Back On-Line

Earlier this month Mrs. mentioned that our computer crashed. We did end up bringing it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and they informed us that our motherboard was fried (they may have used a more technical term - although I doubt it). So it was time for a new computer and wouldn't you know it, Mrs. got her wish and we are now the proud new owners of an iMac. The good news - our external hard drive that we thought was only formatted for a PC was actually saving files compatible on both a PC and a Mac, so while at the Apple store purchasing our new computer we were able to load all of our backed up files. So yes, backing up was a great idea. The bad news - I didn't actually back up all of our files. Luckily, there were only a few that we're missing - some unpublished blog posts (I'm not sure I want to re-type my top albums of the last decade post), my book list (a list of books I own but haven't read - Mrs. makes fun of me for having this list, but I'm still distraught over losing it, so I'll have to start a new one), and some other Word and Excel files (including - much to Mrs.' dismay - our address list, so sorry if you don't get a Christmas card this year Mom).

But we're back up and running this week after two weeks without a home computer. The longest two weeks of my life. I was having withdrawal symptoms by the end. And this is despite having internet access at work and owning an iPhone. Hey, I love to wind down with my computer time at night. And Mrs. is even happier than me. Not because of the computer, but because she doesn't have to put up with me bothering her during "snooze time" every night. Without the computer at home, I found myself instead trying to engage my wife in conversation each night on the couch. This was problematic (I'm told) for two reasons, 1) I was taking up valuable space on the couch, preventing Mrs. from fully stretching out, and 2) My talking prevented Mrs. from watching "her shows" (which meant whatever was on the I.D. channel) and more importantly, falling asleep at 9pm.

I've long had a fear of switching from a PC to a Mac. But I'm happy to report that so far the transition has been relatively painless. So now I can finally get back to doing the things I missed most the last two weeks, 1) sending e-mails without having to try to type them on my iPhone or borrow Mrs.'s work laptop, 2) having access to my iTunes library (how I missed those 1200 songs, even if I only listen to about 25 of them), 3) sporcle.com - I need my daily trivia fix, and of course 4) blogging - have you ever tried typing a blog on an iPhone? Our blog has gone to pot the last two weeks, with Mrs. forced to do all of the blogging herself using her work computer . . . uh, at home of course.

First it was the iPhone, now the iMac, and Mrs. is already talking about wanting an iPad, so I guess we're officially Mac users. Congrats Steve Jobs, you've caught us in your web.