Technology Woes

As I mentioned, last week I purchased an iPhone. Oh, I was so excited...until I got home and discovered that the iPhone does not work with Mac OS X 10.3, which is what I have. Yes, 10.4 has been out for nearly 3 years, but I have just not needed any of the additional cool features it offers until now. And of course, "now" is less than a month before 10.5 is released (we think), and my local geek at the store is fairly convinced there will not be a reduced cost upgrade for us late purchasers.

And in the mean time, I have a PowerBook G4, and supposedly iLife 08 has some features that are not supported on a G4, only on a G5. And I only have 512 MB RAM, so just as I was about to upgrade that, I discover that the darn machine is obsolete anyway.

Grrrr. Add to that my husband's extreme lack of enthusiasm for spending money, and I find myself in a quandry. BUT: David has finally agreed to find me some money for a technology upgrade. BUT it's not, of course, as much as I'd need for a complete replacement.

SO, now the questions are:

1) Do I buy now, or just wait a few more weeks until 10.5 is released. (I think I'll wait; it seems silly to buy now if there is no upgrade discount, and "only a couple hundred" is still too much for a student mom with 3 small kids.)

2) What do I buy? I want to do a lot with video and photos and DVDs. The MacBooks, being the cheaper laptops, don't have great video. The PowerBooks cost too much. So do I get a regular iMac, which is a desktop machine, but costs around the same as a MacBook but with more power? And do I then keep my old PowerBook for when I'm out and about (using mostly Word but sometimes my Hebrew processor), or do I just suck it up and use the PC Laptop that's languishing in the closet?

3) And until I make a purchase, what the heck do I do about the iPhone? I could activate the phone technology by logging on from the PC (how's that for irony?), but I'm not sure I can get my Addresses and Calendar transfered over, which is a big part of why I wanted the iPhone - my PalmPilot is dying.

So that's my Technology Woes.

In other news:

Yesterday I drove out to Longmeadow MA for my cousin J's baby shower. She's not at all religious, and her husband is Irish Catholic, so that explains how I have a cousin having a baby shower (Jewish mamas generally don't). It was a lovely event, on the front lawn at her friend's house. There were flowers everywhere (the baby will have 2 flowery names, and my cousin's middle name is also a flowery name). She got tons of baby-loot; I seem to have been the only person who gave something just for J & J (I gave some money for going to see a movie, plus a DVD I made of their wedding reception and her dad & new stepmom's ceremony). My mother and sister were there, along with my new aunt and another family friend from Vermont. Very nice event.

But very long drive for me, over 90 minutes each way. I was soooo tired. Easy drive, mostly on the Mass Pike, but I had to stop for coffee both times.

A little rest at home (where apparently my husband and children had done nothing much all day), a quick dinner (which of course I had to make), and then we had to drive Sammy out to his friend's house in Lincoln for a Sukkah sleep-over. The mom, who teaches at the school, had invited the entire 3rd grade to sleep over (which is traditional in Israel and other warm climates, but fairly unusual in Massachusetts!). The kids had a blast. And since were were in that area, we stopped to visit with some other friends, so Micah could have a playdate with their son and we could see them (and Sofia was sound asleep on the couch the entire time).

Today, we were up bright and early to head off to Newton for soccer. It's fun, because there are a lot of MWJDS families this year, plus we have friends who go to Schecter (where the games are). We were all cheering and laughing at how little kids "play" soccer. (Another dad picked up Sam and his friend from the Sukkah party and brought them to Newton in time for their game).

Fly out of there at noon to drop Sam off at a birthday party (and Micah is invited to the younger brother's party next week). Then the 4 of us had a quick lunch, and then into the Mall to check out the Macs. Fortunately, this time I cornerd one of the really knowledgeable geeks. But we didn't buy yet, because I have to investigate - and fortunately so, since when I got home I realized I'm eligible for a student discount, too!

Picked up Sam, came home for about 90 minutes, got Sam showered, and then we were off again to our friend's house for dinner in their sukkah (and they are coming to us tomorrow). Then home, wash Micah and Sofia, and now they are all IN BED! Yeah.

Oh, so now I have about 18 pages of Hebrew homework, so ta-ta!