Technophile

So I broke down and spent the money.  On a laptop.  And an iPod.  Money that was actually earmarked for – oh, things like my line of credit or my upcoming car rental.  I’m justifying the expenditure to myself with the fact that my old computer had been crashing a lot recently, and also that my new car will have a built-in iPod adapter thingy which will enable me to snap it in its dedicated pouch, attach it to its dedicated outlet, then use the stereo controls to run it instead of the clickwheel (which I haven’t yet mastered anyway).

However, another factor in my decision to buy now rather than later was that DD informed me that Apple currently has a deal on whereby if you purchase both an Apple computer and either an iPod Nano or iTouch with the educational discount, you send in proof of purchase and Apple sends you a cheque that covers the cost of the iPod.  Basically, buy a computer and get a free iPod.  Good deal, I thought, and since I’m a teacher, I do qualify for the 100$ educational discount.  I can’t lose, I figured!

Except, I sort-of did.  I didn’t read the fine print.  I bought my new technology at a store that doesn’t offer an educational discount and therefore isn’t eligible for the free iPod deal.  I did get almost 250$ worth of free stuff from the store, though, in place of the discount:  a power bar, a memory card reader, a USB port hub, and an external hard drive.  None of which I really need (although DD quickly snapped up the external hard drive) or were considering buying in the future.  The bottom line is that I spent almost 300$ more than I would have if I’d gone to an Authorized Apple Retail Or Campus Outlet Store, but I got almost 250$ worth of computery items that I didn’t really want, so my net loss is 50$.  Note to self:  read the WHOLE rebate form next time.

Anyway, DD’s new(ish) boyfriend is a self-proclaimed computer geek and actually is a computer tech support guy, so he helped me set up my new toy on our wireless network and also did stuff so that I can access my email easier and not have to go through the web site.  It took him all of two minutes, grumbling all the while that he is emphatically NOT a Mac guy, that he really didn’t understand all this Mac stuff and wasn’t too sure what he was doing.  Yeah, right.  Even DD was rolling her eyes.  But as I say, he was done in about two minutes, then he smiled beatifically at me and asked, “Is that it?  Anything else you need?”

I asked him for a ride to the Skytrain station.