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Category Archives: Technology

Finally, after 26 years…

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…I got to see Top Gun on the big screen!!!

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Why didn’t I see it in 1986? Because I was 12 (or 13) and my mom saw it first and said “It’s just a bunch of planes flying around and it made me sick.”

I KNOW, RIGHT?!

So I’ve watched it about 25 times on VHS…then DVD…just waiting for the day it MIGHT come back to the theater.

And that time was now…for a special limited release in IMAX 3D!

To help promote the films upcoming 3D Blu-ray release on February 19, Paramount decided to re-release the classic in a six day run that started on Friday, where the film averaged about $6,600 per screen.

And it was only an hour away in Wilmington so HELLS YEAH I was going! WOOHOO!!!

We considered it an anniversary [of when we met in February 1997] / Valentine’s Day outing so ate a sushi lunch first then walked down the street to the theater where I saw this:

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And had to have some!

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Yum!

Then it was off to the movie. Aren’t the 3D glasses stunning?

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And the movie was AWESOME! Wow. The 3D aspects didn’t blow me away…but there were some cool aspects and the actors felt very close and sometimes it felt like you were IN the cockpit with them!

Also, interestingly, with the awesome THX surround sound, I heard A LOT more of the background noises that just melted away in TV showings even with a decent home surround sound system (like a running shower and background music that were never as pronounced).

It was my first actual 3D movie (other than Honey, I Shrunk the Kids at Disney about 20 years ago or 3D/IMAX attractions at Cedar Point) and I’d have to say 3D has come a long way. And it took a good 20 or so minutes until I finally stopped noticing that I was watching the movie through glasses and just enjoyed it without distraction. Well, except I had to pee about 30 minutes in but hell if I was going to miss one second of the movie after waiting 26 years!

We ended our day’s outing with a trip to Costco…so it was a great day! And I can cross See Top Gun on the big screen off my bucket list!

Owen’s first swear word!

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We were sitting around this morning before we headed to the airport, and Owen was playing on the iPad. I wasn’t really paying close attention to him but my ears suddenly perked up when I swear I heard him say dammit. I brushed it off as just not hearing him correctly (it was almost a whisper) but a minute or so later he said it again!

“Dammit. I can’t get /whatever/.”

I turned to look at Linda and said “Ah, his first swear word.” And she agreed that’s what she thought he had said before.

I am not 100% sure where he picked it up, though I’m pretty sure it was me—as I’ve been known to let it slip now and again. And at least he used it correctly!

Happy 4th Birthday, Owen!

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Fun with leftover Lego parts!

Balloon fight with Grannie Lin!

Posing with his presents—and in his birthday shirt—for another birthday picture!

Katie in her new party dress…with Grannie (and a gift from Grannie):

And trying to peek around me to watch TV like Owen does:

Owen’s finished (lame) Lego cakes:

The appetizer set up:

Attempting to Skype with Gramma Jean/Grandpa David and Grandma Marsha/Uncle Rob (it didn’t work too well—our network couldn’t handle it):

Most of the attendees:

Singing Happy Birthday:

Really excited about his new Xbox Sesame Street game from Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob:

And the guitar I found on clearance for $3 (and took the batteries out ahead of time!):

He did pretty well opening presents…except he really loved the first things he opened (Lego Cars and a Ninja Lego) so he wanted to stop right then and play but we made him keep going. 🙂 We did stop about halfway through, though, because he was losing interest and really wanted to play. Which was just fine.

One last attempt at a good Katie pic:

Our attempted family photo:

And just for comparison…last year’s photo:

Our last Christmas!

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Grauntie Marge sent Christmas gifts so we Skyped tonight to open them. The robotic bugs were a HUGE hit with Owen (and we think they’re cool, too). Here he is, showing them off:

And here we are having fun with them in the kitchen!

Katie’s Gund Peek A Boo Bear was super cute, too…though I don’t have a good picture of her with it (yet).

The one night I don’t turn my phone off…

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So last night I didn’t mute my phone like I’ve done pretty much every night ever…figuring I really don’t need to because I have DND (Do Not Disturb) on, which silences incoming phone calls unless someone A) is in your favorites or B) calls three times.

So what happens? Some unknown asshole texts me twice at 12:45am asking “who is this?” and then—since I obviously didn’t answer—calls me twice at 1-EFFING-am. Seriously? Who does that? And at 1am? And DND let it through because apparently 2 texts + 2 phone calls = 3 phone calls…??

