operates
fast with lots of programs
I nearly broke my charger yet again yesterday, when I tripped on the cord at a very bad angle. It’s got me thinking that I’d really like to just get a new computer rather than consider charger #4. However, my computer is in pretty good shape and it’s a pity to get rid of it. At first I was looking at some of those websites that pay you for a used laptop, but then I remembered all my relatives in China who’d love to have a nice and (relatively new) computer like this one! Sometimes I forget how lucky I am, with access to the latest electronics and the funding to afford the ones I want. The past two or three cameras I’ve had were all taken back to China after I broke them, fixed up, and given to a relative to use. Same thing goes for my first laptop. Seems like I tend to replace my electronics when my clumsy hands break them.
Maybe I'll go back to my roots with a Dell.
So, though I’m not yet in the market for a new laptop, I do anticipate a new in the next year. That got me thinking about the qualities that I need in the perfect one… It would need to be sturdy to stand up to the abuse I put it through, occasionally dropping it, usually holding it precariously, and often stretching it to its limit. I’d need a long battery life because I tend to use it heavily and if I am ever away from an outlet, I need to still be able to survive! I’d also want it to operate very well with multiple programs running – I tend to have 10-30 tabs open in my browser at any given point, with some flash programs going, my instant messaging platform, a picture viewer and uploader, music player, and some documents I’m working on. It needs to multitask like I do! It also needs to be able to store my huge collection of pictures, videos, music, and documents, as well as support my myriad of programs.
Being the brand-loyal kind of person I am, I'll probably opt for another HP.
What else? I’m a huge fan of large screens and both my laptops have had wide screens. I need really good speakers because I’d like to be able to hear things from afar and sometimes I think I’m a little hard of hearing. There’d also need to be a built-in webcam for those days when Panda and I are not together and I need to see him on screen to be at ease. It should also have a keyboard that can stand up to minor spillage and crumbs so I don’t have to worry replacing that. And I think that they all come with wi-fi standard now, so that shouldn’t be a problem (but would definitely have to be a feature). It’s also nice to have a CD-RW and DVD-RW drive, in case I ever need it (which isn’t that often). Finally, I must have a card-reading slot so I don’t need to worry about cables to get pictures off of my camera.
As for things I haven’t had yet, I’d like bluetooth in this next one. Not crucial, but a fun feature to have. I have a remote for controlling media on this one, but I hardly used it, so that’s just a perk if it’s there. Oh, and I’d like a long battery life without the really bulky battery that sticks out. I like the angle it puts my keyboard at, but I don’t like how it doesn’t fit well into things. Plus it’s suuuper heavy, so a lighter computer would be nice. And that just about sums it up! I’m sure when I start looking at features now in laptops, I’ll find a few more things I’d like to have.
Let’s take sharing pictures, for example. There’s Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, and many more that focus more on printing photos. Facebook is useful because you can tag your friends and use the existing social network to share your photos. Flickr is good to share your stuff with the world and make your pictures show up on image searches. Picasa has a fun face recognition algorithm that allows you to have people pre-tagged whenever you upload new pictures. Those people are also linked to your Google contacts, so if you already use one of the other Google services (Gmail, Voice, Wave), you can use existing contacts to tag, much like Facebook. So when you want to share pictures, where do you go?!
Finally, Baseloop caters to both events for your friends and more public events. What I like best about them is they allow you to suggest things to do and they show you a public calendar of events going on in your area. That way, if you’ve wanted to do something but could never seem to find the people to do it with, you can put it out there for all your friends (and even random people) to see. Much easier than e-mailing or messaging all my friends just to see if they’re interested in a particular activity. You can also quickly see what things there might be to do on a Saturday night when you’re bored and want to go have some fun. But of course, few people are on it now, so when I invite friends, they’d need to set up an account. So which of these is best for event-planning?
When I first arrived at the Mid-Levels Escalators, it was around 9 PM and things were pretty quiet. I began my journey upwards and started to count how many stretches of escalator I got on. Along the way, I passed by restaurants, bars, pubs, massage parlors, beauty salons, random shops, and lots of homes. After about 13-15 escalators, things really quieted down and became very residential. Stubbornly, I continued on, even though it was dark and there were hardly any people around. I wanted to make it to the end of strip! After much dedication, I eventually made it (and lost count along the way). I believe I totaled 18 or 19 escalators of varying lengths.
Ear candling is this crazy thing where they take a special cloth tube thing and stick one end in your ear canal while lighting the other end on fire. It burns gently and because of the air being sucked away at the top of the tube, your earwax is drawn up into the tube. I heard a gentle crackling noise the entire time it was burning away and though I felt more refreshed and noises seemed crisper after that, I don’t know if that was just a psychological effect. The result is this honeycomb-looking thing that is the earwax that was drawn from your ear canal! I found it to be a surprisingly soothing experience and you could tell from what was taken out which ear was more clogged up. Nifty!
