Friday, May 02, 2008

Long weekend!

Well, enough of all those miserable posts. I am depressing myself. It is Friday evening, and it is a long weekend, and I have the house to myself tonight and I am not going to snooze and waste the time. The washing machine is whirring, because I have no intention of working all weekend. I want stuff done now!

The week is over. I can't change any of it, or redo bits. It is all in the past and it is gone. Good. You know what? I am still here and I survived all 7 days of it. Yes. I did indeed.

Tonight would have been the Get a Life Night again, but Louise had the gall to go OUT! Sniff. This is clearly taking getting a life a little too far. She is not supposed to do it without us. Well, it is her brother's birthday, so I suppose it is a valid excuse. We will resume getting lives next week instead. And because I do not have to be presentable enough to fetch a carload of young people later, I can slob around. And do the washing.

The local election results are dire if you happen to be a Labour party supporter here. It amuses me that they seem surprised by the results. I could have told them what normal ordinary people are thinking. The ones who are taxed to death and expected to put up with it. The rage of the nation. My kids' generation is looking further afield nowadays. They are looking for quality of life, and they are not finding it here. They are all highly qualified professionals with marketable skills, and the world remains their oyster. And they will go. To the 4 corners of the earth.

And now for something completley different. How many of you have laptops? How many of you have PCs and how many have Macs? Why do you use the ones you have? Tell me why I should have a PC or a Mac. I am intrigued by the differences and want to know why you like yours. I have a laptop for work. It is as heavy as lead, and is driving me insane. Not to mention ruining my chest muscles. One day. One day I will get a laptop. In the dim and distant future, and it will be for ME. I would love to be able to curl up anywhere and use a laptop, and not queue to use the desk top one we have. So tell me all, please.

Also, how many of you are now using digital SLR cameras? I am becoming increasingly frustrated by the limitations of the pocket digital cameras, and would love one with a mega zoom thingy. See? I am so techno savvy.

This is all about dream time, and I am determined to indulge in dreams this weekend. Dreams are good. And I will also have to start cleaning the house and garden furniture too. And plant stuff, and power-wash the patio, and SEW! I can SEW!!

The excitement levels are rising. Maybe I should clean the house tonight. It is work stuff, really, isn't it?

I am off to find the mop.

8 comments:

Chris said...

I am so jealous because your weekend begins far before mine does. But then again, your Monday comes far before mine as well!

As for the computer question, I have a desktop. I am trying to convince my husband that I **NEED** a laptop, but so far he just laughs so hard he has to hold his sides to keep from splitting.

Sigh.

Crystal said...

Enjoy your lovely long weekend, Linds - you deserve every minute of it!

Your technical questions:
- camera - we bought a Canon digital SLR when we were in Hong Kong, nearly 2 years ago, and it is marvelous! I know that the camera is capable of so much more than I ask of it but I'm learning slowly. I love the 17 - 85 mm zoom lens that we bought at the same time. It allows me to capture things further away without intruding and getting right into someone's face. It's great for landscape work too. I just got a 50 mm f1.8 lens and it rocks for inside shots. I was so disappointed in my inside pictures - our house is awful for lighting! - before and this has made a world of difference. My husband loves the fast shutter and processing speed and how you can capture action without a blur. I still have 2 point and shoot digital cameras that I take when we go quadding or if I don't want the 'big' camera to lug around. I think you will notice a world of difference when you switch and I'd say to do it ASAP - you will be so happy you did.

Computers - we have a PC desktop and after our PC laptop died in South America (only $900 to install a new motherboard after already spending $350 for a hard drive - it's not happening!), we bought a Macbook in MIami. It's working great but I still have a ton to learn! There's always such a big learning curve when you make a major change like that. I love the iPhoto program for downloading and storing pictures and iMovie is also easy to use. I'm very used to Microsoft Office so the document thing is still very new for me. This laptop is way lighter than our PC was and smaller too. We were unhappy with Microsoft and how it was always shutting down, especially when I was editting pictures. I need to get Adobe Photoshop Elements for editting but that's going to require some saving first. When we bought the Mac we didn't have to shop around at all - the price is the same and there are only 2 models to choose from(the one we bought or the next one up that has more graphics and gaming capabilities which we didn't need. We didn't get the MAC Air because you can't burn or use CDs or DVDs with it.

