[X4U] Save my marriage!

[Jim Robertson]

My intent here isn't to promote identity theft, so I'll skip SOME personal
details. Suffice it to say my other hobby-passion besides the Mac is
bicycling. I remarried this year, and two days ago I went shopping for my
wife's Christmas present. I started at my local bike shop (when we met, my
wife had a bike I disparaged as much as we might the lowest of the Dells),
and I'd convinced her to sell it soon after we were married.

Christine had mentioned a few months ago she used to have a sewing machine,
and that she'd like to get back into that. SO, I also went to a sewing
machine shop, Consumer Reports in hand, ready to snap up the $500 "Best Buy"
Brother or Singer model.

"Oh my GOD, NO" shrieked the VERY knowledgeable sales person, leading me to
the Husqvarna area, where I swallowed hard at the prices but became used to
the idea of spending $800.

Then, I spent a sleepless night, with visions of Christine spending as much
time on that machine -- well, as much time as ***I*** spend fingers glued to
my Mac or butt in the saddle on my Calfee!

Yesterday I enlisted my wife's vote, since this was turning out to be a
pretty expensive present, and I didn't want to screw it up. Before I knew it
we were looking at a $5,000 plus "Designer 1" machine that I must admit was
INCREDIBLY impressive.

So, why is this REMOTELY related to the Mac? Two reasons:

1. I surprised myself with my concerns that Christine might throw herself
into this hobby; since it's Christmastime it's probably OK to cast this in
terms of the parable Jesus told about criticizing one's neighbor because of
the "mote" (I think that's something tiny) in his eye, while neglecting the
beam in one's own eye. (I guess we can put computers and sewing machines in
the same room).

2. We didn't get far enough into the demo of the sewing machine to discuss
what can be done with an attached personal computer, but the software
apparently is Windows-only, the Husqvarna company ships the software on 3.5
inch floppies, AND uses a hardware dongle for license verification. Does
anyone know whether this is beyond the ken of Virtual PC and a USB floppy
drive?

Oh, and can someone loan me $5,000 :-)

(Wish me luck!)

Jim Robertson
--