Green Laptop

By Patty Jane Maher,

(Writer's Note: This story is part of my series Poor Journalist Gets To Business. Visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Poor-Journalist-Gets-To-Business/364775722055?ref=mffor for the index and to be a Facebook Fan of this series. I'm documenting my career transition from journalist to saleswoman and my goal to earn $57 K in Michigan in 2010 during the recession.)

I'm a little sad about moving my "Poor Journalist Gets To Business" series to this quiet Google blog from its birthplace on Open Salon. I really appreciate many things about Open Salon. Truly, that boisterous cyber cacophony of writers, dreamers and fanatics is what gave birth to this series.

In a way I feel like I'm letting my Open Salon friends down by retreating to this veritable dirt-road blogging oasis -- out of the rapid-fire-speed-race of the Open Salon Autubon of blogging.

But let' face it. In my heart, I'm a small-town girl. I'm a paper newspaper lover. All that cyber dagger throwing -- I'm just not cut out for it. I don't want to feel compelled to talk about my religion several days a week just to prove that I belong to a group of people who are extremely diverse and shouldn't be put in a box. I don't want to defend the religion of my childhood or anything else. But out there on the Open Salon, all's fair in love and war and blogging. And as a journalist, I can't just let really inflammatory comments and stories go unaddressed when they refer to something very close to my heart.

So, here I am -- blogging in the Googlesphere. It's pretty cozy, especially with my new laptop computer. I bought it off of Craigslist for $250 this week with a loan from my dad. Thank you, Dad! Happy Father's Day! It's lime green on top, a Dell Inspiron 1520. I like it. It's easy to type on. And it's all mine! Yay! No more driving to meet another guy on our sales team to exchange the computer a few times a week. It was a pain in the neck. Plus there were some real problems with that computer that interfered with a few business transactions. Eventually I would have understood its quirks. But I really like having my own laptop. I'm typing here on the couch in my sweat pants. It's snugly! I like this.

I sold more insurance this week than I think I ever have so far. I felt more involved in the sales. I feel like I'm really learning to be a saleswoman.

This morning I sold a cancer policy to a barber before seven o'clock. We had a nice chat in his business. He made me a cup of coffee and told me about the hot dog stand across the street that has been in business (through different owners) since the 1930s. He has been in business for twenty-nine years and his barbershop was established in the 1950s.

I enjoy historical little old small businesses and their owners and I really had a fun week.