Category Archives: retail therapy

sexy beast

15 Sunday Apr 2007

Posted by in computers, home, life stuff, retail therapy

≈ 18 Comments

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Here she is … in all her undented glory!

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Unfortunately my eensy IKEA table doesn’t do her justice. But it makes it easy to keep the old desktop PC at hand and also to use a normal keyboard and mouse when I’m working. And of course, I can use her anywhere in the house at other times. I’m really glad the coin-flip turned out the way it did. Sure it was a bit of a hassle to wipe out all the programmes I’d installed, go back to the store and do the exchange and then reinstall everthing from scratch again.

On the other hand, there is a real pleasure having something so beautifully designed looking as it should.

And it does seem like this ‘spontaneous purchase’ happened at a good time as the ol’ Jag is acting weirder and weirder.

So let’s hope it’s an all’s well that ends well sorta thang . . .

fnac in sevilla

08 Sunday Apr 2007

Posted by in books & writing, culture, films, media, music, retail therapy, sevilla

≈ 5 Comments

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Quite looking forward to this . . . I think.

A Virgin-megastore type place that is opening here in May, about a five-minute walk from where I live. I’m hoping that it will have a good English book section. And I’m curious as to how it will change the face of the already very muched changed Avenida de la Constitución, which is in the process of ‘going pedestrian’ with the exception of a new state-of-the-art tramline. I’m also curious as to whether it will fare any better than the Virgin store that opened and closed here within about five years.

I don’t have any recent photos of the Avenida, but found quite a lovely one over here taken just after Christmas. The change is quite amazing, quite minimalist compared to how it was before, which will take a bit of getting used to. But I think the overall effect is a real improvement.

Looking at the photo, the Fnac store will be on the right not far up from that ‘wedding cake’ building and so far it looks like the building is being redone quite tastefully; hopefully no huge gaudy plastic signs will be installed between now and May 4th. The Avenida has already been despoiled by the presence of two Starbucks, only a couple of blocks from each other – I just noticed the newer and bigger one the other day. Why???

Anyhow, we shall see. I think that once the trams start running the Avenida is going to become a much more popular & pleasant place for people to stroll and shop. But it would be a shame if it ended up losing its very special Sevilliano ‘ambientation’.

new laptop

31 Saturday Mar 2007

Posted by in computers, home, life stuff, retail therapy

≈ 20 Comments

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It’s very sexy, but should I get it?

I’ve been thinking about getting a laptop for some time now, even though it isn’t entirely necessary as my desktop PC is still running okay (though it does growl and get cranky from time to time). And then today I came across this Toshiba Satellite P100-233 on special offer for 999 euros. In another shop it was 1899 euros.

The main differences between the two were that the more expensive one had more memory (120 whatsits) than the other one (80), and it had Windows Vista Premium while the cheaper one had Windows XP Media Centre (Vista compatible). Both had the same ‘chassis’ – a 17″ widescreen and a very attractive metallic orange lid.

Any advice? I personally can’t see that a bit more memory and a brand new Windows operating system still probably full of bugs is worth spending almost twice as much for. In fact, I wouldn’t even consider it at the higher price. And actually, I only started seriously considering the 999€ laptop after I saw the other one – I reckoned that if I could get pretty much the same thing for almost half-price then I’d be getting quite a good deal.

Oh, the other thing is that I really can’t afford this (then again, that’s what credit cards are for, aren’t they?). Nor do I really need it at the moment. Though I do think it’s only a matter of time before my desktop starts doing seriously weird stuff rather than just annoyingly weird stuff and I’d like to be prepared for that. Also, I would quite enjoy the freedom of movement a laptop allows you … plus I’m sure Nog would appreciate me not hogging his all the time. 😉

So what should I do?

new ikea sofa

04 Sunday Mar 2007

Posted by in life stuff, retail therapy

≈ 22 Comments

Our possible new sofa bed thingy.

We’ll be checking it out tomorrow morning. With a storage drawer option that fits underneath it (for blankets, bedding, etc).

Really quite excited about finally getting a new sofa, since my dear departed Lua totally ripped the old one to smithereens so that it is now just shreds of upholstery barely holding in the stuffing (cleverly hidden under cotton throw). And although I’m not really pleased about the new sofa not having any arms, I think the advantage of having a futon-like sofa bed with storage space at a very reasonable price (about 250€) makes up for that.

So now gearing up for that Total IKEA Experience … and seriously not looking forward to it. In part because I almost never make it through the kitchen section without buying loads of stuff I never knew I needed, but mostly because IKEA stores are not at all user-friendly for people who don’t own cars. And that half the time you go there for something specific it’s out of stock. So, fingers crossed …