I bit the Apple

Redirecting Blog Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Testing how one redirects the posts made on a blog to another website.

Is my money safe?

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:43:00 +0000

Some people are moving their cash dollars to gold; I'm buying up Macs.

Now that Spanish 1 is over...

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:26:00 +0000

...I can get back to Mac.

iPass

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sat, 03 May 2008 19:34:00 +0000

iPass my Spanish test 'cause I've found iFlash! Hey, thanks Dave - you saved my asno! Truth be told, I have yet to actually take my first Spanish exam, but now that I have iFlash (only works on a Mac folks!), I'm certain to get a passing grade.

If you're one of the lucky ones (you own a Mac, too), give it a try. Use it for free to get through your upcoming exam then buy it because it's a fantastic product, it's cheap and Dave's gotta make some bucks while he's in school (there's a reason you're in school when you could just market this and make as much money as you'd ever need, Dave???).

Share your own stories of iFlash accomplishments here. I'll pass them on to Dave as part of my campaign to get him to let 3smartgirlz market his product.

Quick Look

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:54:00 +0000

Wouldn't you just love to take a quick look at a few things before you jump in to a commitment? A quick look at your new boss 3 months from the date of hire. A quick look at your date's reaction when the steak comes back rare instead of medium. A quick look at the cute little puppy after he's grown into those feet. And best of all, how about a quick look at yourself 10 years down the road if you keep doing the same things you're doing today. Now, that's an eye opener.

Why would I bother to look further than just that quick look at the business proposal that doesn't have my cut at a full 50%, for instance. Quick Look is speed reading for every imaginable file - image, applications and more. Now if only it would let me see the results of the presidential election. If the winner's name looks like "McCain", it'll be time to start applying for Canadian citizenship. NS here I come.

Brillant

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:39:00 +0000

Mr. Lama, Bobby Brown and Thinking Different

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:41:00 +0000

Did you catch Bobby Brown calling out to the Dalai Lama as he and his retinue (you can always tell a Buddhist from a non-Buddhist, the former uses the word "retinue" with abandon) entered a building recently.

"Mr. Lama, Mr. Lama, Mr. Lama", he called. Not surprisingly, the Dalai Lama made his way over to the excited Mr. Brown and shook his hand. All the while Bobby was babbling on about how he was a musician and the ex-husband of Whitney Houston. Maybe he just have mentioned "Being Bobby Brown" to clarify things for Mr. Lama.

Mr. Lama is going through some very difficult times these days. He's already had his fair share of multiple hindrance attacks and now the patience of those remaining in Tibet has worn too, too thin. I imagine that his patience is running out too.

Still, the Dalai Lama manages to see things differently that most of us. He has that ever present smile and giggle even as he has witnessed the atrocities played out on on his country and his people. He's learned something (through all that chanting and sitting I guess) that lets the waves knock him down and crush his face into the sand without drowning. He gets up and keeps going. I bet he is so much less inclined to yell at the waves for coming than I am, for instance.

Remember this ad campaign that Apple ran many years ago? I still have this photo and found others at my old mac. My it inspire us all to look for ways to think differently and if nothing else, let our guard down just a tad. Thanks, to all of you who do. You too Mr. Bobby.

P.S. Please feel free to send me an early 50th birthday present of the poster of Bob Dylan.

Balancing act

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:44:00 +0000

I've been flat on my back for two days now. I can fill you in about all the possibilities for balancing a Mac on your knees (which in my case are propped up because lying them down on the bed is excruciating). It seems that you must also pooch out your stomach to hold up the machine though I'm still experimenting with this. Let us hope that I am as inspired as Freda in my bedridden state or at least, that I finish my Spanish homework.

Spotlight = Calculight + Dictionlight + Webhistorylight

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:09:00 +0000

Spotlight - the search feature in Leopard is so much more than a finder of lost files. Click the little magnifying glass at the top right corner of your screen and you have at your fingertips a calculator (it solves some complex equations), a dictionary, an easy way to launch applications and look at your web history.

