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Two weeks ago I splurged on a new laptop excuse me – they are actually called netbooks – for my upcoming trip to Europe.  I justified the quick purchase for many reasons – I’d been wanting one, my old laptop was heavy and bulky and didn’t fit in my purse, etc. – but mostly I was driven to purchase based on the fact that I’d be leaving for Paris in t-minus 3 days.

Credit card in hand (and income detail in mind) I headed to the cashier at Costco and forked over the dough required of me to become the new owner of this fabulous jewel:

Keep in mind I wasn’t a huge fan of the design, but it was what Costco was offering – so I took it.  Still, I wasn’t 100% sure this was the best deal for me, so after I bought it I went to Sam’s Club to check out what they could counter-offer.
Word to the wise: Don’t ever drop hundreds of dollars on something and then immediately go to a competitor where the probability of a just-as-good-if-not-better-deal is likely.  Sam’s Club had the same computer, only the non-designer version for about half the price. Shoot.  Except the catch was that they were selling the display because they were out of stock. (Another word to the wise -  buying a display electronic is probably not the best idea!) Anyhow, deciding that the display wasn’t the smartest idea (who could tell me how long it had been running, who had touched it, and what unseen damages were there?) – I opted to keep my original purchase and go home.

I got home, opened the computer and was instantly in love. So light! So small!  So RED!  I immediately got the software installed and began using it straight away.  When it came time for my trip I packed it in my carry-on and decided – this was worth the investment.

And it was…until the last day of my trip. When I accidentally spilled a glass of water on the keyboard.  read more »