For sure, my first question was how PC-compatible are these new Apples now that they have Intel chips inside? It would seem totally. I had the guy open and close files from my flash drive. Seamless.Now the bad news. The basic Apple Mini Mac is $599 and it does practically nothing. Not even a video card and it is not upgradeable, so you cannot do the much touted Apple movie editing. (It surprises me Apple would even build such a thing, but read on.) It will run Office although that software sets you back another $179. With tax, that is already $800 just for the can. It has a combo CD/DVD, meaning it can burn CDs only. There is cheaper “office” software called iWorks but unhappily it is different enough to cause rejection by some of my customers.
The salespeople were mildly evasive about the potential for virus attacks, always saying there have been no outbreaks. I side with the notion that Apple is so small nobody has yet bothered. One thing they have sewn up is software installations. Each Apple application can be run on a certain number of computers, usually three. To place it on a fourth, one of the other three must be deactivated. Apple is releasing a new operating system soon, called “Leopard”.
The cheapest Apple with a video card and decent memory is also a Mini Mac and costs $799. The video editing software costs almost as much. The bottom line is the Apple is twice the price of a comparable PC. Everything is sleek and pretty. Apple has clearly targeted the crowd that craves entertainment and status symbols. I was in the store for over an hour and never actually saw anybody buy anything.
Overall, I came away with the distant feeling that Apple is starting to employ PC selling methods, what with cards and memory becoming “extras”. That whole scenario encourages computer-specific software development and look at the nightmare you have with IBM and Windows over that. Is Apple moving away from build a good computer and stick with it?
The Apple staff, surprised to meet a knowledgeable consumer, invited me to a training seminar this [Sunday] morning, but I went to McDonald’s instead. The two ladies ahead of me took 19 full minutes to order, in case anyone wonders why I always carry plenty of reading material. Lots of time for me to conclude that Apple is going to have to wait to see my money. One positive is that the Apple warranty follows the product, not the purchaser. Apple has, sadly, adopted the “service contract” practice that in my opinion should have been outlawed on day one.
The majority of the crowd were swarming around the new iPhones which do everything except wipe your nose. Myself, I’ve had no luck with putting too much data or reliance on a single small electronic device. I tried one (they take getting used to) but could not think of what I could use it for. Wait for the next model.
I spent the remainder of the day practicing music. For a high-hat, I propped a tambourine against my desk. I can do basic country stomp so it is coming along. I re-learned some of my weaker numbers, the extra time is thanks to the cranky weather we’ve been getting. Lets me play homebody. I even found a wild onion growing on my patio and made chicken soup. Down in Miami, you’d find the whole wild chicken.
I visited a local drum outlet with a million-dollar inventory crammed into one of those rental type units with no windows where you’d expect to find an auto body shop. As usual, all the staff is under 30 and unless you are an exact clone of some TV band, they don’t have any clue what you are talking about until you find it yourself and point at it. Remember the bean can? “Oh, you mean a can with beans in it, okay, now I get it.”I had a date but it did not work out. I met a gal at Panera last time around and we chatted again tonight. Within ten minutes it was clear we had nothing in common. She’s been in and out of countless relationships (my guess is thirty or forty from what she describes) believing the breakup was never her fault. I’ve been in three relationships, all long term (over five years), and I admit I was the culprit.
But I also detected in her a hint of that displeasing attitude that education consumes energy that should more properly have been spent understanding her situation better. This irked me because I was doing a Sudoku puzzle when we met. (Whoa, ladies, if you have anything bad to say about education, I’m not the guy for you.) As truths began to emerge she liked me more while I liked her less.
Nor could I follow the constant references she made to television shows. I made my excuses and went to Starbucks, who will keep serving coffee even when all their tables are full. Anyway, she was okay-looking but the answer is still no. I’m looking for something stable and there is an old 1970s adage, “Don’t shack up below your class.”
My biggest problem is that all the women I ever wanted to shack up with felt the same.
