Coming to you from a new laptop, Verve.

My dear 2004 Macintosh iBook's screen permanently went black last week. Apparently this is due to the wire that is located in the hinge of the laptop from harddrive to screen getting worn out (I'm told they've beefed this up). I named the computer Pelusa (spanish for 'fluff' or 'lint'--named after a cat I met in Nicaragua the summer before I got my lappy), and she's been a trusty, daily help for >4 yrs. I took her to school every day with me and took notes in class for 8 hrs/day, opening and closing the screen every hour as we had a short break. I video-chatted with Ben back home while we had a long-distance relationship. I brought her to my dance classes as my music player, and I dropped her at least once a year. She stood up to my rough, demanding schedule very very well, I think.
I had her jerry-rigged to a desktop monitor so that I'd still be able to check email, etc this past week.
(that's her in the background, jerry rigged)
But NOW...duhn duhn duhn...I have a brand new 2009 MacBook! (Thank you Dad & Kate!! This is an amazing, amazing, well appreciated gesture!) I have just finished transferring all my files today, and am using it 'for real' for the first time. My music and pictures which were previously on 2 separate external hard drives) now fit compactly on this laptop (we actually exchanged one of the external harddrives which was very large for the workings of this laptop--thanks Ben!). I have a built-in iSight for skyping and ichatting. It's a bit smaller and definitely slimmer and lighter than my iBook. It's way fast. The screen is perfect--no dings yet! All cool features.
I have decided to name this new device Verve. Kind of in celebration/anticipation of the good things to come, and the energy I aim to keep in creating a good life for myself.
I will miss the old stickers I had on Pelusa.

I never remember why I put the "I luv your smile" sticker there, but the bellydancer is self-evident, and I thought the "sometimes it's nice to stop and think" sticker that I got in Japan was silly and made allusions to my nerdy side. The bottle cats and dressed up cats...well...that's just me.






I saw this clever sticker, but it's not quite me:


I'm sure I'll find the right sticker(s) soon enough.

Thank you, Pelusa, for many years of good use. Welcome, Verve!