Patience Pays Off

Little did most of the world know that I have sat at a slow, bogged down computer in our home office for the past 5+ years. Even our monitor was old and big and the picture bent in at the sides of the screen. I had to give it a good swat on a regular basis when the picture started having a seizure. When I would try to run more than one program at a time it was like molasses had filled the tower and slowed everything down...sometimes to a complete halt. It was probably two years ago that a friend of mine gave me flack for having such a slow, ancient set up. I was shocked and slightly offended. What was wrong with my set up? We were being good stewards of our money and I didn't have to have a fancy flat screen. I was patient and could wait on programs for 3 minutes before they opened. I was just content with what I had.

Months ago The Prairie Daddy and I decided to start looking for something else. Did I mention that we are frugal? Well, I wasn't about to just fork up the money for anything. And most of what I saw didn't come with the OS that I wanted. And we just didn't find the "right" computer. So I continued to be content with Old (and Slowly) Faithful.

But then, this summer we had the chance to talk with my sister's boyfriend about a new computer. And he has a master's degree in IT. AND he had been going to an auction out of Seattle where the government gets rid of their two-year outdated computers (two years is outdated? Wow! I am living in the Stone Age!) So we chatted about what our needs were. The big thing was that I am a photo and video junkie. I need space...lots and lots of space. And I decided I had been patient long enough...it was time for some speed!

When we were in Seattle a couple of weeks ago The Awesome IT had gotten us a computer. It is a Dell with a Pentium 4 processor. And we added an external HD for all of my media storage. And we got a DVD writer so that I could burn my movies! AND we ordered a flat screen! And now I am sitting here typing away to tell you HOW AMAZING IT IS when your computer opens multiple programs in a flash! And that my days of patience have paid off.

And why are The Prairie Daddy and I happy to be frugal and patient? Why do I wait quite awhile before making a purchase unless I really know its the best deal? Because if I hadn't of waited we would have paid close to $900 for what we wanted but we only paid $400 for this entire set up. Amen!

And now, The Prairie Mama has happily joined the 21st century.

By the way, in this last 6 weeks we learned how to set up a wireless internet router for our house, so now I can watch Instant Netflix on our laptop. And I have my very first IPOD. Just so happens that is what The Nephew got for his birthday and we made a deal for me to get the old one! Did I tell you that I got The Prairie Daddy Sirius satellite radio for his birthday in August? And we can listen to it in the house or the car? Wow. The Prairie is on the move! Watch out Microsoft. Watch out Google. Move over AOL, here we come!

Oh, and by the way, my cell phone is over 3 years old and I love it.