My love/ hate relationship

Most people have something in life they adore and despise at the same time -- the puppy that make you get up at 3 am but is adorably cute, the friend who is totally needy but a great time at parties, the boyfriend you know is wrong for you but you just can't stop thinking about... the classic love/ hate relationship.

I have one of those, and in true Erin is a nerd style it is not with a person, or a pet, or anything remotely normal; it is with electronics.

I realized the other day that if my purse is ever stolen I am in a lot of trouble, and not just because of my wallet and checkbook. At any given moment I have oh, about $800 of electronics in my purse. Between the digital camera and memory card, the cell phone, the flash drive, and the ipod, I am a purse snatcher's dream. If you looked at my house you might not realize the extent of this particular love affair. In my living room I have a 19' television circa 1987, a cheapo VCR and DVD player, a 4 year old laptop, and a printer from Wal-mart. Pretty standard stuff. But look closer...the laptop is an Apple, your first clue that this is not your average household. The notice all the peripherals for the laptop. This is a techie home, and were it not for financial restrictions it would be an electronics haven to make Steve Jobs weep. Someday.

The hate part comes in when those devices I love so much suddenly, inexplicably, and without so much as a thought for my poor blood pressure, stop working. As happened today with my beloved flash drive, which I have only had for a month. I had a class when it happened, so I had to repress my natural (and profane) reaction when I started getting "device not recognized" and "cannot save: I/O Error" messages on my screen. I have determined though much trial and error that it has, indeed, prematurely passed on from this plane. So sad. Guess I am going back to Target. This is why when I am spending my own money I buy brands like Apple and Toyota. Nothing is perfect, but at least the darn things don't break.

On the plus side, my ipod arrived yesterday. I drove home from Fedex with it in the seat next to me, patting the box at stoplights (no I am not exaggerating). I spent hours last night transferring music. And here I sit, listening to Superchick be a One Girl Revolution as I blatantly procrastinate grading all those papers looking at me accusingly from my desk. This perfect tiny engineering model is definitely in my top 3 purchases ever. Yay for Apple!