Admittedly, Spotlight cannot find things that are no longer on your machine but it can find things on other machines on your network. (Too bad about that not finding things that are no longer on your machine - I know that I had the contract to bring Ruth King to Tallahassee there a week or so ago.)

I like a tool that does more than you'd ever guess it could do. Don't you?

Mocha vivo

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:17:00 +0000

Mi MAC y yo estamos aprendiendo hablar español en un sitio social maravilloso del establecimiento de una red. ¡Nunca habría podido participar con mi viejo ordenador! Fantástico.

Something Dead Lives Here

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:54:00 +0000

I'm not feeling so great these days. I won't go into the details as my story is only interesting to me and a few close friends who act interested even when they probably aren't because that's one of things good friends are willing to do (and many are aspiring actors anyway) plus, you never know who stumbles upon your blog these days. I wouldn't consider telling this story to some folks. Let's just leave it at this - no room to wander kills me.

So, naturally because I'm feeling quite claustrophobic and need of a good, strong wind to remind me how breathe, I turned to my Mac for comfort and to touch the creation of someone who surely must not have let himself wither away in the world of small possibilities. I was not disappointed.

Here is what my new friend Steve Jobs had to say in 2005 to recent graduates of Stanford, "No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true." There's more...

I've grown up with death. My father was a funeral home director so when he took my brother and me to work it included hanging around with a bunch of dead bodies. Once my brother locked me in a room that was all set up for a funeral the next day; including the old, dead guy in a casket. He left me locked in there for a very long time. Maybe long enough for me to grow even a little more comfortable with dying. Then, years later I became a Buddhist. All they talk about is dying. My teacher once told me that I should practice in graveyards. Sounds cool but when it comes right down to it, when someone or something dies, it sucks. Big time. I don't care how much you've made your peace with it, dying is like muscle ripping from bone.

Something has died for me. My mother is dying. Gabriel is looking death in the face every day now. It's here. It's coming. It's not going away and Steve (my new friend) is right, Life and Death are lovers. Passionate lovers wrapped in the embrace of heartbreak and renewal. Spittle dripping from magnolia blossoms.

Personally, I prefer those sweet scented flowers to body fluids (though there are some that I like just fine). It's those damn preferences that bite me in the ass every, single time.

Happy Birthday Sophie!

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:44:00 +0000

No Mac holds a candle to you. You are pure joy. Happy, happy birthday, honey. I love you!

Hallelujah

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:01:00 +0000

PC or Mac

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:03:00 +0000

I'm seeing Macs everywhere these days. The latest place? Barack Obama's campaign headquarters. Does this mean that Hillary is a PC?

Adobe CS3 + MacBook Pro + Leopard

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:22:00 +0000

This is an unbeatable combination. Kinda like the threesome you've always dreamed of but have never been able to pull off.

I must admit to so much trepidation at running the CS3 master collection that I put off installing it for weeks. When I finally set aside a Saturday morning to install the mega package, I wasn't disappointed with Leopard. It does take a long time to install because this is a kick-ass product with all kinds of stand alone products rolled up into one. Aside from that, there was nary a problem with the installation and though I do see that awful spinning disk on occasion when opening a product, that is literally the extent of the problems I've encountered.

I understand from a co-worker that Adobe hasn't ironed out all the bugs when CS3 runs on Leopard so I'm prepared to have my fantasy threesome tested eventually. Most likely by the time I get around to opening up After Effects, Adobe will have cleaned up its act. In the meantime, visit Madonia Botanicals to see Flash (and me learning Flash) at work.

Smarter than smart

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:46:00 +0000

I love a Mac because it's even smarter than smart. Last week I was in a hurry to set up the new wireless printer for my daughter who needed it for a school project. She has a PC...

