The neutered computer at last

I developed a new set up for myself over the last week. I got a recycled CPU which I have neutered so that it can’t get on the internet or do anything else really except MS Word. (I’m considering loading music files from my other computer to this so I can play the kind of background music that I find helpful, but now that I think of it, I guess there are no speakers of any kind, good or bad, in this set up.) I replaced the very old CRT style monitor with a new flat screen, 20-inches. It was the cheapest one in the store and not state of the art, but it’s the nicest one I’ve ever had, and I can see this word doc from across the room. (Which is key to this next part.) And I upgraded from the original old keyboard to a new wireless keyboard, which is f-ing amazing. It’s not state of the art, either. It’s about the cheapest one I could get that is wireless and that has a wrist pad. (Essential.)

Here’s where it gets really cool. My regular reading chair in my office, about a body’s length away from the desk where this computer sits, is a comfy IKEA chair without arm rests and with a little spring to it. I have a footstool, also. I am now sitting in that chair with the wireless keyboard comfortably in my lap with my legs comfortably up and my eyes comfortably tracking this on a screen that is about 6 feet away. 

I’ll use a thumb drive to transfer this over to the computer that is on the internet. That’s not practical for something I would need to do regularly, but for working on my book, it makes more sense. I envision composing this way instead of by longhand from here on out. Faster composing, and it cuts out the retyping entirely. I don't know for sure that I'll be able to make that change. Composing longhand is a long habit.

Most importantly, whether I’m composing or retyping from manuscript or working on rewrites and revisions, I won’t be able to get on the internet! Which is a good thing. I’ve strongly desired this for a couple years and am so glad to have finally arranged it.