In Which I am Annoyed

 Gratitudes:

1. Athletic wear that comes in plus sizes. It's hard to find and can be expensive, but that moment when we robust gals find something that fits, looks fabulous, and feels fabulous, there are no words.
2. Working WiFi. The last week has been an exercise in getting Comcast and Apple products to play nice together. And when the wifi was down I felt cut off from the world. Oh, internet access, I hope to never take you for granted again.
3. Post-It notes for no other reason than they make me so very happy. 

Can I bitch for a moment? Wait, it's my blog, I don't need to ask permission to bitch. So stop with the gratitudes if you want to read a happy post.

I have a couple of things I want to complain about. Both are first world problems so part of me feels like I shouldn't even want to complain. However, I have learned that if something is bothering me it is best to not let it fester.

First, it's cold out. Not just cold but freeze your ass of cold. I am not a fan. My body hurts. And that's with me sitting inside with a cup of tea and a dog at my feet. Covered in fleece. Me, not the dog. Mother Nature, I know the poor people in the Northeast are being bombarded with snow and could seriously use a break. I know it's far worse for them right now than it is for me. But could you please keep the Arctic wind chill up where it should be, in the Arctic? Thanks!

Second, Comcast. We only use this cable service for our internet. We don't have cable TV. We don't have a house phone so do not need Voice Over IP, aka VOIP. We have high speed internet. In this day and age anything less is just...wrong. Our provider is Comcast. In December I called because our internet was cutting out intermittently in the late evenings. I rely on our internet connection at night because I often have bouts of insomnia and I need something to do to entertain myself. Netflix can be a girl's best friend. And who says catching up on Facebook at 2am is a bad thing.

The customer service rep (CSR) in India asked all the questions that are asked. Did I check my cable connection? Yes. Did I unplug the modem, wait 20 seconds, and plug it back in? Yes, multiple times. If we have a router, did I cycle it? Yes, again. Well, ma'am, it looks like you have an outdated modem and we will have to send you a new one. Great, Mr. CSR. When I can I expect a service tech to come out? Service tech?  No, ma'am. We will send you a kit and you will install the new modem yourself. We've always had a tech come out. Often there is an issue found that is not the modem itself and I want to make sure everything is in working order. Well, ma'am, the techs are a third party service, not owned (yes, he said owned!) by Comcast. We cannot authorize a visit by a tech just to install a modem. Good day.

The new modem arrived a week later along with a letter indicating that I needed to return the old modem to a service center or we will be charged the cost of the new modem. WTF? Oh, and also, this new modem is super fancy, she said with sarcasm. Comcast's new Xfinity modems come complete with their own routers. Sucktastic routers. AND Comcast now wants each person to allow these WiFi routers to act as Comcast hotspots - no extra charge to you and will not infer with your personal WiFi network. Uh...not!

We had to go online while we were setting up the modem. Which is difficult when you don't have internet service! And have lame phones that don't have data plans. We were able to figure everything out, find the well hidden option to turn off the hotspot service, and hook the modem up with our Airport router. And the internet speed was worse than ever.

Then the Airport died. So off to ye olde Apple Store I went, purchased a new and improved Airport router, came home, plugged the new girl in, and...no wifi. Seriously? Teeth gnashing I called Comcast. Not once. Not twice. Five times. Over the course of a week. We were using the Xfinity built in router - which was crappy - so we could still go online with the tablets and my laptop, but not if we were upstairs, and only if we were wearing the color blue. On my fifth call I was transferred to an Xfinity modem/router specialist who reset the modem and firewalls to the factory specs and then turned off all the router capabilities so it wouldn't interfere with the Airport. Why it had to take this many calls for a solution that finally worked, I have no idea. Comcast, utilize your specialists more! And bring back tech service for replacing modems. I bet this wouldn't have occurred if we had a tech involved in the first place.

Phew, I feel better. 

Shiny

My birthday was a week ago and for this joyful occasion I decided to treat myself to something I have been lusting after for quite some time, a shiny new Macbook Pro laptop. 

I started saving money for this beauty about three years ago. Every month I socked away some of my spending money into a "replace the desktop or netbook or both" fund. Once I had enough money pocketed, I started to hem and haw about what to buy. I could save money by getting a netbook, but the processing power in those smaller laptops isn't great. Plus, I would need to get an external DVD drive if I ever wanted to play one of our myriad of DVDs on it. Also, it wouldn't really allow me to replace the Apple G5 desktop that Apple hasn't supported since 2009. 

I though about moving away from Apple products altogether. They are expensive and they have a built in obsolescence of about 5 years. Apple isn't as user friendly when it comes to home upgrades of the computer itself. For example, the husband has built and maintains a computer we use as a media center. He can upgrade all of the guts, including the motherboard. In our apple computers, we can upgrade memory and hard drives and that is about it. There just aren't parts to be had, or at least not parts we've found. 

So, given those cons, which were worth taking into consideration, I reviewed my Windows based options. And nothing appealed to me. Sure, I could get a laptop for less money. But it wouldn't be a Mac. 

I finally decided on what to purchase. I'm a Mac girl, through and through. Have been since 1993 when my husband, then boyfriend, introduced me to the joy of the Apple SE, an all-in-one computer that was also sort of portable. The platform, even then, was so user friendly. And while he is now an affirmed Windows man, I will remain loyal to my Apple roots. At least until I am priced out of the market. 

Still, after deciding on sticking with Apple, I took months agonizing over used versus new, Retina versus glossy versus anti-glare displays, solid state drives versus hard disk drives. And there was that small matter of being willing to actually part with the money I spent so long saving. Watching my account go down that quickly was not easy for me. 

It all boils down to making a choice and just...doing it. So, I decided on a new Macbook pro with the anti-glare screen and a whopping 750GB harddrive. No solid state drive...yet. I can always upgrade later, right? 

I've finally moved over much of the files form the netbook and all the iTunes media from the desktop. There's a lot more to go, along with applications to purchase and layouts to explore. It's like having a shiny new toy. My husband teases me and calls my new Macbook my Precious, complete with Gollum-like intonations. I can't help it if my my laptop is prettier AND more functional than his, now can I?