buying a new computer is like buying a baby - i mean way more legal than just picking up a toddler at the apple store, but i feel that there was some comparable planning that must take place. take for instance that i needed a new surge protector - one with some sort of guarantee that when there is a sudden change in cabin pressure and my electronic circuits go haywire, they will reimburse me for all my computers etc that were damaged..up to $75,000 - which is a bit overkill, i’m not plugging my car in at night. so i need the surge protector before i bring mac home. it’s slightly akin to needing the car seat for a baby, but with a stop at home depot instead of the fire station for installation.

i go to the home depot by the office, which would not have occurred to me but my friend from work needed a surge protector today too - strange, so we were comparing notes. i walk in the door and my iphone - i suspect - sets off the security alarms. there are no less than 5 home depot employees standing near the entrance waiting for customers. similar to taxi stands at airports and commission sales teams at furniture stores. i’m wisked trough the doors by one of them assuring me not to worry about the alarm. he asked what i need - surge protector for a computer. he calls over the oldest by far of all the employees and asks him to help me find surge protectors. it’s as if he drew the short straw since i wasn’t looking for anything cool like a john deere mower or ply wood. From the look on this old guys face, you would have thought i said - please take me to the aisle where i feed you to the alligators. he had no idea what a surge protector was - a better idea when i said power strip - but he carefully took about 4 steps in the direction of electronics and wisely foisted me off on the first young orange vested associate he saw. luckily that employee actually looked like he may have turned a computer on before and i was out of there in minutes.

after work i went to the mall to pick up mac. i was so bummed last night when i had to leave it at the store so they could install some software! i was all ready to trade up to the next size hard drive which the salesperson - (or what are they called there - drew barrymore’s next x-boyfriend?) - even cautioned that i shouldn’t, then he said it was a custom order and it would take a week for delivery. unacceptable! i’ve only waited 37 years to buy a computer...another week is far out of question.

when i first walked into the apple store after an unwise choice of panda express in the food court - wise however so i wouldn’t get hungry and start melting down mid-purchase, but unwise as it had to have the nutritional value of cardboard... the apple sales person originally seemed dodgy and not really one of those eye contact making people, troubled, possibly toking it up in the back room. And then he got in the zone talking about backing up your computer on an external hardrive and then backing that up on the apple server..yada yada. but i learned so much and figured out many more questions to ask from his insightful ramblings. i also learned he thinks st. louis is the most dangerous city he’s every lived in, and he lived in detroit, and his girlfriend has been away for a month so he’s not sure if it’s - absence makes the heart grow fonder or out of site out of mind. And in all of that somewhere i bought a computer. my first one. ever. exciting. i’m typing on it right now! And according to Di November is write...and possibly finish a novel month, so who knows where mac will take me.

since i only have a work computer now it’s not like i can just leave my current laptop and have them transfer files. so i was grilling the person helping me tonight about moving my iTunes. he had to call in reinforcements for some of my questions. the best was the reinforcement had a trainee who obviously was still learning not to look shocked at my dumb questions or to laugh when i say things like - seriously - is this really idiot proof - should i just wait and make an appointment? after much reassurance and the slight (or greater) chance i’m going to wipe my iPod out synching it with my new iTunes i left the store feeling a part of something bigger than that little apple store at STL that does a gajillion dollars a square foot. i am staci....and i’m a mac.

stayed tuned for the next installment where the topic surely will be -- the “fun” “mysterious exploration” of my new computer becomes me wanting to throw it out the window.