Congress withdraws SOPA, PIPA anti-piracy measures

current mood: optimistic

Two interesting things this week.

On Wednesday at the mall I was walking behind two women. They were holding hands and just generally being affectionate.  I was delighted. Despite this being a smallish conservative town (in Idaho, no less) they felt comfortable being affectionate with each other in public.

Then yesterday the 14 year old daughter of a friend of mine posted on facebook that she has her first girlfriend.  The argument in my head went about like this:

"pfft- she's had boyfriends."
wtf? She had a boyfriend in fifth grade. (don't know if she's had one since) That hardly counts and even if it does, then what, that means bi instead of gay and who cares anyway, how many people are an absolute zero on the Kinsey scale anyway. I'm not.

"she's only fourteen." 
and?

"she shouldn't even be thinking about that stuff."
Exactly what dream world do I live in anyway.  Of course she's thinking about that stuff. And just because in my mind she will always be a sweet innocent ten year old... yeah whatever. Idiot.

"At least she can't get pregnant."
O.o  What?

Why any of this went on in my head, I have no idea. Ivy has informed me regularly for the last 7+ years that she was going to marry a girl. When she was 3 or so, I had to explain to her that she really couldn't marry her brother and she declared that if she couldn't marry Fox, she wasn't going to marry a boy at all.  She's been expressing her preference towards girls ever since.  And it honestly makes no difference to me.

What I want to know is why my reaction wasn't, "huh, okay."

current mood: confused

I am planning on buying a new computer in the next couple weeks and am seriously in need of advice and opinions.  I have never purchased a laptop before and feel like I have no idea what I am looking at.

My computer geek repairman, says that if I want a laptop that will last and not have problems, I should get a Dell or a Macbook.

My current computer is a 4 year old Dell Dimension E520 and while I have been happy with it, I really DO NOT like Dell as a company and would rather not give them my money or have to deal with them if problems arise.

I wouldn’t mind a Mac, but they really do seem to cost significantly more.

My computer will primarily be used for the internet, word processing, spreadsheets, personal finances and photo management, BUT I also use it to download and watch various television shows and movies since we do not have television. I want to buy something that is going to last me indefinitely; 5+ years.

To be honest I am still perfectly happy with my current computer and am only looking for a laptop/desktop replacement because my computer takes up so bloody much space in my living room, I don’t need it to be especially lightweight or portable, in fact I would prefer it if it were “sturdy.”  I’m budgeting as much as $1500-$1600.

I’ve been looking at the Dell Alienware M17x at the Dell Outlet site.  Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

current mood: confused