When I started my job a few months ago, I got a cubicle (while everyone else had offices) and a crappy old Apple Power Mac G4 that was probably about five years old. The poor thing had trouble running Quark sometimes, could barely multitask, and couldn’t even run any of the Adobe Creative Suite. But since we are planning on switching over from Quark to InDesign CS2, it was necessary to get me a new computer.

And boy, what a new computer! It’s a 20-inch iMac with 2 gigabytes of RAM. I’m a little sad that they didn’t spring for the gigantic 24-inch model, but it’s probably for the best, since Cicada surely would have killed me for it. As it is I’m not sure if she’ll ever quite forgive me. At least she still gets to tell me to get out of her office and shut the door behind me. I never do, of course, just to spite her.

I still have issues with Macs, but I will say this: they build some beautiful computers. And they’ve finally joined the modern world in offering a multi-button scroll mouse. I just wonder when the rest of the PC world is going to stop making huge ugly boxes and start focusing on making computers smaller and more aesthetically pleasing. I mean, as much as I love my Shuttle, it’s always been a little wonky.

Forget a 24-inch screen. Give me a small, good-looking computer that’s customizable, upgradeable, affordable, and most of all reliable, and then I’ll be happy. But until that day comes, I’ll be in my cube, with my feet up on the desk, using the remote control to watch movies on my beautiful new iMac.