Welcome to the Year 2002

Buying a computer isn't supposed to be a life-changing experience — unless you've never had one before, I suppose — but after this past weekend I can say with all certainty that I am a changed man. You see, until now I had been using an HP desktop computer at home (wait for it) that was running Windows Me and I was accessing the internets using a (gulp) dial-up connection (the phone cord was strung up along the ceiling from one end of the apartment to the other). But on Saturday, as a Hanukkah present, I bought myself an iMac and hooked up a cable internets connection with an AirPort Express so it would be wireless and much much faster. (And no, I didn't pay for it all myself; I used gift checks and other stuff, plus money I'd been saving.) It's hardly newsworthy that the cable internets connection is fast, and the wireless aspect is just really nice, but it's such a drastic change from what I had that I feel like a better person — at least technologically-speaking. It's stunning to me that I waited so long to do this, kind of like how I hesitated so long before getting a DVR and then it, too, changed my life.

Using this new computer is just so much fun that I have spent much of the past couple days just tooling around on it, exploring all the features, taking silly pictures of myself with the built-in camera and the Photo Booth software (yup, that's me right there), and leaving myself connected to iChat and downloading movies and MP3s just because I can and because I can do so without tying up my phone line. Also fun is the fact that I still have my PC hooked up — I need to transfer my files from one computer to the other — so it's almost like I have a Mission Control set-up going here with the two monitors when they're both on. And of course, the old one's screen isn't as bright as the Mac's, so it only emphasizes how much cooler the Mac is. I love my new computer. I love my new computer so much. Now the next project is to wipe the old one clean and donate it by year's end (any readers' tips on doing that would be much appreciated). Good riddance, I say.