Gadget love

"I'm going for a walk," I said to C. It was Sunday afternoon, nice weather; our original plans to termite-prep the house had stalled out when the property rental place failed to tell us when the termite-tenting would actually occur.

"Where to?" he asked. Sunday afternoon: there's doubtless some kind of sports on TV, but then, it's a nice day....

"Maybe the Apple store," I said. This of the danger of living in downtown Palo Alto: the ever-seductive Apple store, so shiny, so silver, so ... tempting.

"Hmm," said C. "Think I'll pass."

So I went for a walk. I felt the warm sun on my shoulders; I admired the newly-budding cherry & plum trees that give the neighborhood a sudden, unexpected grace in spring. I watched some bikes speed past, since this was the first day of some kind of major bike race I'd never previously heard of. I bought lemonade from a hopeful kid selling it in front of his mom's store.

And then I got to the Apple store.

I've been eyeing the MacBook Air (3/4" thick! silver! not Windows, so it won't "feel" like work!) since it was launched. I've been telling myself firmly that I'll wait till it hits V2 before I buy one - who wants to be a beta tester for $1800?

But then I saw it. It was sleek and lovely and the rounded edge fit nicely in my hand. It was light enough that I could imagine myself carrying it around in a backpack while I was travelling. I hesitated for maybe 3 minutes before letting my credit card leap eagerly out of my wallet.

I took my new gadget home, installed a bunch of writing software on it, and started playing. And I love it.

Cheddar Cheese Soup

This was the first weekend I'd been home in a while, and it was about as perfect as a weekend can get.

Things that contributed to my happiness: a new Italian place that turned out to be great; warm weather (Saturday was my first hammock day of the year); buying an empty barrel from a winery to use as an herb garden planter, which my guy sawed in half for me and which cost less than a quarter as much as buying a pre-made planter in a garden store; sleep; and last but not least, cheddar cheese soup (yes, it can be vegetarian, just switch the stock).

Of course, when I woke up this morning, I thought, "Why do I hear a garbage truck? The trash pickup is on Monday." Pause while the sleep clears from my brain. "Oh. Today is Monday."

Commentary upon Facebook

Since joining Facebook, I have noticed:

- A search for "literary" or "books" in network "Silicon Valley" gets zero hits
- A search for "literary" or "books" in network "Columbia" gets 3 pages of hits
- My friends' photos are niftily color-saturated. How do they do that?

Grrrr.