Gillian Goddard

I almost turn green reading all of the wonderful posts and
suggestions about buying another computer/s for our home. I don't
live in the US so buying things poses different challenges here. Not
saying that it is impossible but it is sometimes useful for those of
you in the US to see the differences in other places. A bit of
perspective exposure for us parents.

Our currency exchanges at $6 to each US$1. So a computer that on
sale costs you US$400 will cost me TT$2400. We do not make 6 times
as much here and our expenses are not 1/6 of the US expenses - for
organic food it is sometimes 4 to 6 times what you pay and we try to
eat organic. So disposable income is not the same.

There is no freecycle here with computers. Actually the freecycle
here is a joke. Last week I was investigating buying a second hand -
2 year old - Mac Mini and it was coming up to US$1000 (TT$6000) and I
would still have had to buy the screen on top of that. The amount of
excess, throwaway, etc in the US is incomparable with anything else I
have ever seen in the world - I lived there for quite a while and
still have one toe in at times. The bad side of it is the
environmental consequences/consumerism/ you know the story. The good
side is that people get rid of new things at ridiculous prices. It
is not like that almost anywhere else.

Warranties don't work here. The only way I have usually taken
advantage of them is when I fly back to the US trying to get extended
service, etc to happen while there.

This is a little bit of an economically reflective time in my
household. I have suddenly, almost without warning, become the
income earner. So I haven't been focusing on the purchase of a big
ticket item.

That said, I do think that the suggestions to get another computer
make a lot of sense. I will put some attention on it. I like to
play with Law of Attraction/Manifesting activities so maybe I'll
throw this one in the bag.
Thanks for your input everyone. I'm not complaining since I am glad
to be living here but solutions in different places sometimes come in
different ways. Such as my going to bed early and waking up at 4 AM
like now to get to use the computer. It's fun waking up with the birds.
Gillian

Jill McCracken

Thanks so much for the perspective--I really do appreciate it.
Jill

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 5:03 AM, Gillian Goddard
<gilliangoddard@...>wrote:

> I almost turn green reading all of the wonderful posts and
> suggestions about buying another computer/s for our home. I don't
> live in the US so buying things poses different challenges here. Not
> saying that it is impossible but it is sometimes useful for those of
> you in the US to see the differences in other places. A bit of
> perspective exposure for us parents.
>
> Our currency exchanges at $6 to each US$1. So a computer that on
> sale costs you US$400 will cost me TT$2400. We do not make 6 times
> as much here and our expenses are not 1/6 of the US expenses - for
> organic food it is sometimes 4 to 6 times what you pay and we try to
> eat organic. So disposable income is not the same.
>
> There is no freecycle here with computers. Actually the freecycle
> here is a joke. Last week I was investigating buying a second hand -
> 2 year old - Mac Mini and it was coming up to US$1000 (TT$6000) and I
> would still have had to buy the screen on top of that. The amount of
> excess, throwaway, etc in the US is incomparable with anything else I
> have ever seen in the world - I lived there for quite a while and
> still have one toe in at times. The bad side of it is the
> environmental consequences/consumerism/ you know the story. The good
> side is that people get rid of new things at ridiculous prices. It
> is not like that almost anywhere else.
>
> Warranties don't work here. The only way I have usually taken
> advantage of them is when I fly back to the US trying to get extended
> service, etc to happen while there.
>
> This is a little bit of an economically reflective time in my
> household. I have suddenly, almost without warning, become the
> income earner. So I haven't been focusing on the purchase of a big
> ticket item.
>
> That said, I do think that the suggestions to get another computer
> make a lot of sense. I will put some attention on it. I like to
> play with Law of Attraction/Manifesting activities so maybe I'll
> throw this one in the bag.
> Thanks for your input everyone. I'm not complaining since I am glad
> to be living here but solutions in different places sometimes come in
> different ways. Such as my going to bed early and waking up at 4 AM
> like now to get to use the computer. It's fun waking up with the birds.
> Gillian
>
>



--
Jill McCracken, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Languages, Literature, and Writing
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
140 7th Avenue South, DAV 120
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
phone: 727.873.4740
fax: 727.873.4526


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