MacBook Presser
Posted at 2:02 pm on Tuesday, December 23, 2008, in Technology, and tagged 2008, apple, blagojevich, favre, macbook, mccain, nixon, obama.
I’ve been peppered with a lot of emails since my hinting and then confirming of my recent purchase of a MacBook. And longtime readers have known of my desire to return home for a long, long time. Instead of answering these emails individually, I have decided to host a press-conference on the subject. Here goes…
Thank you, thank you very much. I have just one short comment before we get into questions. [...] It’s good to be back.
[Laughter.]
First question.
Q: Yes, we are all very excited about the MacBook, but if I may sir, there has been a noticeable and considerable decline in posting activity over the past several weeks, coinciding with the election. Is it safe to say that you have no more to say now that a democrat is in the Oval Office?
Um, well… first of all, call me reyonthehill. Second, that is a good question, and maybe over the next few weeks, we can discuss that further, but I think it is appropriate to restrict today’s questions to the MacBook. And by the way, it is great to be back.
[Laughter.]
Q: I would like to follow up on Molly’s question if I may. Have you lost your edge? Is that why you no longer post relevant political material?
Um, again, I appreciate the question, but we will have plenty of time to discuss that in the new year. Does anyone have any questions on the MacBook?
Q: No one cares.
Really? I thought that this would have made big news somewhere. Digg, Twitter, kottke.
Q: Sir, is it true that you are retiring?
Um, no, that is not an accurate description.
Q: What does that mean?
It means, well, it means… I don’t know what it means. Anyone here have a new MacBook?
Q: No. Sir, your post on the Obama victory — Debunking the Obama Election — many people are saying that you are an idiot, and that you should get out of this game, sooner rather than later, that politics has passed you by. Obviously Obama is the second coming.
That may be true, but that was Obama’s election to win, not McCain’s to lose. How about that for analysis?
Q: That was pathetic. Sir, are you going to leave the scene gracefully like Nixon or linger on forever like Brett Favre?
Well, I believe I would plan to go quietly into the night, if I did go at all. I mean, there is no reason for me to stop. But, again, this is hugely off-topic. People, let’s talk Apple, let’s talk MacBook. Do you realize what this means?
Q: [...]
This means that I have no reason to complain anymore. This means that I’m a part of the in-crowd, that no one can say, “What does he know, he uses XP?” No more of that. This means I will have less heartache and more time to devote to entertaining my doting readers. Sure, with pathetic political analysis which almost always makes me look foolish in the end, but also with random tidbits and email communicae, which only interested parties would ever find even remotely humorous.
Q: What have you found to be the most difficult part of your transition to Apple?
Thank you, a very good question. I would say that there are two things in particular. Apple-C versus Ctrl-C. Look, I am a blogger, and I copy-paste a lot of things — text, urls, image locations, etc. — and it has taken some time — in fact, I am not completely used to it yet — to shift my pinky from the far lower-left to hit Ctrl on a PC to the fourth button from the far lower-left to hit the Apple sign, and get used to that, that has taken some time. In fact, I need to forget about using my pinky at all in the process. This is a job for the thumb now. Plus, there is a “control” key on the Apple keyboard as well. Confusing. The second thing is getting to the desktop quickly. Sometimes I just want to clear out everything I am doing temporarily and see whatever is on the desktop.
Q: Okay –
And to throw in a third one, I would add in delete. I am accustomed to going to the beginning of what I want to delete and hitting the “delete” key. I need to use control or apple plus delete on the MacBook to do that as far as I can tell. But besides that, I’m golden. Mostly.
Q: Mostly?
Yea, I mean what about deleting programs? Once again, I’ve used Add/Remove Programs for a decade or so, and with Apple, I guess all you need to do is delete the icon in the Applications folder. Seems not all-encompassing. But again, I need to get used to it.
Q: Last question. What spurred you to buy a MacBook right now? I mean, why not two months ago, or three months from now?
Well, as you may know, I am a very cautious buyer. I do not consider myself an early adopter, at all. I would much rather wait for a piece of technology to become widely-adopted with all the bugs ironed out before I spend nine or twelve hundred dollars on it. That being said, this economy is hurting. And I believe — as an American patriot — that it was, and still is, my responsibility to help this country. And fixing the economy means spending money. And spend money I will. Thank you very much for all your time today. I hope this has answered all of your pressing questions. Thank you.
Q: Sir, sir — why won’t you blog about Blagojevich? Sir — did you have any contacts with the governor of Illinois? How long will you stay silent on this issue? Sir — when will you release your files?
That didn’t go as well as I had planned.
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