Horn of Plenty

While I was on my trip to Seattle, I met a good friend for dinner at a certified Neapolitan Pizzeria in Fremont. Over dinner I was running down the (now) amusing list of problems with my held-together-with-bailing-wire laptop computer. He asked what my technical requirements and budget was for a replacement machine. I gave him the run down on specs. Pricing is the trickier item. Mental preparation for the purchase took me almost four years. I was ready to accept up to two grand, but really didn’t want to spend half that.

The next day he left a message for me about a dual core processor for less than $400. That’s not just the processor, that was for a fully outfitted (minus OS) system. When I went to the store, I found only the display model was still available; no surprise there, since this is a steal of a price. Memory has been one of the problems with my old computer, so I told them to max out the new system. Hearing that would only cost $26 put me in an even better mood. I’ll probably load an already owned copy of WinXP on the system, but my main OS will be Ubuntu (free is a good price).

We all need friends like this. His wife also announced that she’d be sending him to enjoy time with me in Japan. This meal was just a string of good news. We will probably aim for a visit while the cherry blossoms are at their peak next Spring.