Bet that long pause made you think, "oh, no, we're about to descend into hell". Truth be told, it all went pretty well (though the installation of the drivers took forever). I finally got around to setting up the same printer for my Mac. The drivers installed much faster (Vista simply can't compare to Leopard folks) but when I got to the screen to set the printer settings, the screen would never open.

I was not happy.

I uninstalled, reinstalled. Same problem. I finally decided to act as if the printer had been set up properly and tried to print a test document...it printed just fine! All because of Bonjour (a little, "hello, I already know what I'm doing" from Mac's OS).

Bonjour looks for hardware that's broadcasting its availability on your network just waiting to serve you. In my case, once the printer was installed, there was no need to set it up - Bnojour had already met my printer and set up the terms of engagement. Kind of like a VA working for you while you sleep.

And you wonder, why I love a Mac?

To do

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:38:00 +0000

I live by "to do" lists (at my office). I make little boxes next to very cryptic notes reminding me that there's something I'm supposed to do. No matter that I often 1) misplace my list(s) 2) often can't read what I've written or 3) frequently have no idea what I meant when I wrote myself the reminder.

There's something about the act of scribbling and taking the time to draw the little square box that helps me remember the hundreds of things I need to do in any given week.

On occasion, I actually go back to my hieroglyphics and have the sheer pleasure (unmet in any other context) of checking things off! Now that's pure joy my friend; especially when by some unexplained convergence of good luck, cooperation and lack of unnecessary babbling, many things on my list are accomplished. Then, I get to make little check, after little check sometimes culminating in actually wadding up the piece of paper and throwing it away. How about that!

So, what do you suppose I've trained my little robot friend to do? Yep, that's right, he-she adds an item to my "to do" list in iCal with a click or two. So far I'm not sure how this is saving me any time at all. I still have to open up the work flow and run it. I'm going to get a friend to time me. Which takes longer - opening "to do", making changes to the task name, etc. and running OR opening up iCal and adding the task "manually"?

Before I bother to time myself and evaluate the results, I've already declared Automator as my new friend; simply because the possibilities are endless.

Automator

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:16:00 +0000

Please do my bidding. Can't wait to tell you how I've programmed my cutie pie little robot to do what I say, when I say with a click. In the meantime, check out this little guy.

Sitting on the dock of the bay

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:55:00 +0000

The Mac version of sitting on the dock of the bay is the icon laden bar at the bottom of your screen. (It's "docked" there by default but naturally you can move this around or hide it if you so choose. This IS a Mac we're talking about, folks).

How does this feature rich menu bar compare to sitting on the dock of the bay? Well, as one who is growing fonder of VAs by the minute, you might guess correctly that I'm a person who likes for things to keep moving once I've put them in motion whilst I sit and gaze out into space thinking up my next big move or just staring. The Dock lets you get things moving, fast. No need to search for anything. No need to read a bunch of words when an icon speaks for itself. No need to have more or less of anything at your fingertips than you need. Hey, what a novel idea! You tell your machine what's important; not the other way around.

The Dock even tells you when the trash needs to be taken out. See an empty trash container on the dock? Go back to watching how the water falls over the rocks by the edge of the bay. Is the trash can loaded with stuff? Might want to take a moment from your silence to dump it.

If you like to sit on the dock of the bay and do other things, tell me what they are and I may be able to tell you how a Mac will enhance or experience. Call me.

Thank you

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:30:00 +0000

Have noticed how often you fail to take a moment to appreciate people, things and animals for all that they do to make you're life a little easier? I know that I've grown so accustomed to my daughter's sense of responsibility; my team leader's initiative and my dog's loyalty that I haven't stopped long enough to say, "good boy, Mavy", "great job, Sophie" or "you're amazing Nancy", nearly enough.

Think of all the "things" that are also very cooperative such as my heater which is keeping me quite toasty just now. When I first bought the house I made it a point to go out and pat the AC thingy and ask nicely for it to hang in there with me for oh, about 10 more years. I haven't done that in a long time but I do remove the leaves and other debris that collects there, regularly.

