A New Toy

There is a price to be paid for being picky!

The accumulated money gained from delaying my grasping hands getting a spendthrift hold on the cash has now been splashed out on a computer.  A new computer.  “Why do you need a new computer,” a friend asked.  I responded that I didn’t understand her question.  For me the key red light in her enquiry was the casual use of the word “need” I have spent my life combating those people who can use that word as a form of fiscal assault and I am immune to the implied condemnation.

I have suffered for this new machine. 

Which is to say that I have done precisely nothing, except fret of course.

The specs. of the computer are so high-end that the model that I wanted did not appear to be available in Spain or indeed in any surrounding European country including the UK and Germany.  The only available market that sold what I wanted was in the US of A, so I bought it there.

That was the start of the story.  For the first four days after purchase my computer moved through California, the continental United States and the Atlantic Ocean at the rate of 1,500 Km a day.  And then it got to Madrid.

From the 23^rd of January to the 10^th of February it was held in customs and went nowhere.  OK, they did have to get in touch with me and explain that there would be duties to be paid, but the delays were inexcusable.  Especially for someone like myself whose life-blood is the use and abuse of gadgets!

I am, of course, inclined to be more mellow now that my highly expensive piece of technological bling is at the end of my fingertips, but it does not take much for me to rile myself up again at the thought of the denial of something which represents the culminating perk of a working life!

The USP or at least one of the features that I like, is that the laptop configuration is only one aspect of the computer, as the keyboard is able to be rotated 360 degrees, transforming the machine into a sort of tablet.  The keys are backlit, though dark at the present time of typing: the SSD is 1TB and all the other bits and pieces are equally impressive and, as yet terra incognita.

Well, that was easy enough: I’ve turned the backlight for the keys on.  Something of a triumph.  Petty, but a triumph.

Now on to the aspects that are not quite as positive, or so easy to resolve.  The layout of the keyboard is problematical.  The usual hunt for odd keys is absolutely normal in any new machine; what is not so easy to cope with is the actual physical layout of some of the keys.  The shift key for the right side is a single key placed further to the right than I am used to.  The enter/return key for the right hand is directly abutting the backslash key!   An odd choice and one which is going to take some time to get used to.  But get used to it I will.  The computer is far too expensive to find it a difficulty!

I hope that this will be the first of a new series of inconsequential blogs in which I will refine my technique: whether it be for stylistic niceties in English or in the decreasing number of times I push the wrong keys!