A Change in Perspective

There’s a certain comedy to attending language classes in a tourist zone.  First, there’re tourists everywhere.  And though I hate to generalize, tourists seem to all follow the same m.o.  They all seem to have expensive Canon Digital SLR or Nikon Coolpix cameras.  They all seem to push aggressively down the sidewalk heading somewhere…until they stop in the middle of the same sidewalk, and ask each other where they’re going.

Tourists also tend congregate in safe zones: monuments, cathedrals, shopping centers, etc.  But fortunately tourists tend not to ride the city bus to the end of the line, and that’s where our troupe found itself earlier this week.

My dad and I experienced the “end of the line” activity first in Dublin, Ireland.  Our hotel was right in the thick of downtown Dublin, near the Spire, and we wanted to see “real” Irish living.  After a time we ended up near a harbor and strip mall where locals were shopping and running errands–real life stuff.

Now, after two and a half months in Berlin, our trio feels a little more local, and a lot less tourist.  And that change in status helped my search for a new laptop.

My almost 3-year-old HP dv9000z laptop had finally died thanks to a defective graphics card.  Friendly neighborhood repairmen tried to fix it to no avail, but bought the malfunctioning paperweight for 100 Euros.  They also gave mixed reviews on which laptop to buy…the favorite? Dell.  And in the U.S. Dell is not known for quality.

A local electronics chain had a sale, offering 19 percent back on any purchase up until August 12.  I searched the internet relentlessly for reviews and information on the discounted laptop brands, and resolved to three options: Samsung LG, Samsung or ASUS.

I found a great model at a great price at a store 40 minutes from our apartment, and I loaded the troupe into the bus to check it out.  The model was to be a Samsung NP-q310H.  Unfortunately we arrived 2.5 hours too late.  After a trip home to regroup, I found a 12 inch smaller version of my chosen model–20 minutes in another direction from homebase.

I checked reviews, and the NP-q210H was rated higher than my previous choice.  In the store, it took a good 10 minutes to find the one remaining laptop in the back of the store.  The specs were right…but the laptop itself…

Pink
Oh yes…Männlich

 

…was pink!  It works great, and I successfully loaded my audio software on it, but there’s still a funny feeling opening a pink laptop.  I haven’t yet worked on it out in the field, but I can imagine sitting in a room of high level politicians or businesspeople, and wanting to look something up or write notes, and my pink laptop would glimmer in the florescent lights.

I’ve always said being cool equated only to being self confident in one’s self.  I’m not saying I am cool, but this pink laptop could be a test of how confident I am in myself and abilities.

My first impressions are comfortable but funny.  This laptop is amazing, and the splash of color will make me chuckle every once in a while.  It does take a real man to use a pink laptop, right?

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