Gordon Hamstro

Jan 15,2002 (Manitowoc WI) By Izzy - Local Manitowoc resident Gordon Hamstro recently purchased an ibook and has begun to hang out at local coffee shops. “I bought [the iBook] from a guy at work. He was trying to unload it for some reason. But I figured, hey it looks so cool. If I had one of those, I bet I could hang out at coffee shops.” The original price the seller (speaking on condition of anonymity) had in mind was in the mid $1500 range, but when no one wanted to buy the outdated model he was selling, he eventually brought the price down to lower hundreds. “No one wanted the thing. I only got it for my daughter because she thought it was cute and needed a computer for school. I didn’t know that software was so impossible to find for it around here. But then Gordon came along. I told him how hard it was to get software for – he’s always heard me swearing about it, but he didn’t seem to mind. Almost like he just wanted it because he thought it was cute, not because he needed a computer. I was just glad to get the thing out of my sight.”

Gordon, upon purchasing his new computer, immediately set out for the coffee shops. “Well, I bought it so I would finally be cool enough to hang out at the café on 5th street. I’ve always walked by and seen all the cool people drinking Lattes and Espressos, and I always wanted to be a part of that scene. They seem so cultured and hip. Now, with the ibook, I’m cool enough to make the scene.” With in 3 hours of the acquisition, young Gordon was engaged in an elevated discussion with café owner, Bob Likard. “It was great. He saw me fiddling with the word program on my new ibook, which is named Daisy now, and came over and started talking to me about computers and how cool these new Macintoshes look. I feel so hip now and am making all these great friends because of Daisy. Yesterday, a hip girl came over and was all ooohing and aweing over it. She was so hot – she had dreadlocks and a nose ring! I mean, her boyfriend was with her, but who knows? She could have had a single friend with her.”

But emotional insecurity wasn’t Gordon’s only reason for purchasing the ibook. “Well, I always wanted to go on the web and design web pages and be all cyber and stuff, so I figured this ibook could be the big break I was waiting for.” When reminded that imacs and ibooks are generally not used by web designers because of the one button mouse feature, Gordon replied “But I always see them in movies and the thing looks so cool.”