Sorry to be so long winded but you asked! Good luck with the decision making!!

Linda said...

I'm so glad Crystal answered your technical questions! I am no help there.
I have a PC, but I have a little envelope in which I am saving money to buy a lap top some day. Like you, Linds, I am longing to be able to just blog wherever I'd like to. It would make it so much easier to fit it into my schedule!
Have a wonderful weekend. I'm sure you'll think of something fun.

Anonymous said...

You lost me when you asked the difference between a PC and a Mac?

I have this machine which I turn on and it's quite slow but apparently there are slower? It has an extra hard drive (apparently) to store all the kids photos and films and video downloads - they assure me it does not affect my speed - I can't argue cause I don't know. I have internet which is fantastic. My machine is rather bulky and obtrusively sits in my dining room (the only place where it picks up internet (even with a radio thingy).

I also have a laptop which is three years old and weighs a tonne and has been stolen by my son (I mean borrowed) - (like permanently). I see these flat little trendy things on the T.V and I am curious but also am rather certain it will have too many instructions. Although, I have learnt so much technical stuff since blogging (have you noticed a few extra features appear every week?)

As for SLR camera - You have to get one. So much fun. So many things you can do with it. It's a must. Any old day now I am going to get it back from my son and he is going to demonstrate how to get it to do all those fantastic things he can make it do! His motto is, "If you can't use it mum, I will!"

Now, I know I have not been the slightest bit helpful, but I like chatting.

(As I am 12 hours ahead of you)- I am having my Saturday morning cup of tea right now and contemplating my weekend. Like you I went a little crazy last night and got 'out the way' a few 'Chores'. So, I'm free to dream.

Did I mention I am turning 50 soon?

Taking your wisdom on board!(hug).

Have a great weekend.

Anonymous said...

Hi Linds,
Longtime lurker--first comment. I teach in an American high school, and feel such sadness that you are not being supported by your administrators when your kids are so disrespectful. I work with at-risk kids, but do have the support of other adults in the building when their behavior is rude-- a daily occurrence! I cheered when you said you were giving them your letter of resignation. Hang in there. The year will be over soon.

I am a Mac girl all the way, and have been since the early '90s. Once you make the switch, you will never go back. You can get Microsoft Office for Mac, so if the desktop publishing issue has you scared, have no fears!

Love my digital SLR, but loaned it to my oldest when she had her first baby, so I could get a steady stream of fun photos.

Take care, and enjoy your weekend!

Jan said...

I hope your weekend is wonderful! Aren't weekends the best!!
We have two laptops and one desktop computer, all pc's. My husband is wanting to get a MAC when his laptop dies, but I'm not sure why! LOL! I just hit the keys and hope something useful happens!

Jan

Linds said...

Hi, Anonymous! Thank you so much for commenting. And for your encouragement too. I love hearing from the people who read my posts, so welcome!

And thanks for all the info, girls! I may spend some time drooling over the SLRs on line later.

Bronwen said...

Hi Linds,
We've just got a laptop... (I say we but it is the roayal "we"! DH doesn't "do" technical! He goes on the PC and can go online to check bank balance.)
We needed a laptop because we got a projector for a new contemporary service we're leading in our village... so of course we needed something to project from!!!
I have a Mac nerd friend who swears by it... but the it is sooo much more expensive in this country... prices started at £600! our of our budget... so we settled for a super duper 17" Acer... and I love it!
The children have now all but taken ownership of the PC...
Have a lovely bank holiday weekend... the weather is looking good for you seeing your weather pixie.