Although I knew there would come a day when Mason would want his own computer, I didn’t realize was that he would be six-years-old when that day came. This has been in the works for a while, but things really kicked into gear Christmas Morning. One of Mason’s more expensive presents this year was a Leap Frog brand (I think) learning laptop that plays cartridge-based educational games. It’s not *really* a laptop — it just looks like one. The screen is black and white and only about three inches in size. Mason took one look at it and cast it aside. Later, after the Christmas buzz had died down, Mason came to Susan and said, “you know how you told me to still like the person, even if they get you a bad gift? Well, I still like you even though you got me that laptop.” The disappointment spawned from the fact that, for a moment, the kid actually thought we had given him a real laptop. Keep dreaming, bucko!

Backtracking a bit … sometime last year, dad bought a new computer and said we could have his old one for Mason. The machine’s not that old — in fact, It’s a pretty nice computer, with more horsepower under the hood than my server. I set the machine aside but never got around to the reloading project. After Mason’s disappointment Christmas morning, I decided this might be a good time to go ahead and get Dad’s old computer up and running. Reloading computers always seems like a bigger deal in your head than it usually turns out to be. With the web these days, tracking down drivers even for machines a few years old is typically a non-issue. In less than an hour I had XP loaded and configured.

On the way home from work yesterday, Mason and I stopped by Staples and picked up a couple of wireless NICs. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Staples? Unfortunately in Yukon, only two chains carry computer parts — Staples, who rarely has what I’m looking for in stock, and Wal-Mart, where I somehow manage to set off the security alarm every time I exit the building. Deciding between these two stores really is “the lesser of two evils.” I am at the point where I will start driving to Oklahoma City just to avoid these two particular stores. I should have done that yesterday, but I didn’t. I went to Staples, where they had two registers open and both were stopped in their tracks because of merchandise that didn’t have price tags on them. The two network cards I bought were marked $39.99, but rang up as $59.99 — that was another ordeal. ARGH. That’s a good pledge to make for 2008 — stop shopping at Staples!

Installing the USB network cards took less effort than buying them. I haven’t used a USB NIC before — I was afraid that the small form factor would mean bad reception, but so far they seem to work pretty well. It’s amazing how worthless a computer seems these days without the Internet. I couldn’t update Windows, couldn’t find drivers, couldn’t do anything before I got the machine online. And really, that’s all Mason wants to do. Nickelodeon and Disney have a few websites set up with games and cartoons, and that’s all Mason wants to do on the computer so far.

So anyway, things are up and running. Mason spent some time last night on iCarly.com (gag) watching videos, until Morgan clocked him in the head, commandeered the chair and headed off to Sesame Street’s website. How early they learn.