Onesie’s Log

I will leave the summary of how our day went today to Jonathan, he has been hammering away at the keys for a while and believe me, it’s a long story to tell.

Aside from more than half a day full of red tape, I really do like London a lot.  The people are friendly (especially at Chili’s) and you are surrounded by a lot of cool sights.  It amazes me how busy it is here and how many people are around.  Similar to New York but things seem to flow well for a crowded city and everything seems a lot less chaotic.

Of course, due to our amended schedule, we won’t have as much time to enjoy this town as I really wanted but it gives me a reason to return.

Today I did a lot of walking, rode “The Tube” and the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) all while hauling the company laptop in a freebie (Thanks Intel) laptop bag.  Two things need to change with this arrangement if I am to continue to travel on planes, trains, cabs and on foot through city streets, airports and train stations:  1. Lighter, 2. Smaller.

The laptop I’m using is your standard 15″ wide screen model contained in a rather large case complete with built in speakers that no one would or should ever use and a lot of useless space.  After lugging this setup for miles my thoughts are now on one of the many “netbooks” out there like the eee PC 1000 (about 3 lbs.) and a backpack style case rather than the shoulder strap style.  Yes those types of computers are less capable that your standard laptop but it’s not like I play video games on these things.  A 5+ hour battery life would be nice too.  I’ve been pricing 12″ notebooks but those like the Sony Vaio are still crazy expensive.  At under $500 for some of the 10″ netbooks, I think I may know what I want for Christmas… and maybe a more comfortable pair of shoes.

One bonus, if you ever tried to use a normal sized laptop (in coach like we all travel) on an airliner you would understand the benifit of a smaller computer.