Where Dustbunnies Go To Die

I can haz laptop!

My father came down from Emsdale today to meet me for lunch at the Granite Brewery. For some reason he wanted my mother to join us, even though we both knew that she would spend the whole time complaining about one thing or another. (I really need to memorize Professor Plum's "fear of silences" speech from Clue - msvu20 no doubt knows exactly which one I mean.)

However, this isn't a rant about my mother... it's to show everyone the late birthday/early Christmas present my father got for me:



It's a Toshiba L300D-01N with the following specs:

• AMD Athlon™ 64X2 Dual-Core Processor QL-60 1.9 GHz


• 2GB RAM


• 160GB hard drive


• 15.4" WXGA screen


• Atheros 802.11 b/g wireless


• Integrated webcam and microphone


• Windows Vista Home Premium


• Veriface protection

"Veriface protection" apparently means that it doesn't require a password - the webcam recognizes the face of its user. (Wow. I'm envisioning Admiral Kirk's retinal scan to view the Project Genesis presentation...)

I haven't actually taken it out of the box yet because I was desperate to do laundry when I got home (somehow I ran out of clean socks - I have no idea how, since I seem to own all of the socks in the world) and didn't finish until it was time to make dinner, then I was watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

Anyway, according to the people I work with, this is a pretty good laptop. I kind of wish it didn't have Vista, but since that's all that's available on new computers now, I guess I don't have much choice. (And I can't complain, since it is a gift, after all. Well, I could complain, but it wouldn't be nice... it would make me sound like my mother. ;) )

In other life news, this might be the first time in five years I haven't gone to SFX (or whatever it's called this year). I wouldn't have minded seeing Kate Mulgrew and Edward James Olmos, but given what I heard about how much they were charging for autographs ($50-60) and the fact that neither was personalizing, it's probably just as well. Buzz Aldrin was there as well, but he was charging $200. (WTF???) I saw him speak a few years ago at another event, anyway. I just couldn't justify spending that much money two weeks after Worldcon and a week before Dragon*Con. And since Lisa and Irwin had their annual pool party/barbecue yesterday, and I was having lunch with my parents today, I didn't really have any time anyway.