On Saturday we traveled an hour south to Austin to buy Angela's new computer. After numerous problems with her Dell laptop, we went with a new Apple Macbook. The neat thing was we just went to the Apple store and left with the computer in about 10 minutes. That was until we checked the receipt. In any event, Austin is a really neat place. It is on the geographic line of coastal plain and rolling hills, so some new homes built outside on the ridges have a fantastic view. We visited an old friend from Tech, Matthew Rehnborg, who is an Austin native. He helped us navigate the back streets to the Apple store as Austin is in the middle of a housing and shopping boom. The area was like Northern Virginia with land to actually expand. After the problems and successes of the Apple store experience we headed back to the Rehnborg's for a family dinner. It was nice to sit down with people again as we have been so isolated in our apartment for the past few weeks. Mr. Rehnborg cooked some great Omaha Steaks which sparked several hours of great conversation. We left late in the evening, but I-35 traffic generally moves well above the speed limit. Our impression of Austin was that it is in starch contrast to Waco. The gigantic University of Texas alone is 2/3 the total population of Waco, plus a very large government structure. The state capitol is in fact taller and seemingly larger that the national capitol in DC, quite fitting for such a prideful state.
Angela's Turn! :-)
So....can I just say that I love Apple Computers! :-) I'm super excited about my new Macbook, but not too impressed with all we had to go through to get it. James and I spent a lot of time picking it out online, and we could have ordered it online, but our credit limit isn't big enough, and to do the whole Bill-Me-Later thing, you have to apply for another credit card. Since that didn't seem like a reasonable offer, we decided to head down to Austin! Every time we told someone in Virginia that we were moving to Waco, they would always pause and say, "Austin's nice." And...that it is! Office Space was filmed there, and Matthew pointed out several places from the film, including the road where they are coming up with their plan, as we were driving on it. It was exciting. The Apple store is in a really nice mall...very NOVA like...and I was even more excited when I walked into the store and gave the salesman my list of requirements, and he said they had it in stock! Ten minutes later, we were walking out the door with my new computer!! But, as we are pulling away, I am looking at the receipt and the computer, and realizing that he didn't get me what I had wanted. It was the right model, but with only half of the RAM, and with the program .MAC instead of iWork. We went back to talk to someone about it, and they told me you couldn't get 1gig of ram on that model, and I would have to get the more expensive model. I was like, I can order it online with that option, and with iWork installed, which they couldn't do there. So, we decided we would return it all, and have it put on a gift card, so we could order it online. But, when the salesperson returned it, he ended up returning it straight to my debit card, instead of a giftcard. I was getting kind of frustrated, so the manager came out. He said they could in fact install the 1gig of RAM on that computer while I was there, and get me iWork for the same price as it was online so we could leave with the computer right then. We redo the purchase, but because the returns do not post right away, my card wouldn't go through, because there weren't enough funds. I was getting kind of frustrated, because they were the ones that screwed up to begin with, and the money is there, they just messed up. I ended up being able to write a check that they weren't going to post until Monday, so it would go through. But....I have my computer! :-D And the trip was definitely worth it solely for the time we spent with Matthew's family! They are soooooo sweet, and I enjoyed talking to them soooo much. It made me feel like we were back home again! :-) It’s so good to be around Hokies, and we learned a lot about both Texas and Waco. I hope we get a chance to see them again soon. And if you are ever in Texas, you have to eat some Bluebell ice cream!! Thanks to the Rehnborg’s, we are believers! :-)
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
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