All's well that ends on a Friday, I suppose. And while this particular road trip isn't quite over yet, the bulk of the Mac-related stuff likely is. It was more than worthwhile, in fact it was...if you'll pardon the pun, it was a trip. And yet, the Macintosh universe spins onward. So here's what's on my mind:
The ultimate column: I've had a remarkable number of people write in to ask lately, and in fact a good number of people ask me in person during this trip, if I'm aware of, or have ever attempted to write, the one column that takes all the myths about Macs being more expensive, or not being worth the price that they're sold for, or about the idea that moving to the Mac isn't worth the cost of switching, etc., and attempting to stand all of it squarely on its head, all at once. Well, I've nibbled at some of those notions in various columns over the years, but now might be the time to go ahead and try to pull it all together into that "one" article that anyone can whip out and present to anyone who might be in need of such reasoning. It's not that we don't all already know what all the advantages and issues are, it's just that there are so mind-numbingly many of them that it's sometimes difficult to get them all out in one breath...or to even remember to bring them all up in the same conversation. So I'll take a crack at penning it, but it might take a little while...
Speaking of endings: If you haven't heard the news already, today (Friday the 30th) is the last day in which you can redeem any winning iTunes/Pepsi codes you might have lying around. A rather strange phenomenon has arisen in the past few days, in which readers have begun sending their unused codes into either this site or the iPod Garage, in the hopes someone around here will put them to good use. Feel free to keep sending them, as I promise there's still room in my music collection for a few more tracks. But instead, why not just use them yourself? Since you've got nothing to lose, just grab some tracks that you think you might have some vague interest in, even if they're wildly outside of your genre. You never know what you might unearth.
You'll never guess the context: Best line from the past 48 hours has to be "The Gold Cost Mac User Group does not endorse baby flipping." I'll leave it to you to figure out how that could possibly have entered the conversation.
Fifth graders living the... : I've been pleasantly surprised as to how many of you have written in, wondering where "Part three" conclusion of the "Fifth graders living the iLife" saga is. Well, I can finally say that you'll get to see it on Monday, and that there's been a perfectly good reason for its holdup. Let's just say that there will be quite a bit of other good stuff coming the way of educators on Monday, and I'll leave it at that. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and now seems like the right time. If you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about, just watch this space come Monday.
Area notes: So here's what I think I've learned about South Florida while I've been down here this week, that I never did figure out in more than a quarter-century of living here:
- The traffic lights are interminably long. No, really, how did I tolerate this for all of those years? I guess it's all I knew.
- There are an unbelievable number of senior citizens down here. I guess, having grown up down here, I just kind of thought it was like this everywhere. I've got no problem with it, never have, as they're generally more cordial and polite than just about any other segment of the population. But wow...
- The scrolling advertisement right next to where I'm sitting here outside of the Apple Store reads "We put the 'S' in action." And after staring at the ad for what amounts to several hours so far this week, I still can't begin to imagine what it's supposed to mean, or how any advertising department could have thought that it was a good idea.
- It's time for me to run, as I've got to go have a few drinks with some former colleagues of mine. Catching up with old friends is a good thing. See y'all tomorrow...