I’m not mad at DND (though I am surprised) but I am so pissed I was woken up by some inconsiderate douchebag. I was tempted to call them back at 6a and hopefully wake them up. So after having just finally fallen asleep around 12:30, I was wide awake again. 👿

Oh, and I have ZERO idea who it is. It’s a North Carolina cell number I’ve never called or texted. And though their number was blocked when they called…it came through on the texts, so Tom called at 7:30 and got some chick’s voicemail, saying something to the effect of “If you’re Tim or someone I don’t know, forget about me calling back.” So obviously she’s having issues with a guy named Tim. And I’m sure she thought I was involved.

So since Tom refused to keep calling back, this is the texting conversation we had:

There should be something more painful you can do to stupid people like this.

What a brilliant mom.

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No, not me. 🙂

Mom Has Son Sign 18-point Agreement For iPhone

Dear Gregory

Merry Christmas! You are now the proud owner of an iPhone. Hot Damn! You are a good & responsible 13 year old boy and you deserve this gift. But with the acceptance of this present comes rules and regulations. Please read through the following contract. I hope that you understand it is my job to raise you into a well rounded, healthy young man that can function in the world and coexist with technology, not be ruled by it. Failure to comply with the following list will result in termination of your iPhone ownership.

I love you madly & look forward to sharing several million text messages with you in the days to come.

  1. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren’t I the greatest?
  2. I will always know the password.
  3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Do not ever ignore a phone call if the screen reads “Mom” or “Dad”. Not ever.
  4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30pm every school night & every weekend night at 9:00pm. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30am. If you would not make a call to someone’s land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected.
  5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It’s a life skill. *Half days, field trips and after school activities will require special consideration.
  6. If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, you are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs. Mow a lawn, babysit, stash some birthday money. It will happen, you should be prepared.
  7. Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire.
  8. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person.
  9. Do not text, email, or say anything to someone that you would not say out loud with their parents in the room. Censor yourself.
  10. No porn. Search the web for information you would openly share with me. If you have a question about anything, ask a person—preferably me or your father.
  11. Turn it off, silence it, put it away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that.
  12. Do not send or receive pictures of your private parts or anyone else’s private parts. Don’t laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you. And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear — including a bad reputation.
  13. Don’t take a zillion pictures and videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory for eternity.
  14. Leave your phone home sometimes and feel safe and secure in that decision. It is not alive or an extension of you. Learn to live without it. Be bigger and more powerful than FOMO—fear of missing out.
  15. Download music that is new or classic or different than the millions of your peers that listen to the same exact stuff. Your generation has access to music like never before in history. Take advantage of that gift. Expand your horizons.
  16. Play a game with words or puzzles or brain teasers every now and then.
  17. Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. Stare out a window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk to a stranger. Wonder without googling.
  18. You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You & I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together.

It is my hope that you can agree to these terms. Most of the lessons listed here do not just apply to the iPhone, but to life. You are growing up in a fast and ever changing world. It is exciting and enticing. Keep it simple every chance you get. Trust your powerful mind and giant heart above any machine. I love you. I hope you enjoy your awesome new iPhone. Merry Christmas!

xoxoxo

Mom

Merry Christmas!

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Well this morning was…not quite what I expected. I thought Owen would wake up and be super excited about Santa…but all he wanted to do was play his Xbox game. 🙁

We excitedly said “Owen, who came to visit last night?” and in the most quiet and bored voice simply said “Santa.” Not quite the response I expected. About 20 minutes later we convinced him it was time to check out what Santa left—and he was a bit more enthusiastic. Here we are coming down the stairs to find the stockings…

And then it was off to see the presents…where he got upset because Santa ate “his” (Owen’s) cookies—even though Owen didn’t want any himself last night or this morning—and then back to happy again remembering there were presents to open.

Of course, he was happy to pose with all the presents:

And smiled with one when I asked him to:

And enjoyed playing with some of the things:

But honestly, he seemed less than thrilled with most of his stuff (though I guess to be fair, it’s hard to get excited about clothes or games when they’re in a box). I mean, he enjoyed opening them (which I guess is good enough, right?) but then they were pretty much immediately tossed aside and it was on to the next present. (Yes, I know he’s three. But it was just such a change from last year when he wanted to play with everything as he opened it). He did like a few things (meaning he expressed some awe over them—like both new Xbox Lego games, his Cars cars, and his Indiana Jones minifigs)…but the biggest hit wasn’t even from us or Santa—it was a bug vacuum and fishing rod (that you put your iPhone in to pretend fish) from Tom’s mom that were both immediately turned into guns. And an activity box that was for Katie.

I guess I was expecting too much from a 3yo, right?

And less than an hour later, he was already done playing with everything new and wanted to play the stupid xbox game I had hoped would be forgotten about with the appearance of two new games. 🙁 I feel bad that I’m a little upset, but I just keep telling myself it’s not a big deal, it’s not a big deal, it’s not a big deal because I know he’ll eventually play with everything and like the games, etc…but it was just a bit disappointing because it wasn’t what I envisioned (and you think by now I’d know better).

There were lots of smiles and fun moments, though. 🙂

We Skyped with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob while Owen opened the presents they sent and some from Santa and mom and dad.

We had labeled everything with big name tags because Owen knows his name, so with just about every package he picked up he said “O-W-E-N spells me—Owen” and it was completely adorable. So then it was funny when we caught him opening a package for me and we said “Owen, is that yours?” YES! “Owen, whose name is on the label?” He looks for the label, sees it’s not Owen and immediately says “I’m sorry! So so sorry!” 🙂

Katie enjoyed the tags on one of her gifts:

And Charlie enjoyed a box in the middle of the floor—and watching everything from her perch:

And he was excited about this Captain America figure…

…until Tom pressed the button to make it speak and it freaked Owen out:

And he liked his trampoline…for about 15 seconds. (That was free so it may end up being gifted elsewhere because we don’t really have room for it if he’s not loving it.)

So overall I’d say it was a success, even if it didn’t go quite as we planned.

O-W-E-N spells Owen!

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So Tom was watching football, I was at the computer, and Owen was sitting on the couch playing games on the iPad (and lest you think I forgot Katie…she was napping). Owen starts saying “O-W-E-N spells Owen. O-W-E-N. O-W-E-N spells Owen.” Tom finally looked at what he was doing…and Owen had created a new profile for a game and had typed in o-w-e-n! 😯 He’s seen me do this before and I’ve showed him how to find the letters on the keyboard, but this is the first time he did it himself! Totally on his own! Tom and I were floored.

Today’s Owenisms

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Me: Owen, where are your [bubble] wands?
Owen: I don’t know. Wands…where are you?

Watching Tom play his computer video game, there are midget characters. Owen calls them baby men.

Outside, grabbing the broom… I need to clean up!

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Finishing up a Skype with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob…
Tom: Tell them you love them.
Owen: I love them!

Reading Big Little to Owen at bedtime…The format of the book is the left page reads “____ is big” and the right page reads “____ is little.” I pause to let him say the big or little part.
Me: Birthday cake is—
Owen: BIG!
Me: Cupcakes are—
Owen: GREAT!

Owen’s Name

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Owen wrote his name for the first time today—and if you look closely, you can actually see all the letters! (We were drawing on an iPad app to email to Gramma Jean.) It was a combination of left- and right-handed!

The O is pretty obvious.

The W is good as well.

The E is a little shaky but readable.

The N is… (I did the yellow one as an example.)

Owen’s walkabout

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Skyping with Grandma, Owen is showing her all of his robots.

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Then he decided to take Grandma Marsha on a walkabout. It was hilarious, because he doesn’t quite grasp what she can and can’t see and was in his dark playroom showing her a puzzle that makes noise when you turn the lights off.

Happy birthday to me!

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Well, it’s been a long and tedious road, but the day is finally here: my blogs have been migrated, completely revamped with new themes and widgets, and now live at the main website—www.hudson2001.com—instead of a specific blog address (so change your bookmarks!). All of the content is the same, though the Blather and Owen/Katie blogs have been merged! And I’ve even added a lot from the pages that were on the website before (like Tom’s writings and photos from Iraq and our “new” house stories). However, one slight change with content is that the Recipes blog is currently locked. Long story…but they may be going away now that technology will let me compile and access them in a better fashion.

I have to give mad props to my friend, Tori, who basically did all the heavy lifting on this project—and I can honestly say it would NEVER have gotten done if it weren’t for her. Migration sounds easy, but is a total pain in the ass. That said, this blogging platform (WordPress) is a lot more involved and easier to use (behind the scenes—not for you!) so my life just got a lot easier.

Since the blogs were out of commission for about three weeks, I had A LOT of posting to do in the past two days…but I think I got completely caught up. Thanks to Tom for keeping an eye on the kids all day for almost two days so I could knock it out. There is still some tweaking going on behind the scenes, but nothing you should really notice. Let me know if you run across anything really weird or glitchy.

If you want to get emails when new posts are made, you will need to enter your address over there to the right—your old subscriptions from the old blog are no longer valid.

Enjoy!

😀

Warning: Under Renovation

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My blogs are undergoing renovation right now…

You might have noticed that the Owen & Katie blog has changed (and most of the kinks have been worked out) and just tonight I changed this one (though the kinks are giving me more grief)…so if you notice anything wonky, please know that I’m working on it.

Also…major major changes might be in the near future, though hopefully you won’t notice too much aside from everything just looking different (the big changes will be on the backend in stuff you can’t see).

Walking like a zombie…and more!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJw_FJOURG4

Owen is obsessed with zombies, thanks to Tom’s iPhone game Plants vs. Zombies. He will tell you they pee on the floor (like they do in the game), he will list off characters (the one with the screen door, the one with the zamboni, etc.), and he will walk like a zombie… (And then of course he wants me to turn the phone/camera around so he can see himself, but of course it doesn’t work like that.)

He’s also obsessed with FINISH LINES, courtesy of the Cars Wii game he’s been addicted to for months…so he’s always talking about finish lines and spelling F-I-N-I-S-H. I can’t quite make out the first few words he’s whispering, but then I definitely hear finish line. Then I try to get him to say “Arrrr” like a pirate but it doesn’t quite turn out like I thought. 🙂

Owen holds Katie! Owen feeds Katie!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGojz3OUFZo

He finally agreed to hold her today! Thank heavens for iPhones so I could capture it—I asked him like I always do but I really wasn’t expecting him to say yes so I didn’t have my real camera handy.

He was practically giddy with excitement and was all smiles—it was SO cute!

Checking himself out in the mirror!

And then he was done…and off doing Owen stuff again.

ARRRRRR!!!

project365

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http://www.iphoneproject365.com/photos/hudson2001

project365

Project 365 is an iPhone app designed to help you document your life by taking one photo a day for a year. I’ve been using it for just over two years now, and you can see all the photos at the link above or at the static link in the rightmost column.

Here is the first month (July 2010):

Here is the last full month (June 2012):

Lovely. My new iPhone4S has a crazy bug.

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I can’t rotate any of my new iPhone4S pics once they’re offloaded to my computer. They appear fine on the phone, but aren’t rotated correctly once they come off. Interestingly, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to which are not rotated (I thought it might be all photos taken from the front-facing camera, but that’s not the case). If I try to rotate them using Win7’s built-in Rotate feature, I get this:

They are NOT read only. It does NOT happen with iPhone4 photos (which I have been using for the past year)—just 4S. I shut down iTunes and they still wouldn’t rotate. A reboot did nothing. If I Preview it and try to rotate it, I get this:

Which leads to no Help information. 🙄

BUT!! If I open it directly into Photoshop, it opens with the correct rotation, at which point I just save it and then the thumbnail is correctly rotated.

I have a TON of friends with the new iPhone so we can compare stories…and only one other person has commented on the same problem. I can’t believe we’re the only two this is happening to… Anyone? Anyone?

I’ve submitted Feedback to Apple with the bug, but of course I don’t hold out much hope for a fix unless thousands of other people are submitting the same bug without actually Twittering or Facebooking about it.

Sunglasses, pizza, and Skype!

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He saw these sunglasses sitting on the counter and has co-opted them as his own. He was super excited to wear them and wore them around the house for quite some time. He just LOVES them.

Tonight was the first night we gave him mini slices of pizza instead of cut up pieces—and he seemed to do just fine!

The glasses make another appearance during a Skype call with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob!

Three raves in one day? Awesome.

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RAVE #1

A huge thumbs up to the place that fixed my car post-accident. We had decided to get the hood repainted at our own cost (since it really needed it and they were painting the front end anyway) for an estimated $150. When Tom went to pick up the car, he was told it was done minus one fog light light bulb (they had ordered a pair, and one came with the bulb and one didn’t) and they had driven all over town looking for it, and apparently no one in the state had one! They apologized profusely and said since they felt really really bad (they had already had the car an extra two days due to another ordering/shipping error that wasn’t their fault), they ate the cost of painting the hood!! WOOHOO!!

