I love using ProWritingAid. If you don’t know, it’s a program that helps with grammar, spelling, and word choice. It has done a lot to refine my language when writing. However, I don’t always take its advice, and this is why:
ProWritingAid asks me if I “could use a more vivid verb than this adverb.” Is ‘preternaturally’ not vivid enough? Really?
ProWritingAid consistently corrects ‘not even’ as ‘lopsided’. I’m lopsided kidding.
It just suggested replacing ‘happen to be’ with ‘are’ Here’s the sentence: “I happen to be interested in Sierra, not a nerd.” ‘I are interested?’
I haven’t been on an airplane for three or four years, but it’s inescapable when part of one’s job is to present research at professional conferences, something I have shirked for a couple years through loopholes. But now it’s time, with a trip to a conference in San Francisco.
The thing I hate the most is logistics. I can’t just plan a trip for two (my husband comes with me) and get reimbursed for travel. Instead, I have to use the university credit card to book my flight while simultaneously booking my husband’s flight, not on the university credit card, so we can get the same flight. I did this on my iPad while in the school office (The School of Health Sciences and Wellness, which the Psych department is part of, and I’m part of the Psych Department.)
I am not proud to say I made a mistake and put myself on a flight a day later, which had to be fixed this morning and cost us $288 extra because, like all faculty, I have to find the cheapest flights, which are economy class. I had to buy a new ticket for the return flight and could not cancel the old one. Imagine my aggravation. It’s all my fault; logistics is a weak point with me.
Then there’s packing, which isn’t too bad as long as I remember to pack everything in the car.
Then there’s waiting. That’s my least favorite part. I have to run a couple of errands before I go (including picking up a precious prescription).
Then the airport. Air travel in the US has become much more complex since I started traveling, and I’m grateful for heightened security, but it is a pain.
And finally, there’s motion sickness. (Yes, I have meds). And wondering if the door’s going to fall off your Boeing jet.
I now understand why people drink when they travel.
One of the recommended budgeting strategies for couples is what is known as “mad money”, or money allocated to each spouse that they don’t have to account for. They can spend it on anything they want* without recriminations from the other spouse. I have always said there are two different types of discretionary purchases — “mine” and “stupid”.
What I do with my mads is save it. Usually for some big technological marvel down the road. I spent my last accumulated money on an iPad Air 5th Gen, (circa 2022) gently used/refurbished. It does a good job of most of what I need, which is composing novels on Scrivener and surfing the net. It does sometimes seem a bit slow when I’m posting pictures for social media on Loomly, but I’m not sure if that’s my iPad or the wi-fi at Starbucks.
I have had that iPad for 15 months. I know this because I started saving my mads as soon as I bought it, with my goal again being “something technological”. I’m at the age where my knick-knacks are barely contained by curio cabinets, and I am fashion-backward. Therefore my reward to myself will always be technology, something useful and cool.
When I heard of the new iPads coming out, especially that it was going to be an exciting product revamp, I listened for the rollout, and — wow. The new iPad Airs with the M2 chip, the better display, the landscape front camera …
And then, I looked at the iPad Pro with its M4 chip, clearly overkill when it comes to my needs. All the features of the iPad Air, with a few more, and a faster, more powerful chip. Way overkill.
Way within my budget, given that I would be selling my old iPad to my husband and getting a bit of technology budget money. In fact, I thought I’d be paying Pro prices for my new Air. Rationally, the Air was the better choice.
Or was it?
I had been replacing my technology at a rate of once every two years because I found myself up against a slight slowdown and my expectation of needing power for graphics (Photoshop, Canva, Loomly) applications. If I could draw, I would be doing the artwork for my book covers, and I delve in Sketchup to draw maps of my settings.
I was losing money due to depreciation of the machines (the $600 iPad I bought being valued a year or so later at $180)
Because of the prior point, I wanted to keep the iPad for longer, maybe four years, before upgrading and get all the value out of it. The iPad Pro with its M4 chip, from what I could tell from iPad upgrade cycles, would be as good or better than the subsequent iPad Air for at least three years. If the Pro had contained the M3 chip, I probably would have stuck with the Air.
Only $150 of the difference between the Air and the Pro of similar specs was paid by my savings.
I had saved my money for the new big thing, and the Pro is definitely a new, big thing.
I value performance. If I can afford performance and delayed obsolescence, I’m going to go there.
I bought the Pro. It might be that this is my mid-life crisis sportscar, I don’t know. This post might just be wild justification, and in the long run I may regret spending so much on what is, basically, a tool for my writing and an adjunct for my leisure.
It’s supposedly coming in on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to it!
*Except maybe drugs and prostitution, but those aren’t a budget issue per se.
Words Like Me 