In the Parlance of Our Times

Over at TechNOcool, James writes about the urge to pick up a $200 computer at Wal-mart. While a $200 linux-based machine doesn't do it for me, I do understand his feelings. I have my own technology longing at the moment: to own one of the so-called $100 laptops created by the One Laptop Per Child project.

If I don't control myself in the next few weeks, one of these babies could end up on my doorstep by Christmas. Beginning November 12, and for just two weeks, we will all have the opportunity to spend $400 to donate one of these laptops to a developing country and at the same time receive one for ourselves, by way of the Give 1 Get 1 promotion.

The donate part you can do at any time, for $200. But for two weeks only you can pay an additional $200 to donate one of these to yourself.

I'm unreasonably attracted to this. I know that I'll probably never use the laptop, but I want one. Bad. It would just be cool to have.

I'm going to control myself, though. It's like the time in 1988 that Michael and I went shopping for a cassette deck for the Escort. We'd been in the country for a year, and had made a lot of purchases in that time - some a necessary part of relocating, some not so necessary. We were about to close the deal on the cassette deck when we were struck by the feeling that the spending was never going to stop. We needed to NOT buy something we wanted - really wanted - to prove to ourselves we could do it. So we walked out of the store, and for the 13 years we owned that car we never bought a cassette deck for it.

I can do this. I can NOT buy this laptop. Just watch.