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Bloviating Zeppelin: Entry Into the MAC ZONE

Bloviating Zeppelin

(in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Entry Into the MAC ZONE

Today is my wife's birthday.  And I write this from a small table adjacent a huge picture window allowing a wondrous view of the Pacific Ocean, on the second floor of a nice motel no more than a hundred yards from pounding ten-to-fifteen foot waves.  


Furthermore, it is written on my new MacBook Pro laptop.

I swore for the past year that I was fit-to-be-tied with the PC world.  I was tired of receiving the continuous Microsoft Message Of Doom, replete with the You'll Never Get Your Shit Back error box, to include the sparks issuing from my HP Pavilion zd8000 laptop with its marvelous 17" screen -- when its very dry keyboard and processor met my very wet glass of Steinlager Classic.

I'd had a Mac IIcx many years ago with its concomitant ImageWriter (which, literally, took about 20 minutes to complete a full page of simple text), purchased in 1987 for $6,000 in Cuptertino, the early home of Apple Computers.  

I was then dragged kicking and screaming out of the Mac world when I received a PC whilst engaged in the Robbery Bureau.  My first PC ever, which utilized the -- dare I admit this? -- dreaded DOS prompt.  Even further back, when I worked for my association as newspaper Editor, that fossilized computer used actual 5" floppy disks which, then, were truly floppy.  Anyone remember those?

Enough of the walk down Memory Lane. 

Now it's time to come to grips with an entirely new operating system, purchased by my wonderful wife and gifted to me on her birthday, if you can possibly feature that!  What an incredible surprise!

I'm not quite sure what year this laptop was manufactured, but I discovered it is the MacBook Pro with the older and coveted 15" matte screen, with the Firewire port.  It came loaded with OS X Leopard 10.5.1.  It also came with iLife, iWork, Aperture, the Aperture 2 upgrade and -- zowee! -- Final Cut Express HD.

I was able to figure out that Safari is the Mac equivalent of Internet Explorer, hence my ability to write this now, also due in part to the motel WiFi connection being recognized immediately upon startup.  

This is huge.  This is astounding.  This is amazing.  My wife never ceases to amaze me.

Boy, am I gonna need help and advice in the Mac Realm.

Anybody else out there use Macs?

BZ

P.S.
Got, of course, some great photos so far, but can't figure out how to get them from the side USB port, into the computer, and then into the posts.  I'm just a Baby Mac User.

20 Comments:

Blogger TexasFred said...

The United States Gun Owners Association is UP and running, you and your readers are invited!! We need ALL the help we can get!

Fri Jan 09, 05:47:00 PM PST  
Blogger Pasadena Closet Conservative said...

You're braver than I am. I don't think I'll ever be able to wean myself off the PC.

Fri Jan 09, 06:11:00 PM PST  
Blogger shoprat said...

I remember my old CO CO 64 (Radio Shack) quite fondly, with its awsome 64K ram. I loved it.

Fri Jan 09, 06:24:00 PM PST  
Blogger Maggie Thornton said...

I have an iMac with Tiger OS X and am soon purchasing a Mac notebook, not sure which one, for my hubby.

The best thing is you can abolish virus scans and zone alerts. After many hours on the net, I acknowledged my paranoia that maybe, just maybe, I was the one Mac that could be hacked. I bought a $30 program - a Mac scan, and came out completely clean. A waste of my $30.00.

I'm not saying that Macs cannot be hacked, just that it's not easy. I do not know a single Mac user that installs all that security stuff. It is a great feeling of relief and freedom, to not receive all those little annoying alerts.

Well, you are a lucky man. You receive a Mac on your wife's birthday and not just that, I assume you have spirited her away to this lovely place by the sea...and you are on the computer! What's up with that:-)

Please pass on my birthday wishes.

Fri Jan 09, 08:48:00 PM PST  
Blogger Maggie Thornton said...

Ah, I commented too quickly. Just read your "Off to the Ocean." You are on the computer while she at the massage. Nice for both of you - or is that massage for both?

Fri Jan 09, 08:51:00 PM PST  
Blogger Alaska Steve said...

My first computer was a Commodore 64 with the optional 256K (yes, 256 kilobyte) cassette tape drive. I've been PC all my life (once there were PCs) until very recently with the addition of a 24" loaded iMac to the family. So far so good, welcome to the family BZ! And happy birthday wishes to the Missus. Cheers, steve

Fri Jan 09, 09:07:00 PM PST  
Blogger Bloviating Zeppelin said...

Thank you all for the comments and, trust me, now that the Mac people have made the serious mistake of making themselves known, I shall be asking questions of you regarding the Mac World. And I'm on the internet because she's on another laptop doing computer work from her job, having a deadline looming this coming weak for a major task.

Now if I could just figger this thing out. . .

BZ

Fri Jan 09, 10:28:00 PM PST  
Blogger Miss T.C. Shore said...

