I always loved those Mac vs PC commercials. You know the ones I'm talking about, when Justin Long plays the cool Mac and that guy who plays bit parts in everything plays the stodgy old PC. I desperately wanted to be a cool Mac back when those were airing, but I knew in my heart that I was a PC kinda person.

I'm proud to say that I've finally become that cool Mac. It only cost me a lot of money and one sleepless night.

My old laptop (it was an HP) had started acting up lately. And by old, I mean I bought in November 2013. It started running slow, doing weird things, just general doing what PCs do over time. I ran antivirus software and tried a few things but nothing helped. I'd finally decided I needed to take it to a professional for help - as in, I made the decision Monday night after trying to participate in a Google Hangout with my friends and having lots of issues. But that ol' HP didn't hang on long enough. After trying to restart it post-hangout, it never turned back on.

Well, it would start up. The HP logo would come on, and then it would go to a blackish gray screen. After removing the battery a time or two it finally gave me the option to try to "refresh" the system. Three hours later it finished. And by finished, I mean it popped up and said "Your PC could not be repaired."

It's always disheartening when your computer crashes or stops working. It's devastating when it does it the day you announce to the world that you quit your job to work for yourself as writer and content strategy - a job that requires a working computer! I got maybe an hour of sleep Monday night as I tossed and turned, worrying about what I should do next. Of course I started panicking. Maybe I shouldn't have quit my job! I hadn't budgeted a large purchase like this, what am I going to do?

Thankfully my husband talked me off the ledge. He assured me it would be ok, and that I had to buy a new laptop immediately. And that I should go ahead and invest in a MacBook. He actually encouraged me to buy a MacBook instead of the HP back in 2013, but I was trying to save money so I went PC. (I did the same thing back in 2011. Between those two computers I spent about $1600. Which is pretty much the cost of a MacBook Pro!)

Between his encouragement and all the comments I got on Facebook telling me to just go Mac, I decided to bite the bullet and do it. With a dip into savings, a little help from my parents (thank you) and the fortuitous arrival of a check from a client, I was able to purchase the MacBook Pro I wanted. Plus AppleCare and One-on-One.

So now I'm a Mac! And my worries about quitting my job have subsided as well. The client check arriving at exactly the right time helped, but so did the conversation I had later that day when I signed a new client whose fees will cover almost the entire cost of the MacBook.

I'm still hoping we can get my old computer repaired. I'll be taking it to a friend this weekend to have him look at it, so throw some good thoughts at the PC! And have a great weekend, friends.