And the number?  Is EIGHT.  

What am I referring to?  Why my laptop, of course.  Over the months you have heard me bitch, whine and complain about this stupid laptop of mine.  (Dell Inspiron 630m, in case you were wondering.)  This laptop has been an embarassment to laptops everywhere.  It has been ATROCIOUS.  And instead of generously offering to fix it or replace it, Dell has ignored my bitching, whining and complain.  Hmph.  (DELL SUCKS)  It’s all for the better, of course, because as time has gone on I am increasingly aware that I don’t WANT another Dell.   Shoot, I don’t even want another PC.  

Ya’ll?  I’m ready to think outside the box.  

I’ve resisted for many, many years.  I was tempted years back when Apple first came out with the iMac.  I loved how… contained it was.  But I was scared.  I would miss my right click!  I would miss my easy “eject the disk NOW, damnit!” button on the cd/dvd rom.  I would miss… *gasp*  WINDOWS. 

I don’t think I’ll miss it anymore.  

Well, I’ll probably miss the easy right click (though I fully know how to achieve right click functionality on a MacBook now) and the eject button.  But I won’t miss Windows.  And I won’t miss programs randomly flipping the heck out.  I won’t miss viruses and spyware and worms.  I won’t miss Firefox crashing 15 times like it did yesterday (I’m writing this from Google Chrome… it is THAT BAD).  I’m not going to miss the stupid missing keys on the stupid cheap-ass keyboard (you use “g” a lot more than you’d think, I’ve learned) (I miss my “g” key) (and my u and x and q) (oh and the caps lock key and the left control key and even that stupid Windows key).  

In eight SHORT days (please God, let them be short), I will have a MacBook in hand.  Of course, this is dependant on our tax return coming in on schedule but I don’t know any reason why it wouldn’t.  And in eight days, this crappy laptop will be sleeping with the fishes.  Well, maybe not TECHNICALLY.  But I sure as hell am not going to be throwing it any goodbye parties.  Stupid piece of crap.  

So, Dell?  You can just eat it.  I’m gettin’ a Mac.

I’m sitting here waiting for my in-laws to arrive for the weekend.  The wee ones are napping, the eldest is at school, the hubs is at work, the television is (blissfully) off, the dogs are napping in a sunbeam.  I’m cruising the web and enjoying the calm and quiet.  

I noticed, on a webpage, on of those “I’m a PC” ads that Microsoft (I think it’s Microsoft?) has been running lately.  They’re not entirely unlike McCain’s gag-worthy “I’m Joe the Plumber” ads that were meant to make people feel bad for ripping on Joe the Plumber because, lo, Joe the Plumber is ALL OF US.  (That sound you just heard was my eyes rolling into the back of my skull.)  They’re obviously a response to Apple’s insanely popular “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads.  And it got me thinking… 

Did Microsoft even UNDERSTAND those commercials?  

Because I always took it to mean that the nerdy dude was a physical representation of a PC computer.  What a PC would look like, mind you, if it were a human being.  Kind of nerdy.  The Mac, on the other hand, is a young, hipster sort.  The kind of guy who is relaxed, has fun and a lot of cool friends.  A bit of an overstatement on both counts, of course, but that’s the basic gist.  And then each commercial would address something else, relating to these fundamental differences.  PC’s music versus Mac’s music, PC’s movies versus Mac’s movies, how PC crashes a lot, etc and so forth.  Smart, funny and effective. 

And somehow, STRANGELY, Microsoft has seen fit to take the insult and go, “Hey!  Look what they’re saying about us!”  Now, remember, the nerdy guy is a PC.  As in a COMPUTER.  Not a person.  This isn’t what Apple says that PC people look like.  Just their computers.  Comprende?  So then why would Microsoft do their “I’m a PC” ads showing all sorts of people of all walks of life and ages and stages and races proudly proclaiming that “I’m a PC!”?

Yeah, I don’t think Microsoft gets it.  

Which, you know, wouldn’t be the first time anyone has had to say that.  *cough*

Nope, you’re not seeing things.  My YNTR list is back this week!  And, bonus for you, it includes two weeks of linky goodness. I still maintain that I may not be doing this list every week.  But I will when I can and when it’s not going to cause me an undue amount of grief to put it together.   And, as it would happen, this week the grief has not been caused.  It’s a mellow Saturday morning around these parts, Liam is watching “Ratatouille” on cable and Kile is snoring in his recliner.  All is right with the world.

This first post is something I could relate to.  Should I go Mac and never come back? from Mandajuice is much like a similar post I wrote not that long ago.  And, just like myself, she finds herself wooed by the seductive iPhone and repelled by a crappy PC.  I’ll be interested to see what she picks, especially since I’m 99.9% sure I’m going to get a MacBook when the time comes.

And in the “Long-Awaited” category, we have Ezra from amalah . com.   I literally felt my heart swell when I saw this sweet picture and the details on the birth.  She is officially the mom of two boys!  I can’t wait to see how the weeks and months ahead are for her and her family.  Congratulations, Storchs!

I can DEFINITELY relate to The Hot Fuss™* and Me from temporarily me.  In fact, I may have thought these very words myself on more than one occasion in the last week or so.  Or the last month or so.  Or the last six months or so.  Sometimes, a bad mood just gets ahold of you and you can’t shake it.  And sometimes, your kid wants to be superglued to your side.  And when the two meet?  Well… that’s when you get a post like this.

