After much frustration and overall disenchantment, I’ve changed my identity. I can no longer relate to the PC. Too many viruses, pop-ups, shut downs and everything in between. You name it, I had it. And I got it from the PC.
I’ve lusted after the Mac for a long time. I used to lurk around the Apple store like some kind of stalkers; watching all the cool people go in and out with their MacBooks. I wondered if that could be me one day. But like a woman who stays in a bad relationship for way too long, I couldn’t make the break from the PC.
I don’t know what it was that was holding me back. Maybe I was afraid of change. You know how it is when you get comfortable with something (or someone). It’s like your favorite old, stinky shoes. No matter how much they disgust you, they just feel so good.
Well, I finally got up the nerve. Hubby and I went to the Apple store the other day. This time I wasn’t going to just stand around and eye others and eavesdrop on the conversations of the cool people. I was going to be one of them. I was determined. Even as I entered, I heard that darn PC calling my name. It was at home, taking up valuable space on my desk, daring me to cheat on it. I ignored the call and pulled a sales lady aside. She was busy, but she must have seen the desperate look in my face because she told me she would be with me right away. Less than a minute later, just as I was getting cold feet, she came to my rescue. I told her I wanted the new iMac with the 27 inch screen. I had played around with it in the store and knew it was the perfect match for me. I was thinking the 21 inch was good enough, but hubby was in my ear telling me it didn’t make since to get the smaller screen when it was only $200 cheaper. I just needed to ask a few questions to be sure.
Maybe I was stalling. I was waiting for the PC, that was still whispering in my ear, to give me a valid reason to stay. It was fighting a losing battle. The cool Mac girl was answering (or getting answers for) all my questions and then some. After a while, I couldn’t hear the PC anymore. The voice had faded. It had lost its hold on me. Before I knew it, I was pulling out my credit card.
As we walked out the store, I realized I had not captured the exact moment I wanted to. I wanted to be like the cool people walking out with my new purchase. Only problem was, it was too big to carry out of the store and through the mall. We had to have a cool stock boy bring it to the car in the back of the store, in an alley. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed, but I shook it off.
By the time we got home, we were both too beat to even take the thing out of the box, let alone hook it up. It would have to wait another day. The PC thought it would have another chance.
The next day I was like a kid at Christmas. I couldn’t wait to get up and open the present Santa had brought me. It took me and hubby a little while to get it out of the box (that thing was heavy), but once we did it was strictly plug and play. No matching up color cables to the connections on the back of the CPU. No directions needed. After a few clicks and entering a little info, I was up and running. The screen seemed a little too overpowering on my desk, but no matter. I was happy to have moved on and I didn’t even feel as if I was cheating.
Later on, I started feeling a little ill. That screen sure seemed a little too big, but I was happy. I just needed to go lay down. Maybe all the running around I had been doing and the work related stress had gotten to me. I would give it another go the next day.
I dreamed about that big screen that night. Actually, it was more like a nightmare, but whatever. The next day, I went back in. So far, so good. But why was I getting that nauseating feeling again? Hmmm. Maybe the light was too bright on my desk. I had only had the same light for about 4 years, but that had to be it. Why was I just now noticing that light was making me sick? And the desk. Something was wrong with that desk too. So I got my laptop (yeah, the PC). It laughed at me in my face, but I ignored it. I took it to the sofa and tried to do some work. Why did it feel so good to be sitting on the sofa typing? Why was I no longer feeling sick? Hmmm.
Suddenly it all became clear to me. I still wanted my freedom from the PC, but I also wanted my freedom from being tied down to my desk. I should have known better than to get a desktop. Then there was that monstrous screen! It didn’t seem so big in the store on a huge table, sitting low while I sat on a stool looking down at it. At home on my much smaller desk, I was constantly looking up at it and I was sitting too close. Also, I couldn’t unplug it and take it to the sofa when I got tired of sitting at my desk. I’m a writer. I need to be mobile. I had to go back to the Apple store and get the cool MacBook Pro. I looked over at hubby and shared my thoughts. He couldn’t believe I wanted to get rid of that big screen! Was I smoking something?
The next day, we were back in the Mac store. While I waited for the cool Mac girl to get my return and credit my card, minus the astronomical restocking fee (nothing cool about that), I flip-flopped between the 15 and 17 inch MacBook. Hubby and I got into a slight argument as I tried to make him tell me what to do. He simply refused. I was pissed! I couldn’t make up my mind and this was no time for him to not have an opinion. Finally I decided I could not justify the price of the 17 inch and by the time the cool Mac girl came back, my mind was made up.
This time I walked out of the store with my new laptop in hand. I was finally one of them! The PC is still sitting on my desk, but it’s a major FAIL in comparison to my lovely new titanium boy toy. I just need to clear my things out of it and then I’m leaving. For good this time.
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