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Aug. 16th, 2010 07:57 pmI am writing this on my brand-new 15" MacBook Pro. The journey to purchase it was epic, on the scale of what I hope technology purchases usually involve.
I suffer from, not bad credit, but insufficient credit. We were never able to figure out how to place a credit card in my name when I was in high school (even a department store card, which you should be able to get with a parent when you're 16), I did my undergrad on a full tuition and board scholarship, I lived on-campus during summers, and sublet my first summer after graduating. I had one utility bill in my name in my first shared apartment in Pittsburgh, no utility bills at my second apartment, and was unpleasantly surprised at my third (finally all by myself!) when the power was shut off after the previous tenant had not, as she claimed, transferred the account to my name. The credit check for the transfer didn't go through, and I ended up without power for two weeks while paperwork went back and forth, ending with a large and oddly notarized deposit.
I have money. Unlike most twenty-somethings I know, my favorite things to do don't cost a thing. I don't go to bars or clubs, and rarely eat at restaurants. I like making my own stuff. I don't have a car. I don't like buying a lot of clothes or shoes because I usually end up never wearing them. I leave cheaply. I hate the idea of debt and payment plans and if I can't pay cash for something I usually find a way to do without it.
( Read more... )...And I now have a laptop.
Next: finding enclosures for the old harddrives in the defunct tower, so I can access all my stuff. (The power supply croaked. It was a 2004 G5, which is not a bad age for a pc, and while I'm used to expecting more from Apple hardware, it was also PowerPC, which was giving me all sorts of annoying Java trouble. So, I'm letting it lie)
I suffer from, not bad credit, but insufficient credit. We were never able to figure out how to place a credit card in my name when I was in high school (even a department store card, which you should be able to get with a parent when you're 16), I did my undergrad on a full tuition and board scholarship, I lived on-campus during summers, and sublet my first summer after graduating. I had one utility bill in my name in my first shared apartment in Pittsburgh, no utility bills at my second apartment, and was unpleasantly surprised at my third (finally all by myself!) when the power was shut off after the previous tenant had not, as she claimed, transferred the account to my name. The credit check for the transfer didn't go through, and I ended up without power for two weeks while paperwork went back and forth, ending with a large and oddly notarized deposit.
I have money. Unlike most twenty-somethings I know, my favorite things to do don't cost a thing. I don't go to bars or clubs, and rarely eat at restaurants. I like making my own stuff. I don't have a car. I don't like buying a lot of clothes or shoes because I usually end up never wearing them. I leave cheaply. I hate the idea of debt and payment plans and if I can't pay cash for something I usually find a way to do without it.
( Read more... )...And I now have a laptop.
Next: finding enclosures for the old harddrives in the defunct tower, so I can access all my stuff. (The power supply croaked. It was a 2004 G5, which is not a bad age for a pc, and while I'm used to expecting more from Apple hardware, it was also PowerPC, which was giving me all sorts of annoying Java trouble. So, I'm letting it lie)