(There are many other people, animals and innumerable things that I've left out here but have vowed not to overlook this year. So, if you don't see your name Mike, Rob, Julia, Sylvia, Kathleen, Mark, Alan, Kishore, Cindy, Venkat, Judy, Carlos, Dave, Susan, Boyce, Linda, Deb, Linda, Lily, Lucy, Natalia, Charles, et al, it's only because the sheer number of people I have to recognize would fill this blog and only delight me and you when you read you name. Stay tuned, I'll be getting you each of you personally!)

Tonight I would like to praise my Shanghai Love, my Mac. Thank you dear one for looking so lovely; for responding promptly and for keeping me waiting so rarely. I appreciate how reliable you are and how you go out of your way to make things easy. I appreciate your maker for designing intuitive interfaces and for pulling out the garlic to keep clunkiness, memory hogging and lock ups far away from me. Thank you, Mac. I love you.

Exposé

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:23:00 +0000

Haven't you always wanted to write one of these? Or, read one of someone you love or would love to hate? It's the thought of the revelation of something scandalous that interests me.

Leopard comes with Exposé but it's not going to give me what I want (see above). Er, I mean it's not going to reveal anything scandalous but it may well make it easier to locate any such evidence on your Mac once you've found the details and saved them there.

Let's pretend that you just happen to have some photos of your boss in a compromised position (btw, for those who know me personally, I do not have any such photos). Let's also say that you've stored those photos on your Mac and have them open in iPhoto while you also have open some word processing something to write your exposé; iMovie to test your film making abilities and Craigslist to hire someone to do some land clearing.

Presuming you've set up Exposé and settled for the defaults, you can press F9 (fn+f9 on a laptop) and low and behold, all your open window are revealed on your desktop. You don't have to fish through the little thumbnails on the dock to find that hilarious picture (when you've just got to see it again right now).

Need to hop back to the desktop while you're writing? With all the windows displayed, press F11 to minimize them all and then F11 to go back to view all open windows again.

F8 and F9 do other cool stuff. Check it out yourself and tell me if this Exposé comes close to meeting any of your own personal exposé fantasies.

Things to do in the dark

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:49:00 +0000

You do not need my help with this though if you've any inclination to purchase a Mac you may want to add typing in the dark to your own list. How is this possible you wonder? It's the ambient light detector coupled with the backlit keyboard or in the words of those well spoken folks who handle Apple's marketing, "MacBook Pro has a built-in ambient light sensor that adjusts the keyboard and display brightness for optimal visibility".

What does that mean for you in practical terms? Say you want to pretend it's a blustery day, the kind that makes you want to curl up in bed with a stunning novel or friend. Close the blinds on your windows and turn the AC down a notch to get the blustery-day-temperature just right. Turn off all the lights. You can either 1) curl up with a book 2) curl up with a friend or 3) turn on your Mac and type away 'cause the ambient light sensor will add just the perfect amount of backlighting to make the keyboard visible. It's very sexy. You may end up dumping your work to call a friend.

What Shamu taught me about a happy marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:31:00 +0000

This is an article worth finding. It ran in the NY Times for quite awhile and was listed in the top ten most read articles for weeks. I mention it because I did just the exact opposite when I complained about My Shanghai Love's problem with the spinning wheel of death and lo and behold, I haven't seen that bothersome image again in quite awhile.

My point? None, exactly but I've been anxious to reread Shamu's POV and thought I'd mention that sometimes, it's best just to get to the point with a problem. Often, that clears it up right away. However, if you're raising young people or working in the incarceration field, you might want to think about taking Shamu's approach.

CS3 - Master Collection has just arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:15:00 +0000

Speaks for itself.

No Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:24:00 +0000

So my great ideas and great movies weren't enough to get me past the final cut in the Just Start contest but there are some great ideas out there and you can help someone win $50,000 by voting so check it out.

If you'd still rather throw your support my way...call me!