And So It Begins...

So, the holiday season is off and running...

I'm not a "Black Friday" person at all.  Never have been.  I'm a terrible holiday shopper.  I'm the type who can never figure out what to get people, and when I do decide, I just want to buy the @#$&%! thing and get out of the store.  I'm not a good bargain hunter.

Besides, aren't the holidays supposed to be about family, friends, good feelings, those sorts of things?  Just sort of saying...

I've been doing my hobby switching again.  Cleaned and inked fountain pens, and have been toting my favorite Montblanc 149 about with me.  (It's a 1980s model, with a medium nib that would count as a broad from any other company.  It's a pen that very obviously saw considerable use before it ever came to me, which is why I like it so much.  This was obviously someone's day-to-day working companion, which means to my mind that it's a good pen.)

Actually pulled out a truly offbeat pen, a Visconti Cosmopolitan.  It's a sort of hybrid model that I believe was made up for the gentleman dealer I bought it from.  It's a huge pen, and I for some reason had it fitted with a truly huge stub nib (think writing with a paint brush).  I cleaned it and switched ink, and the thing behaves so much better as a writer.  I was impressed.

However, I did get dragged back to my oddball laptops.  I've been sticking pretty close to the Power/Macbooks, as I just haven't been in the mood to put up with WinQuirks.  However, I just got a new battery for the ToughBook in, and decided to give it a whirl.  The system is still behaving somewhat oddly, booting slightly slower than I think it should.  (The ThinkPads seem to fly by comparison.  And, yeah, I am used to my MacBooks, which boot almost instantaneously by comparison.)  Oh well...

So far, I'm writing this on the Toughbook (as the new battery finishes charging), and all seems well.  Not sure I'm in the mood to play with the system later on to test it.

Had the fun of doing some research for the local historical society.  May end up going back to the courthouse Monday to read old court cases.  If I thought the laptop was working well, I'd tote it along to write up a nice report for the folks...

Oh well...  The holidays are starting.  Obviously, being focused is not exactly a high priority right now...