Thursday, January 15, 2009

Post Depression MacBook Purchase


SCAN0351
Originally uploaded by daveterry.
I remember looking through an old aunt's garage. She was having a garage sale and gave us first pick. But really, I didn't want any of that old stuff. There were old 1930s newspapers, multi-colored bottles with trapped air bubbles, and her now deceased husband's wooden hand tools. Who wants that stuff?

And so we pawed through it, as did the folks who came for the sale. Nobody wanted much of anything. I couldn't figure out why anyone would. When you can buy power saws and cordless screwdrivers why would you use a hand planer?

But I understand now.

I bought a new MacBook. I miss my old one already. I knew where everything was, how everything worked, and all the software fit me like an old shoe. It was slow, but that just gave me more time to think.

It's always such a pain and a huge investment of time and energy setting up a new machine. Apple makes it easier but it still wears me out.

The other day I had to drill a small hole in a piece of hardwood. I scraped through my drawer passing over an electric drill and discovered a tool I picked up at a garage sale. It's a sort of ratchet plunger-type hand drill. The bits are kept in the handle. No electric power is required. You just use the power of your arm. It is a bit rusty and it has drips of paint on the shaft. But it worked beautifully. It's elegant, quiet, smooth, and accurate.

But I digress...

And so I muscle through the maze of settings on my new Mac trying desperately to get it to behave as my old one, but faster. Eventually I'll succeed, but not without great effort.

I just never look forward to a new machine because I know getting it set up correctly will be a long haul.

Now, a new journal? No problem. I know how those blank pages work and what to do with them. I just open it to any page, pull out my pen and take a line for a walk. It's elegant, quiet, smooth, and accurate.

...dave
Eschew obfuscation.

2 comments:

Papa Joe said...

You could always go back to Panther...or whatever you were running on the iBook. I guess the Model T looked like it did because the inventor wanted it to work like a carriage WITH the horse.

Aaron said...

I think the problem is all the programs, settings, etc. Once you use your computer for so long your used to where it all is, it's also the reason we all hate to do a reload.