Chelsea’s new computer
One of our biggest frustrations on the trip has been having only one laptop. Since writing is our way of communicating, and will be our major source of income, having one laptop really slows us down. It takes an average of 1 to 1-1/2 hours per page to write a decent blog; and then there are the hundreds of photos that we need to download from the camera, cull, organize and caption, then upload to Picasa. I am writing at least one book about our adventure, and Chelsea has started a book on her brain injury, so that adds time on the computers. And if all that weren’t enough, we have research that we do online, bills to pay, emails to write and respond to, newsletters, and we have to communicate with hosts and find places to stay. The need for another laptop became increasingly important the farther into the trip we got.
The big question of course was what to buy. After looking at Zonbu, Mac Air Book, and a Toshiba, we still felt overwhelmed, as each one had significant drawbacks. We have loved my computer, which we got back in 2004. It’s an Asus, and has been an unbelievable workhorse over multi-thousands of travel and adventure miles. It’s got everything we need. I’ve got a Verizon Wireless card for it, I upgraded the hard drive before we left in 2007, and I just upgraded the wireless card to the latest generation. The laptop is like the Energizer bunny – it just keeps going.
Obviously we wanted something reliable and all-around like mine, and finally, in a flash of insight, I suggested that Chelsea call Computers Direct in Deerfield Beach/Boca Raton, in Florida. We’ve been buying from them since 2002 (maybe earlier) and have had incredible luck. I simply call and tell them what I need; they price it; and a few days later I have exactly what I need. I’ve purchased at least 4 new computers from them over the years, plus the laptop, and they always come through. Their prices are the lowest we’ve found, and we get exactly what we want. Their repair is reasonable and prompt, and we love their extraordinary knowledge level – these guys are pros in the best sense of the word.
They came through in spades this time, too. Chelsea called and talked to Ed, explained what her dream laptop would be, and within hours she had a response on features, functionality, and price. Chelsea’s dad okayed her taking it out of savings and arranged the payment, and within 5 days Chelsea had her laptop here in Gueydan.
The only downside to the laptop is the weight – it’s a little over 5 lbs – but it’s well worth it for the functionality. She’s got a huge hard drive; it’s really fast; the screen is beautiful (we’ll be using hers to watch movies in the tent); she’s got a webcam built in; Office 2007; 5 USB ports (a big deal for us); and a memory card reader for downloading photos from cameras.
Since Chelsea got the laptop, our productivity has gone way up. Now we are both happily typing away at the same time, which allows for a lot more time to do other things, and we are getting a lot more done.
Skype and Gmail chat
Although we’ve known about Skype for a long time, it took Darryl Goodwin in New Orleans (our couchsurfing host) to download it and make sure it worked on my laptop. He even called us on it so we knew how to work it. We still didn’t use it until here in Gueydan, when my sister Maureen wanted to try it. It didn’t take but a minute to realize we really liked it, and two and a half hours later we were convinced. (Yes, we did talk that long…). Chelsea has that wonderful webcam, and Maureen had one, so she could see us and we could see her. Chelsea picked up our laptop and walked slowly around with it so Maureen and her husband Fred could see where we are staying, and Chelsea even went outside to show them a view of the street looking both ways! In turn, they walked around their house so we could see what’s new.
Since Chelsea has Skype now, we’ve even called Fred Campbell on Skype. We had technical issues on his side, but it was great fun. Some of our correspondents really hate to type, so Skype is a great alternative. It does require an Internet connection, but it sure makes the phone bills easier!
Another nifty technology is the Talk function on our Gmail (Google email). We’ve talked to Fred a number of times using it – it’s like a phone call from the computer – and now they’ve added video, so it’s like Skype. We love it, and we’ll probably really like it when we are south of the border and farther away from our loved ones.