Old Computer Broke for Good

Yep, my computer is totaled. I should look up when I bought it. Robin thinks four years ago. I think a computer should last indefinitely except for the part where suddenly you want to do things that require more stuff, like new (bigger) software. Or like when I started wanting to see pictures on the web. But the only new thing I've wanted to do was watch YouTube, and I could do that just fine on my computer until it broke.

I once thought I wouldn't need my own computer at home until I quit working at a job with computer access. But now I do a lot more personal stuff with computers, so I really shouldn't be spending that much time at work. Since I got my own computer, I have definitely started using it quite a lot. So, I will be replacing it.

And I love having a notebook instead of a desktop. So I'll spend the extra bucks for that. And I love having an operating system that just works, so I'll spend the extra bucks for that.

Apple is making some kind of big announcements tomorrow, so I'll decide then what to do. Buy the black Macbook at a suddenly reduced price? Buy the suddenly available exciting new thing at a similar price to the current thing? Buy Robin's friend's "old" computer when he replaces it with one of the suddenly available new things?

Post Conference Update

My trip to San Antonio went well. The conference was much less boring than I feared. Plus I don't have to memorize a lot of the really crazy stuff I heard, like when coaches are allowed to start using text messaging to communicate with prospects.

I got to wander around downtown San Antonio a bit, which I enjoyed except for the heat. A few places I want to take Robin to include:
* the Riverwalk
* Tower of the Americas
* the IMAX theatre in the RiverCenter mall
* the Spanish Governor's Palace
* Schilo's German deli
* the weekday lunch buffet at the Grand Hyatt
All of these are walking distance from each other.

I wrote some journal entries on paper from which I will spare you as they are filled with boring notes and long explanations about how I really want a better job. Basically, I'm getting the fabulous opportunity of learning to be a better bureaucrat and have the kind of job that I recall one career interest test choosing as the one most suited to my interests (inspector/auditor - basically, checking that other people are doing what they're supposed to). But that interest test must be wrong, because this can't be as good as it gets. Of all the things I could become an expert in, bureaucrat isn't even on my list.

I have a new self-imposed deadline for finding a new job: the registration period for next year's training conference. But deadlines and negatives do not help me get a job. And the futility of it all that I feel while I'm at work is a detriment. Of course I have to take positive actions, and I haven't taken any since I got back from Florida except to apply for that one job (from which I have heard nothing, as usual). I need to build a portfolio of educational materials.

I just picked up a book on how to build web sites, with information ranging from how to choose a provider and choose a name to html and css to advertising your site, so I've been reading that to give me more information on starting that educational web site I thought up on the way back from Florida. (On which I can publish things for my portfolio.) This doesn't sound like the best idea (I should be actually making stuff), but it's helping me get relevant ideas, so that's good.