I Heart Apple

I’m not an Apple snob. I’ve never looked down my nose at PC users and I’m getting a little weary of the Apple commercials featuring that guy that Drew Barrymore used to date. Lest you think I’m lying, I present Exhibit A. For 7 years I have owned an IMac G4 that limps along so badly that it now crashes each time I try to look at a Google Map. Exhibit B is my 2GB IPod Nano that literally does not contain a song released after 2007 because I ran out of memory long ago.

I hate being forced into buying something new just because of a new operating system or because a company makes the older version so prehistoric that you literally feel like a loser for even carrying it around. So, it was with more than a little trepidation that I approached buying a new IMac for the family. I am, however, overjoyed to report (yes, I used the word overjoyed) that the experience from soup to nuts was amazing.

First, no pressure; no swarming sales people, no annoying people talking that annoying techie talk, thinking they can confuse with promises of RAM, fast processors or new ways to enhance my kids photos (yes, I did bring them with me, all of them). There was simply a lovely, twenty something girl that walked me through everything I needed to know. She then asked if I wanted my data transferred. I sheepishly pulled out my 20 ton artifact and said, yes, I would love it if she could move all of my stuff over. No problem, she said. I raised an eyebrow. Sign on the dotted line and a tech would be more than happy to help me.

When I got home, I took the monitor/CPU out of the box, plugged it into the wall, attached the USB for the keyboard to the monitor and voila! Everything was just how I left it – all of my pictures now available on their souped up version of IPhoto, all of my music ready to sync with my new IPod touched (so I splurged a little…). They even transferred over my screensaver and saved all of my bookmarks from Safari! If you think I was happy, Paul was over the moon. He thought a new computer meant the slow death march of having to learn how to do things over again. He even stayed up late making new playlists!

So, no, I won’t be carving an Apple symbol into the back of my son’s head or sticking Apple stickers on the back of my car. But, I will sing their praises to anyone that wants their computer purchase served with a side of gloriously easy.

My Facebook Miracle

I can be impossibly stubborn when I feel pushed (cue the sounds of shock!). My brother Ben kept calling me a LOSER for not having a MySpace or Facebook page but I kept ignoring him, hoping that social networking would be a passing fad. It’s not that I’m a technophobe, but having four kids has a way of making one realign daily the things you need to do and the stuff you want to do.

Even as I created my Facebook page, I was still skeptical about engaging in the activity. Who cared what books I read? Does anyone really care where I’ve traveled? Is being a fan of Sex in the City passe? Why would anyone want to poke me? And, don’t even get me started on the status updates! I was paralyzed thinking what I could and should share. Are my kids birthdays OK or shameless? Does anyone care if I’m sitting at the George Michael concert?

A couple of months later, though I had spent virtually no time on my page, added no pictures, sent no friend requests, my Facebook page yielded the miracles and an amazing demonstration of human kindness.

I took a Dramamine on a flight from Cincinnati to Newark. Though Dramamine works like a charm for air sickness, it also turns me into a drooling zombie if my flight is less than 5 hours. I didn’t even remember that I had left my IPod Nano in the seat back pocket until I was 40 miles into my trip back home. Though I was sad for losing it, I knew that I had a better chance of winning the lottery than ever getting it back.

The next day, I got a friend request from a name I did not recognize. Normally paranoid about getting emails from strangers, something made me open it. Lo and behold, it was an email from a man who had found the IPod and wanted to return it to me! I accepted his friend request and sent him a gushing email thanking him and asking if I could pay for postage and if he could also send me his address so that I could send him a gratitude gift. More miracles! Not only did he refuse to accept shipping money from me but requested that I did not send him a gratitude gift.

My husband was incredulous. He doubted I would even get it back yet two days later, the bubble padded pack arrived with my IPod! It included a note that said that I should not be so cynical about acts of human kindness and that my music mix sucked anyway! Priceless.