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Friday, 25 February 2005, 7:36:12 EST

I am sure that by now you have figured out I have a hard time resisting shiny computer stuff. If you have that figured out then you probably knew the instant that you read my last post that I would be purchasing an Apple PowerBook. Well, I did so yesterday morning; however, I did not use any of my tax refund money to make the purchase. Instead, I used my tax refund to pay off other things like textbooks and Christmas presents and will be using a large majority of a student loan(s) to pay for the laptop. Such a move is in line with my reasoning behind buying the laptop.

As it is right now, the laptop that I have is issued to me through the school for work purposes. If I were to get a new job I would have to return my laptop to the school. But, I do not use the laptop for work only; I also use my laptop in classes to take notes or whatever else I might need it for in class. Aside from it being a requirement that I have a laptop at CCSU, it is very important that I have a laptop with which to take notes. My handwriting is absolutely wretched and I write no where near fast enough to keep up with many of the professors. For example, I had a mid-term worth 40% of my grade in my history class this past Tuesday. For this mid-term I had typed sixteen pages of notes. Each lecture session was non-stop typing from the minute the session started to the minute it ended. There is no way I can write like that.

No, I don't intend to get a new job any time soon. But, if something unforseen were to happen where I would have to then it will be good to know that I am prepared. There are other reasons why I decided to get the laptop but the school issue is the biggest, and most important, one.

As you may also know, I don't make such purchases without doing at least a little bit of research first. Well, during my research on the PowerBook I read on Apple's site that any purchases made via their online store before the shipping carrier stops picking up parcels for the day would ship on the same day as the order. I also read that it would be possible to choose between regular, free, ground shipping, second-day air, or next-day air. None of that was the case for my purchase. When I placed my order yesterday, at 7:39AM PST, the only option for shipping was the free ground shipping and the estimated ship date was within four to six business days. A couple of hours later my order was confirmed and noted to be be shipped "on or before 03/04/2005." So, it may be the end of spring break before I am able to even begin working with the machine. I would like to be able to use it during spring break to get accustomed to the system and be ready to use it in class the next week. Oh well, hopefully it ships early next week and not late next week.

One other thing. During my research I found an application called Simple CSS. It is a program for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X for designing a stylesheet through a point-and-click interface. I downloaded it last night just to check it out and it seems like it would be a good tool for casual CSS editing. I tried to import the latest stylesheet for my web site and it gave me an error saying that it doesn't support @page rules yet. So, if you play around with simple stylesheets and are tired of remembering everything (shame on you) then this tool should be helpful otherwise continue on as you are already.

*Update*
Just to clear it up, here are the specifications on my laptop: 15" screen, 1.67Ghz processor, 512MB system RAM, 128MB video RAM, 80GB Seagate 5400RPM hard drive with 8MB cache, 8x DVD±RW, and backlit keyboard.