Sunday, May 30, 2010

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

First of all, I would like to thank all the people out there who are serving in the Armed Forces. I would also like to thank all the people who have served in the Armed Forces, all the spouses and families. Being a Navy wife for 28 years, I know what the families go through. I know what it is like to raise children and run a home, while your loved one is deployed defending our country, whether it be in times of war or times of peace. The sacrifices,, of all involved are great! I appreciate being able to feel safe, here in the United States. I am thankful that the war is not being fought on our shores.

I would also like to remember those who have served and are no longer with us. You may be gone, but your courage and bravery will never be forgotten. May you rest in peace.

God Bless America!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Day Six with My Mac

Day six with my Mac.

Today was a quiet day. I slept in till 9:30, which was a little unusual for me. The past few nights I have been getting to bed rather late, so I guess I was just catching up on some much needed sleep.The mail lady brought my package from Amazon today. Inside was a brand new copy of Switching to the Mac, the missing manual. I am so excited to get it. I sat down and started reading it right away.

Amber came over around 6 pm and we went down to Salsa's for dinner. as usual, the Shrimp Taco Salad was a delight! We came back and she showed me a few things on the Mac. I am grateful for the help.

After Amber left, Greg called and we went through some installations of programs. I got Scribus, which is a publishing program. I also downloaded Google Earth. I haven't installed it yet.

Already it is late , so I will keep this short. I need to get a normal night's sleep.
Tomorrow I hope to learn some more neat stuff about my Mac.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Me and My Mac

I have been using my new Mac off and on most of the day. Have only used the PC, sitting beside it, a couple times to retrieve pass words. My memory is not what it should be, I have to refer to lists constantly! Oh well!

I gave Linda the "grand tour" of the Mac, what little I have learned about it! I actually used some of the cool tips Jeff and Emily had given me on Saturday during our video tutoring session. They were my "Apple support" for the day. Back to the story.... I find myself really liking the touchpad on the Mac! That is something, as I couldn't seem to get the hang of it on the PC. Today, when I have gone to the PC to look at something, I go for the touchpad. I use it a little on the PC, but it being so small, it doesn't have the capability of the Mac's touchpad.
Bottom line....I think I'm gonna like the Mac touchpad!

Well, it is getting late, so I am going to close for now. I'll be back at the keyboard in the morning!

An "Apple" a day.............

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Me and My Mac, Learning a new way of computing.

I am wondering how the times is going by so fast! Here it is May 16th already. Today marks the 5 years since my Mother passed away. On the 31 st, my Father will have been gone 12 years. I miss them both very much.

Well, I have decided to make the topic of my blog, my new Mac. Last Friday I took the plunge and decided to change over from a PC to a Mac. I had been entertaining the thought for sometime now, but didn't think I would have Greg's support. He likes PC's and I don't think he would consider switching.

About a week before Mother's Day, Greg started asking me what I would like for a gift. I couldn't really think of anything, so I asked for a rain check. I went down to Emily and Jeff's to watch the pooches while they went to Atlanta for a few days. That Thursday, Emily and I met Amber in Williamsburg, where we spent a few days, at the Legacy of Williamsburg Bed and Breakfast. That was our Mother's Day celebration. We had good weather and a great time. When I returned home, Greg asked again what I wanted for a gift. I told him that I would like a Mac. I really had expected him to "Poo Poo" the idea, but he didn't. He completely surprised me and said ; although he didn't want one, if I did there was no reason not to get one. That was it.....the hunt was on!

I started watching all the Mac videos I could find. I looked at the different models and the features. I don't know what half the specs mean, but I do know what I have in my PC and I wanted the same or more. I decided on the Mac Book Pro 15". This past week, Greg said that he was going to finish up a day early and would be home Thursday night. He said that he was going to take the next day off. I asked him if he would go up to Columbia to the Apple store with me. We headed out Friday morn. We went to Malcolm Grow to get his blood drawn, then we headed over to the Exchange on base so he could get a haircut. We noticed there were some roads closed and some barricades up, so we figured something was going on. He headed into the barber shop and I headed for the clothing dept. Wow... I am going to have to go back there again soon. That is a goldmine for fashion. That's a topic for another day! When I asked, the cashier told me that it was Military Appreciation Day for the Air Show. When we came out of the Exchange, that was obvious, as a stunt plane was going by.

We got up to Columbia Mall and parked in the usual area, by LL Beans. Walked all throught the mall and arrived at the Apple Store. It looked like it was pretty busy, but there were some Macs open, so we went over and started checking them out. I took notice of how we weren't approached by and salespeople, which was good , at the time, as I wanted to get on the Mac and play around and see if infact it was what I wanted to get. After a few minutes, I had made up my mind and went in search of someone to sell me one. I was told that someone would be right over. I watched and waited, and we weren't the next ones to get helped. Guess I was a little impatient, but I was ready to buy and it didn't seem to matter. We left. I'll admit that I was a little down, but we were being ignored, and I knew that I could go up to Annapolis and try there. We went down to the lower level and had lunch at the food court. We had to take the esulator to get up to the level to exit from. Greg asked if I wanted to go back and try again. I was torn, I didn't make my mind up till I got to the top, as to which way I would go. I turned right and we headed back to the Apple Store. When we arrived, there was a salesman at the front door, he looked like Santa. It was as. if he was waiting for us. He asked if he could help us. Then he walked us through the process of purchasing my first Mac. While he went in the back to get the Mac, some young men decided to steal an ipad off the front display table. At first I heard this shattering of glass and some gasps. I thought someone had dropped something on the floor. But it was much more serious than that. I looked up just in time to see three boys running out the front door. The alarms then went off and Apple employees started running towards the front door. It was too late, they were gone! When our salesman returned with the Mac, he said that it is a normal occurrence. Funny thing is, when we first went there earlier, there was a policeman standing guard at the front door. He wasn't there when we came back.

It is Sunday afternoon and I have had my MBP for 2 days. I can already tell that it is going to be a good relationship between us! BTW I did also get the One to One policy, so I can have Apple help for the first year. That's for when I can't ask one of my three experts, ( Jeff, Emily and Amber), for their help.

Yesterday morning I had a three person video conference with Emily and Jeff. That was cool! I also love the back lit keys, what a plus!

So stay tuned to learn how the relationship is going.

Later