Mac — Andy James

This makes two nights in a row that I have stayed up way too late! Tonight is actually better than last night, when I got to bed at 3 AM! However, I must say that I am now running Tiger and very happy to be doing so! It’s quite fun, very speedy, and just a generally wonderful thing. The first two hours were excruciating as everything settled in, the caches were created, the Spotlight indices built, and the random software reinstalled, but after that, I have been extremely impressed, especially considering some of the horror stories I have read and heard from others.

Life is much more than the computer now, though. It is strange to say this, but I am now done with seminary. There’s nothing I can do to change this now – the only possible problem would come if a professor chose not to pass me in my final semester, which I doubt will happen. It is a weird feeling, to say the least! Even weirder is the thought of leaving behind the people here.

If you had asked me even two weeks ago if I would be sad about leaving, the answer would have been a resounding NO! But things happen…. and now I’m fighting back tears when I think about the wonderful people around me. Yeah, there are some folks whom I am ready to be away from, but I keep finding that the people who are important to me are really important to me. It’s a very strange feeling, one I have felt before, but one that I feel much more deeply now than then, and I’m not entirely sure why.

The boxes are starting to get packed, the bookshelves are getting bare, and things are just changing all around me. I’m all for change, but it’s just scary to be in the middle of it, not certain about what is next.

Friday is a big day for Mac fans everywhere with the release of Tiger, OS 10.4. Mine ordered from Apple showed up today, a day earlier than it was supposed to, but FedEx is really good with getting stuff from Memphis to Atlanta 🙂 Nonetheless, there is simply too much to be done in the next week to take a chance on a complete OS upgrade, so the early arrival will sit on the shelf for a week or so.

I’m honestly amazed at the prominence of the Mac these days. This new OS release has merited mention on the New York Times’ editorial page. What a shift for a computer platform that everyone said was dead five years ago!

I came into the Mac world right before everything hit. I was at the tail end of the “Switcher” campaign but ahead of the main iPod craze. I don’t know what I’d do if I were still on a PC these days. Moving to a Mac was the best investment I have made. It cost me a bit more than it would have cost me to just get a new PC, but I am immensely happier with my choice.

One of the reasons why I switched was the alternative nature of the platform, and all this new coverage and popularity almost makes me think twice about it. I certainly didn’t choose the Mac simply because it was the uncommon choice, but the “think different” factor is certainly there. Things are simply changing very fast in the computer world, but I’m really happy where I am nonetheless.

Now back to all those papers that are keeping me from upgrading….

nocturnal musings

Apple excitement