Weekend Assignment #154: Your Car or Your Computer?

Weekend Assignment #154: Your Car or Your Computer? :  John Scalzi says that you must choose between the car — beloved icon of American greatness and freedom — and the computer — the defining machine of the 21st century. If you choose the car, you do not get to touch a computer again, except for basic work-related purposes at work. If you choose the computer, no more personal wheels for you. And for those of you in a two-car family, there’s none of this “oh, I’ll just ride in my spouse’s car” stuff: Any rides you bum have to be outside your immediate family. Similarly, no using the spouse’s or kid’s computers, and those of you with super-enabled cell phones will henceforth use them only for phone calls. No Web-browsing, e-mail or text messaging. See, now it’s gotten harder, hasn’t it?

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I would choose my computer. No questions. Here are the specs that I bought and built:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Dual-Core 512K

Asus CROSSHAIR nForce 590 SLI Audio/GB-LA

2 GB DDR Memory

ATI 1900 xtx video card

Soundblaster X-FI Extreme

SENNHEISER|PMX200 RTL headphones — awesome sound quality

19 Inch LCD Flat Panel Monitor

Apevia Case (black one pictured to the right)

It’s a pretty kick ass machine. I’ve got a great Saitek Keyboard and the Logitech G5 mouse to boot with full stereo surround sound speakers. Go me in my insane geekiness.

As for the reason I would choose my computer: I can do anything on my computer. I can write, compose music, order food, send email, chat with friends, play games, surf teh intraweb, go shopping.

While I would miss my car, I could probably secure rides places or pay for a taxi. I live right next to a shopping plaza so I wouldn’t ever starve or want for anything. I’d probably get more exercise if you ask me, having to walk the majority of places.

Extra Credit:

My computer did cost more than my first car. I bought a 1986 Volkswagon Jetta which lasted 3 years until it caught fire on the side of Route 2 in Connecticut. I had noticed smoke coming from the vents so I pulled over to check it out, and my friend who was with me screamed, “Kate, fire! Under the steering wheel!” I proceeded to take his supersized coke from his hand to douse the flames, to which he then replied,

“Hey! That’s my drink!”

“Hey! This is my car!”

Regardless, the sugary concoction could not save Julie and she perished in a blaze of Glory while stopping traffic for a few miles.