenure, and I will continue to use it for non-business related things (music, photos, etc.)--but when my time is billable, I need to be able to work efficiently.

So now, I am the proud owner of a refurbished Toshiba Satellite. In addition to the boost in performance over my desktop, I am excited at the prospect of being able to work someplace other than the desk in my home office. My house has been a wireless "hot spot" for about two years, thanks to AT&T Uverse, so I was able to hit the ground running in terms of Internet connectivity. Within 15 minutes of removing the laptop from the box, I was checking email and surfing the Web. If it wasn't 1,200 degrees outside, I'd be sitting on my patio typing right now. But, since I don't want to get my spiffy new computer all sweaty, I am content to blog from the comfort of my 75 degree living room.