Category: Apple

Ouch

It had to happen. The law of averages states that if you have too many outliers in one direction, something is bound to come along to balance the books. I just didn’t expect the hammer to fall on my poor, unexpecting iBook. It turns out my computer didn’t have The Qualifying Logic Board Problem after all. What does this mean? It means that it would cost around $400 dollars to fix. That’s a whole lot of hurting for a three year old computer with a replacement cost of around $800.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel, so don’t stop reading yet.

It was two nights ago. I was sitting in my family room, playing with my six year old, Revision B iMac (circa 1998), when my wife asked me if I wanted a new computer for the family room. The only thing more surprising than her question was my answer. “No”, I replied.

I think it may be time to see if that offer has expired.

It’s not easy being responsible

“This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.” If you’ve been following my recent adventures, you know that I was talking to my poor iBook, just before I left it at the shop for repairs.

I feel guilty. I feel lonely. Most importantly, I feel bored. My five year old, Bondi Blue, original iMac hasn’t seen this much action since, well, I bought a new iBook almost three years ago. I haven’t sat at a desk this much since, well, I went to work on Thursday.

Boo desk!

Yeah bed!

Boy am I tired.

Balance of power

An important component of the Kauffman household’s (version 2.2) fiscal responsibility is its balance of powers. We have what you might call a bi-camel financial office. (Others might call it being considerate, being responsible, or being married.) Proposals for spending may originate from either side, but must ultimately be approved by both sides before they can be enacted.

Case in point: I really wanted to blow my wad on an iPod. I could almost feel the smooth, light-weight piece of Apple magic in my hands. I could imagine being newly enshrined among the “hip elite.” I could feel my status among my peers inflating just looking at the price list. As a trial balloon, I shocked my wife with the following statement, “well, today I went ahead and ordered an iPod.”

“NO YOU DIDN’T!”

As trial balloons go, that was a pretty much a complete failure. Fearing an upset of our fragile financial treaty, I quickly copped to my deception and revealed my ploy. I didn’t really buy an iPod.

“John, you know I’m proud of you, but we spent that bonus money two years ago.”

What I need is a new constitution; my own declaration of indepence. I should throw off the shackles of responsibility and live for today! GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!

“John, just what the hell are you talking about?”

Ah well, I didn’t want an iPod that badly anyway. At least I’ll have more ammunition when she decides she wants to paint the baby’s room again. I may have lost the battle, but at least I won’t be painting any time soon. Don’t tell Cheryl, but that may have been the plan all along. Am I really that devious? If I were, would I admit it here? These questions and more will continue to be unanswered, but you are free to speculate.

Back in the saddle; or, when a good computer goes bad.

We are back on the air after some technical difficulties this evening. They say that when you run your own web server, you can’t blame anyone else for your site problems. Well, one of our poor old iMacs bit the dust right in front of me this evening. It happened just as I was walking in the door, coming home from work. The monitor flashed, an electrical “hissing” noise rose from the depths of the case, and it went dead. We made every attempt known to us to revive it, but we were unsuccessful. Six hours worth of harvesting spare parts, installing software, and loading back-ups to our family room iMac brings us to the present. It’s past my bed time, and I’m sitting here typing this message. Two people will likely read this entry, and I’ve already told one of them more than they wanted to know about it. Ye Gods!

New Software

This is the beginning of a grand experiment. Apple is giving away software for publishing web logs. Lets all give a warm welcome to iBlog, the latest addition to my hard drive. Will John get more value out of his .Mac membership?

To Mac or not to Mac?

Pinellas County Schools, at the urgings of it’s fearless leader Howard Hinsley, has decided to phase out all of the Apple computers and replace them with PCs running Windows. For what reason, you may ask? Well, it wasn’t cost. Many arguments have been made as to wether the upfront savings of a Windows box make up for the down the road savings of a Mac – so I won’t waste your time here. No, the reason was “we want to prepare our students for what they will see in the real world – and let’s face it, it is a Windows world.”

That’s not such a bad argument, is it? Ah, if you know me you know better, and I’m just getting started.

Try this little bit of irony on for size…
When I was starting high school my family had a Mac. Most of my friends had Commodore 64s or some other computer that ran a flavor of DOS. Microsoft Windows was just getting started with versions one and two, but I think everyone would agree that they just plain sucked. Just after I finished my schooling (high school and four years at the best damn University in Florida), I entered the “real world”. Shortly after I entered the real world, all of the computers in my office were running Windows 95. I’m about to get to the good part… I could have used what most other people were using when I was starting high school, namely a flavor of DOS (including the most popular flavor – Microsoft DOS), but instead I used a Mac. Is anyone ready to argue the point that a Mac was better preparation for Windows 95 than DOS? No?

Isn’t that rich.

The point here is that the operating system that most kids in school will use in the “real world” HASN’T BEEN MADE YET. Technology changes at an amazing rate. There’s no way you’re going to tell me what will be in use five or ten years from now, and don’t even get me started with kids who’ve got longer than that (re: elementary school students).

