Why hello there, November. You again?

Has it really been a year since I last wrote in this blog? I’m not doing the Nano thing this year (am plenty busy without it), but I’m thinking I should probably use this space more.

Was looking at a blog the other day (a half-personal, half-professional sort of dealio), and it was so witty, disarming, and enjoyable to read that I thought to myself, with equal measures envy and resolve, “I should really write a blog.”

Pause.

“Like that one, I mean.”

Funny to think that DB started out on this humble little space here and has since moved on to more expansive, more expensive pastures. Not that it’s run any differently than it was back then, despite the occasional and inevitable “It USED to be so much BETTER!” pointed sigh. (Can sighs be pointed? In my mind they are, with the offended party doing their best to breathe their disapproval in my general direction. I just pretend not to notice, leaving that affront hanging in the air with nowhere to go but back to its sender, who may dispose of it as they will.)

Intel giveaway

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Intel.

One of the questions I get asked the most on Dramabeans is how I manage to watch and recap so many dramas all the time, in addition to keeping the blog running on a daily basis. My response is in the FAQ page, but I suspect people want a more serious answer. So I’ll just say: It’s not easy. Girlfriday and I both probably spend a lot more time on the site than could be considered healthy (it’s all for you!), and on a few occasions I’ve made the conscious effort to scale back in order to balance out my life — but ultimately, I always come crawling back like a junkie in need of her next kdrama fix. Which isn’t even so much a metaphor as it is an accurate description of life. What can ya do? We’re both workaholics, perfectionists, and completists. That means I spend a LOT of quality time with my computer.

So if we can’t cut down on the volume of work that we take on, the only other option is to do what we do faster and more efficiently. Time management is the key. That key may occasionally get lost in the cosmos somewhere, perhaps in the fourth dimension along with Jang Geun-seok’s fashion sense, but I think I’m starting to figure out some of its secrets.

Since I spend so much time blogging and most of my work is heavily computer- and internet-dependent, I’ve gone through a few computers since beginning Dramabeans, usually when the old one has finally worn itself through and drops dead. Granted, I use the heck out of my machines: watching dramas, downloading files, recapping episodes, formatting posts, editing photos, uploading files, editing reviews and recaps, scouring sites for news. Usually all at once. Often while listening to music and surfing the internet. Which means that at any given moment I’ve got more than a dozen windows open and that many programs running at once.

All this is to say: You can understand how I saw the appeal in being approached to review a computer that was being promoted under the theme of “Get More Done in Less Time.” Oh, yeah? I’ll take that challenge. Bring it on, computer.

To that end, I’ve been provided with a laptop powered by The Intel® Core™ i5 processor and an Intel® Wireless Display (aka WiDi) adaptor allowing me to use my HDTV as a monitor. If you stick around, I’ll let you know how that went.

In the meantime, I have a cool giveaway to offer you:

To win a $250 Best Buy gift card: Leave a comment below telling me the first thing you’d do with a nifty new laptop. Easy as that!

To enter to win a laptop: Check out instructions here; entry is as simple as leaving a comment on that BlogHer page.

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. Read the official rules for alternate form of entry.

Sweepstakes ends 5 PM PST on December 22, 2010.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.