Dell wins, so far.

Just about everything is going well, I think. I just finished my first couple days of Adventure Ed. It’s been mostly paperwork, surveys and such, but I’ve had the chance to see some of the kids and teachers and get a feeling for what kind of groups these are gonna be. I really like the idea of this program, hopefully it’ll go as well as I think it can.

Nibbler is running great (and quiet!) thanks to all the new Dell parts. It’s basically a whole new computer… the LCD, processor, keyboard (which i should probably replace, since a few keys aren’t quite right) and some of the case pieces are still original, and that’s about it. It was about $900-1000 worth of parts, according to the lists that came with the parts and the orders that showed up on my Dell account. Pretty good birthday present from Dell, I’d say. Oh, and DHL came a few hours after I called to pick up all the returning parts.

Got a care package from Mom the other day. It had some clothes I left behind, a harmonica that was supposed to be in my xmas stocking, my Super Scrabble board game, some of her famous blond brownies (which have gone over well, here) and a cute card with a check in it. Thanks, Mom.

I get the feeling that there’s something planned by Sarah and the family for Sunday, which is probably birthday related. Anybody else who is feeling generous can still check out the lists (extreme, not-so-extreme). Only few shopping days left! Apple gift cards are also still a great idea, because even though the Dell is working well, Sarah’s iBook was pronounced terminally ill by the Apple store. Only a logic board transplant would save it, and the problem is a genetic defect with the whole line, so the fix is not a good guarantee against a relapse. And there’s no guy named Neil working for Apple offering to send us free parts to fix it ourselves, instead, the Apple store would charge us $300+ and recommends a new machine instead, since the coverage would only be 90 days after that job. So, I’m still considering a Macbook Pro, for us, now, when OS X 10.5 comes out.