Picking a New Computer

Our family has depended on my old laptop from college since we got married. (And we're celebrating our 5th anniversary this month!) For graduation, my parents got me a Dell Inspiron 600m. It's been so good to us.

But however attached and loyal I might be to my things (my old 1999 Sentra would be another example), it doesn't change that things get old and worn out. Especially electronics.

So, when I began getting what around here we call the Blue Screen of Death, my husband began preparing me for the worst. We had a friend work on the computer, which helped it hobble along another six months, but recently it's been freezing up, randomly shutting down, has a pink tint to the screen, and manages to let all sorts of new "errors" come up. When it just plain stopped working for a whole day last week, it was time to order a new one. Since my husband and I have been talking about it for at several months, we knew almost exactly what we wanted. Here was our thought process.

Three things dominated our decision:
1) Available money
2) Portability
3) Brand/Quality

Available Money: We are cash buyers, which means if we don't have it, we generally don't spend it. We hadn't saved up what we wanted for a new computer, so we talked back and forth about the value in getting a cheaper, possibly refurbished or bottom of the line computer until we'd saved up for what we wanted.

We only considered this (which would have us spending more total money in the long run) because we absolutely have to have a computer at home. If we didn't have our small businesses, we could have let the computer die and then waited until we could buy another one.

In the end, we came into some extra money and didn't need to make this decision. However, I think it makes good financial sense to either wait entirely to get a new computer, or to get a cheap interim computer until you can save up. Going into debt for a gadget should not be an option, in my opinion. Think appreciation vs. depreciation.

Portability: Do we go desktop or laptop? This was a short conversation. We travel a lot, go to different wifi hotspots often, and want the option of doing our business wherever we want to be. A desktop would be nice for sometime later, but for now, with only one computer, a laptop is what we need.

Brand/Quality: This whole sickness with my computer has been going on for nearly a year. I was just plain sick of it (haha). It's incredibly annoying to have a laptop on hospice. When we began thinking of which brand computer to buy, the fact that I'd always had glitches, viruses, and unexpected problems with my Dell became a factor. It hadn't bothered me that much, but if we could improve on it, I wanted to.

Enter the Mac cultists. Why is that most Mac users are walking advertisements for the brand? That, my friends is the question. They don't get viruses, they say. It doesn't shut down, or give you the blue screen of death. When researching it (yes, research every question you have, and every comment you read or hear!), it looked as though there were occasional problems, but that for the most part, the Mac groupies weren't exaggerating.

We took the plunge and decided to go Mac. After that, it was mostly a decision of speed and size. We wanted something fast enough to handle our movie watching and downloads, but we're not gamers so we didn't need much. After debating the epic 13" or 15" question, we ended up with this beauty yesterday:


Macbook Pro 15"

For more info:
http://store.apple.com
http://dell.com
http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/2004/10/mac_or_dell.html

How to (Not) Eat Well When You Travel

We just got back from a weekend trip to see family. Even though it was a great visit, I was exhausted the whole time. I'm pregnant, which means eating well isn't a plus, it's sort of necessary if I want to feel good enough to act like a human.

If you want to eat well when you travel, follow this one tip and you will: bring your own food. That's it. Easy peasy.

Only, I didn't do that this time, and ended up having lots of bagels, sugar, juice, muffins, bread, chips, etc. for my meals. It was awfully tasty, but I couldn't fit enough fat and protein into that to get the energy I needed.

Here's a Quick List of items I normally bring with me for meals/snacks:
avocados
whole-milk yogurt
cheese
nuts
butter
peanut butter
fruit as a utensil for eating pb

Just this short list of items can add a lot to meals, or completely substitute for one. If I happen to have a half gallon or more of raw milk, I'll bring it along, mostly because I don't want it to sour before I get back. Everyone in our family enjoys these foods, so they get eaten up.

What else is on your short list of travel foods?

How to Fight Off the Nasty Cold

My family - all four of us - are fighting a summer cold. Sore throats, headaches, congestion, all in varying degrees.

What do you do about it if you don't have a doctor who writes you a prescription for these sorts of things?

Of course, I'll say the obvious and remind you that we do absolutely nothing but rest and relax. Sick bodies aren't supposed to be active bodies.

But here are home remedies I use for my family (do your own research, use your own discretion):

LEVEL 1: As Soon as Symptoms Appear

-Cranberry juice (a great detoxifying agent): the real deal, not Ocean Spray. Buy cranberry concentrate from your health food store (HFS) and mix it with water and a few drops of liquid stevia if you need it sweet.

-Kombucha provides probiotics, detoxifies, and has B vitamins to supply energy.

-Vitamin C (we like Emergen-C).

-Coconut Milk is anti-viral and antibacterial, and has good fats to nourish our weak bodies. I used to give my kids a tsp. every morning before breakfast, and I should do it again!

-Fresh veggies, and small amounts of fresh fruit.

-Strictly limit carbs and sugar. Absolutley nothing "white". Studies have shown that sugar actually feeds cancer, and has an immediate impact on our immune system when it hits the bloodstream. Refined sugar is oh so bad for us.

Level 2: It's Getting Worse and We're Supposed to Go Out of Town Tomorrow!

-Goldenseal is the antibiotic of my medicinal herbs world. I only use it when things are really bad. The only time I've busted out this nasty herb is when my son got a parasite (from a public splash pad!) two years ago. Nothing helped. I began giving him goldenseal (mixed in concord grape juice) and he began feeling better the next day. Honestly, I would use this if I'd been trying to get the kids to feel better for several days and hadn't seen any improvement. Or if we were supposed to be travelling soon and good health was a must! :)

-Oil of Oregano is what the adults in the house take. And you might not want to wait this long to start taking it. The moment I feel the scratchy feeling in my throat, or that achy feeling in my body, I take a few drops every 15-30 minutes until I feel better. I have yet to get sick when I do this!

Of course, it's contraindicated during pregnancy (as are many of my "bitter" herbs that I like to use when I feel ill), so it's taken me a bit longer to feel better.

Here's a tip on how to take oil of oregano: Take a sip of water and hold it at the back of your throat. Have someone else (or use a mirror, so you can see what you're doing) place a few drops of the oil at the back of your throat in the water and swallow. Quickly chase with the rest of the glass of water. If you don't do this, be prepared for a horrible burning feeling in your mouth, throat, esophagus and stomach. This stuff is strong!

Really, you shouldn't be getting sick all that often, if you're eating well. The only reason we're all sick is that for the last few weeks I haven't cooked much at all due to this early pregnancy nausea and exhaustion. Fast food will kill your immune system very quickly!

Here's hoping that our health holds out for travelling!