My Own Personal Monotony

So I used my economic stimulus check – actually, I used it TWICE, but that’s another story. I’ve been drooling over the Asus eee pc:

Small, 7-inches wide, comes in PINK (I know, I know….), boots in 15 seconds, and is dandy with the wireless. Woo hoo.

The 2GB (Yes, 2GB – if you want to save anything, get a real laptop or stock up on those handy-dandy SD cards from Woot!) runs about $249.00.

So I reason that a smart phone will put me back at least $249, and then a monthly data subscription on top of that would be about $300 annually. Right? So now, look how much I would SAVE….

And then I start pricing the 4GB – then the 8GB, so I’m up to $400 or so, but still no monthly subscription, and Verizon won’t be carrying the iPhone anytime soon – so this still sounds like pure genius. To my ears. No one else seems to grasp the beauty of the technology or the plan.

So, the stimulus check comes and lo and behold – Asus has just come out with a 20GB, with better screen resolution (no horizontal scrolling) at roughly the same size – fits in my Butler Bag. Look at the size of that screen, baby!

This new 900 model, with XP (which eats up 8GB out of the 20GB, so it’s actually 12GB) is $549.00.

Because, at heart, I really am a cheapskate, I spend two days trying to find the lowest price, shipping cost and promo codes – and who the heck has these babies in stock. Amazon is one to two months out. Buy.com: in-stock, $10 off and free shipping.

So I bite the bullet because I’m dizzy with the prospect of being able to surf the web at family gatherings and airports and coffee shops…. I go through Google check out to get my $10-off, I dutifully type in my CC secret code, and wait. And wait.

So I don’t receive any email confirmations – not from Google Checkout, nor from Buy.com. I wait three days, check my CC statement, and order again. Yes, someone should have stopped me right at the beginning of this paragraph. I was dizzy I tell you, dizzy with the prospect of tiny keys and wireless magic, 24 hours of web access, instead of my usual 12 to 18.

At some point I wise up and send an email explaining the lack of any info from Friday’s order (it is now Monday) and that I just ordered again. They find my order from Friday, actually call me (nice, but short-lived fuzzy feeling) and I cancel Monday’s order.

Status still says “Ships in 1 to 2 Days”. Whew. I don’t know how long I can wait- now it’s four days into first order, and they are just releasing it. (Wait. What? When did I get this stupid? There aren’t even any coffee shops around here…)

So – of course, after my order is released (?) I get an email that says it’s backordered. No time frame. Order status on website still says “To Warehouse – Will Ship in 1 to 2 Days.” Ummm – which is it? Uncharacteristically I hope that the web status is right and they are just silly gooses.

Buy.com are not just silly gooses:
Item #208017730 was delayed in fulfillment. We do not have an estimated shipping date at this time. However, confirmation will be sent via e-mail once your order is shipped.
Thank you for your patience. (Italics and irony, all mine.)