The day has arrived!!

So today is the first of September, a time of new starts, the arrival of a new season. 
And today was a day I have been waiting for, for a long time, seems like years but is probably only months that I have finally been able to replace my old man, no not my husband, but my outdated, tired laptop.  I dont have a lot of gadgets, so I am very excited to have my new toy!  But it means so much more than a toy,

1. Increased productivity - instead of spending hours waiting for things to load, pages to change, I will actually feel like Im getting stuff done and will be able to achieve more.  This also works well alongside 'back to school'  and being child-free for the first time, almost ever! 

2. Chance to keep in touch1 - this comes in two ways, I once again have mobile internet, which means more time to chat and email with people, instead of being tied to a desk!!  Also now I can skype, my old man had given up the camera and microphone so that was a no-no.

Chance to keep in touch2 - my husband who is currently working away at another part of Portugal will be able to see the children and they can talk to him 'face to face' - very important.

3. Reduced phone bills due to the renewed ability to skype call

4.  Income potential - new computer means more avenues and possibilites to make money,

It may not seem much to some people or some people may think Im putting too much on a new computer but for as much as we rely on our 'gadgets', now they are our lifelines for keeping in touch, making money and new business and networking more and more.  Also for me being an expat in a non-english speaking country, I rely on it that much more.  And lastly as a remote worker, it is essential for my work with Tots.

Frustration of technology

I have had one of those weeks where I have felt like I have got nothing done, I end the day feeling like I am not producing everything, yet spend hours 'doing' stuff.  Today, I realised the reason for that feeling of 'unproductivity' was my computer.  Technology is wonderful when it works, but when it doesnt or is not doing what you want it can be the most frustrating thing and wears you out fighting with it.  That's what I feel like this week, like I am battling with my computer to get anything done and everything feels like a chore, even blogging! 

It is not really my computer's fault, my laptop is an old man, he is nearly 5, yes five years old, which as you know in laptop terms is very old and in the last two years has been used for thousands of hours of job searching, chatting, networking etc. He is just getting too tired, but at the moment I dont have the means to replace him and hope he will last until that time, which I hope to be very soon.  This week he has slowed down a lot and countless times overheats and switches off, (the hot weather not helping) only to take another 5-10minutes to start again once cooled, half an hour lost everytime this happens. Simple tasks take ages or get cut off midflow.  Loading webpages can take from 2 - 5 minutes, think about how any webpages you load in a day, all this becomes tiring and very frustrating.  Leaving me feeling like I am making no progress, I am but it is extremely slow.

I hope this week may be better, but Im prepared to be slow