Don't know what you've got till it's gone (or at least you can't have it).

Sunday April 13th 12:35.

It's a glorious sunny day. Despite other glorious sunny days already visiting upon us so far this year, this one leave me more inclined to go out and do something purely because I can't.

I can't because I'm on standby, so that means I need to be thirty minutes travelling time away from being able to get to the emergency call centre.

Luckily, this is only a fifteen minute walk away from where I live, however it does still limit my choices of activities today.

Having my daughter stay with me all week, despite being at work, and on standby has been another thing that has made this week different to the others. Now that she is staying untill next Tuesday, (and I come off standby 8am Monday morning) it will be a period where I have had to change my normal routines.

There's nothing exciting about it. But it is more.. well, normal than normal. Usually I either have her to stay with me when I'm on holiday, if for a few days, or if it's an overnight stay at a weekend, I'm not working.

This is the first time she's had to deal with me being out at work, and coming home tired etc, and vice versa. Her being a teenager means this isn't so much a problem. She probably relishes the fact that there's no one here to boss her about all day, or to nag her because she's spent the entire day watching some crazy download series on my Macbook.

I
t does mean that I've pretty much not seen my Macbook for a week. I am missing it, I get to see it, but getting to actually spend any time on it. No. I am relegated to the Chromebook. When Chloe's friend came up to stay over Friday night, I didn't even get that.

Not that I mind the Chromebook. But again, I'm yearning the things that I can't suddenly do, or use. Is that just rather childish ?

But I can't go on Second Life. . 

So, while my daughter is out with my parents for a bit, and grabbing some more things from home, I'm sitting here in the sunshine, soaking up the ultraviolet radiation. I've been up since about 8:30am. But now that Chloe's out, I don't feel the burning need to race upstairs and grab my Macbook back and cram in some Second Life time or some film editing before she returns.

Hmmm.

Don't know what you've got till it's gone eh ?

I also am certain that when I return home on Tuesday, I shall notice how quiet the flat is, how clean it will stay, how things will be where I put them. How much more like a house, and less like a home it will be.

Some people are just never happy are they ?

The iMac cometh

Never, ever, ever, go shopping with your daughter, and whilst standing in an electrical shop say to the assistant that offers to help you that you are 'just dreaming'. It's pretty much an invitation for them to tell you how you don't need to dream with their 6 months interest free option.. blah, blah, blah, blah.

To give him his due, he was very helpful, but I did kind of get the idea that he didn't entirely know what he was talking about. Not only did he try to tell me that the iMac I was looking at didn't come with a wireless keyboard or magic mouse, but when comparing payment plans he showed me a lovely chart for a repayment amount that was different to the value of the machine, and an APR that was a good 10% lower than the one quoted on the details. 

I have been dreaming about getting a new computer ever since my Mac Mini died last year. It's never seemed like a sensible thing to do when I was trying to buy the flat, and then move. I'm wouldn't exactly call it sensible now, but....

Well, I work hard, I deserve it. Anyway, I'm not going to justify myself to you, who do you think you are, my mother ?

So many choices. iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro. Do I get in a shop on 6 month interest free, knowing full well I am not going to be able to raise the rest of the money by the end of the 6 months, so will get stung with loads of interest (which is racked up from the day you purchase the machine) ? Do I go for the option of paying about £500 now, and then paying a monthly contract fee with a mobile network provider ? (There was an option to buy one of the laptops for about £400 less, and then pay about £41 a month to get 5gb of data - this would have made sense if I actually had that sort of money knocking around).


So I did what every responsible adult should do. No I didn't flip a coin. I came home, and rationally set out a pros and cons list for each option. It became pretty obvious that as sexy as a Macbook or Macbook Pro look, how likely was it that I was actually going to take it anywhere ? Would I not be too nervous of damaging or losing my new purchase, or even that someone would steal it. (shock horror). Laptops are cool, and er... mobile, but a desktop is actually the machine that needs replacing, and the power on the iMac is substantially more than the laptop machines. With the bigger screen the iMac is also more suited to me using it for video editing. The activity I hate so much in connection with M27 videos, but a necessary evil. With an iMac that experience would surely be less painful that it was on my poor little macmini, and definitely more so than on a windoze machine.

So that's what I did. I went and ordered (online) an iMac. The really hard bit starts now. The waiting for it to arrive.

I want it here NOW !!!!!!!

Step away from the keyboard with your hands up !!!

Having pined on and off ever since my Mac Mini died on me about 6 months ago for the courage, and the money to purchase a new Mac I have narrowly avoided buying one today.

Having looked through flEaBAY, and scrumpymacs and Apple's own reconditioned computer section I had become attached to the idea of actually purchasing one. Not a new, new one, you understand, god knows there's no way I can afford that. (Don't you Mr Jobs ?). But a reconditioned, or second hand mac, is not only cheaper, but better for the environment too. Well that's how I tried to justify it to my accountant self. He wasn't having none of it. He flicked over to his spreadsheet and in a flash, was tutting and shaking his head.

Now look. In an ideal world, the right to own a Mac would be part of the constitution. In a slightly more idealistic world, The United Kingdom would actually have a constitution.

I did make one daring bid on a Mac Mini, which with 4GB or Ram had twice the ummph of the one that died. This bid was quickly lost in a torrent of bids that came in around the end of the auction. In the end said Mac Mini went to a new home, with the new owner paying some £40 more than Spread-Sheet-Simon was willing to part with.

It took me long enough to decide if I want/need a macbook or a mac-mini. Macbooks are much dearer than MacMinis, but you do get more of the Mac experience, having the proper keyboard and screen.

Dammit. Apple, tempting little devils that they are, are offering finance available on new Macs. This arrangement, apparently does not stretch to the machines in their reconditioned section. Boo hoo.

Common sense, and a level head, would tell me to hang fire until the next month is out of the way, when I have that horrible bill from the council to pay, and it will be more of standard month without any big ticket items throwing out all those calculations that Spread-Sheet-Simon is so feverishly trying to compute.

After all, what is it that I intend to do on this new, (new to me) toy, that I cannot do on my Asus netbook, or on my old Packard Bell (this very machine) ? It's not like I need to do any editing any time soon.

I will have to wait.


Until I win the Lottery at this rate, which will be a while, seeing as I don't buy tickets.