Technology is not my friend... and other news

I've been home for about 24 hours after a week on the road. The travel was a mix of fun and business, a mix of really good and super duper craptastic.

As blogs are really meant for whining, I'll fill you in on the ick.

I've been needing a new laptop for awhile. Mine was a hand me down, pretty basic model I bought off one of my cousins 2 years ago. I knew it was time for an upgrade so I had been doing some research and trying to narrow down my options. I even considered making a purchase last Wednesday night before leaving town, but I decided to wait a bit longer, at least til after my trip.

The first half of said trip was visiting my cousin and her family in Arizona. Her husband likes to take apart and rebuild computers as a hobby. So of course my laptop worked absolutely fine while I was there.

Once I left their house, turned my computer off for my flight and arrived in Denver for three days of work, I discovered that my laptop had gone on (permanent) strike and was not willing to turn back on. GRRRR!

I made this discovery around 8:30 Monday night. I used my iPod to figure out that there was a Best Buy three miles away from the hotel and I figured I'd try and make my way there between meetings the next day.

Late Tuesday morning I had a break in my schedule and discovered one of my colleagues was traveling with her husband and they had a rental car so I hitched a ride with them and begged the Geek Squad to come to my rescue.

They didn't.

Apparently my power button had somehow gotten misaligned and wasn't connecting when pushed. The only way to fix it - take the computer apart.

Gee... if only I knew someone who could do that for me. And if he wasn't like 900 miles away.

So instead, I bought a new computer.

I could have worked out sharing the laptop my boss brought from the office, but it was the kind of work meeting with long, long days and limited time at night to get the things needed done for the next days long, long day. And, as I tend to be indecisive this spontaneous need wiped out that ability. I thought it would be a win.

But... I don't like my new laptop.

I can't decide if it was a bad purchase or if I'm still just not used to it. The little things, like where the volume button is and how the keyboard is aligned slightly differently from the old one, I'll get used to.

But it's bigger. And heavier. And I keep having internet connection issues with it in my apartment even though my iPod had stayed connected to the wireless just fine.

I wanted to look up Best Buy's return policy, though I'm guessing the fact that the box is in a Denver area recycling facility could be a strike against me. Though the fact that I can't seem to maintain a connection to the internet long enough to get the Best Buy site to load is a strike against it.

I'm off to visit my parents in the morning so I guess I'll see how it does at their house before I make any rash decisions.

In the meantime, I'll take all of the prayers to the technology gods you can spare that this laptop and I live happily ever after. Oh, and if you don't mind, ask them to help my friend Stimey figure out her blog situation as the technology gods seemed to have turned their back on her as well.