The beloved husband is very handy with everything but motors and computers. He can build a house with a hammer and a crowbar. Give him a keyboard and a mouse and he is flummoxed. He thinks I am smart because I know the difference between an operating system and applications. (Let’s not ruin that, please!)

He is a very talented musician and a devotee of Gretsch guitars. My non-techy husband, who has a face book page he never uses and needed instructions on how to get to my blog (several times…maybe there’s more to that story), is very active on the Gretsch discussion board. Imagine that! He is a regular along with Duane Eddy and a bunch of other notable musicians.

The discussion board was recently upgraded which resulted in his Windows XP computer of eight years translating everything into something that looked like a combination of Chinese and Russian characters. After spending a day or two with the webmaster trying to sort things out, he decided that this was a sign that it’s time for a new computer.

We hate buying computers. There are new upgrades to learn. Our old shortcuts are gone…they say improved but they are gone! There are files to transfer and they never are right again. It’s a huge headache for about a week. Then you are into the swing of things and life goes on until you have to upgrade again.

All the research and the purchase were done while the beloved husband was in Gretsch withdrawal and that is not a happy place. Unlike me, he can’t be medicated with chocolate or margaritas. It makes him cranky with far more than the computer. (sigh!)

He eventually resorted to using my laptop for the Gretsch site. Thank God for laptops. We cannot share computers (that would be like sharing a toothbrush!) so using mine was out of the question.

The beloved husband bought an all-in-one. For those unfamiliar with that, everything is in the monitor – speakers, hard drive, DVD drive/burner, USB ports, everything except the battery backup and the external hard drive — but it is not portable like a laptop. The good news is that there is no “stuff” sitting all over and a lot less wires. I have had one for four years and I love it. The down side is if it gets fried, it takes everything with it and you have to start from scratch. Whenever I get a new computer, I want a new monitor (because the newer ones are way cooler) and keyboard and….you get the idea. For me it is a no brainer.

With the new computer in the house, we started the really tenuous marathon of backing-up files, changing cables (do you have any idea how much dust and dirt was concentrated around his stuff???? It’s a wonder we don’t have emphysema), reconnecting things, etc. If you are reading this on a wired desktop computer, you know exactly what I am talking about.

This is Peggy (Courtesy of clutterbells, Flickr)

After many painful hours, it culminated in a call to Microsoft…Microsoft Pakistan to be exact. Some guy named Peggy took control of his computer and downloaded all his Outlook stuff (which was the big problem) and gave him enough information to put him back in a happy place.

Now I am in a state of envy. Until this upgrade, my computer has been way, way cooler than his. I have a big, rectangular screen, Windows 7 and some really neat apps and a purple (yes, purple) external hard drive. Now he has this big, kick-ass 23” monitor and I am sooooo jealous.

However, I am not jealous enough to go through another purchase. I am hoarding chocolate for when that day comes. It won’t be pretty. Hopefully by then they will have purple keyboards.

NOTE TO READERS: I have been remiss in not reporting that two great bloggers nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award earlier this month — Helen at RVingGirl and Judy from earthriderdotcom. They are both interesting and fun reads. Helen and I have been blogger buddies from my start in blogging but Judy is new. Please check them out and thank you!