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For about a dozen years now I've dragged around a Windows laptop, starting with a '486 Thinkpad running Windows 3.1. I'm switching to a MacBook Pro as soon as the new hardware arrives.

Don't get all heated up, Mac users; I am not joining the Church of Jobs. But I need to replace my laptop, and I see no point in continuing with the same set of irritations. It's time for a new set.

Yesterday I was at the American Press Institute, where I led a session in API's "Mediapreneurship" seminar. I thought I'd put some final polish on my Powerpoint slides and tried to fire up my aging Compaq. That led to a series of crashes and eventually to total system stupidity -- it won't even spin up the hard drive or display the ROM self-test.

Fortunately I was at API a few weeks ago and left behind an earlier presentation that was close enough I could make-do, and the session came off pretty well.

Afterward, I limped off to Dulles carrying my useless boat anchor in its shoulder bag, only to find my United flight back to South Carolina postponed, then unceremoniously canceled due to "weather." (No one could explain where this alleged weather was taking place. Not in DC or SC.) By then it was after 10 p.m. I was stranded for the night, which just topped everything off perfectly.

Anyway, the paperwork is in process for the Mac. When it arrives I expect to lose about a week's worth of productivity as I undo various levels of MacGoofiness, symlink the filesystem into a sane Unix-like state, and install the software tools I need.

And I suppose I'll need a dozen turtleneck shirts and some new jeans.