We got back from our trip to my Grandparent’s 50th anniversary party last night, about 3 hours late and with twice as many laptops!
We stayed with Dad one night, and then my very cool Aunt and Uncle the next, and sadly had to leave right after the ceremony. Then got stuck at the airport for 3 extra hours. Yes, we needed the thunderstorms that rolled in last night but I wish they’d waited a few hours to hit! *sigh*.
We stayed up pretty late on Friday watching the Olympics ceremonies. We missed the opening part but did get to watch some of the cool stunts at the end. I am trying to find a video online of the opening with the martial arts and the “boxes” but I’m having trouble finding it online. The NBC site is supposed to have it.
Colin was incredibly upbeat about “doing stuff” instead of “doing nothing”, and even had fun playing with my younger cousins, or pretended to at least. He pointed out during the ceremony on Sunday it was the first time we’d been in a church together. Actually the first time either of us had been in a long time. It was neat to visit a place I hadn’t been in so long, but had spent a good amount of time as a child in. I don’t remember the last time I was there but it was probably close to 9 years ago.
On Saturday we visited with people from all parts of my Grandparent’s lives - many friends and family were crammed into their house, which is actually very big, and I remembered most people’s names. It was slightly embarassing when a distant cousin and I recognized each other and I think neither of us remembered each others names at first, but I knew it as soon as I heard her name. I didn’t get to talk to her much though, I wish we’d been able to stay longer.
Long Computer Rambling:
My first laptop that my Dad got me was a Compaq, and it had worked great. But when I went to college I wanted something I could carry around - the Compaq was basically a desktop, it was about 15 lbs and barely fit in my laptop. I wanted one to take to school so I got the Dell. I kept the Compaq for a while - I used it at home, tried out Linux on it, and eventually sold it online to buy Dad a PS2 for Christmas this past year.
The Dell still works alright now but I couldn’t use it as a work laptop anymore. The USB ports are connected to the motherboard so when they both broke, the whole motherboard had to be replaced. (I don’t know if this is common, but this is how they explained it when repairing it.) This happened twice in warranty - I should have realized it would be a problem. After the warranty I didn’t want to keep paying for a motherboard. Anyway without USB ports I can’t use my mouse, and although that sounds like a small problem it got to be a huge PITA. I would be using the mouse and suddenly - *dong dong*, it’s off. Then back on. Then off. Plus, I couldn’t use a USB memory stick, or anything like that. The battery was also starting to suck, it was 6 hours when I bought it and now it lasts about 1. So having no mouse and little battery made it very frustrating at a client site one week. Dad loves to say how he likes Dell, because he fixes them all the time.
When the Dell started having issues I bought a new computer from Dad. I had looked at the laptop he gave me but in the end decided on a workstation so I could get more out of it. It’s actually an HP too. I have had no trouble with it - I had specific requests like I wanted a dual-monitor card and wanted to be able to run new games like World of Warcraft well - the Compaq and the Dell quickly became outdated when it came to the games I liked - I never was able to play Black and White 2. Anyway the desktop is awesome, I haven’t had any problems - it’s fast, and it works for what I need. And it has a TON of USB ports. I guess I have strange criteria for a good computer for me 
I had tried a macbook Colin gave me for a while but after all my software trials ran out I decided I didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars to use the mac when I had programs that were free or I’d already bought for PC. The billing/client tracking software I tried was neat but I found one online that works great too.
So I had started looking at possibly getting a small HP laptop. I had checked out various brands and I liked a bunch but this seemed to be the best for my price range. I guess HP bought Compaq? Anyway the two computers I HAD really liked were Compaq or HP, so I figured I’d stick with what worked. When I mentioned this to Dad, he insisted I take the HP in the shop as a present. It’s an “HP Compaq nc2400″. I really like the size and weight of it, makes it great for a work laptop because I can easily take it to my client’s sites and work. I also can keep IE6 on it for testing, since the IE6 standalone I have on my other computers doesn’t quite work. Since I won’t be playing games on it I don’t need a great video card or anything, so I don’t even know what it has.
I love the screen size. It’s small but wide and has large resolution - I know I’m ruining my eyes but I love the tiny fonts. When I stuck the battery in it was fully charged and I checked it at 95% - 3:45 hours left. It’s supposed to have 6 hours I guess but 4 is good for me. I haven’t programmed the thumbprint reader yet but I think it is a cool feature I want to check out.
I did have a problem with it already which was actually kind of funny. Above the keyboard is a touch sensitive bar with volume and wireless controls. I didn’t know this was touch sensitive - Colin and I both thought they were just lights, not buttons. So I managed to turn off the wireless and eventually had to call Dad asking “The manual says to hit the button but I can’t find a button!” - to find out the light IS the button - and it’s actually VERY sensitive. I’m looking to see if I can disable this because I never have cause to DISABLE the wireless. I don’t use my laptops on planes, which is the only time I can see someone turning off the wireless.
My only other “complaint” is that it doesn’t have a touchpad - this is THE reason I didn’t consider this laptop when dad showed it to me. However, as long as the USB ports work, I don’t really care because I will use my Logitech mouse, not the “eraser” pointer.
Anyway my Dad rocks, my new laptop rocks, and overall a great weekend!