May 27, 2010

Absurdity and Writing on the Go

It is amazing to me big business manages to make any money. I suppose the only thing that saves them is we, the consumers, often have no other choice. For some reason, we're supposed to fight to protect this absurdity as some sort of freedom. Are they kidding? We live science fiction. Honest. It's warped.

What brings this about? Last night, I purchased a netbook, which I am very thrilled to have. It means I can keep working through my vacation and keep working up at PMO during down times. I can write on the go.

Husband being the tech geek he is insisted they double the ram and wanted a Windows upgrade. This is where the absurdity comes in. We were trying to purchase the upgrade from MS online. It kept refusing the sale. We ended up having to call MS.

We spent 20 minutes talking to the rep because UPS lists our address different. WTF? I finally just burst out laughing. It was the most absurd conversation ever. What does it matter how UPS has our address? How the bank has the address so the billing goes through is more important. It's not like they were shipping us anything. The upgrade, the transaction, everything was online.

It was so stupid. Why is MS so married to what UPS lists as addresses? What does it matter? If you want someone's money, the address has to match what the bank issuing that card has. Otherwise the charge doesn't go through. Everyone knows that who shops online at all. Everyone but Microsoft. How insane is that? Microsoft, of all busninesses, doesn't know how to do business properly online.

I'm still laughing about it - arguing with MS as to what my proper address is. Don't they think I know better than UPS? I guess not. 

We finally managed to get the upgrade, but it's stupid, Microsoft, to make your customers beg and whine to buy your product. Beyond stupid.

Nonetheless, I love the new netbook. It still needs to be loaded up with software [Husband's job], but I'm excited about owning it. What is a netbook? A smaller version of a laptop. It weighs only 3 lbs and will allow me to keep working on my WIP on the go. I can take pictures with me when I go visit my family, movies, music, e-books. Yay! Oh, the netbook even takes pictures. Kewl!

I checked out the iPads the next aisle over. They're cool. Some snazzy technology at work there. Expensive though, and for my needs the netbook was the better choice.

Husband said, "Happy Anniversary." And, "Your writing career is expensive." LOL Yes, for now it is. Definitely spending more than I'm making. That will change though. I'm quite certain. And, I'm certainly grateful to have such great support. Thank you, Sweetie!

Look how cute it is! That's my PC monitor behind it.