Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

I researched, then I did it.

I bought this.

An older flat panel Imac. I always buy things several years out, as that's when they finally become affordable. So what I'm perpetually 5 years behind the times!

It's a G4, 700 MHz, 40 gig hard drive, 512 mgs ram, with a cdrw drive, comes with keyboard, mouse and OS 9.2 and 10.3 preloaded (not all used ones do), as well as Appleworks 6. And a 30-day warranty. (I NEVER buy any used computer stuff without some kind of warranty.)

Found on ebay, including shipping for $359.97. Should be here sometime next week.

I've been in love with the shape of these, ever since they came out. Jobs said he was inspired by sunflowers, so it figures I'd be drawn to it - love flowers!

It should keep me working for another 5-6 years, as the screen hinge on this 'ole Wallstreet is loosening up. I've had the Wallstreet since '02, bought used, of course, as it was made in '98. Long ago did the pot metal hinge crap out and not stay upright. It was sent out and replaced once and crapped out 9-10 months after that.

I've been keeping it upright with a slim metal book end propped under one side of it, leaving me access to the ethernet port. But now the screen hinge is twisting, so I needed a replacement before I was left in the lurch. This model can boot into 9 and X, the later models can't boot into 9.

In my googling, I came upon this. Now, naturally, as a longtime lover and user of Macs, I beg to differ on the title, but what a cool use of an old mac no longer in service!

On pair #14 of CIC socks, in doubled Peace Fleece, pretty lavender heather. Redid the neck of that sweater mentioned yesterday and am working on the single crochet button bands. Will try to get working on that Donegal Tweed pullover pattern today. That thing's been done for months!

Lenses. There's a new toric soft lens out by Acuvue, so I called the ophthalmologist to see if he would be willing to get a trial set of lenses to try out on me - we tried 4 or 5 different brands and prescriptions after the retina surgery - none of which worked.

So, he'll call when they're in. I saw the optometrist for a testing a trial fitting of gas perm lenses, which are VERY different in feel from soft lenses. It sharpened everything up wonderfully, BUT, I couldn't read with them. Couldn't focus on print. This is unacceptable. He said that the dime store reading glasses would fix that. Errr, I think he should have them there in his office, so that I could know BEFORE plopping down the big bucks for contacts, whether or not these reading glasses will actually work with the lenses. Nothing like buying something without knowing if it'll work or not.

Between that and our scheduling difficulties, I haven't been to see him since last April or May. I've seen the retina surgeon for a checkup and all is fine, tho he said the schmootz in the left eye (from its vitreous separating from the retina) could take up to a year to go away. This will make it hard to read all those charts they shove in front of you. But the ophthalmologist is nice and patient.

I DO hope this new soft lens will work. I checked online and it goes up to -12 diopters, if I remember correctly. I'm at -8. My *good* eye (hahaha) is -2. I'm not looking for miracles, I don't want to drive, I don't need to see signs 2 streets away, I just want to be able to focus and read as well as I could before.

Onward