Blessing and Curse

Setting up a new computer is an agony-ecstasy kind of thing. On the one hand, getting a new computer is exciting and fun, a new gadget, and a thrill of Christmas-y proportions. On the other hand, it’s a lot of PITA kind of stuff.

For one thing, you have to port over all your settings, programs, bookmarks, look and feel, etc. You’ve spent time making the computer comfortable for yourself and getting everything just so. Now, you’re going to have to do that all over again, because no matter how good the operating system is, it won’t successfully do that for you. Not perfectly, anyway.

You have to decide what to bring over and what to leave off. What did you actually use? What did you want but never get around to? So many questions to answer and a million little decisions to make and then all those decisions will require tweaks, probably. Yikes. It can be overwhelming.

So, it was with some trepidation I decided I’d reward myself with a new computer. I work hard. I bought a bottom-of-the-barrel, shop-by-price computer last time, just because I needed something. True, it was the best computer I’d ever owned, no two ways about it, but it was so because I’d not bought a new computer for five years. My wife and I had one set back after another stop us from being able to upgrade our hardware, and we had to sit tight and suffer along until hers finally died. Two years later, so did mine. Just in time, though; we gathered our means and could replace them. But you all know this.

So I decided I wanted an all-in-one computer, because my computer desk isn’t very big, and is nothing more than a table. No drawers, shelving, keyboard slide, nothing. It’s just a flat surface. I wanted that…I thought. Fine, whatever, it was a mistake in retrospect. But I’m stuck with it – kinda – for now. I have to work with it. So an all-in-one computer will allow me to have a bigger monitor and still not crowd the desktop with a mini-tower and the printer, along with all the other BS I have (pencils, pens, desktop toys, yada yada).

I decided maybe a touch screen would be fun. How cool, how every CSI: Los Angeles-esque, n’est pas? Just use your finger instead of the mouse in a lot of applications. So that’s what I did, for both the cool factor and the form factor.

Got it home, and spent the next three nights setting it up. Moving files, reinstalling everything, tweaking, bookmark-testing and all that crap. The LOML helps soooo much with this, does a lot for me when I’m at work. Uninstalling stuff we don’t want/need, installing and downloading and configuring and UGH.

Finally, it’s up and running, and you know what I find?

It doesn’t work like I want. It’s not a performance machine. To get the performance to a point of being even close to what I want, I have to spend a lot more money. A LOT more. Oh, and at the end of the FIRST DAY of using that touch screen, I knew – beyond a shadow of a doubt knew – I’d HATE that touch screen. HATE it like poison. And have to clean it every day. Every f**king day, yo.

Three days later, I’m headed back to the store to get something else. So now it’s reformat (which I initially forgot to do and put it back in the box without doing so), repack, and haul it back to the store. Let them test it. When I finally get the money back on my card, it’s time to decide on another computer.

Here I am, Sunday afternoon as I type this, and I haven’t been able to do any work on my nonfiction project. Nothing. None. It takes forever to get a new computer going. I figure about three days for me and my loving spouse. Your mileage may vary, of course.

But I’ve got a nice, strong computer now, with many more options. I can use my big monitor, my fast, fast processor is doing what I want now, I’m streaming while I’m typing while I’m calculating while I’m installing, and it’s running fast and smooth. More RAM, better processor, but a bit smaller in the storage area. It’s all right, I’m secure in my storage. Size does matter, but not that much; it’s more how you use it. I’m willing to make that trade.

But I’m behind the eight-ball on this book right now. And my desire to work on it, despite having the means, hasn’t changed at all. AT. ALL.

Anyway… that’s how I spent my weekend. How was yours?

-JDT-

Copyright 2011 DarcKnyt, All rights reserved