How are you?
Yesterday my before-blogging friend Erin called to see if we were still, you know, alive over here. As we were talking the children were screaming/playing in the background. I ignored the noise until it reached that certain pitch that means there might be an actual problem. I had to hang up on poor Erin and found that Michael had tried to take a chunk out of Harper's arm. At first I thought there was blood, but no, just a little bruise for a reminder...
So.That's kind of how things have been - nothing tragic in the last ten days, mostly happily busy with the occasional bump in the road. We are still unpacking (we were in WI for almost a week) and working on incorporating all of our wonderful Christmas gifts into the household. We have not taken down a single Christmas decoration (this weekend, this weekend...) yet.
Anyway - we're still alive and kicking (and biting) in Ohio.
Here is a question for the new year - do any of you have any experience with netbooks?
I feel like most of my day isn't conducive to being tied to the desktop I normally use, which, among other things, means my back is always to the children. I would love to have a laptop or netbook for email and reading blogs and maybe Facebook. That is literally all I want it for - I'm not interested in loading music or videos or photos on it. I am intrigued by the long battery life, portability, and lower cost of a netbook. I'm NOT looking to replace this desktop... Any thoughts are more than welcome!
6 comments:
I have a netbook and LOVE it for traveling- mostly used for surfing and writing but also for music as of late. Also, there's free e-books from the library! PDFs or mobi-reader style, and wonderful :)
The biggest thing, I think, is if you have wireless or not in the house. Because if you do, ta-da, perfect, it will be great and you just have to watch the KIDS getting their hand on it (ahem, not experience talking AT ALL).
If you don't have wireless, then you'll have to be plugging in/out which can be a pain depending on where the home hub and desktop plugholes are.
Sorry, I have no idea what the techie/correct term is for plughole. But you know what I mean, right?
Anyway, go for it. And get the 10-20 sleeve for it just for storage or carries. The bigger bag, I think, isn't worth it b/c you can fit it in any old tote :)
OH! and maybe you'll want the free DROPBOX download- you just drop docs in there and ta-da, they're copied in "the cloud" so you don't have to continually email yourself something from the home to the netbook. Probably this is all too much info- sorry ;) have fun!
It isn't in the price range of a netbook, but I have to say I had no idea how much I'd love (and use) the ipad. I use it for reading - lots of options on e-books, both free and purchased, for watching netflix, for surfing/facebook, for drawing, for some writing (though I got the ridiculously expensive keypad attachment to do that as I hate touchscreen keypads).
What I like about it over a netbook or laptop is that the boot time is basically 2 seconds - and when I only have 10 minutes free time, spending 2-5 minutes of it waiting for Windows to boot is kind of infuriating. The ipad is highly portable, has awesome battery life, and you can add the kinds of apps you want (for a price of course - I've probably spent about $30 so far for six or seven apps as well as using about 5 free ones - flickr, etsy, etc.).
Anyway. That's my plug for the ipad. I was NOT on board with getting one as I saw it as yet another gadget we'd play with for five minutes and forget about. It's been the total opposite - it's allowed me to squeeze in some creative or relaxing moments into a busy day in pretty much any location.
Just as with a netbook as MamaK said, it makes a big difference if you have wireless in the house or not. If you don't, I'd skip the ipad entirely. But if you do, it might be worth the investment.
Brian got an Ipad for "work" in December so we are just getting used to it. But it's really nice. I agree with PP that you really need wireless for it to be convenient, and that the kids will find it even more enticing than the desktop. But it's mighty convenient for all the things that you mentioned. So nice to lounge on the couch with your blogs, etc.
The only thing is that you can't type very fast punching with your finger on your touch screen. So it's not great for composing long emails or blog posts, but great for reading them.
I have no netbook advice but we have discussed getting one for Mike to work on- b/c we already have a laptop & the netbook is cheap and seems so portable sooo that combination is appealing.
Glad to hear that all is well--our Christmas was hectic and we didn't do any major traveling so kudos to you!! I wasn't worried about any bloggy friends just yet b/c it's been very quiet around here lately. Happy 2011!!!!
Your card was beautiful btw, love the close ups of the kids faces :)
Ouch that looks painful! I'm glad you had a nice holiday season, and it's good to have you blogging again.
Matt is looking into getting a netbook, mostly for his trip to Mali this spring. He's looking at the HP's. Just thought I'd mention that. We haven't used one, but this from a computer guy who does tons of research. And I have an HP laptop that I LOVE!! Even though it's getting old for a laptop and not running as well, I'd be lost without it!
We have a Netbook that we use in our living room with wireless. I use it for emails and my husband uses it for his online games and internet surfing. He loves it and he is with the family more (even if he is distracted with the damn thing). Ours (Eee brand) was cheaper than HP, has a good battery life, and is fast.
Are big sisters allowed to bite back?
-Moira
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