I wouldn’t say we are ludites by any means, but a few years ago we went to Best Buy to try and buy a video card for our computer pictured above. When asked how old our computer was Proeun said, “10 years.” There was complete silence and the clerk looked at us completely baffled and asked, “are you serious?” We had updated software every now and then and once a brother in law had rebuilt it for us but in essence it was the same computer Proeun bought several years before we got married. It was top of the line then and cost him around $1,500.

It’s not that we don’t like technology it’s just that it is so hard to keep up with. I am still rather perplexed when I get text messages from friends and family. Proeun refuses to read them. I have lost 2 cell phones since having children. I am normally very organized but when you are transporting so many people at one time something is bound to be lost. I prefer to keep my eyes on the children. In anycase when I purchase a cell phone as I had to do several months ago when I lost my 2nd phone I tell the clerk, “I have 3 children under 6, give me the cheapest phone you have.”

So yesterday when our 10 year old computer finally crashed it was scary and exciting to even consider buying a new computer. My secret is until this morning I have never purchased a computer. But when you apply the above philosophy to computers it makes picking one out pretty simple. My mom helped me go through the adds from the Sunday paper. We selected a model that seemed to have all we needed–we are not very demanding on technology. The price was just over a 1/3 of what Proeun paid for old Bessie. It seemed a fit, and in little over an hour I had it all set up and downloaded and ready to go, most importantly internet ready. And I only missed a day. Not bad for a ludite if I do say so myself. My computer space looks a little different now.

It still has the crayons though. There are just some things technology cannot improve on.