new computer

I'm writing this on...my new computer! It's shiny and exciting. My last computer I spent $2100 on, and it was a piece o' junk. I had it for five years and hated every minute of it. It crashed daily. If I was working hard, it crashed several times daily. It's right here on my desk, and I hope I can start it up and keep it from melting down long enough to burn my data on to CDs and switch it over.

So my philosophy on the new computer was just to get the cheapest one I could...without getting the total cheapo brand I was scared of. It turned out Circuit City has some Compaq deal where, if you get a computer, a monitor, and a printer all at once, you can get $300 in rebates. Which means if I manage to get my act together and mail everything off juuuuust right, this system should end up costing me $455.94. With a flat screen and a bazillion gig hard drive! And an inkjet printer I totally don't need. (But I had to spend $70 on the printer to get $250 of the rebates, so it seemed worth it.)

I imagine me getting my act together and mailing in the rebate stuff is exactly what Circuit City and Compaq do not want.

I wonder if, in the fullness of time, I will grow to hate this computer as much as my old one?