elainegrey

It's time to buy a new computer, and i have spent much time mulling this decision. Some notes from earlier this morning below. I think i have finally decided to go with the simple choice (a new mac) instead of the principled choice (a Frameworks machine for linux). I would like to be the principled, open source, open hardware person but i have Things To Do and mucking about with digital change isn't it.

Maybe after "retirement," whatever that means.

I have discovered i can return my iPad for a $110 rebate, which is about the same as  two hardware security keys for second factor authentication. So, first step is complete that exchange. The next step is to complete that return to get the credit to use when buying the new mac (my current mac seems to have quit talking to its camera, so Apple will just take it for recycling.)

This took waaayyy longer than it needed to.

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Some celebrations from Tuesday morning

* i'm keeping the garden watered, and there are lemons hanging on the lemon tree, blossoms, and new fruit setting.
* Christine and i went through a banker's box of cables and miscellaneous computer bits. What parts we saved had existing boxes to which to be assigned except for a stack of zip disks[1]. We promptly carried that all plus a big UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to Best Buy where they will recycle it.
* We did meal planning and groceries Monday night, picking out a recipe.

The doctor's visit was just fine last night: the new doctor seems competent and just wanted to do due diligence. She held out that she'd had patients who had gone on medical leave to get their depression under control. Medical leave from work had a certain appeal: i could almost believe i could have used it last fall, after the mouth torture and the work torture when i felt i was falling apart. I don't want to get that far down, i want to have the positive focus so i can find new job or new work.

Last night we watched the second episode of the Swedish Wallander series (distinct from the Kenneth Branagh series). I cackled delightedly listening to the Swedish fussing of Wallander the father to his detective daughter as he wrestled with the news she was moving in with another detective. This Wallender reminds me of my father some: the oscillations between pride and worry, protectiveness and acceptance. Branagh's Wallander seems overdone compared to Henriksson's: it's fascinating to see the parallel universes of the two video presentations. I suppose i'll need to read one of the books some day. I think i'll feel justified in buying up the series slowly and shipping it to my sister and then to my parents: that should drive the cost per view down.

Speaking of cost per view, Christine and i are pondering just using Qwickster. We perhaps enjoy the streaming too much, and now there's so much streaming out there. I've reflected back to when we gave up TV -- circa 2004, i think -- watching just on DVD created a certain "diet" approach to watching entertainments that the easy availability of streaming TV series has eroded. I binge occasionally, and certainly don't read as much as i might. We have some audio books we planned to listen to while doing our fiber arts, we used to use the library for DVDs and audio books, and Christine now has the XBox. Streaming options abound: PBS's collection can provide more mysteries for that habit, and documentaries for the other habit. Entertainments abound, and if we have a choice, we might as well make it. (Actually, it's the documentaries that we'll miss most, i think. Those don't often make it to DVD.)

[1] Oh, heavens, i forgot these were SCSI connections. I bet there's no way to recover any of the zip disks (not to mention a large number of them had been subjected to the click of death). Looks like generic recovery is about $30/disk.