Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Confessions of a Geek-ish Girl

There's no doubt that I am a little "geek-ish".  Or is it more accurate to say, "gadgety".  I love gadgets with little blinky lights, touch screens or interesting functions.  If it might make my life easier or help me stay connected, I will spend at least a few minutes considering buying it.  My washer/dryer in my laundry was purchased because I loved the the smooth action dial and the cool buttons, and lets not forget, the really cute jaunty tune it plays whenever it's done with a cycle.  The machine makes you want to do washing!!  Trust me, for me to want to do washing, it's a pretty awesome machine.  Of course the one I really wanted, had a touchscreen.  Drool, drool!

Recently, we had to replace our home computer.  It was about eight years old, terribly slow and incredibly, clunky.  We've just half way completed a big home re-arrangement which calls for more sleeker, cleaner lines in our home.  Something between ultra minimalist and modern.  As the old tech just didn't have any of those qualities, we started shopping for something to replace it with.  I'll admit to hoping we would have a nice gleeming iMac sitting on the new desk, when it was all said and done.  Alas, we have yet to win the lottery and those boys are a little out our price range, even refurbished.  All was well when my hubby came home with our HP blah blah fish paste (I have no clue what the model is).  What I DO know:  it has a Touchscreen.  Oh yeah!  It still has a little rodent to point and click with, but you don't have to use it.  You just touch the screen!!  Yes, I am that excited by it.  I still do the majority of my cyber connecting on my Macbook, but if I find myself without my Macbook, for some inconceivable reason, I know I will have an equally cool machine to play with.  Yes, I am that silly about it.  Did I mention that this baby has "Beats" by Dr Dre speaker tech in it.  Music sounds sweet thumping out those babies.  Not that I get to use it much.  The progeny are perpetually hogging it.  Apparently, the universe as we know it will come to a horrible end if "Mine Craft" and some strange little animal thing, aren't logged into and worked on everyday.

It's not just the hardware that gives me a thrill.  There are certain applications on these wunderbiests that just enrich my life.  One of them being Skype.  Over the weekend I was able to visit with a dear friend of mine who lives in South Africa.  I can phone him, but there is something just so special about being able to see the person you are talking to.  I was given a lovely tour of his boyfriend's lovely home.  Just like if I had been there in person.  Living so far away from all my family has made me rely on technology quite heavily to keep me connected with people I love.  Admittedly, in my family, that normally takes the shape of telephone calls mostly.  My geek-ish gene seems to have been a bit of a freek of nature and not something inherited from my gene pool.  However, with other extended family, apps like Skype and Google hangout, have been a great help in helping me feel connected with people I hold very dear.  In a way, tech has helped my hubby and I continue to find common ground and keep our marriage fresh and exciting while he's on the road with work.  Without the tech to help us, I can see how easy it would be to just drift apart.  You see, my hubby, doesn't like phones (much like my mom). He likes to email or IM or open a "hangout".  All these little things, help us to connect many times during the day, so that even though he is not physically here, in a way, he is.

Now all I have to do is get my sister to a "genius" so she can figure out how to use her iPad so we can use "face time" and help my dad get a better computer with a better internet connection so we can Skype, and then my world will be perfect  - Well almost ...  Did I mention I am looking at adding an 11 inch Macbook Air to our family?  I didn't?  Well, go on about your day then ... There's nothing to see here ...

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