Thanks to everyone who suggested that we should be getting a Mac instead of an(other) Windows-based PC (ChickenKnittle, Kadootje, Roberta, Mark, RP - the list goes on...). Believe me, we've thought about it, especially these past few weeks.
Unfortunately, there is no built-in Mac "Geek Squad" in this household. We've both been PC users since 'way back (KW goes back to before I knew what computers were, I've been working with them since at least 1981). Switching to a Mac now is only going to frustrate us more in the long run, especially since the 4 other computers in the house are Windows-based and we have no plans to convert over the household. At least with a PC, KW knows where to go for help and we can make our way through the maze of solutions.
Having said that, though... if the third Win7 PC doesn't do what I need it to do with a minimum of fuss and "accommodations" to Redmond's bizarre thought process, I admit I have been thinking about Macs and their double-barreled promises of simplicity and stability. Unfortunately, my built-in Geek Squad (aka KW) says if I take that route, I'm on my own. Should it come to that decision, it will be a hard one to make. I'm beginning to like Kadootje's suggestion of stone and papyrus...
In other news, the stupendously wonderful plays in TheatreWorks' New Work Festival are all rolling around in my head. They all made me cry - not surprising since all of them touched on death in some way. Most of them with physical death, but one ("Variations on a Theme") with the loss of love. They've all brought back the summer of 2009, which I spent in Florida, tending to my aunt. She'd been in my thoughts a lot even before we saw the plays; the constant themes have pulled those thoughts up further to the surface. I miss her greatly and still wonder if I couldn't have done more; if I had stayed longer, would she still be with us? I know the rational answer is "no," but the question still lurks in one of the folds of my brain.
The plays also brought up my continual fear of losing my One True Love. When he doesn't check in after driving to a client, when he can't hear me call his name in the house, when he leaves his phone in the restroom and so doesn't know I'm trying to text him and get no response... My over-active imagination thinks he's gone - crashed, fallen, stricken - and I have a little mini-panic over losing him. He usually checks in a few moments after I've tried to talk myself down off the ceiling, and it's often with a "of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be fine?" tone in his voice or in his text (for as much as you can tell tone from a text, that is). It's hard to be very Buddha-like about the impermanence of all things when you have this kind of love. I try, but I don't succeed, at least when it comes to him.
Enough soul-searching. The plays are great. Go see as many as you can.
I have to say, I'm a fan of the Mac. It got to the point I was tired of futzing around with a PC. I just wanted a computer that worked. Any problem I've had with my Mac was operator error, and when I called them to fix it they didn't even laugh at me. When you buy a Mac, you can go to, for lack of a better term, "Mac School". They teach you how to use it. Their customer service is amazing. Hell, they have replaced an item of mine that wasn't even under warranty. The one problem I had with my Macbook, the plastic around the keyboard was cracking. I took it in, they said come back in an hour and it would be fixed. When I did, they said we have good news and bad news. The bad news is, we can't get the new replacement cover on you laptop. The good news is we are just going to give you a brand new computer and transfer all your data for you. Can you come back in a couple hours? HELLS YES! For a brand new computer all updated software and brand new warranty. Just sayin'.
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