Is that laptop breathing?

I have always been a fan of computers and the wonderful things you can do with them. And when the Internet became a household figure like the TV and telephone I was really excited. I have always had a knack for using things with buttons. What surprised me though was my lack of drive to become a computer addict. I spent all of my teen years without my own computer. I would often dream of the system I would one day own. The first computer that I had was given to Sarah and I when we moved into our first apartment. I took to it well, and had a lot of fun with it, but I never did much more than surf the net, download MP3s and play a few games. I found that I would grow bored very quickly, so I never developed as anything more than a casual user. It stayed that way for many years. I could never afford much in the way of upgrades, but I did manage to keep our original PC running smoothly for over 6 years. In fact it still works, but it currently gathers dust in my basement. I purchased a new PC a few years ago. It was pretty fast, but I didn't shell out the big bucks for a state of the art machine. It did have an LCD screen, and a DVD burner. Those were huge upgrades from my old beast. So with that I increased from casual user to casual pirate. I didn't go so far to make copies and sell stuff. I just found ways to have games and movies for next to nothing. Once again I found myself barely scratching the surface of what was possible with a decent PC. I did dabble in more activities, such as DVD burning, and digital art. I even got a cool stylus so I could draw using photoshop and illustrator. But once again my short attention span got the better of me. The programs were too complex to just sit down and draw they way I can with pencils and paper without taking the time to learn all the functions. I have tons of resources and tutorials. I plan to get to them one day.

Then one day our PC got a nasty virus that I could not remove. The only solution is to back up data files and then format the hard drive and reinstall the OS. My problem was that I don't have an external hard drive, and burning 150 gigs of data to DVD is far to time consuming. Since the virus only targets online activities, and Sarah had a nice new laptop to surf the net, I gave up on fixing the PC and was content on minimizing my usage. That was the way it stayed for quite some time. 

Then I got my own laptop.

It changed everything. I now have a blog. I keep up to date on my email and facebook page. I am using twitter, and RSS feeds. I log into the remote desktop for my office to log case files. I am finding new things to do with my laptop almost every day. I even take it with me when I leave the house. I am quickly becoming the computer addict I had always envisioned as a youth. Soon I will be loading Adobe CS3 into it so I can finally start making the digital art I have always wanted to create. I am even beginning to use the built in web cam. I am becoming so attached to this laptop, that I have to remind myself that I can remember a life without it. I am sure that I will find a happy balance between being a computer geek and a functioning member of society. As long as can stay off War Craft.