We all know most things we buy in the tech world are planned to become obsolete in a relatively short period of time. It’s a built-in aspect of the market, it seems, but it is also a function of the fact that thankfully, at least in many areas, technology continues to advance and progress.
This is a very small ministry, and hence I am personally dependent—very dependent—upon my computer. I study on it, correspond on it, communicate on it, video record on it, manage all my debate audio and reading materials on it, do all my trip planning on it—suffice it to say, it’s a daily tool, my electronic secretary (since I do not have one), etc.
For a number of years a single individual has been such an encouragement in providing me with my ministry computer. “We can’t let the bad guys have all the good toys!” he’d say. I can’t tell you how encouraging it has been to have that kind of support behind me.
With the changes we have made recently (as you have probably seen on the DL, the new technology we are using, the ScreenFlow videos I’m doing, etc.), we turned our attention, finally, to my desk. Yes, my desk. It is so old it was designed only to have a single CRT on it (remember those?). The legs have clear tape on them to hold the surface to the core. We bought it last century, literally, and it has seen its age pass. Further, the external monitor box we’ve been using to give me access to external monitors has likewise gone on to the great bit bucket in the sky. So, we started looking into how to replace the aged with something that will last a while.
In the process we discovered something. My current MacBook Pro has served me well. It’s still got the old style hard drive, but I’ve never had any problems (though I do have to carry an external HD as well). But we’ve run into a roadblock that only an upgraded unit can fix: its video capabilities. I thought this thing was maybe 18 months old, seriously. But when Rich asked me to get its technical specifications, I was shocked to see it identified as “Early 2011.” How did that happen? I know I’m getting old, but I really, really thought it was like late 2012. Well, it’s video innards simply lack the umph to handle what we are asking it to do these days. And since it is a laptop, we can’t upgrade individual components like you can a desktop unit.
So, we have put the various parts of a replacement unit on the MRL. Now, the MRL used to be an Amazon wish list. We had to replace that with something that gives us more control over the flow of funds so that we can cross our t’s and dot our i’s as far as donation credit is concerned. Here is the current MRL, and you can see the various components of the new unit. If you’d like to have a part in equipping yours truly with the single computer unit I traipse about the world with, write my books on, record videos on, use in debates, etc. and etc., well, I’ll be most thankful.
