Last week I took some days off from posting, with a vague explanation about upgrading equipment.
I’m now ready to explain that in detail.
I GOT A NEW CHROMEBOOK!!!
Well, not “new,” technically. It’s a refurb. But in my experience, refurbs often turn out to be better than new.
Never mind the technical details – let me share some of the BENEFITS of this new device as compared to my old HP laptop.
- The VERY FIRST THING I did was go to settings and turn off trackpad-tap-to-cliick. Goodbye 5 accidental mouse clicks per sentence I type.
- No more backaches lugging around a nearly 10-pound laptop. The Chromebook weighs about 3 pounds.
- Unlike the old laptop, the Chromebook has a WORKING battery. So I can sit in any seat I want in Memphis Chess Club, not just seats next to a power outlet.
- And that battery lasts 8-11 hours. On nights I don’t spend at the Union Mission, weather permitting, I stay up on a park bench on the Main Street Mall and write. (and some nights I see The Ratter!)
- The mouse pointer doesn’t randomly jump around from place to place.
In short, this little Chromebook has affected my quality of life in SUCH a positive way!
You know, as a homeless person, I’m not supposed to be happy. But I AM. Against all odds.
Sure, there are times when I’m TEMPORARILY unhappy. Like when I stay out at night and torrential rain hits at 3:30 AM. Like when the guest preacher at Mission chapel takes 70 minutes to deliver a message that could have been finished in 3 minutes.
But overall, I am happy.
I refuse to be like so many of the Mission’s clients and sit in that f-ing building all damn day long and bum cigarettes and wear a hoodie over my head when it’s 95 degrees out.
I’m happy living in the real world.
And I’ve drawn considerably closer to God/The Universe/All That Is since becoming homeless.
A lot of the credit for that goes to my fellow writers on Medium. There are some fabulous spiritual writers on that platform, people who get it that humankind is undergoing an awakening.
The fact that I’m living in the time of that awakening is one of the reasons I’m happy.
I’ve got my Chromebook and I’ve got my jorts and I’ve got my Medium subscription. It’s gonna be a fabulous summer.
That’s as much as my Parkinson’s-affected hands can stand to type at the moment. But I may post a Part 2 to this in a week or two.
Back Wednesday around 1 PM with the daily news.
I gratefully accept tips:
Venmo: @Paul-Ryburn (8113 if it asks for digits)
Cash App: $PaulRyburn1
Zelle: paul@paulryburn.com
Apple Pay: paul.ryburn@gmail.com