Like I Was Saying...
Shipstation lets you choose your weapon: Mac or PC?
Even with very little experience, I opted for the Mac.
Up until that point, my only experience with Apple was on their iOS systems. It began when Lucy gifted me the iPod Touch for Valentine’s Day shortly after its release. Then came various iPhones starting with the 3GS. That’s when I started loving Apple’s simplicity and plug and play.
Look, I am not a hardware guy. I don’t tinker with computers. I tried building a PC once, back in the day, and the process never took. After a while, I was left with a hunk of metal with wires hanging out and no way access to my information. I’d say it was a waste of money, but that unfinished tower was a testament to my loathing for PCs.
I did try again. I bought a refurbished Dell laptop with Windows 10 preinstalled a few years back. It ran like a dream for a few weeks before slowing down to an unbearable crawl every time I tried to open program. Incidentally, the problem started happening after the return period.
Frustrated, I put the Dell aside and did everything on my work Mac. The Dell collected dust in my study for weeks. It even disappeared for a while, shoved into some box, before I decided to unearth it again and give it the old college try.
I binged watched as many YouTube videos as I could find about reinstalling Windows. Some videos I watched several times before attempting any task to get it to work. I followed each instruction to “t.” It took days before I got everything right and when all came back, my Dell worked like a dream for about a day and started trudging again. I gave up on it and permanently lent the laptop to Jerry, who does love to tinker and Linux.
When I found out my days at Shipstation were numbered, I knew I’d need another Laptop or CPU. Lucy agreed.
I did my research and found Apple just released a new laptop with a new chipset.
I could’ve gone for a cheaper option either another brand or a cheaper laptop. I didn’t need a MacBook Pro, but I knew in my heart of hearts, I’d hate the machine. I knew it would suffer the same fate as that hollowed out metal tower or my Dell. It had to be Mac.
My proudest moment wasn’t when I bought the Mac and the charged cleared.
I suffer from a bad case of Buyer’s Remorse. I don’t know if Buyer’s Remorse is a psychosis, but since everything is a psychosis these days, it has to be. It’s paralyzing.
Anything over a hundred bucks and I start thinking of my reason for being. I start sweating bullets, my heart beats out of my chest, I get dizzy.
And Mac’s ain’t cheap.
I fall into this rabbit hole of *what if’s*. What if I made the wrong purchase, what if Lucy or Marcos need emergency surgery? Or one of the dogs need to go to the vet?
Worse, this time, I need to find a new job and soon.
Every step out of the store, I thought about doing an about-face and returning it.
I halfway considered having Lucy or Marcos keeping the car running when I walked out of the store. I run out of the store shouting “go go go.”
Lucy said she would wrap the Mac for Christmas, so I could open it on Christmas. Since we’re in a marriage, Lucy’s gift was letting me buy an expensive laptop. All big-ticket items go through deliberation with us. She had a plan to get the laptop for cheaper through Apple’s website, but I wouldn’t get till late January, and well, I needed it sooner. Again, she readily agreed.
Still, it was odd. I was going to open a gift I had bought for myself?
I thought it was silly, but opening the laptop worked for me. It was a gift from my wife and me to myself. That changed it for me. The Buyer’s remorse dissipated.
It’s safe to say my new Mac is here to stay and I can cross it off my list.
But I’m still eying the calendar, but thank God I’m cheap because damned if paying that restocking fee.