I've decided to stay pretty near to just writing on this blog from here on out. I'll make detours (see the blog on off roading Smart Cars - literally a detour). And with that in mind, the following posts will be geared from a writer's standpoint.
I am a writer who has grown up on Microsoft Office, specifically Word. I feel vaguely apprehensive when I have to work in different programs. Word is what I know and what I'm comfortable. Being a strong Microsoft person, I have had little interaction with anything Apple since I was in high school. (For the great unknowing public, that was 12 years ago - I have officially hit 30). Being back in school (nearly done with my AA - now exploring a Masters program after my BA...so basically two years down, three to go if I'm lucky), I found myself in a small conundrum. I have a family computer, but I don't have a great deal of time to use it other than late at night and a laptop that doesn't always want to turn on. I suppose this makes me sound a little bit shallow. Here I have a computer and a laptop, but I'm embarrassed by how slow it moves. Other people less fortunate than me don't have laptops, and rely on public computers. I get that. I do; I really, really do. For me, however, it is an inconvenience that I had put on my radar to remedy. My goal was to have a laptop that I could use once I started my Junior year at WSU.
Playing on the fact that there are many without computers, I'm sure most of the world is well aware that they are not cheap. A well functioning laptop that can last is even less so. My parents looked for me right around my momentous birthday, but nothing worked out. It had been pushed by my family to become a graduation present (graduation with my AA, not my BA). Then something truly remarkable happened.
The general manager at my job quite literally came up to me this week and asked, point blank, "Do you want a laptop?" He then handed me his MacBook Pro. I was a little too startled to fully grasp what had happened, and then he showed me the battery that had completely imploded. He told me it was still perfectly good to work with as long as it was plugged in, and that was an end to that. I did, somewhat hesitantly, ask him a little later if this was to be for work only or if it was just mine. The answer, well, let's just say this has been a week of miracles.
And so, let me pause to say a huge thank you to my manager, Tim. This is amazing, and words don't really do justice. I have a MacBook that looks to carry me through college. Truly, three days later and I'm still a little bit speechless.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, though, but as I mentioned, my experience with Apple products is severely limited. Like any true child with a new toy, I powered on the laptop at work just to see if it functioned. (A reasonable thing to do, right?) It did, but I had not idea how to move around in it. My coworker had to explain that the enlarge and minimize my screen, I needed to look on the LEFT side of the screen, not the right. When I took my prize home, I spent my evening learning the bare essentials, like where the mute button was.
Now, to end all my rambling, I have given an overview of where I am going. I am going to write, in the simplest form possible, how to survive a transition from Microsoft/Android based systems to Apple. And I will dial it down to as short an answer as I am capable in the hopes that if anyone out there has a similar problem, they can check out a blog or two and find out that to right click your mouse, you have to put two fingers on the mouse pad. Honestly, who thinks of this stuff?
Anyway, I'm off to skim MacBook for Dummies and wrap my head around this wonderful, baffling addition to my life. Stay tuned.
L.E.
(Just because no post is complete without a picture)
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