I've been a part of the MAC world for about a year and a half. I also use a MacBook Pro with Leopard. I have the large 19" matte screen. I love the Mac (although part of me feels guilty for supporting the very liberal Apple corporation.)

Ask away!

Fri Jan 09, 10:33:00 PM PST  
Blogger Z said...

Mine's the 9th!!
Tell Mrs. BZ HAPPY BIRTHDAY from Z!

I don't answer computer questions! I have one now that keeps going off line for no reason then going back on. REAL fun when you're running a blog! ARGH!!

Fri Jan 09, 10:58:00 PM PST  
Blogger Ranando said...

Ten to Fifteen foot waves? Anybody out there riding?

My wife has always used a Mac, loves them.

Sat Jan 10, 06:59:00 AM PST  
Blogger Bloviating Zeppelin said...

Miss TC: okay, here's one: I have a CF card from my camera with tons of photos I'd like to download into the laptop. I have an adapter for the USB port. I see this thing has two USB ports, one on the left and one on the right side.

I plugged the adaptor into the right port and nothing popped up -- like it would in Windows. Clearly I'm doing something wrong. How do I get photos from the CF card into the computer, so I can upload photos into Blogger to make a post with photographs?

Ranando: nope, ain't nobody out there. The waves aren't quite so large this morning, the wind has died down quite a bit.

Z: Happy Anniversary!!

BZ

Sat Jan 10, 09:17:00 AM PST  
Blogger Bushwack said...

BZ, WELCOME BROTHER!!! Your problem is not a problem, does your camera have a USB connector? connect the camera directly to the USB port, and iPhoto will open up and ask you what you want to do with your photos.

Sat Jan 10, 02:47:00 PM PST  
Blogger Ca... said...

Your post takes me back to 1984 when I bought my first PC. It was a Packard Bell, the flat king the 15" monitor sat on. It had a 32 meg processor, a 667 meg hard drive and 8 megs of ram. I added another 8 megs of ram. The price was sixteen hundred and eighty bucks plus tax. What a deal!
My Gateway has 4 1/2 gigs of ram, two hard drives,(a 250 gig and a 225 gig)19" Monitor, it reads camera chips, dvd and cd writer/readers and more junk than I can name. I paid $799.00 for it.(another three bills for the extra ram and hard drive) What a difference a day makes!

Sat Jan 10, 04:03:00 PM PST  
Blogger Ca... said...

'oops'..."...My Gateway has 4 1/2 gigs of ram..."
I meant 3 1/2 gigs of ram.

BTW, The Google browser, Chrome, is pretty fast.

Sat Jan 10, 04:07:00 PM PST  
Blogger Bloviating Zeppelin said...

Bushwack: okay, got your answer, I have 2 USB ports, one on either side. I connect my camera directly to one of the USB ports. BUT, here's the question: what if I just want to pull out the CF card or a Sony Memory Stick from a given camera, then connect the cards to a reader which has a USB end? Shouldn't the camera automatically pick up the connection when it's stuck into the USB port, and recognize it, so I can download photos? Or do I absolutely have to connect ONLY my camera to the USB on the PowerBook?

BZ

Sat Jan 10, 04:35:00 PM PST  
Blogger Bloviating Zeppelin said...

P.S.

Anyone wanting to join the UNITED STATES Gun Owners Group (there's strength in numbers!), check out the link in Texas Fred's first comment!!

BZ

Sat Jan 10, 04:37:00 PM PST  
Blogger LoneRider said...

BZ,

Well, I never thought it would happen, but I have iMac sitting in front of me. My wife is one her 3rd apple laptop. Her current one is a refurb that we got her about 3 months ago. It is also a 15" macbook pro. We surf the net while watching TV and the PC on/beside the coffee table was objectionable to her, thus the more family room friendly iMac. So far so good, and it was a refurb as well.

As far as memory lane, the first computer I ever used was a vic 20, a Pet, followed shortly by the VAX11/750 at my high school. All circa 83-84.

I've used a USB CF card reader on my iMac, don't think I had to do anything special. Just plugged the CF into reader, then plug the reader into the mac. You will get an icon on the screen, open it up and you can use finder to go through the pics.

cheers,
Tom

Sat Jan 10, 07:33:00 PM PST  
Blogger Bushwack said...

Send me an email when you are online and I'll walk you through it.

Sun Jan 11, 05:34:00 AM PST  
Blogger Gayle said...

BZ, I'm glad Bushwhack has offered to help because I don't have a clue. I've never used anything but a pc.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your wonderful wife!

Mon Jan 12, 06:30:00 AM PST  
Blogger Average American said...

Good luck with all that BZ. I'll stick to my desktop with 20 inch screen thank you very much. The wife wanted to get a laptop a few months age when we bought this one instead. I'm SOOOOOO glad I won that battle!

Mon Jan 12, 09:30:00 AM PST  

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