A week without a computer

A big thing right now, when either or both boys are awake, is a constant stream of reading requests. The three-year-old asks verbally, 'can you read me a book?' It's missing the please that I'd like, but all things considered it's pretty polite for as much as I give him grief. The other side of it is the one-year-old, who wants books read to him just as often or more. He digs through the bookshelf looking for whatever catches his fancy then runs over super excitedly. As a result I read to them a fair amount each day, something good for both them and me. When I decide to be done the three-year-old usually gets a little disappointed but is able to move on. The increasingly pushy one-year-old throws a little tantrum if I don't pick him up and do what he requires. Naturally I give in to the younger one with some regularity in this scenario because there's no reasoning with a kid that age.

Last Monday morning I was drinking my coffee at the kitchen table. During a short caffeine consumption window I usually have my computer open, it's an older but still nice MacBook Pro. While I'm doing this it's become pretty common that a stack of books grows right then and there. That day I ended up with both boys on my lap, each looking at their own book. The three year old had a strangely tall one called 'The Bears Song.' Unfortunately for me, this super tall book knocked over the coffee directly onto the laptop. It obviously wasn't malicious, only the constant carelessness of a child. Besides, it was my fault the coffee was so close. In the moment, however, I was not happy (pretty steamed for a few hours actually), but I did remain hopeful it'd be alright. I tilted the laptop up and drained the liquid. Later that day I opened up the back and everything looked okay. I even got some compressed air to clean out the dust. But in the following days it wouldn't turn back on.

This book is super cute, it's also HUGE

This computer, btw, is the only way I write this blog. I can't do it on my phone, nor would I want to. I knew as soon as this happened I wouldn't be putting anything out for the rest of the week. Normally writing fills sizable chunks of the days the older one goes to preschool. Without the computer, without the blog to work on, I had a ton of time to fill. As usual I had some work around the house to do but even so... I got bored during the day, which hasn't happened since we moved. I cracked a book of my own during the younger ones nap. I repeatedly checked the clock awaiting the hour to do pickup at preschool. It'd never been more apparent the time I spend blogging and how much else I could achieve on those days. It was revealing, refreshing, weird how long the day was.

With respect to the computer situation, I decided to pursue two recourses so I could continue to have one and keep writing. For the first time in my life I went to an Apple Store, in this case the one at the Mall of America. First I got an appointment to have my broken MBP examined. Second I started investigating replacements. While no Apple acolyte I do love the computer even if I don't use the proprietary software. What I'm trying to say is I don't want to go back to using Windows. If I could get the old one repaired, great! Even if not I was going to buy another. Depending on what happened the new one could hopefully become my wife's computer as she's in dire need of an upgrade herself. Before the week was out I'd purchased a refurbished model from Apple itself, using the suggestion of a salesperson in store to get a relatively new product (2020 or sooner) that has the new more powerful 'M1' processor. Hopefully that tech is worth it since the refurb was nearly the price of something brand new.

That was last week. This week I had my appointment back at MOA. A lady took my computer and, after her own inspection, declared that the insides looked fine and the computer appeared to work when connected to an external monitor. Though it was my thought the screen might be the only issue, I, somewhat embarrassingly, never tested this myself at home. She also told me repairs would likely run nearly $1000 (the price of a new baseline MacBook Air) and I declined against having any work done. After bringing it home I hooked it up to my 60" TV in the basement, don't laugh, which has the most accessible HDMIs and was kinda fun. And... to my joy the computer is still working fine! (well, except the screen of course). For now anyway. It still smells like bad coffee.

Using a 60" 4k TV as a monitor has its perks

So the solution for now will likely be a more reasonable monitor, though who knows, with a wireless mouse and keyboard maybe the big TV will become a favored spot. Whatever happens I can't write too much while sitting on the floor straining my neck the whole time like I am right now. Either way I'll be losing the portability of my laptop and turning it, one way or another, into a sort of desktop. It's unfortunate but at least I'm not replacing it entirely. Maybe this simple change will result in better productivity during those preschool days instead of only spending too many hours on my laptop. That'd be a positive development. I'll also, in the future, keep liquid farther away from my important electronics, something that seems like common sense especially with small children around. Life with kids, man, it's always an adventure.