This week saw a dramatic shift in my personal relationship with
computers. For the majority of my adult life, I have counted computers
and PDAs as a hobby of mine. Much like my ancestors painted on cave
walls or worked on Chevy cars, I tinkered with computers. I enjoy
breaking a system apart and putting it back together again, learning a
new OS, and basically playing with machines.
eBay has become one of my greatest vices, replacing many of the
much more popular vices like Krispy Kreme bingeing and beer. Opening a
new computer system is an event at the Webb house. I make my four year
old wait for the "BPS" man and call me the minute a new machine
arrives. I then rush home to rip open the boxes and get the machine
setup. The process continues several months later as the machine is
sold on eBay and the next machine is purchased. As of last week, I had
the following computers in my home:
My friends get fired up about BMWs, fancy televisions, stereo
equipment, and other more common interests. I would rather have a great
computer to play with than a great car (witness the 1996 Honda Accord
covered in dust in my driveway).
As is only natural, the arrival of a few kids has changed a lot of
my hobby time from things like installing a new OS to things like going
to the park or coloring. While these changes are ultimately more
fulfilling, they mean that computers can no longer be a major recipient
of time and resources. I still need computers for work and play, but I
no longer have time to tinker. With my new lifestyle, I need computers
to work as the tools they were intended and to meet my computing
requirements, while providing a small percentage of my
entertainment.
Last Monday night, my wife needed to find last year's tax records
for some purpose only women can come up with in the middle of the World
Series. I ran up to my computer room and began booting machines. One
hour later I tracked the files down and experienced an epiphany (and
created four new curse words when I ran out of old ones). I determined
that I wanted to simplify this mass of systems and cables to find the
bare necessities in my computer life. While I can still have fun with
computers, I do not need so many that they detract from actual
usefulness.
I spent the next few hours making a chart with the requirements for
one computer and one PDA. I then went machine by machine to pick the
lucky winners in each category. At the end of the exercise, I had the
biggest batch of eBay auctions I have ever managed at once. The good
news for Mac owners is that our beloved machines still maintain a great
secondary value as my two year old (albeit tricked out) G4 /400 maintained half of its
original value. The 'Books also did very well in the market, with my
Pismo selling for 4x
the amount of the Dell Latitude from the same time period.
At the end of the week, we had the following setup in my house. One
iBook 500, which my wife
decided she wanted to save from the auction block (so its not on my
count), and one PowerBook
G4 400, which I grabbed at the close out prices at CompUSA. I
needed a G4, and mobility is one of my requirements. The PDA I selected
was my iPaq, one of my favorite machines since the Newton 2100.
I brought the G4 memory up to 512 MB, ordered a 48 GB drive this
week, and still had a tidy profit - and a much more manageable system
chart. My wife was the biggest beneficiary, as she received cash, an
iBook, and a new room in the house all in one week. She is so happy,
she started talking about an iMac DVD for our four year old
son
Hmm, maybe we need to buy a few more computers for the kids. I will
check eBay today.
Someone pass me a Krispy Kreme.
