ohhhh markus ….

my beloved notebook (Samsung X30, maybe the most beautiful notebook ever built) died yesterday after 3 years of heavy duty. kind of a melt down, blank screen showing garbage when powered up.

I was really seriously pis*ed, because I really liked it, it was almost perfect and is still superior compared to all the other junk notebooks (although it was quite pricey, but worth every cent).
samsung notebooks aren’t available in the states and the only other notebook that comes close is a Macbook Pro. luckily draftFCB employees get 8% discount in the apple shop, which IS quite some money if the notebook is $3000. which it is. unfortunately. (personal note: there is no such thing as too much salary).
next problem: I (obviously) want this notebook as soon as possible, but I need an upgraded¬† version (bigger harddisk). after configuration in the online shop it says shipping is delayed by 3 days due to harddrive upgrade. so I thought MAYBE the apple flagship store can just swap in another harddisk if I buy it there. and surprise surprise, they can’t. they have to send the notebook in to get the harddisk changed (WTF?). so I spend almost 3 hours by walking around, looking in computer shops for comparable notebooks (no, nothing found) and other stuff. well, at least I got a new cap and saw some park avenue princesses :D.
so my blog activities will be a little bit reduced until my macbook arrives.

while browsing craigslist on sunday I stumbled over a quite amazing offer, seemed almost perfect (pics). not too expensive, perfect commute (Nolita, next to chinatown/soho/east village), big 1600sqft (factory) loft with high ceilings and a/c and all of the roommates (2) and in the building working in the creative industries. as soon as I saw this ad I wrote them an email, waiting eagerly for an answer. which didn’t come.

until tuesday. when I was invited to stop by on wednesday to some kind of “future roommate” screening => very big smile on my face.
next day I stopped by at the requested time and there were already a bunch of people, looking around. Ivor, one of the guys in charge showed me everything and since I had a splendid time talking to them I didn’t leave when the others left and had some extended chitchat.

while standing there I suddenly noticed a bunch of game consoles in the corner (xbox, …) but no Nintendo Wii. since I wanted to buy a Wii anyhow I told Ivor I am going to buy one. His reaction was … very positive on this one to say at least, guess this was the perfect bribe, since I got an email next day that I got the share. :D.

sooo my next logical step was to buy a Wii. BUT imagine my surprise when I saw the price, around $460 everywhere, being maybe the first piece of equipment thats in the states more expensive than in europe (Wii sells in europe for about $330, which is a huge difference). luckily found one on ebay for $360 including shipping, but since I had to pay with a check (still no credit card for me) it won’t be shipped until friday.