Not the drinking kind. 
Four days off from the Evil Day Job (EDJ) meant too much time on the laptop for me. My eyes hurt, my neck and shoulders hurt, my back hurts, and even my butt hurts. I’m not excited to return to the EDJ, but on the other hand, at least there I can’t spend all my time in one position.
I know, it’s bad for me. I should be moving around more when I’m at home, but I start working on something and I don’t want to move. Which is where the shoulders, neck, back, and butt come in. The eyes hurt because I don’t blink enough while I’m on the computer. This is a problem at the EDJ, too, but there my job has me getting up to walk around and it doesn’t seem to be as bad.
Thanksgiving ended up being nice. I didn’t go out to any stores, but I did do a little shopping online. QVC was selling a pair of weather radios that were cranked for power as well as solar powered. Guess what my mom is getting for her birthday? LOL. My folks don’t have a weather radio and if she wanted something different, she shouldn’t have said “nothing.” My mom is so hard to buy for.
I also picked up an iPod speaker system on an Amazon gold box special deal. This is for me because I’ve had no luck getting a system for my living room, and because the unit in my bedroom is plugged in behind my dresser, moving that isn’t easy. Much simpler to move the iPod.
I’m also contemplating buying my laptop replacement now rather than in January. The plus side is that Best Buy has free shipping today and tomorrow (Monday). The down side is that I keep thinking, wow, what if something even better comes out in January? And something better always does come along in computers.
Tags: holidays
I totally swear by my Toshiba laptops. Rated best reliability (with Asus). Also, Gizmodo does Gadget Deals of the Day and I've seen some really sweet deals there on Toshibas. YMMV.
One thing I particularly love about my main laptop is that it has harman/kardon speakers. I barely use external speakers anymore.
Just wanted to let you know that I am 80 pages into The Power of Two and totally LOVING it.
The "what if" for sales is a killer. Shock upon shock my dh refuses to use a computer. He says he is a dinosaur. When I got my computer years ago I got a regular monitor because I wasn't sure how much I would actually use it. For Christmas my dh is getting me a flat screen monitor!! Yay, I will actually have room on my desk.
Chris,
I'd planned to buy a Toshiba 5 years ago when my last laptop was dying, but when I tried it out at the store, it felt real plastic-y and that's where I ran into trouble with all the other laptops I killed. The Sony Vaio felt more solid, I bought that, and five years later, it's still the laptop I do almost everything on. I love it and plan to pick up another Vaio in January. Thanks, though, for the suggestion!
I always have my sound muted on the laptop. I'm writing most of the time (which requires silence), and if I'm not, I'm usually watching television.
Patti
Thanks, Joyce! I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I appreciate you letting me know!
Oh, you're going to *love* your flat screen monitor! It makes the desk seem so much bigger. It'll be a great Xmas present.
Patti