Reason #492 why I'm a huge nerd: Due in large part to my ailing iBook G4, I took the plunge Saturday and got a new MacBook. I had carefully considered getting a smaller netbook, but after considerable research into netbooks (and Linux, naturally), I ended up deciding I still wanted a full-sized keyboard to go along with my laptop. I also wanted it to be fully functional so I could do website work and other projects with just as much ease as with my iMac. (This had nothing to do with Linux, and everything to do with the size of the screen.)

I'm thrilled with my new MacBook, and am finding it extremely powerful and an incredible asset creatively, especially with its snazzy new touchpad that can zoom, rotate, and navigate like I never imagined any trackpad ever could.

I brought El MacBook with me yesterday to work on a project for school.

Fellow Graduate Student L: Wow, nice computer! Phil: You're making me blush. FGS-L: It's so nice. Aren't you afraid even to touch it? Phil: Girl, are you kidding? I can barely keep my hands off it.

Those may or may not have been the actual words out of my mouth. The point is that this nerd love is the complete opposite of being afraid to touch it. Rather, I want to completely neglect everything I need to be doing in favor of finding out just how much this beast is capable of. Seriously.