The Cult of Apple

This is a little off topic for the blog, but I'm just kind of annoyed with everyone's friends at Apple, so consequently, I'm going to rant about it.

Everyone loves Apple these days. And in some respects, they should. They are one of the if not the most innovative company out there. Anyone who has used one of the computers is an instant convert. And geez, everyone has an I-Pod by now, don't they? Or an I-Phone? Or I guess the newest addition to the fleet, the I-Pad.

((Apple I-Mac aluminum//Courtesy: ephoto.wordpress.com))

We've (ok, me) been fans for awhile. I'm on my 3rd I-Pod and was an early convert to I-Tunes. I had the earliest I-Mac as well. I went away from the I-Mac when I bought my Gateway laptop back in 2003.

The Gateway was a custom order and worked for what I needed it to. Along with being my primary computer at home for a couple of years. It also went on the road with me, everywhere. All my work road trips around the country. My scuba diving trips to Nassau. Literally, it went everywhere, was durable and held up to a airplanes, airports and being jammed in a corner in my truck.

My wonderful Gateway died on me about two weeks ago. It didn't die in the literal sense, the hard drive was fine and it had no problem booting up. No, the problem was the monitor, which lit up enough for me to barely see that it booted up.

So, though we are the proud owners of a top-of the line 2009, 27 inch I-Mac, I can't say that I am incredibly happy with the fine folks in Cupertino, California at the moment.

The reason. I-Tunes. Yes, the all-purpose, multi-featured music program used by what seems like almost everyone.

What ticked me off you ask? I had I-Tunes on the old Gateway. Getting your music from an old computer to a new one (we bought a nice HP laptop/couldn't afford a macbook), is roughly akin to pulling a tooth.

Why I ask, does Apple make I-Tunes so easy to use yet virtually impossible to move? Yes...quite possibly the most annoying, difficult thing that you will ever have to do is try and move I-Tunes from one computer to another.

The program inherently balks at the thought. It doesn't want to Synch with your I-Pod. It flashes warning messages that you can't have I-Tunes registered on more than one computer. Okay, great.

Do they think that we want to start our libraries from scratch every time we buy a new computer? I say yes.

The reason: Money. They hope you'll start from scratch and start buying again from their library. Morally wrong, corporately greedy.

Okay....I feel better now. Really I do like their products. Love my little Nano. The I-Mac may be the greatest computer of all time. If we could have afforded it, we would have bought a MacBook Pro, but we couldn't justify it. That's fine. All I ask is for Steve Jobs to be respectful for us common folks, those of us who have drank the kool-aid. We really like your products...really we do...we just don't want to have to re-start from scratch every time we get a new one.

The video that started it all: Thanks You Tube

The Truth isn't Always True...The Holiday Job Search

You know, really as much as people in the Job Search business think otherwise, there really isn't a whole lot that gets done between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Hell even if you have a job, nothing much gets done in that 6 week period. It's true. Think about it. Wherever you are or whatever you do, think for a minute. Does anyone start a long-term or business defining project in that time? No. Unless you are a retailer planning for a sale...you don't.

Me, I've gotten very little done since Thanksgiving. Part of that is because I started a part-time job and part of it is because there just isn't anything...job wise or really any otherwise that is interesting to sink my teeth into at the moment. I did get Step 1 of my Plan put in place...we have the Mac Computer with Final Cut 4 on it so I can start getting moving on the editing stuff. But I haven't done much writing for the book. I'm 6 chapters in...18 more to go by early February, I need to get to 10 by the end of the year.

((The KY mascot has the Holiday Spirit//Courtesy: Eric Hager))

Granted...and I don't want to sound like a Grinch; there should be more motivation to do things. The Job Networking groups say that "This is the best time to gain the advantage in Networking and in your search"...I don't buy that. How many businesses are "Seriously" looking to make a "Big" hire in mid-December? For that matter...how many people can say they've ever started a job in December. I actually did....many, many years ago. I accepted the job before Thanksgiving but didn't start until the week after.

Should you try to get stuff done during this period. Sure...you should. Will you get anything done around the holiday parties, the Christmas Shopping and the general festive short weeks? Probably not. Either way, enjoy the holiday, fine tune your plan and have a plan of attack...after the New Year starts.

Here is your Grinch fix...Thanks You Tube: