Seasonal

As I mentioned last week, I was thinking about buying a Surface. But I didn't want to spend so much money, so I decided to just stick with writing notes by hand or on my phone. I still wanted a smaller computer, though. Then I thought, a-ha! Chromebook! Much cheaper, and it will do everything I want it to do.

I came this close to buying one, and then I remembered that I have a 7-inch tablet that I hardly ever use.  It didn't seem right to buy another piece of technology when I already have something that's only a few years old. I bought the tablet in 2014, but it already feels like a relic of the Obama years. If I pulled it out of my bag at at meeting, someone would probably tell me that 2010 called, and it wants its technology back. Seven years feels like a long time ago; and it's a generation, in terms of popular culture and technology. So maybe I'll just be the quirky person who likes antique technology, like a Polaroid camera or an IBM Selectric. 

Or maybe not. I'm typing on this little on-screen keyboard, which I have to look at, because I can't touch-type without actual keys. I looked away just long enough to watch the Capitals score against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Anyway, it's not the best solution. The tablet, I mean. The Capitals beating the Penguins is always the best solution. The on-screen keyboard, though the predictive text feature is excellent, is still way too slow for me. I type pretty fast. The technology has to keep up. 

Enough of that. I'm back on the PC now, typing fast, but thinking not quite so fast. I found a 10-inch Chromebook that's not the prettiest device, but it might be small enough to carry and large enough to actually be useful, so it's a possibility.  The Capitals beat the Penguins 4-1.

*****
It's winter-cold now, after weeks of unseasonable warmth. I dread cold the way that other people dread root canal or an income tax audit. As a matter of fact, I've had a root canal, and it's not as bad as winter. But I had to do several outdoor things today, and it wasn't as bad as I expected.  So maybe I'm getting tougher with age.

*****
After a short beta test, Twitter has officially doubled its character limit from 140 to 280. Obvious twice-as-long-Trump-tweet jokes aside, this is bad news for an entirely different reason. I'm very good at expressing an idea in 140 or fewer characters. Very good. This isn't a boast as much as an acknowledgement that I have very few real skills; this is one of them, and now it's no longer relevant. Spelling, total recall of useless facts, and snappy comebacks are all I have left.

*****
Despite the cold, I took an early-morning walk this morning, because I get so little outdoor time during the winter work week. The air was cold and still, and it smelled like snow. Now it's 3:45 on Sunday afternoon and the pale sunlight is already waning. I couldn't live in one of those Scandinavian towns that gets four hours of sunlight a day. Winter has its charms, though. The sunlight looks pretty, filtered through the almost-bare trees, and it's kind of cozy in here. I'll write my next post on the Chromebook that I just bought.