So This Is How the Other Half Lives

7 years ago I bought a Toshiba laptop.  It was quite an expense - it had all the bells and whistles, memory - whatever was cool for the time. The best  part tho' was that it was portable. Take it anywhere - the coffee house, on a trip or even in the car.  I thought I was ALL that and a gigabyte of RAM.

hahahaha! For the time it WAS the latest and greatest and I can't complain. I have abused the poor thing - dropped it numerous times, spilled water, soda and tea on it and I am sure there is almost a decade of dust embedded in the second keyboard [had to replace the first one] - but it trudged along, allowing me to blog and download pictures, but that was about it. It was slow and cumbersome. And it was hardly "portable". That is what is so funny.  The thing is a doorstop.  I know I have problems lifting and carrying heavy items, but even before, when I could, I hated to take the thing anywhere. I am not sure of the weight but there are computer towers that don't weigh as much as that beast.

May she rest in peace. ::grin::

Because Pooldad took me out and bought me a new Toshiba laptop. WOOHOO! And it only weighs 5.2 lbs. wootwootwoot  Just about what Wallene weighed when she was born. :D  Santa had brought Wallene a new Toshiba for Christmas and after playing around with it my husband thought it was silly that I was struggling with my old one - to the point I had to bang on it to get the keys to stop scrolling and one day darn near broke my hand - so we waited until after the holidays and got Mom one too. I'm starting to see how spoiled I am. ::wink::

And now I know what most of the rest of the world has been having fun with all this time. Besides the lightness, it is speedy fast and the screen is so big.  Or it seems bigger, but with my old lady eyes it is a gift.  Now when I go to the hospital I can just pop this in it's case and I will actually be able to use it while I am there. [I used to take the old one, but it was too much trouble to take it out.] Other bonuses are a longer battery life and unlike the older models this Toshiba doesn't get blistering hot on the bottom and shut off.  I was forever having to prop it up on a ventilated shelf so it didn't do that.

An added bonus is Windows 8.  It isn't much different than XP except the screen has a bunch of tiles like an IPhone or Mac - pretty neat. And there are so many free books, games and such I can download on here. I had a Kindle app on my old one but it was too slow really, so now I have the Kindle, the Nook and Bookstore - and since this is so truly portable for me I am going to be reading so much more.  A nice thing is I downloaded the Kindle app from Amazon and my library has 1,000s of books that we can borrow for free. It's great.

On a side note, since I mentioned Amazon - I want to give them a big HIGH FIVE!  I do a lot of my Christmas shopping online, especially in the last 4 years, and I always go to Amazon first for presents such as games, books, clothing like socks, t shirts, slippers, art supplies and a bunch of other stuff. It is safe to say I do a lot of my online shopping at Amazon.  In the 6 years I have been ordering I have never had a late shipment, a wrong product or an overcharge.  They have never let me down. Ever.  This year I ordered a specialty T Shirt for Wallene but misread the description and ordered the wrong size. Oops. I went to the website, went into "my account" clicked on "returns" and it pulled up all my recent orders. I found the t-shirt and followed the prompts of what I wanted to do [return it with a refund to my credit card, but there are other options too] and do you know they agreed to refund my card in 2-3 days and I WAS WELCOME TO KEEP THE T SHIRT! How do you like that?  I didn't have to repackage it, go to the post office and mail it back. They said I was a "valued customer", but I am pretty sure it's just their policy. I know other people say that they have had problems with Amazon, but not me.  I have purchased over 100 items from them and never had one problem. That is a pretty good track record. To get to keep the t shirt is an added bonus and makes me want to continue to shop with Amazon.

And on a final note - thanks for all the great comments on the boots. They are pretty awesome, aren't they? :) I think I got the bug in me though because I went to a thrift store in our town yesterday. They are a bit more expensive than the ones near Squirrel's college, but if you dig and hit a sale you can do pretty good. Yesterday it was buy two, get one free. I bought three sweaters [Banana Republic, Polo and the Loft] and a black Banana Republic blouse, 3/4 sleeve [love!]Total $14.  Again, all were in like new condition. The shirt had never been worn. I don't get it, but I'll take it.  I had a men's IZOD tan cable knit sweater in my hand [$7] but I put it back. Stupid. I think I will go back and see if it is still there. It would look awesome on Pooldad and it would match so many of his dress shirts. Or it would look pretty nice with a crew neck t shirt underneath for semi casual.  I did get a chuckle digging through the men's shirts. I kept coming across freshly dry cleaned dress shirts from Tommy Hilfiger, all the same size, style. I got to thinking that some guy must've really ticked off his girlfriend and she kicked him out. Then she took all of his really nice clothing to Goodwill. There must be 10 or 12 of them. I would've sold them online. They are $80 shirts, new. But some guy that is a medium is going to look awfully sporty if he finds those. :)

Okay, a bit of meds, a pair of pants, scrub my face and I am out the door. YAY. Shopping for cheap stuff.

See ya' on the flipside Tadpoles.  Smile LOUD. :D Life is a gift. xoxo