While Lizzie is off at her day-long class and Drew has been napping, I've been busy. First, I took out the new Moleskine again, and with the help of Elizabeth's lap board and my office chair and about 2 hours of uninterrupted solitude (yay for long naps for 11-month-olds!), I've been able to draft out seven pages (I count the front of one sheet as one page, the back as another) longhand for chapter 11 of Sixteen Miles.

I'm loving the Moleskine again!

Sigh. I am such a geek.

But the storyline's picking up nicely, and now that I've gotten used to writing on a flat surface, the Moleskine is quite lovely to use. (I'm just waiting for that foggy walk, Greg -- I've got my outline tucked into the back pocket).

Geek, I tell you. A writing geek.

I'm also turning into a computer geek, but for Apple computers. Before she left for class today, Elizabeth mentioned that the video camera we're thinking about getting (thanks to my "Meet the Madfeet" money!) probably won't be compatible with our ancient Gateway system we got in April '99, the same desktop that is still running Windows 98, which nobody makes stuff for anymore. This computer is a pooch, and it likes to end the day with the fabled Blue Screen of Death (at which point I just turn the damn thing off).

So, I found the iMac G5. Oh lordy, I'd love to get a new system as shiny as this one, after years of suffering with my wheezing old heap. And I'm tired of Windows crashing on me.

I've just started reading reviews, and really, the only concern I have is getting our Quicken files to move over from Windows to the Apple operating system, and then just getting all the odds and ends off the Gatway's puny 6 GB hard drive (the CD burner stopped working a year ago, and this version of Win 98 doesn't take memory keys!).

I think if we finance the system, we can afford it. Of course, I threw in an iPod and a photo printer as well...

Now I'm wondering -- do I do the 20-inch or 17-inch monitor? The 30 GB iPod or the 60 GB? 1.5 GB SDRAM right off the bat? A 500 GB hard drive? A wireless mouse and keyboard? And how will all this work with a cable modem??? Any input would be appreciated!

After we go to the ArtWalk in Durham, we'll be heading to the Apple Store. Yikes... Later!