Moving on (backwards), I picked up an iBook on Saturday at about 9:00 PM. I’ve wanted a laptop for a while and known that when I get to college I’m going to buy one. I’d held off because I was unsure: PowerBook G4 is awesome but expensive, iBook is slick but the screen is small, PCs are faster and cheaper but a real pain to get working right (and yes, I have tried them. I’ve done Windows sysadmin stuff for a while and I got to tell you, that stuff is a *(&#@ to work with). So I decide on an iBook because the 12.1″ screen, while small, is crisp and clear, bright and high contrast, and hey, AirPort wireless networking is awesome. Then I stumble upon this iBook on sale at Circuit City. Now I was holding off thinking that at Macworld they might announce some price cut or something and I wouldn’t want to be the idiot who buys the thing the week before the prices are slashed. So I wait, nothing happens, and I decide that, since Brandeis gives me only a max of $50 off, I might as well shop around. Well, everyone has the same price until I see Circuit City (in the store but not online) offers the iBook at $100 off and – get this – the promotion ends TODAY (well, on the 28th). So what was I going to do? Buy it of course, at least as soon as my dad gave me permission. Well, around 8:50 he decided that if I had to have it I might as well get it cheap, and I got to the store at 9:01, a minute after closing time. I got in anyway, I grabbed the ‘book, I popped out the checkbook, and the computer didn’t approve it. WHAT??? Okay, no problem, credit. Nope, doesn’t work. College students on their first MasterCard don’t usually get $2100 credit limits. Okay, check card! Nope, that has a limit per transaction….

Long story longer, I split the payment across multiple “platforms” as it were, and got the darn thing taken care of and was home in time for dessert. Hooray! Now to go balance the darn checkbook…