I need an old laptop or a netbook. This is now no longer a want. It’s an actual need. I can even prove I need this!

Almost all of my gardening notes and information is in digital form. Almost all my knitting books and patterns are in digital form. There are oodles of books, reports, and scholarly papers (as well as legislation) that I read regularly, and almost all of them are in digital form. I need to be able to access these things somewhere other than at my computer desk. I can’t possibly sit at my desk and read and do the things I want to do. My desk isn’t that comfortable, and I hate being stuck in the den all the time.

Additionally, I write. A lot. I write far more than ever gets posted anywhere online. The last few weeks several people have prodded me about writing a book. People have been prodding me to write a book for years. I would like to write a book (if I could ever decide what to write about), but I do not want to have to sit at my desk in the den to do it. It’s just not conducive to creatively writing for long periods, and I do most of my best thinking in other places … like the living room, the kitchen, and the front porch. It would be great to be able to write when the thought hits me, no matter where I am, and my hand just don’t do handwriting well at all anymore. Never really did, if truth be told, but my crappy handwriting has only gotten crappier, and my hands start hurting after a very short period of time spent with pen and paper. Typing is easier and, for me, way WAY faster (and more legible).

The time has come to admit that having some way to access and create data away from my desk is a need and not a want. The laptop/netbook doesn’t even have to be anything terribly fancy. Al it has to do is be able to read PDF files, open JPG files, and run some kind of word processing software (itself not needing to be anything fancier than Notebook or Textpad). It would be nice if it could wirelessly connect to my computer in some way and access the internet, but it wouldn’t be that much of a problem if it didn’t. I really just need a small, portable, barebones way to read and write and look at (but not necessarily edit) images. Therefore, whatever it is I am looking for doesn’t have to be some state-of-the-art newest possible technology that’s going to cost an arm and a leg. I’m looking for something cheap and likely used … though if there is a cheap option that is new, that would be cool too.

So … suggestions? What should I be looking at or thinking about? Don’t even ask about a budget. There really isn’t one. I might be able to pull together a little money, but likely not hundreds of dollars. Definitely not more than a couple hundred dollars. The less spent the better actually, since even though this would be really useful to me, it’s not exactly a life-or-death sort of thing. I can continue to live without it.

I really want to start seriously considering writing a book of some sort, and I think this may be a crucial key to doing so (not to mention being able to read all the stuff I read somewhere other than at my desk). Too many distractions at the desk, it’s not at all comfortable (no matter what I do to improve it), and the den is less than conducive to creativity. So I need to be freed from my desk and from having to write with pen and paper when not at my desk. It would make my life entirely different, and I think it would lead to greater creative output.

And if anyone has such a device lying around not being used and would like to donate to the cause or is willing to barter for it (I hear I’m a pretty good knitter and seamstress and graphic designer/artist – and I’m not entirely cash barren at the moment), let me know. Maybe we can work something out.