Remember the old line about bein' a one legged man in a butt kickin' contest? Or even better... those scenes in Star Wars, when they jump to Hyper Space? and looking out the windows of the Millennium Falcon the stars all go WAAAA-WHOOOOOOSH! ??
THAT, is how I'm feelin' lately.
You might remember, back in September, maybe it was October, my main laptop went KERCHUNK! Well, its repairable for a few hundred bucks. But then, it being as old as it is, I'm still left with a tool of rapidly decreasing function considering the advance of all the other junk around it... arrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhh...
All that was/is rolled in with the axles and tires getting whacked, the grey tank breaking, the water heater earlier in the summer, and then the water heater quit igniting just before I left for Denver... but healed itself while I was gone! ;) and a few other odds and ends to keep a pussgut, soap box preachin', Liberty Lovin', cranky old buster off balance.
So... after keeping that boat afloat... utilizing much the same mindless manipulation of dollars I don't have that the government uses! :) oooooofffffffff! SBI, my internet provider and guru... finally got around to including me in their heavy upgrade of their Website building system... compounding GOOGLE's having dropped another of its lil' bombs last summer/fall that has had the world of the blogger/website builder in a bit of a turmoil because of its impact on their traffic...
Got all that? :) so... that's why I'm feelin' a lot like the dog chasin' his tail.
Well... the bottom line is... my websites/blogs having grown to be a weighty % of our income, there's been damage of some sort to that income.
Now of course, me being me its a lot less clear than it could be! Why keep anything simple right? ;)
While my traffic...that is, the visits from all my treasured and appreciated readers is as high or higher than ever, (on both the blogs and websites) and is running contrary (fits me huh?) to the "down" impact that many saw with Google's Panda, the income hasn't kept pace, in fact degenerating a bit.
The upstart is... I have to rebuild both my websites, RV Boondocking the Good life and motorcycle touring the good life to fit well into the new and improved SBI BB2 system as well as address the Google system changes.
You might have seen a few weird color changes on the RV site in the past few days? That was the migration happening. I fixed the thing temporarily... but now, behind the curtain, I have to go in and completely rebuild ~ build new... something near 400 pages... and that can't be done on this lil Acer 10".
Long winded way of saying I finally bit the bullet late last night and ordered with some of that imaginary money... a replacement for the busted Dell Computer from a place called newegg.com.
It's one of those times where you have two choices; A bad choice and a worse one. My laptop(s) aren't down time toys. For me they are a carpenters tools used to make his living. I can stick by my principles and starve, or suck it up... Cowboy Up... and get on down the road.
So... You'll likely see a few changes again around this place over the coming weeks and months as I rebuild into the new system... Can you hear the growling of an old codger who REALLY resists changes? :)
aw... it'll likely come out ok. In fact it kinda opens up the opportunity for some reorganization and refocusing I've been cogitating on anyway... and it'll keep me out of the bars!
Running 90 miles an hour with no hair left to be on fire
Brian
A broken down Ol' Cowboy goin' RV Boondocking ...
...and Yondering, to the beat of a different Biker Cowboy Drummer
9 comments:
I'm looking for a laptop also.... I'll be interested in what you decide on. I'm having such a difficult time making this decision. As always, indecisive!
KB; The great american marketing system has ever'body pretty much trained that bigger, faster, more powerful is ALWAYS better...
ends up being like buying that fancy Lamborghini car that'll do 280 mph... But... you live in Denver. Yeah you got all that power... but where are you gonna use it? ;)
So... I do need sufficient "Power" and speed to run some video editing programs and such... but I'm not a "Gamer" so I don't need that sort of power... and THAT sort of power is ExpEEEEEEEEEEnsive!! :)
I opted for a 15.6" Toshiba with an LED screen, 4GB of RAM memory (w/slot to add a lot more) and 640 GB of hard drive. It's got a later model chip so the speed is pretty good.
all in all considering my old Dell lap top was less than a 1/4 of the ram and maybe 1/3 the potential clock speed, and a 1/4 of the hared drive... and was working fine until it wasn't ;) I expect this one to do what I need for a considerable time.
That and it cost me two hundred bucks give or take, more than this new one as I recollect. ;)
A higher grade tool wood be nice but...
The bottom line was I could not afford the $495 it's costing me a whole lot easier than I couldn't afford the many hundreds more that a higher grade tool would cost.
You take your lumps and adjust huh? :)
p.s. I'd think about what you "Do" with it to help your decision.
If all you do is surf, email and play solitaire... as well as keep your travel pics... one of the new "budget" model asus, acer, dell, toshiba etc. will likely fill the bill better than anything over a couple of years old.
as always... much of the "power" they sell is Never used by the "average" person... they just buy it and pay for it.
I myself fall into that grey area between the low end consumer... and the high end gamer. The reality is, while I prefer the absolute best tools I can find a way to afford... an ego thing you know? :)... the high end of the low end generally does the job just fine! :)
Congrats on the new laptop! I have a 15.4 Toshiba, 3gb ram, and 250 Hard drive. Its got the AMD duel core and Vista Windows. I have had great luck so far and I bought it from Best Buy in 2009. I haven't decided to go with Windows 7 or 8 yet on it but I could if I chose to. Seems I have big enough HD to do it but not messing with it at this point.
Good luck with the migration process. I agree that its a definite 'tool' ya need, Pardner!
I got a Nook for Christmas and heard that I can upload from Smashwords so I'm thinking I might try a novel or two from ya! Help support the cause! Big Smile!! Plus I'm curious if your novels differ in style from yer blogging! LOL (You're not restricted from Amazon for customers who need to go to Smashwords, are you??
Ha! Brian, you make me laugh. I love ya but..... I really need to tell you something. Ok here goes.
A cyber world capitalist who hates change is the same as a brain surgeon who hates blood. Comes with the territory cowboy. Keep on blogging :)
acheapguy
It's ok to run 90 mph as long as it's not down a dead end street as in the song.
Bill
Cindy; You can download from Smashwords or since you have a NOOK you can also get all three of my Novels at Barnes and Noble. Amazon is only one of my retailers. They have no say in where I sell 'em... though they keep trying! ;)
Cheap guy; I know! I don't like change but I can't stand the same old same old! Talk about straddlin' fences! And cyber stuff... a genuine love hate relationship there! :) I'm thinkin' there's at least two personalities rattlin' around... maybe three! ;) Maybe someday they'll make a movie! :)
Bill; I keep that 90 miles an hour on dead end streets stuff to my motorcycle! ;)
Ok Bill... can't run my own blog! ;) That last was from me... nailed the button wrong!
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