GranolaBox

“I can’t complain, but sometimes I still do.”
Joe Walsh – Life’s Been Good

Because the Queen of my Universe is having such a great year in her pursuit of world domination I’m going to get a great Christmas present. I feel guilty even calling this a dilemma, but I’m torn between getting a new laptop to replace my old obsolete desktop computer or getting Lasik surgery.

I’ve already asked everyone at work, and they all said to go for the Lasik. The biggest reason is that we all got brand new Dell Latitude D620′s for work that we can use at home as well. It’s a pretty good laptop; much better than the IBM Stinkpads we had last year. I also have to turn the school computer in for a couple weeks in the summer, during which time everything gets wiped out and replaced with the school’s new software bundles.

That being said I now present the dilemma to you, my readers and especially my fellow bloggers who more completely understand the value of a bitchin’ computer.

First the laptop. As I said, my old desktop computer is big and pretty obsolete. I want to go to a laptop so I that when I’m working at home I can go easily from QmU’s office, where I can make mushy-eyes at her, to another part of the house. Plus, when she’s doing really technical, stressful stuff merely breathing creates a horrible distraction for her. We also have a beautiful forest in the back yard, which makes working on the deck a wonderful option.

Neither the old computer or the school’s Dell can’t do all the stuff I need, and eventually want to do at Granola Box. I want to do more sophisticated video, music and photo shop editing, and doing these on the old computer completely fries the memory. All the computers I’ve been looking at have the capability to keep me more than busy for the next several years.

Okay…. now the Lasik.

I’ve worn glasses and/or contacts since I was ten years old. They’ve always been a necessary appendage. Glasses have their usual limitations – they dwell on your face, get dirty, slide around when you get sweaty and so on. I also have no fashion sense and no desire to keep up with the latest eyewear fashions so within a year my glasses end up looking hopelessly dorky.

I don’t take really good care of my contacts so they often end up really foggy before I throw them out and put new ones in several months after I’m supposed to. I also hate the feeling of dry contacts, which one of my old stoner buddies compared to “having Scotch tape on your eyeballs.”

Successful Lasik surgery would be a dream come true, and from the (admittedly) limited research I’ve done it looks like I’m a good candidate and that it would be very successful and would only involve a few days of discomfort. I have a lot of research to do which I might not have the time to do before Christmas.

Since I live in Western New York, the other great advantage to Lasik surgery would be several trips to my beloved Canada where the surgery is better and cheaper. I’m guessing it would mean three trips – two of them potentially romantic (evaluation and follow-up) to Toronto.

This conundrum derives from my obsessive nature. As soon as I considered the prospect of getting a bitchin’ laptop, I started drooling all over Dell’s website, unbuilding and rebuilding various models, including the XPS – 2010, the King of all Laptops (which is completely out of contention for Christmas.) I also start mentally hating on my old computer, getting even more impatient each time I have to wait for basic functions when I play music, burn CD’s, write blog posts and IM my friends at the same time.

When QmU brought up the possibility of Lasik surgery, my desktop became more acceptable and I started hating on my dirty glasses, and the drawer of crap necessary to see my hands in front of my face.

So my friends, readers, fellow bloggers and loved ones… I solicit your valuable input.

COMMENT!
New laptop or new eyeballs?

Filed under: General Observations on October 7th, 2007