On why I will not get a netbook for my birthday.

Recently, two close friends have got themselves new netbooks - no.1, through the generosity of the husband, or perhaps it was a bribe for a few hassle-free golf outings? :P who knows; no.2, an independent working lady who buys herself whatever she fancies (fair enough, she's got the kind of job that comes with that kind of money, lucky)

Of course, seeing that my birthday is just round the corner, and also my laptop has recently given up on me by turning itself off whenever it fancies, I managed to mention more than once, excitedly and animatedly about how nice those netbooks are to the other half, to the point that I was absolutely convinced that a netbook is in the bag. The only question remains, what brand will it be and what colour? I didn't even allow myself the luxury of browsing the web to look at different netbooks in case that act will 'jinx' all possibilities of getting one. However, being sensible, I still told him constantly, don't go crazy on my presents this year. Steve has always been great at pressies and surprises. Three Christmases ago, he surprised me with a Nintendo Wii when everyone else was still queueing outside the store to get their hands on one; two years ago, I got an Ipod Nano and he hid that well; last year Christmas, he managed to pool everyone together and got me a top of the range YAMAHA digital piano and managed to arranged for it to be brought all the way to Yorkshire where we were spending Christmas !!!

So yesterday, Steve announced that I might be getting an early birthday present, if I behaved (as if) and the reason being, I might need to take it back if it was the wrong size !!??

What was that all about then?? 'If it was the wrong size??!!!' ... I was supposed to get a netbook !! Not something to wear??!!! Then I started feeling all deflated and disappointed. I supposed I don't even have the right to feel that way coz I did tell him to tone it down on the pressies. But it still didn't stop me from wondering what I was going to get when we get home from the cinema, watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

So the suspense when we got home was killing me and we had to get dinner out of the way before we commenced to 'present opening' ceremony. Dinner to me was tasteless because I was too anxious and was behaving like a 5-year-old the night before Christmas.

Finally dinner was over and I was told to go into the office to 'look for my present'. I went into the office and couldn't see anything unusual. And then I spotted it !!!!! Lying next to my chair, inconspiciously, was a long, rectangular brown box that had a seal on it. Upon close inspection, the seal said 'ACER' !!! tum tum tum....... *eeeeeeeee*

What followed was a mixture of happiness and tears and me telling him off for spending so much money on me and me asking him to take pictures with the camera (I know, very vain) and me tearing the brown box apart. Then the box was on my lap -- a top-of-the-range, latest model of an ACER proper laptop (Acer 5410) with 3GB Ram, 240GB Hard disk drive, eco-friendly feature, built in web cam, latest technology of wi-fi... yada yada yada.

Before I opened it, Steve said to me, "You might want to be careful opening it, in case you want to get it changed for something smaller, coz you go on and on about how much you love those netbooks."

Then I was in a dilemma. Sure I love those chic and 'carriable in handbags' netbooks, but this really, really cool laptop is paper-thin (less than an inch) and only weights 2.5kg and has a great big screen of 15.6-inch !!!! And Steve was right, where would I carry my netbook to then?? If I was to carry it upstairs and use it in bed, 2.5kg is nothing and also it has a special feature that will make it stay cool and not become hot when put on the lap. Isn't it better to have a proper laptop with a proper size screen which you can do all kinds of magic like splitting the screen in four and this that and the other. And also, I was told that there is no optical disc drive on some of the netbooks. So that's when I decided that I will keep my brand spanking new proper-sized laptop and started setting everything up !!

All night I went 'ooooo'... and 'ahhhhh' and I even barred other people from touching it lest they scatch it (I know, I am anal)... and carried the laptop upstairs with me and was still amazed by it when I eventually went to bed at 1.15am (only because I have a double shift today and I think some sleep might help).

Can't wait to get home to my new toy at 10pm tonight !!!! argghhhhhhhh....

ps: will post pictures of it in the next entry when I learn how to collage pictures.