If you have been wondering where I have been, I have been “on holiday” in Australia for the past 3 weeks. And having a wonderful time, except for the fact that my laptop has been having a mid life crisis, which kept me from posting on the blog. Why it is having a mid-life crisis I don’t know because it is not even really its mid life yet. It did, however, have an unfortunate electrical “accident” on the flight to Australia. Since then it has been alternating between not turning on at all, refusing to load Windows, wanting to “restore” to original factory settings, and being just fine. I suspect that zombie aliens have turned it into a forward outpost since they contacted it on the plane. Either that or the lithium-ion battery needs more lithium.

Additionally, my experience with Australian internet access can be summed up in two words—“it sucks.” Slow, very expensive charges for a small amount of data/time, and prone to technical problems. I am sorry if I hurt your feelings Australia, but you know it’s true. So true in fact, that an ad for a beach condo rental states “Fast internet… well, fast for Australia.” Unless you were hiding the fast, cheap internet from me just like you hid the coffee. Note to Australia: when an American orders “a large, black coffee, no room” this is what they mean—they would like a large cup, containing hot water that has been brewed with ground coffee beans, and filled to just under the rim rather than 3 inches below it. If we say “with an extra shot” that means to add 1-2 oz of concentrated coffee containing caffeine to the mixture so that it approximates the strength of a cup of regular American coffee. Looking at me as if the words “large, black coffee” are in some obscure dialect (unless you consider Texas to be “obscure”) will not move the line along any faster, or keep tourists away.

I did get the impression that a lot of Australians don’t really like Americans, and was surprised that the societal structure is closer to western Europe than I had thought. But even with that I think we have a lot in common and it is a beautiful country that I want to visit again. As soon as they get the coffee and the internet thing straightened out.

Anyway, the laptop debacle made me realize several things:

1. I am dependent on the data in my laptop

2. Backing up data on a regular basis is important (yes, I already do it routinely)

a. But, when your backup is in another country it is not a great deal of help

3. An emergency boot disc really is a good idea

a. Less so if it is across the international date line from your malfunctioning computer

4. Fast, reliable, cheap internet access is a gift for which I should be thankful

I know, all of this seems totally unrelated to the topic—what kind of cosmetics this cosmetic dermatologist uses. And to some degree it is, but I am on a 13 hour flight back to LAX and the experience brings to mind my philosophy about cosmetics—that I want the same thing in my cosmetics that I want in my digital life—fast, reliable, reproducible results; good value for the expense expended; readily available when I need it; mainstream enough that it is not an ordeal to find, buy, and replenish it. Basically I want to set up a system and not have to put a bunch of thought into it on a day to day basis. Keeping up with trends and advances, yes, but on an upgrade schedule that I determine, not a hasty, emergency response to a catastrophic system failure.

So here goes: Dr Elaine’s top 10 rules for wearing cosmetics