El Segundo Author Fair  

Okay so it's been a busy week. Shall I start with the whining first? Why not. My entire family has heard it this week, so why shouldn't you!

I ordered a new Dell laptop, of which I read the review (after the fact) and it's only considered so-so. Oh well, it was in my price range and I wanted something that wasn't second hand off of e-bay. It's a pretty purple with flowers. It has 2 gig mem and 160 hard drive, both way more than my old computer, which is now in the hands of my youngest child. The biggest drawback and the reason why I held out was because it only came with Vista. A Op system I have heard mixed reviews on. Vista has it's good points: pretty, transitions nicely, lots of cosmetic bells and whistles. BUT it is SOOOOOOOOO slow when I log on to the Internet I want to cry sometimes. And I have trouble going to my normal safe websites. It won't even let me play some of my cool online games anymore. The Internet has been a challenge. I can actually cook dinner before a page loads. I have hardly anything on it, so don't blame me :0 Either way I'm stuck with it. Regular programs work fine, it's just the Internet that's slow. I guess for now I can deal with that.

Of course then the new laptop segues into a new computer bag...girls I know get this totally! No actually I have a fairly nice one, the problem is my husband wears out his computer bag straps like kids skin their knees. SO we have all these bags at home with no straps and I can't use them. The last one I bought was for a laptop I had that died last year. It was a 17" screen so I needed a big bag. I am now down to a 14" Wide screen and the bag is too heavy and unwieldly. Also last year in SLC I couldn't fit the bag into the lockers at the Family History Center and had to take my laptop out and sit it in separately from the bag - what's the point of that?

So my (slow) online quest began for the perfect laptop bag that was lightweight and could fit into the lockers in SLC (I'm going reluctantly in August). Also one that I could easily put into the overhead compartment without the nice JetBlue stewardess (a former miss Oklahoma) easily chucking it up there for me (talk about embarassment!). So there was one company that had three very attractive yet functional styles, all in girly colors (my husband won't be taking the straps off of this one I might add...), not pink I swear. I felt like goldilocks - big bag, med bag and super small bag. I even drew out the measurements on a piece of paper and took it home (yes I did it on my break at work) to make sure the laptop would fit. Needless to say I also got it on sale (Yipee!) and I chose the medium in a very attractive sand color. That dirty deed is done. The 17" bag that still has a strap is now going to my husband until he can find one that is indestructible. In other words this should last him a month or two.

But on the bright side...and there is one I promise:
AND even though Vista is slow Internet wise, it zooms with regular programs including wordprocessing. So I got another 50 pages done on "A Commitment to Murder." Only 50 to go! So there was a shining light at the end of the tunnel afterall. Now I just need to get my spouse cracking on a book jacket and it's almost ready to send to the printers!

How was your week?

Okay I'm up to page 150 only 109 to go! I'm making progress! I only have 4 Fridays off left so I need to get cracking. I also sold 4 more books online! And I have a great flyer ready to send to genealogical societies that I need to print and mail - probably next week. I'm on a roll!

So I'm making the August pilgrimage to Salt Lake City. 4 days. I just hope I have enough to keep me out of trouble.

Hang in there with me...A Commitment to Murder is just around the corner!