Now it gets better…
My wife is the antithesis of “tech-savvy”. When we started dating, you could show Cheryl a computer and she’d show you something that might as well have been a used Saturn V moon rocket – for all the use she could have gotten out of it. Of course, when we dated in college her only exposure to computers was my little Mac. When we married, her only exposure to computers was our little Mac. When she went to work in the “real world” and Windows PCs were put on everyone’s desks, her only exposure to computers had been on a Mac. Many of her coworkers had Windows PCs at home, yet for some reason still couldn’t tell a mouse from a furry rodent. In short order, she became an honorary member of tech support at her office. This young lass who didn’t have a tech-savvy bone in her body, who became the PC expert in her “Windows world”, was reared in this computerized world on a Mac.

Now consider the fact that over 65% of the PCs currently in the school system are Macs already, that by many accounts the staff prefer the Macs, and that cost may not be a factor. If preparation for the “real world”, what ever that may turn out to be, isn’t a good reason then… why are we replacing all of the Macs with PCs?

Alas, the world is an imperfect place run by imperfect people. It doesn’t me feel any better though.

Getting your money’s worth.

How much is a good song worth to you? Do you believe music is property that should be bought and sold, or do you believe it belongs in the public domain? How do you keep people making music if music is free?

I’ve heard several arguments both for and against Apple’s new music download service. For me, it’s a simple moral question. Music is someone’s craft. Like any other craft, some people do it for their own sake, with their own time, for their own benefit. Some share it with others, and some charge you a fee so they can do it full time. A select few do it well enough to make an awful lot of money. As a consumer, I have objected to record companies insistence to extort money from me – in the way of forcing me to buy an entire album of songs I don’t want, in order to own the one I do want. For that reason, I haven’t bought music in years. I haven’t stolen very much music either, so mostly I’ve made do with my college collection of CDs. Suddenly, a music service comes along to allow me to purchase the music I want, without needing to pay for music I don’t want. I pay for it because I don’t want to steal. I pay for it because someone has finally decided to sell me want I want. I haven’t spent much, but it’s more than I have in years, and there’s more where that came from. I really hope that there are more out there like me. Not just because I want the service to succeed (and therefore stick around to take more of my money), but because I think paying for music is the right thing to do and I hope most people are above petty theft.

Please give me some reason to be optimistic about the human condition.

I’m dreaming of an iMac Christmas.

When it comes to shopping, I’m a bit of a masochist. It seems that I only enjoy shopping when I don’t have any extra discretionary income. Notice I didn’t say I don’t have any money. That wouldn’t exactly be true. We’ve got money around, it’s just that we shouldn’t spend it. Some of it is for upcoming bills. Some of it is savings for emergencies. I think you get the picture. This evening, after Beth went to bed and Cheryl and I were winding down, I decided to look up the Apple web site. “Cheryl, they’ve knocked $100 of the new iMacs … I didn’t know they were that cheap!” I went to the web site of an Authorized Apple Reseller. “Cheryl, did you know that you could get a reconditioned iMac for another $150 off the regular price?” Sometimes it’s no fun being responsible.

David vs Goliath.

A little while ago I was siting with a group of people when the topic of Apple computers came up. One of the folks in the group voices his disdain of all things Apple, and pledges his allegiance to the evil empire, by muttering two syllables in a sarcastic tone “Apple!?!” Another member of the group suggests that there may be more disciples of the Apple faith in the crowd and suggests that everyone play nice. The conversation ends there, but not my scorn. Despite what people may say, most people like the favorite, the powerful. Sure, they like an underdog, but only when it wins. But then, it’s not the underdog anymore if it wins is it? Where are all of the people saying how much they admired the Buffalo Bills of the early 90’s; or the New England Patriots when they lost to the Chicago Bears or the Green Bay Packers? Sure they loved the Patriots when the beat the Rams as a big underdog, but when they lost as big underdogs they just sucked. The way I see it, rooting for Microsoft is the same thing. We wanted the Patriots to get hammered by the Bears. We laughed at the Bills loosing four in a row. The romans never wanted the Christians to survive the lions. In the same way, picking Microsoft is safe. We bask in the glow of a perceived shared glory, but in the end the joke’s on us.

Helping those who want to see the light

We had an unexpected visitor on Friday, a little boy who lives down the street. Beth was just tickled to have someone over to play at her house again. Later, when the boy’s father came over to pick him up, he was bathed in the glow of our tech savy. Sitting in the corner was our old bondi blue iMac and our new iBook. “Youv’e got to talk to my wife”, the boy’s father exclaimed. Later that week, the boy’s mother (who works with Cheryl), began a conversation with the words, “after spending time with YOUR HUSBAND….” I knew instantly what was comming next. The boy’s newly emboldened father gave his family the gift of tech enlightenment, a trip to the Apple store. They didn’t walk out with a new computer, but I feel some sense of accomplishment. The war is not over, but a small battle has been won.