Ode to electronics

I have always considered myself to be a lesser techno-toy geek than my husband, who loves gadgits but doesn't spend a lot of money on them. We usually take hand me downs from his mom, thanks mom!, or wait until technology prices go down. That said, I have two new electronic toys that I am so excited about!!

The first is one that my husband has been trying to talk me into for 2 years. A Laptop!!


Everytime I agree to buy one I just can't find it in my penny-pinching heart to do it. One time I said yes but took my sweet time researching, the next week the van broke down and needed a new transmission...so I felt plenty good about that decision. Finally, right before Christmas I let him talk me into it. It was not a Christmas gift, as we don't spend that much on gifts and he did NOT draw my name, thus could not buy for me. All of that said, I LOVE IT!!! The freedom to sit comfy on the couch and check my email or blog browse, check my bills, etc.... is amazing! I can let the older kids do their online stuff and still do mine. Last night, I did THE coolest thing on my laptop, I watched an episode of a TV show I've been wanting to see!! (Really, how many more double exclamation points am I going to use?)

The second thing is that I've finally caught up to the rest of the digital music generation, sort of, and got an MP3 player. Nothing fancy, just a basic one.


Watching my kids have so much fun with them, I thought I'd give it a try. I love it too!! (last one I promise) Last night, I was laying in bed listening to the soundtrack to Pride and Prejudice (thanks to my sister-in-law who introduced me to that) and thinking back to my childhood and music then:
We serioulsy had a reel to reel recorder at home! My dad taught high school music and he used it for recording stuff.
I remember having an 8 track, although those were "old" and tapes were better.
I bought actual records up until my freshman year.
I remember the days of patiently recording all my favorite songs onto a "mix" tape to give to friends.
We called all of the personal tape players with headphones Walkmans, even though that was just one brand.
I had a boom box in my room.
When you wanted to hear a song again you had to stop, rewind and hope to hit the beginning of it.
Once a friend of mine taped the same song over and over on a tape for me so I wouldn't have to rewind to hear our favorite song!
I remember the cool sound the tape would make when you fast forwarded on a slower speed...
Now, you just push a button and choose which song you want, and it tells you the artist and album! And to share music you just plug some cords in somewhere, still not clear on that. Amazing. And the sound is a million times better.

Okay, I'm done sounding like a total nerd!