Last year, the Internal Revenue Service discovered that they had made a mistake in my taxes, and that I was due for a substantial refund. I found this incredible, but a check actually arrived earlier this year, and it was real. It was an unexpected windfall: free money! I tossed it in my account and debated what to do with it. It wasn't enough to make an investment, so I decided to take it as a free gift from the Universe and spend it on what I wanted.

My first thought was to buy an electronic music synthesizer. My friends in the ambient/electronic music community have been encouraging me to get back into making sounds again, the way I did in my youth. Synthesizer technology has improved and changed over the decades and there are now hundreds of instruments on the market. I went to my local "Guitar Center" and was tempted to buy a Korg Radias electronic keyboard, but decided that not only was it too expensive, I wouldn't have the time to give it the attention it deserved. What else would I want? It shouldn't be, you know, frivolous or luxurious. No fancy clothing and no jewelry or other glittery stuff. I have enough Oriental rugs, at least for now. Certainly no trips to resort places to waste my money on forgettable pleasures. It would have to be something important that I would use every day for useful and creative work.

This year I have been learning Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop in my studio next to my calculus textbook, peering into the little lanternlike screen of SoyMac the Macintosh iBook. Meanwhile, my Dell desktop PC was giving me diminishing returns, despite (or perhaps because of) its overhaul a month or two ago. And its eight-year-old monitor was fading out. I had already been thinking of upgrading to a new desktop computer to replace it. What would be more useful than a new computer?

As a faithful Dell user, I looked first at new Dells. I visited the Dell booth at the upscale mall, and was given demonstrations of two new models which would be the equivalent for my old Dell 8300. One of them was compact, which had the virtue of smallness, and the other was about the same bulky size as the old one, with more power and a big screen. But there was a problem that not even Dell could solve: all the new Dells ran Windows Vista.

Windows Vista, as my software professional friends describe it, is the result of trying to satisfy everyone's requests at the same time, while condescending to a user assumed to be not only clueless, but dishonest. It fills the screen with distracting icons and service items while asking for "authentication" for one's software, even if it's legitimate. My old Windows system, after the overhaul, had been asking me for that as well, and not taking "shut up" for an answer. And they had removed some features which I liked to use. Windows Vista has received almost entirely negative reviews from computer professionals as well as regular users, even those who are used to PC's.
The answer, then, was to finally do what I had not planned to do again, that is, change my religion. My conversion was helped along by my friends who had, in an astonishing act of generosity, plunked a fresh new Macintosh laptop into my lap last year around this time. I had been using little SoyMac for a year without

That's right, I would invest in my own artistic hipness and cultural edginess and choose a Macintosh for my new studio desktop computer. Not only that, I would switch from the PC's CorelDraw to the Macintosh's Adobe graphics software for my graphic work. In the past week, I re-saved all my current CorelDraw commercial art files to Adobe Illustrator format, and placed them on CD's and DVD's for the move. I have been using Corel ever since 1991, when I got my first computer. I will not leave it completely, because I still have my stalwart Persian angel laptop, "Fravashi," to uphold the Corel-PC tradition. But I'm moving ahead with Adobe now.

A friend and I visited the Apple Store in the other section of the mall, where we were eagerly helped by a young man I had previously encountered working for a Starbucks I decorated. My chosen model was the iMac, which I was assured would cover all my graphics, writing, internet, and administrative needs. Even my electronic music friends had recommended it. But should I get the 20 inch screen or the 24 inch? The 24 inch was more expensive, but in comparison with the dimmer 20 inch screen, it was far superior. Imagine, not having to squint into a little screen and push my work around under the "zoom" tool just to see it! We packed the new iMac into the car and had a celebratory dinner. Thank you, IRS!

Thursday, the day after the Mac entered my quarters, I opened it up and installed it, abandoning the old Dell in place like a venerable space launch pad at Cape Canaveral. I won't throw it away; it's entirely possible that I might put it into service again if I ever got enough work room for it. But I think that it has earned its rest after three and a half years and many thousands of graphic and artistic designs. I didn't have any problems setting up the iMac. The big screen was dazzling, new, and bright in my freshly dusted work space.

And so, what shall I name the newcomer? Perhaps, to conservative and dignified academic types, naming a computer is silly and childish. But I know that even physicists name their computers, the way rugged sailors name ships. What clever cultural pun should I use, that joins classical erudition with the syllable "Mac?" MACalAngelo? MACcabee? MACrocosm? Yes, Greek, but better still: MACarios. It's a Greek word, sometimes spelled "Makarios" and used as a proper name, and it means "Blessed."

This Electron entry is dedicated to the memory of David Honigsberg. He died last week of a sudden heart attack, at the age of 48. He was a member of my religious order, husband of Alexandra, also a member of that order. He was a scholar, a writer, a rabbi, a Kabbalistic teacher, and a rock musician. David's passing reminds me, among other things, that you must appreciate the good things in life which come your way, because you never know how much time you will have to enjoy them.

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