MacBook Pros (or, Surprise, Honey!)

I recently emailed a friend of mine about an unrelated item in life but alluding to self imposed stresses that I'd blog about in the near future. Well, here it is!

I've been going through both a technology crisis and a crossroads with technology. I've been working on trimming costs around the house and trimming my computer taxes (i.e., shutting off home servers because of the electricity they suck down) while evaluating how much I really need for using technology. By that, I mean, do I really need a desktop computer? I've been finding myself more often than not trying to work on my novel from a notebook or netbook at Barnes and Noble or in the bedroom, or having to remotely edit things to my desktop from another room.

So I began testing whether I could use a netbook for my computer needs. That was a mixed success for another blog entry.

At the same time, I had my "podcast" computer, a lowly Windows computer used pretty much for Skype for my son and podcast syncing to my iPod in the morning, die on me.

On top of that, my wife's MacBook had Applecare die. Again, topic for another blog post so I won't dive into it, but as a tech person who wants minimal hassle in supporting his own gear, any notebook that has gone out of warranty is a pain since the hassle in replacing anything beyond the most basic component is probably going to cost you more in time and parts than a whole new laptop would cost.

My wife's computer was going out of warranty. My netbook was adequate, but barely, for anything beyond basic web browsing, email, and working in OpenOffice.org on my manuscript. My multimedia computer was toasted, so I had to improvise another system that used to be my primary server/workstation but the CPU cooler was loose from the motherboard and thus rather unreliable (at least enough that I don't leave it alone for long periods while it's running).

So I formulated a plan.

And despite my constant debt worries, I purchased two new MacBook Pro's. One for me, one for my wife. With hardshell cases (one blue, one pink) to protect them.

And my wife knows that I constantly stress over bills and income, so she wasn't expecting it.

But I didn't just give it to her. That would be too simple.

When I was younger, my mother would (rarely) play this game to entertain me where she would hide clues around the house and give me the first clue, which would lead me to the next clue, and the next, etc. until I arrived at the final prize, usually some small toy or food or something. I don't remember the prize. I remember the fun of running around the house looking for hidden notes and the rush of figuring out her clues.

So the day FedEx finally delivered the notebooks I enlisted the help of one of my wife's coworkers and hid a number of clues around the campus of her workplace after hours (she usually hangs around with work after 90% of the other people have run home).

I had come up with clues and taped them to cut out foam letters spelling the word "apple". I also took an empty MacBook box from a friend and stuck a Fuji apple in it along with a "congratulations, you found the final clue!" note. I then messaged her to Skype me and I chatted for a few minutes before reminding her about my clue game as a kid, and said that now it was her turn. Then I gave her the first clue and told her she was on the clock.

Confused, she started following the clues until she arrived at a backpack that I normally use for my work equipment, but unbeknownst to her I had switched everything out of it and instead had her notebook and equipment inside. The MacBook box hinted that the Fuji apple inside was the prize, but there was a hint that it was the "final clue", meaning there was one more thing. In the hint, the words "under" and "me" were capitalised, so she had to figure out that she needed to look under the plastic insert in the box to find a printed picture of my bag that in turn had the MacBook Pro in it.

It took her about twenty or thirty minutes to figure everything out and get all the clues, but in the end I think she was rather surprised. I had spent, literally, weeks going over specs and finances and talking myself into doing this, since you can imagine these are not overly cheap computers. These are 13" MacBook Pros with iWork installed. I have been saving money whenever I could to help offset the cost. I also spent weeks coming up with the clues, the props, and the plans to pull this off on my wife, without her stumbling onto the equipment (the hard shell cases came days ahead of time).

So when I told my literary friend that I had some self-imposed stress on the docket, this was it. Weeks of planning culminating into this big surprise. I think she kind of liked it.

My biggest regret is that I am far enough in debt that I couldn't justify the expense of getting SSD drives, despite the added durability they offer. I juggled the numbers and figured that these were investments for the next three years, and over that time I would be using this almost every day. My wife uses her system almost every day as well, although I can't comment on how important her computer is to her. I know how vital it is to me, considering how much I work with computers at work, how much I work on my manuscript, online research, etc. and the computer I was using before the MacBook Pro was nice in some way, woefully underpowered in others.


So now I go back to worrying about paying bills. The fact that I'm using these laptops all the time probably means I made an okay decision this time around and probably  won't regret it. Yeah, it's more debt. But I know that unlike many frivolous purchases, these will be heavily used for the next several years, and I'll make a small amount of money back in saved electricity. Oh, and did I mention that my wife and I aren't buying anything for our birthdays and Christmas? Yeah, this was our gift for this year, so that also factored in to the cost.

With some luck, I'll manage to finish, and perhaps (dare I dream it?) sell a manuscript that is finished and polished on the new laptop...

Well, there's that, and I think my wife really liked her present. But I can't speak for her...