And I know you’re probably sick of me talking about it already, but Her New Hobby from Confessions of a Pioneer Woman made me cackle a little bit because The Power of the iPhone can grip ANYBODY, even housewives who live out in the country. And the text messages from her daughter were just too darned funny. I think someone likes “Napoleon Dynamite”!

On the flip side, we have My Grandpa: October 5, 1921- October 14, 2008 from Joy Unexpected. This was a touching and sad post about her grandfather who passed away this last week. It’s been a long time since all of my grandparents passed, but I could keenly feel her loss through her words. I hope she finds peace, now that her grandfather has found his. My sympathies to her and her family.

Being a Reno citizen as well, I can appreciate Fall Where? from EmilyPie. I love her summation of the season here in our town, and how schizophrenic they often tend to be. However, I do disagree with her assessment of summer and the need for air conditioning (I am sure I would perish without it). I love winter, always have, always will. But yes. Fall is like a week long around here. I could do with some more fall, to be honest.

This post gets filed under the “ZOMG” category. ZOMG! Twilight Soundtrack Playlist Just Released! from MamaPop shares with us the fantabulous news of the new “Twilight” movie soundtrack. Can you believe I already have some of these songs on my iTunes? BEFORE this list was released? Oh, I’m a hardcore fan, ya’ll. And you can bet I’ll have the rest of these songs when the soundtrack is released. I cannot WAIT to hear the one recorded by Robert Pattinson.

Enough is Enough from Queen of Spain Blog is a post about the turn in tone the political race has taken lately. And I wish I could say in the intervening days since she first posted this that the voices of hate have toned down but I really don’t think they have. I think they may have gotten worse. But I definitely share her feelings and hope that people settle the heck down. And lets find some decency in all of this, please? Aren’t we better than this? Please tell me that we are.

Lastly, we have My Husband is Not My Keeper, also from temporarily me. This spoke to me because I have often had these very same feelings. Being a stay at home mom, and not having any of my own income, I often feel like my voice is dimmed somewhat. I think that’s pretty common. And it’s as much my fault as any one else’s. But all the time, this is an impassioned, important post. You should all read it.

So there we go.  Another week’s list in the hopper.  This should be enough to keep you out of trouble this weekend.  As for me, we have a baby costume to find and a pumpkin to pick out (nope, we don’t have that yet either).  Should be fun!  Happy Weekend, ya’ll.

I’ve known for years that if you were a “cool kid”, you had a Mac.  Most specificially (and most recently), this is a MacBook.  Nay, a MacBook PRO.  Shoot, I remember going to BlogHer and seeing entire tables of laptops with the little glowing apple blazing on the back.  EVERYONE had that damned laptop, it seemed.  Except me and my deficient Dell.  But, you know, whatever.  I’ve always BEEN a PC girl, I’ll always BE a PC girl.  You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, after all, and I am rather attatched to my right-click mouse button.

But, well, I’m starting to wonder if Apple doesn’t maybe have something going for them.  After all, it’s not like PC’s have been overly-kind to me in recent times.  And the Mac’s promise to not let me down is mighty tempting.  I suppose the number one event that caused me to even CONSIDER getting a Mac was getting my iPhone last month.

humina, humina…

I love my iPhone.  My iPhone has changed my life.  And I’m not trying to make any of you out there who want an iPhone and can’t or don’t have one for one reason or another feel bad, but I can’t lie.  When I first found out I won one, I was excited, but I really had no idea what an iPhone was all about.  All I knew is what I’d heard from others.  I figured I would use it as much as I used my current phone (a Motorola Razr), perhaps a little more.  But really, what could the difference be?  OH THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. The iPhone is far more like a mini-computer than a PHONE (I often forget that it can make and receive calls, to be honest) and I use it ALL THE TIME.  I love it passionately.

But I have to admit that it has been sort of a gateway drug.  We’ve been back to the Apple Store a couple times since then.  To deal with iPod related issues for Kile, to browse accessories, etc and so on.  And… I like the Apple Store.  It’s a fabulous place to be.  It’s almost always full of people.  There are plenty of computers, phones, iPods and whatnot to play on, books to flip through…  It’s intoxicating.

If I’m going to get a Mac, it’s got to be a laptop.  And if I’m going to get a Mac laptop, it’s got to be a MacBook Pro.  Now, I have to admit, if I thought I knew very little about the iPhone, I know absolutely nothing about Mac computers.  I’ve worked on them, briefly, a few times here and there over the years.  Enough to know that I was annoyed by some of their features.  I can recall being perturbed by the lack of a right-click mouse button.  I also remember being a little more than annoyed at how you had to ask the computer to spit out your disk instead of pressing a button on the exterior, like you could on a PC.  Plus, for a very long time, there were programs that I considered essential that would not run on a Mac.  And then there was the whole Windows issue.  I knew how Windows worked.  Comparatively, the Mac OS was a foreign language.

I was old and stuck in my ways.

But I’m trying to get away from that philosophy.  I’ve been trying to learn more about how Macs work, how to do basic funtions on them (I know how to “right-click” now!) and have learned that you can even operate Windows on a Mac.  So what’s stopping me?

Well… for one thing, they’re kinda pricey.  But I’m in the market for a new laptop in the next several months anyhow.  We may be able to get a deal on a MacBook Pro.  It’s a little more than I was hoping to spend and, sadly, MacBook’s don’t come in PINK.  But… I think I might have to go for it.  Because I feel like it’s now or never.  (That’s probably a little dramatic but I don’t care.)

So what do you all think?  How many of you have Macs?  Have you always been a Mac person?  Or, if you are a former PC person, how was the transition?  Your feedback is much appreciated!