I'm so proud of myself. I'm typing away on my ancient Powerbook, wirelessly connected to the Internet! It cost under $100. I bought the Powerbook in 1999 when we were going to Alaska; we sold our desktop and bought this on eBay. It wasn't cheap then, but now you can get one for about $80. It is very slow, with only 32 MB of RAM, expandable to a whopping 64MB, LOL. (for $50) But it is portable...

My kids are in school, and it takes me nearly an hour to drive them there each morning. Tomorrow, for example, I'll have to hang around nearby and bring cupcakes at snacktime for their birthdays. I also don't want to drive home every day because it costs money (gas) and takes time. (It is more like 1/2 hr to get home and 1/2 hr each way to pick them up; we just hit tons of traffic at 7:30 in the morning.)

I thought it would be perfect to take the laptop to Borders and write articles and in my journal. I used to be a professional writer but set it aside when I had Katie. So I researched my Mac online and found tons of info at www.lowendmac.com. Found out which wireless card would work, how to download and install the software, and so on.

It took quite a bit of tweaking and I had some catch-22s for a while, because iE runs so slooooowwwww that between that and dialup, I couldn't download the needed software updates to get another browser running. I just bought a router tonight; I could have gone even cheaper and gotten a $20 one after rebate, but my dh will likely be getting a laptop from his school, so we went for faster and a bit more $. To get file transfer to the PC I had to get Internet connectivity, since this has only a floppy drive and the floppies don't talk nicely from Mac to PC. I will work in MS Office on the Mac, which does play nice with Office on the PC.

Anyway, I'm so excited I had to share! Now to make it work moneywise I must resist the pull of lattes and mochas at Borders. :)

Oh and I was going to add all this stuff about how I just cleaned off my PC after backing everything up and how nice it is to have a clean, simple PC...I have really been "summer cleaning" the computers. ;) I also just organized all our computer CDs into: system software/applications, hardware install CDs, and backups.

Thats awsome Lauren!! Great job... that must have taken SO much time! I tried to clean out our computer one day, and Don was really pissed by the time I was done because it took me over 6 horus... lol....

The pull of latte's is not so bad if you have already had one made at home. ;)

Love Val

Thanks Val. It did take a lot of time, and was rather frustrating but very rewarding at the end.

I am planning on investing in a thermos, and packing coffee, water, and a lunch for myself. I did treat myself to a couple of lunches out this week, but have to reign it in now!

An idea for the traffic - Is there anyways you could leave maybe 1/2 hour earlier? Pack a picnic breakfast and eat at the school/nearby park? I hate traffic (which is why I don't live closer to Orlando - and this area is getting to busy for me) and I know how stressful it can be driving in it! So if I could avoid it, I'd do anything I could to, lol.

Allison, I have thought of that, but we've left as early as 7:15 and it has not made a difference. Right now, I absolutely cannot get the kids out before 7:15 - they are just too tired, they are not used to getting up at 6:30am. I think to make a difference we'd have to leave at 6:45, and it just isn't happening at this point. But hopefully once we get the routine under control.

The crappy part about where their school is (Lee Rd & I-4, need I say more?) is that to drive even 2 miles around there takes at least 10 minutes at that time of the morning. There are no parks or anything that I know of, that are that close. (Maybe Leu Gardens? I don't know of any others.)

Our long-term plan is actually to rent our house and buy or rent a home right near the school. If we live within 3 miles the kids will get bussed (yes, that sounds backwards, and it is). But I am going to give the school this whole year before making such a drastic decision.