Finis...

I just went down to Harvard Technology Services and bought a Macbook. It was the one with 2 GB of RAM and the 80 GB hard drive, and I also bought the AppleCare plan, its limited coverage notwithstanding, and a mini-DVI to VGA dongle. After much deliberation, even though I'm paying somewhat more for a little less hardware with the Macbook versus the Thinkpad, not having to wait 2 weeks for it and not having to go through the trouble of partitioning the hard drive, installing Linux, and downloading a lot of software just to get the functionality I use most in a computer carried the argument.

Also, I have not decided what to do with the printer that comes with the computer, which came in a discounted bundle deal on some remainders of the previous generation of Intel Macbooks. A cursory glance on eBay suggests that I should be able to recoup at least on the order of $30 by selling it, although having a printer in the apartment may not be a bad thing either.

Now that the computer decision has been made, perhaps I'll actually be able to concentrate on my research. I shudder to think of what I'll put myself through if the day should ever come when I buy a car or a house, although in the case of the latter I would hopefully be married to someone a bit less indecisive than I am.

(no subject)

One of the songs I'm playing with Noteables this semester is "Think of Me" from The Phantom of the Opera. So it was kind of amusing to just now come across this article about mishaps at the Met:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/arts/music/20oper.html?em&ex=1206158400&en=2a879a6e7095ca71&ei=5087%0A