And Just Like That I'm An Apple Girl

And Just Like That I'm An Apple Girl


My brother's been using Apple products since I can remember. It might be true that he's only had two Apple computers in his 40+ years. I'll try to confirm that later.

I, on the other hand, have had a subtle dislike for Apple for some time. Ever since learning that they used proprietary audio files. That's when I first discovered that Windows Media Audio don't play well w/Macs and Mac files don't play well w/others either. That, my friends, was a long time ago.

My nice and shiny new Macbook Pro. (Dec. 2011)

A lot has changed over the years and to make a long story short, I broke down and purchased a Macbook Pro over the Christmas holiday. Now this is after I'd been working on a Mac in my office on campus. I remember when I arrived at AUC in Egypt in 2009 and they asked if I wanted a Mac or a PC. "I'll have a Mac," I recall saying. But I'd never paid much attention to Macs and I didn't even know how to turn the damn thing on. Still, often in my office, I'm frustrated at how to do simple things on the Mac like jump to the bottom of the page or jump to the end of a sentence.

Last Christmas I broke down and bought an iPad. Now that was a worthwhile purchase. I don't think a day has gone by when I haven't used that device.

Add to that the fact that I lost my mobile phone traveling from Washington, DC to Cleveland, Ohio at the airport in Philadelphia. I know, why was there a layover in Philly anyway. Whatever. Point is, I lost my phone and was 'eligible' for an upgrade. And into my life walks "Siri."

It looks so pretty in the box. (Dec. 2011)

Of course, now I'm sucked into the expansive and expensive world of Apple:

• Apple Care ... enough said!
• With three devices tethered to each other, I need more storage from Apple (ching ching)
• I'm considering iTunes Match (ching ching)
• I bought some iTunes gift cards for Christmas (ching ching)
• Additional devices and accoutrements (protective shell, hard drives, mic, bluetooth devices, etc)
• Those irresistible iPad apps (ching ching ching ching ching ching)

But after that briefer at the Apple store in my hometown, I'm all full of knowledge, ready to conquer the world and even ready jump to the bottom of the page.

More pondering...

More of my wild, yet intriguing thoughts:

Internet access when on the road

• I found this to be somewhat challenging and in the end frustrating. I do own a laptop, so I expect to have some options for accessing the internet. And I don't want to pay some flat fee that give me access for 24 hours; I'm only trying to check email and enjoy my travel destination.
  
• The hotel did not even offer free wifi in the hotel lobby, which I thought was standard; same for the conference hotel.
  
• Usually, the conference will set up a location where conference attendees can check email; no, no, no, not this conference, not this time.


• How about the airport...? There is usually at least one free wifi hot spot; okay, so there was, but I did not have time to access it and when I had a very lenghty layover, I was unable to connect (for whatever reason). Oh, and how about a free wifi hot spot with some electrical outlets nearby ...

Battery life on laptops

• This is way past annoying! Who creates/designs these things? I think my battery life is about an hour. Again, that could be fine when I can successfully connect to some free wifi in a matter of minutes, but when there technical glitches, one hour is not enough time