Do you use Mac or Windows as your preferred computer?
Consider this a sort of informal “survey.” I’m curious about those of you out there visiting us — do you generally use a Windows computer or a Mac computer? Or both? Or perhaps something else, like Linux?
I ask because I keep seeing all those clever Mac commercials on TV and I wonder how much 1) truth and 2) impact they’re having on the average computer buyer/user out there.
I know for years the preferred “weapon of choice” for people who tackle graphics-oriented jobs has been Mac. Because of the abundance of software and relative cheap hardware, Windows has always “owned” the business world.
At the dawn of the PC age (almost), I worked on the editorial staff of a weekly magazine. Chiefly at the recommendation of the magazine’s graphics artist and the people in the production area and pre-press area, we used Macs. I recall the two biggest hassles way back then was the huge amount of Mac memory needed to do even simple stuff, and the unreliability of Mac hard drives. But I know such things have improved radically.
I still find it hard to believe that so many people, according to those famous, laid-back television commercials, are switching from Windows to Macs.
So what do you use most? Mac? Windows? Other??
Technorati Tags: Mac, Windows, PC buying, PC usage, take time for living
Let me whine for a minute about the not-really-joys of growing older
I remember when I was a kid, like most kids I suppose, I really didn’t understand adults. My parents weren’t really “adults,” in my mind — they were my parents. Separate category of living creatures, I suppose. (I know MY kids certainly wondered sometimes if their dad wasn’t perhaps an alien from an unknown part of the Universe.)
What I never got about adults more than anything else was this: Why did so few adults I knew seem to have very little fun in life? I remember thinking, “Hey, grown ups have the money, they have the power to make choices I can’t make for myself — what’s with ‘em that they seem so sad, or so angry, or just not all that much fun??”
Nevertheless, I was willing to risk sadness, grimness, whatever, just so I could hurry and grow up — at least grow up enough to be allowed to do what I wanted in life, to make my own decisions.
Never saw “aging” in all that, just growing up. But what I’ve learned in a hurry is this: Life means aging, and it really all happens way to fast.
Personally, as I grow older, I find things aren’t as joyful as they may have been a few years ago, because of aging. Just about the time you feel happy about getting rid of the zits when you find your best acne treatment — WHAM! You body is already plunging straight into arthritis, bursitis, and a dozen other annoying “itises.”
It’s not just the body betraying me as it ages, however. It is, to some extent, the mind, or at least my attitudes and outlook on life. The older I get, the less pleasure I find in the little things like good food and drink, reading a good book. I become more impatient with pretty much everything, especially the ignorance and stupidity of most drivers I’m forced to share the road with.
Maybe all this is just uniquely my cross(es) to bear. Perhaps you have no problems with aging, no signs of body sabotage, mental grumpiness, and other not-really-joys of growing older? Good for you. As for me, I gotta work at it. And I really WILL take time for living today.
Technorati Tags: aging, mental and physical changes with aging, take time for living
Need to lose weight, get in shape? Here are my best tips
I saw a news brief and photo in our local newspaper yesterday that I simply haven’t been able to get out of my mind. It was about a guy in Mexico who’s hoping to lose enough weight to be able to walk his fiancee down the aisle at their wedding. Currently, the man weighs something over 700 pounds and can’t stand up. But he’s DOWN from a weight of something over 1,200 pounds a couple of years ago!!
The real question here really isn’t, “How did he lose all that weight?” The REAL question is, “Who in the world helped him get that enormously fat??” Think about it: If he has been so huge he couldn’t stand up, someone else — family, friends, both — had to continue bringing him food and watching him eat his way rapidly toward the grave.
So, I think I should tell you a few things in the course of offering you some “weight loss” tips:
1. I am currently very overweight myself, chiefly due to poor eating habits and too little exercise.
2. I have tried, long ago, using diet pills, Phentermine-type prescription drugs (though NOT Phentermine itself) as well as over-the-counter diet pills. The prescription pills made me feel so “peppy” they scared me and I quit them. The OTC pills seemed to be a complete waste of time.
3. I have successfully lost a lot of weight in the past and kept it off for two or three years, meaning I have had success when using the “sure-thing” suggestion I am going to give you now.
Ready for the big revelation on how to lose weight and get in shape?? Here it is:
Eat less food and exercise regularly.
Wow, you’re thinking, that was a major let down.
And that’s exactly why so many of US are overweight and out of shape. We hope for the “magic bullet” or secret formula that’ll work quickly and easily to make us healthy, happy, wealthy, and wise.
Alas, if life worked that way it would be wonderful, wouldn’t it? But life, whether we’re talking about losing weight and being healthy or making tons of wonderful money, just works one day at a time, generally, so we must live it that way.
Starting today, starting right now, make better food choices (come on, you and I both know we really know what’s a good food choice — think high-fiber, low-fat, low-to-no sugar, moderate protein, balanced carbs, etc.) and get up and move around more.
Then do that every day. Enjoy your new, healthier lifestyle. I won’t even charge you for it!
Technorati Tags: diet pills, healthy eating, regular exercise, health tips, take time for living
