My Geekyness

I don't really like to go to the mall and shop. Clothes are not my thing - it's not fun to have to try on outfits. Nope, not for me.

But I can spend 2 hours in the computer store - easy! Yesterday, Mark and I went to Microcenter. They had compact flash cards on for a good price - 1GB for $20, 2GB for $30. I got one of each for my camera. No biggie - except finding where they were located.

I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted a rolling suticase for my personal laptop since I got the backpack for my camera equipment... kinda hard to wear 2 backpacks, especially when going through the airport - and I take both camera and laptop just about everywhere I travel. Anyway, first aisle I go down is the computer bag aisle. I spend 30-45 minutes looking at the pros and cons of the briefcase vs. shoulder bag vs. roller bags. I have to find one that will fit my 17" laptop which is bigger than the Mac 17" that everyone seems to size for (why I haven't been able to find a camera bag with a laptop slot big enough). I finally find one that's big enough for my laptops and peripherals but not so big I could pack for a 2 week stay. Manufacturers haven't realized that everyone who own a laptop isn't a road warrior that needs 5 changes of clothes, a hanging file cabinet crammed into a briefcase and a working desk built in. It's hard to find a computer bag that's not the size of most carryons, yet have enough room for the laptop plus the battery charger plus the cables plus the external hard drive - oh and room for a paperback for the airports. Finally, I find one I like and it's only $40 to boot. I love a bargain!!! Fortunately, Microcenter had the model laptop I have over in their computer section. So I drag the bag over there and proceed to stuff the laptop in to it to make sure it's going to fit. Fortunately, the salesman realized what I was doing and didn't think I was trying to steal the computer.

Ok, that piece of business done, I still have to find the CF cards. While wandering the store looking for them, we come upon the hard drives. Well, I have just about filled up the 80 GB external drive that we bought a couple of years ago to back up BOTH computers . And I now know the importance of backing up everything since I've lost some files that weren't backed up prior to the hard drive crash. And I want a backup of my EHD that I store my photos on since it's a traveling EHD. And the desktop still needs to be backed up!!! Mark and I begin discussing the pros and cons of buying an external drive and paying a little more or getting an internal and a housing for it. Looking around, I find a Buffalo 500gig external for $169 with rebate. Well, I'm not big on rebates, but that is cheaper than buying the $149 Seagate internal then spending another $40 on the case and pray that everything works when we put it together. So now, I have to remember to send in the rebate!

Now, all I need is something to store all my peripherals to my laptop - my laptop that I bought so I could work in the living room in front of the TV instead of the computer room - the same living room that is starting to look like a computer room with the printer, scanner, 2 EHDs - make that 3, all of the cables and cords and supplies. Now I need a rolling cart to put it all on, that if we ever do have company, I could roll the mess out of sight!