Relaxing and Remembering

Dear Mom,

So far, (middle of the afternoon) I'm just vegetating, taking a well-deserved day off. I might even take a nap. I can do that now, since I've started a more regimented sleeping pattern, I'm not so paranoid about sleep. One thing that interfered with being able to take a nap was the light, my eyes just keep snapping open. So now I wear the sleep mask Don bought me a couple of years ago and have managed a couple of really nice naps in the past weeks.

I got your computer packed up and sent yesterday morning. Included was a tower with OS, monitor, keyboard, mouse, UPS, and headset. I can't wait until you get them. You can call me as soon as you get them and we'll talk you through it. Everything's insured, the worst thing that can happen in transit is something will get broken and they'll have to pay us a lot more than we invested in the thing, most of the parts being cheap or free except for the LCD monitor, which was about 1/2 price from the Goodwill Computer Store in Austin. That's including a kick-butt OS with all the bells and whistles, and every time you turn the machine on you can upgrade all the software on the machine with two clicks. None of those upgrades are security patches, there's just no way for viruses to harm your computer with Linux.

It was so nice to talk to you today. I think that now, rather than being intimidated, you're really excited and ready to get started. I'd love to come see you, but at this point, travel is contraindicated, if you catch my drift. If you were in trouble, I'd be there in a minute; travel for fun is not in my financial plans, or practical, from a mom-point-of-view. Turns out the boy forgot to put a couple of things in the boxes and we need to order a gadget for you so we'll be shipping them Express, too.

One thing that's really exciting is the Skype program, essentially free long-distance. If any of the people you normally call (who have high-speed internet) will install it and get an inexpensive headset, you'll be able to talk to them free.

And our family are a bunch of talkers, bigtime. We once timed how long it took us to say goodbye to company. Remember when everyone "walked you out to the car"? We averaged 45 minutes to an hour, more if we knew we wouldn't be seeing them for a long time. And when we got the car doors closed, we held hands and one last hug through the window-and waved them down the street.

I love you,

Lisa