Excitement of Shiny Things

When I see shiny things, I get excited. I just love them – especially if they are both sleek and usable. I am typing to you from a google chrome book, which is shiny, sleek and usable. I hesitated to disclose my weakness for shiny things, and hence my disappointment with the chrome book, because any normal, logical person who doesn’t allow a glossy cover to distract them from functionality, would scorn at my preventable mishap.

The fiasco all started when Chris and I were debating about what electronic devices to bring on our four month trip to South America. Anyone that knows us, realizes that when I say ‘debate’ I really mean argue to no end about the different vision each of us has. Here is where we each stood:

Chris – “We’re going to try and get into the jungles, ride on buses, backpack into remote areas. We each should have the smallest, portable device capable of having internet.”

Tiff – “No way! I am a budding writer, aspiring professional blogger – have I told you I am only about 100 page views away before I can apply to become a member of ‘The Professional Blogging Association?’ I need something I can type on and continue blogging. End of story!”

So began, in a way, months of research into what devices we would invest in. We had months before our trip, but in reality it felt more like days. Leading up to the trip we were still closing up the Inn, and despite the best efforts of time management practices, it was still really busy taking care of our customers till the very end. So as far as I’m concerned, those months didn’t count.

Then, throw in the curve ball of waiting to possibly scoring Black Friday Deals, and we were almost paralyzed on being able to make any purchasing decisions. Those of you that don’t know, Black Friday is the day after American Thanksgiving and lots of stores have big mark down deals on specific items. People gorge on Thanksgiving turkey, then go and basically camp out waiting in line from about 2am to the store they think will have the best deal for the items they want.

We went into Best Buys and Staples and tried out all different kinds of ipads, notebooks, kindles, you name it, we picked it up, used it and tried to imagine stuffing it in and out of our backpack. In the event of the worst case scenario, we wanted the least expensive items that would do the trick. Every time in the store Chris would find me typing away on the google chrome book. It was sleek, it was shiny and I liked it. I talked to the sales clerk, “Oh yeah, good for internet, good for photos, can’t beat the price.”

Days went on and there was no talking me out of it. I was set on the google chrome book.

So, here I am in Lima, Peru, with my pretty shiny, google chrome book and realizing that this piece of equipment functions nothing like my other acer products. I know, I know, all you tech savvy folks are slapping your heads saying, ‘Duh! What was she thinking getting the google chrome book to function like the other acer books and laptops?’

I have three words for you, “It was shiny.”

The lay out of the chrome book is so different and I have spent so much time just reading the instructions. At certain points I have just clicked and clicked adding in different apps just to see if that might help me get a tiny bit closer to attaining my functionality goals. None the less, after much self pity, two mini break downs, hours cursing and trying for the life of me to get the cursor to ‘right click’ (it doesn’t), by trial and error I figured out an app that works to allow me to access my photos to a bare minimum standard.

In not the way I imagined, here is our first “We Made it to Peru!” post. Do I wish I had more photos ready to go for the lay out of this post? Oh my gosh, if you only knew my disappointment and frustration I have in my self. Am I happy to have at least got the photos below? The high of figuring out how to get these photos almost, almost, quells the low of realizing I just landed in a foreign country with a laptop-thing that functions nothing like I thought and I have no idea how to use it.

Times like this I write the quote, “If you are not failing you’re probably not trying” and post it around my room to help me feel better. When, after hours of trying I still can’t figure out how to ‘right click,’ the quote doesn’t really help me feel any better. In my head I think over and over again, “And I thought this was a good idea because?”

None the less, there is nothing to do but move forward and hope for the best. So, we have landed in Peru and are off for a twenty hour bus ride to Cusco. Next update will be from the mountains of the Andes from this light weight, nice typing, sleek and shiny chrome book.