Gadgetry

I am not a big gadget person. I don't have a Kindle or a Nook or a Kobo or an iPad. I have an mp3 player but I don't ever use it these days. For years and years, every time I had to get a new cell phone, I went with a basic bare-bones Nokia bar phone. I actually found this photo of my three Nokia phones while looking for something else on the blog:

Considering I used each of these until it pretty much died on me, that should tell you something about how long I had simple no-frills phones. After the last Nokia started crapping out (and wasn't compatible with the then-new 3G technology), I finally decided to try a Samsung flip phone because I really wanted a phone with a camera. MB got an iPhone 3G and we felt very fancy about it. I did like having a camera phone, but I HATED that stupid Samsung phone. It dropped calls like crazy pretty much from day one. I traded the first one in on warranty and then had the same problems with the replacement. MB kept trying to convince me I'd love an iPhone, and I kept protesting on the grounds that it was way too fancy and expensive for someone who routinely dropped her phone in parking lots and then had to collect the two pieces of the case plus the battery from under her car.

So I suffered along with my crap phone (which MB and BoMB dubbed the SamDung) for the duration of MB's two-year iPhone contract, and once that contract was up he moved on to the iPhone 3GS and I inherited the 3G. I will always remember the day I got my first iPhone because I was very pregnant with Nico when it happened, in the late fall of 2009. I remember not because I was excited or sold on the merits of smart phones, but because the swap of data from my phone to the hand-me-down iPhone was supposed to take 5 minutes and instead took an HOUR AND A HALF, all while I stood there, pregnant and needing to pee and starving and trying not to rip anyone's face off. It turned out, though, that MB was right and I loved the iPhone. I loved the camera, the access to google calendar, and being able to check my email on my phone. After Nico was born, I stared moon-eyed at his photos on Facebook and read blogs endlessly via feed reader on my phone while I nursed and pumped.

MB and I both had Dell laptops for ages, but his died spectacularly around the same time he got his second iPhone and he -- being a convert to the religion of Mac -- bought a MacBook Pro as a replacement laptop. And oh, you guys…how he RAVED about this computer. He tried to convince me I needed one, extolled its virtues, explained all its advantages. I waved my cane around and told him to get off my lawn, even though he had been right about me loving my iPhone. See, I've never liked Macs…never. In college we only used them in the science labs and no one was ever there to show me how to work them. There was no right click button on the mouse, and they couldn't read my documents that I created on my PC at home. Useless to me! And when they locked up, the only way to shut them down was to force quit by either holding in the power button or unplugging them. We had a Mac in the office at work, too, and it was also nearly impossible to use. (I'm sure all you Mac people are clawing at your faces right about now.)

You may have guessed where this is going, especially if you saw me post about it on Twitter a month or so ago…my creaky old Dell had become increasingly erratic. The battery was basically useless - if the cord came loose, I had about two minutes to reinsert it before the computer would die without warning. The screen had been replaced already after developing a bizarre streak of discoloration right down the center. It was slow as hell and not running programs super well. MB lobbied endlessly for me to get a Mac. (And right now you're thinking, "He offered you a shiny new MacBook and you resisted? The hell, woman?") I finally told him, Look, I'm sure I'll get used to it. You know how I am. I hate change, I hate spending money on fancy toys, but eventually I learn to love them. Financially, it made sense to go ahead and buy one rather than waiting for the Dell to fully die, so we ordered the Mac. I'll probably never live down admitting this twice but MB was right again.

I'm still getting used to some of the differences, but overall, the MacBook is really sexy. My favorite feature, by far, is the text shortcut option. Gone are the days where I have lamented my choice of blog alias as I typed "velocibadgergirl" three times to leave every blog comment. Now I can type vbg and hit the space bar and the computer fills it in for me. I can type htpvbg and it fills in my blog URL. Of all the things the Mac can do, I think this is my favorite. I'm a simple creature. And I guess I've been fully converted to the dark side, because not a month after I caved and ordered the MacBook, I caved again and MB ordered two shiny new iPhone 4S-es. Maybe I'm becoming a gadget person after all.