A geeky Mother’s Day present for my wife

To understand why this is kind of a momentous moment in our household one has to understand that for the last 20 some years of my involvement with computers my wife, Kim, hasn’t wanted to touch even a keyboard. We have been together for 14 years this summer and she knew I was a computer geek from day one but it was never something she was interested in.

She has always been a supportive person when it comes to my computer life. From when I was programming and existing on coffee for days on end in order to meet deadlines to now with my career as a blogger. I have been incredibly lucky that way but through it all she has stood firm in her non-interest with computers.

So imagine my surprise a few months ago when she came to me and said she wanted to start using a computer. As I picked up my jaw from the floor she talked about learning more about law and health stuff (she was an HCA in a home for the elderly for years before injuring herself as well as the rest of her health problems).

After thinking on it for awhile I figured the best machine for her would be a laptop. This way she wouldn’t have to be stuck at a desk and would be more inclined to use it if she could do so where she is most comfortable. All that remained was actually buying one for her and getting it all setup.

Tie this in with Mother’s Day and a way to thank her for all her support over the years I picked her up a nice Dell Latitude (D610) and I am just finishing up getting everything installed.

laptop

Yes that is Windows 7 RC and it runs beautifully (no Aero) even on an older laptop.

I also bought her a domain and set her up with a blog (http://www.lifeaccordingtokim.com) as part of the gift. I’m not sure how long it will be before she actually starts posting anything but given that she even has a computer I wouldn’t be surprised by anything she does now.

This is going to be so interesting :)

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2 Comments

  1. Hope she enjoys her present. But let us know if she joins Twitter or anything like that. (I assume you're not going to force her to enjoy the pleasures of the real-time feed on FriendFeed on the first day.)

    My own wife is not a blogger or a tweeter, but there are certain computer things that interest her, and she derives happiness from them. In terms of mobile devices, however, her iPod Touch is much more advanced than my mobile tool of choice. To each his/her own.

    P.S. I obviously don't know Kim, and don't know whether she likes the URL name or not, but since she loves an opinionated husband, I figure that she is probably the type of person who would have opinions herself. If she chooses to share life according to her, I'd like to hear it.

  2. 10/05/09 at 13:04

    Kim is still 'nervous' about using the laptop which is understandable if you know her and her dislike of tech stuff :) As for the Twitter and other social media things I think I'll be waiting until she is more comfortable with using the laptop and has gotten her feet wet with what she wants to do with it – things like Wikipedia, RSS feeds and searching for stuff.

    Whether or not she'll actually blog is still to be seen but knowing her the way I do I expect her to start when the nervousness wears off. She is by nature a private person but I think blogging at least will give her a creative outlet that she is looking for since her health problems have hampered her other ways.

    As for the domain she loved it :)