RAVE #2

After dealing with Costco Concierge and HP over the third major issue in nine months, they are giving me a brand new laptop! They are sending us a list of what models are available (saying they will not downgrade but only upgrade the specs) and if there is nothing we like they will build to suit (but will take 3-6 weeks). I can totally live with that. So kudos to them for actually doing the right thing with this dud of a laptop. YAY! (A bonus rave to this rave is that Tom took over the dealings, as stuff like this just makes me insane. Besides, I paid my penance dealing with the first two wonky laptops and the two repairs to this laptop.)

RAVE #3

This one is comparatively minor, but a rave nonetheless. After almost three years of five bulging junk drawers (2 large, 1 medium, and 2 small) and at least two solid weeks of procrastinating cleaning them out…I did it today! Here’s proof (only one drawer, but you get the idea):

Of course, now I have two buckets of stuff to put away elsewhere, but a lot got tossed and put away already…and I feel much less stressed about the movers not having to pack and move five drawers of crap.

TweetStats!

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http://tweetstats.com/graphs/dailyblather

I love colorful graphs. And seeing interesting stats like these.

  • I have averaged 3.3 tweets a day and 70 tweets per month.
  • Most of my tweets are around 3pm (237) with 10am and 11am coming in a close second and third (217 and 215 respectively).
  • Most of my tweets are on Wednesday (432).
  • Replies (retweets) account for 13.08% my total tweets.
  • The person I’ve retweeted the most is @SelfishMom (10).
  • The person I reply to the most is also @SelfishMom (34).
  • The top five words I’ve tweeted: Owen (230), www, took, main, mugshot.
  • The top 5 hashtags I’ve used: #yelp (83), #cutetoddler (28), #iphone (25), #hmdwl (23), #ugh (20).
  • I have had 85 twooshes (a 140-character tweet)!

SERIOUSLY?!

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It looks like I’ll be without my laptop AGAIN for ANOTHER two weeks because the >:XX webcam is out of place. Yeah, who knew I hadn’t used the webcam since I bought this laptop in October. I was trying to Skype tonight (for the first time) and I was like “Hey, why is there this black moon cutting off the view?” I finally figured out that the camera has slid down (or has always been out of place?) so that the laptop case/cover is blocking it. >:XX

Half Moon Webcam

The laptop saga: Addendum

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So far, I really like the laptop…except that the ‘chiclet’ keyboard is THE worst keyboard I’ve EVER used. :## I am normally a pretty quick and accurate typist (I think the last time I tested it was about 85wpm) and I would honestly say that I LOVE TYPING. However, with this absolutely craptastic keyboard, I find I am HATING typing. Yes, HATING. Plain and simple, the keyboard skips letters if you don’t hit the key JUST right (a full-on dead-center firm press). :down:

But, on the positive side…Costco’s deals came out this month and the laptop was offered for $100 cheaper! So I took in my receipt and got credited $100! If you add that to the $50 cash card and the $50 credit card credit I already got, that means I got $200 off this laptop! :up:

I can live with that.

The laptop saga, part 5: The End

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So Tom was unable to fix my original Dell (he tried, but the problem must have been something other than what we thought) and I was trying to decide if I wanted to live with the less-than-perfect Toshiba or pay a little more to get exactly what I wanted. I decided I had to “shit or get off the pot” as they say, so I decided I was returning the Toshiba and ordering the more expensive Asus from Amazon. So back to Costco we went.

While we were there, we looked at the laptops again…just because…and they had a 14″ HP with pretty much the exact specs I wanted, for cheaper than the Asus at Amazon. With the advantage being that we were buying it from Costco so—IN THE EVENT I HATED IT FOR SOME REASON—I could return it. (And no, that laptop hadn’t been there before. Had it, I would have gotten it to start with.)

And for the grand topper? Not only did Costco refund me $50, they still also sent the $50 cash card…so my more expensive laptop ended up the same price as all the other laptops I tried [and returned].

The laptop saga, part 4.

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Well, both Dell laptops have been returned, and I am just waiting for them to credit me (which is hopefully sooner rather than later, as I now have TWO laptops on this month’s AmEx bill). That said, I did receive an email from my Costco contact saying that they could send me a $50 gift card for my troubles. In the meantime, I received an email from a separate Costco entity saying they were going to credit my credit card $50 for my troubles. So, I’m waiting to see if I still get the gift card. 🙂

Also in the meantime, I bought a Toshiba (from Costco locally) but am not loving it—most of all, it’s 15.6″ (which is actually just a hair smaller than Tom’s 17″ laptop) and it’s just TOO big and TOO heavy for me to use as I need it. So, it will be going back.

And Tom is trying to fix my laptop. Which, yes, we should have done in the very beginning… Live and learn.