My Experiences With a Mac

I recently purchased an iMac and switched from Windows XP to Mac OS X. After having worked with it for a few weeks now, here are my experiences:

- I like that Apple puts a lot of thought into visual design and usability. The monitor looks freakin' beautiful. The keyboard has a USB plug in it for plugging your mouse into (or whatever else). The keyboard is only USB 1.1. The USB ports on the back are 2.0, however. When the Mac is sleeping, a pulsating circle on the monitor fades in and out to let you know. The built-in speakers sound great. Yeah, you pay more for Apple hardware, but it's really well-designed.

- Mac OS X runs more smoothly and quickly. However, my Mac has 1GB of memory, whereas my Sony VAIO only had 512MB, so I'm not exactly comparing "apples" to oranges. Regardless, it boots up in about 15-20 seconds. You can be working in less than 30 seconds. On XP, even on my laptop at work (which has 2GB of memory), it takes longer than that.

- There are more built-in applications on OS X than XP. And some of them are really useful, like iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, and GarageBand, to name just a few.

- Searching is great. The built-in Spotlight application works similarly to Google Desktop on XP, but it feels more integrated into the OS than Google Desktop. You can also use it to find applications to launch, which I now prefer to navigating through the XP Start menu.

- Printing is also great. You can either print to the printer or to a PDF. On XP, you need something like PaperPort to print to a PDF.

- Boot Camp is sweet. You can run XP on a separate partition, natively. So I can still play games I have that are XP-specific.

- Parallels Desktop (a separate purchase) lets you run XP in a virtual machine. It's amazing...BUT, whenever I run XP in the virtual machine, it thinks the hardware has changed and keeps asking me to re-activate with Microsoft. The other morning, it would not activate automatically, so I had to call Microsoft and explain to them what I was doing to get it unlocked. It was a hassle to be sure. I'm not sure if this is going to be an ongoing thing or not. This is exactly why I want away from Microsoft.

- OS X feels more stable. I can play 3D-accelerated games and drop back to the desktop several times and the OS doesn't lock up like it did on my XP machine.

- Each user gets a home folder to work out of, and all their settings, documents, music, etc. go under it somewhere. One thing I've always hated about Windows is that the user and the applications they run can write files virtually anywhere in the filesystem.

- Installing programs is usually as simple as dragging an icon into the Applications folder. Deleting them is also really easy. You just drop the application's icon in the trash.

- On OS X, the active application's menu bar is at the top of the scream, and disjointed from the application itself. It takes a little getting used to. Also, when you close an application's main window, it doesn't usually close the application. You have to explicitly choose the Quit command from the menu. The jury is still out if that is a good thing or not.

- Going back and forth between OS X and XP really has made it hard for me to use shortcut keys. On Windows, to copy, you typically do Ctrl+C. On OS X, to copy, it's Command+C (and the command key is where the Alt key is on a Windows keyboard).

- The Home and End keys work differently. On XP, they usually jump to the start and end of the current line. On OS X, they jump to the top and bottom of the document. Annoying.

- The mouse on the Mac seems to only have 1 button. The mouse is more sophisticated than it looks, though. It can actually detect pressure on the areas where the buttons would normally be, and do the left click or right click. Right-clicking is off by default. In normal usage, I found the mouse detected the right-click most of the time, but not always. I finally just took my Logitech mouse from my XP machine and am using it instead.

- No real backup tool is pre-installed. XP has a built-in backup tool (it's terrible), but at least it's there. From what I've read, Apple has a .Mac website that has a really awesome backup tool--they host your backed up data. It's $99 per year. I not paying that.

- Most websites work on Mac (especially using Firefox). Netflix's video on demand only works on Windows, probably because it uses Windows Media DRM. (But I can solve that by booting up XP).

- Most developers focus on Windows first. Quicken is a perfect example. Quicken 2007 for Mac looks years behind Quicken 2007 for Windows. It's very restrictive. I hated it so much, I sent it back for a refund. I found a great cross-platform program called MoneyDance that is much simpler to use, and it can download transactions from my credit card, bank accounts, etc., just like Quicken.

Overall, my experience has been more positive than negative. It took me a few days to get to the point where I actually liked working on a Mac. Now I wish I'd switched sooner. I've read a lot of reviews saying OS X is elegant. To the casual observer, it doesn't really seem that much different than Windows XP, but after using it for a few days, I finally "get" what they are talking about.

The Future of the Zingo

I have good news to report. As you may know, Bell's is being forced out of the fairgrounds. Well, it appears that Bell's intends to save the Zingo, their only rollercoaster. They are asking for a deadline extension so they can disassemble the Zingo and take it with them to the new site, wherever that may be.

New $1 Coin Coming

Looks like the U.S. Mint is producing a new $1 coin. This has failure written all over it, just like the last two $1 coins they put out.

Author Douglas Mudd points out that no country has successfully introduced a $1 coin alongside paper currency of the same amount. One of them has to go. Also, most countries that have $1 coin have a $2 coin, too. No one wants to carry around 10 pounds of change in their pockets, and having the $2 coin helps with that.

This new coin is going to be updated with a new President's face every 3 months. Interesting, but it could lead to confusion.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a $1 coin. It's more durable, harder to counterfeit than paper, and should be less expensive in the long run.

I guess we'll see what happens.

Non-English Speaking People Not Welcome

Sometimes, I'm really ashamed of Oklahomans. Channel 8 reported that Oklahoma lawmakers are back to trying to pass a law establishing English as the official language. Furthermore, when I clicked on the poll to see if viewers agreed or not, an overwhelming 89% said "yes". I wish I could put into words how dumb I think such a measure would be. I will try.

First of all, I have some Native American blood, and there are negative implications to the Choctaw and Chickasaw languages, not that I speak either. The way the news reported the story, it could be illegal to speak anything other than English in public. There are apparently two bills being considered. One supports a more relaxed rule called "English Plus" (Wow! That sounds so nice!) that would allow employers to speak Non-English with their employees, but waiters and waitresses would be required by law to speak English to customers. This is just 100% ridiculous. The news story had a woman who was offended because she ate somewhere, and her server didn't speak English. Well someone call the police! Some fat bitch couldn't order a tamale! There's no need for a law here. If a restaurant doesn't speak English in an English-speaking country, it'll probably go out of business. The problem will solve itself.

Second of all, this will be an expensive waste of time and taxpayer money. What do these proposed laws hope to accomplish? The United States already has established English as the primary language. Just look around. It's on our currency, traffic signs, you name it. I feel this is just a thinly-veiled racially-motivated attempt to establish that White people are superior in the law books. I feel that the proposed law is primarily aimed at Mexicans and other Hispanics. I just don't see the benefit. All this serves to do is diminish our cultural diversity (I'm sure to the proponents of the law, that sounds like a good thing).

Thirdly, how would you even enforce such a law, if it were passed? Would you throw someone in jail if they violated it or give them a citation? Would this mean you can no longer learn a foreign language in school? Why are Americans so threatened by other people and their languages?

Fourthly, and this one is the most important, in the United States we have a little thing known as the First Amendment which guarantees us the right of freedom of speech, English or not. So, even if the law passes, it would be clearly unconstitutional.

Looks like it is time to write my congressman.

Wal-Mart Shopping Carts

Has anyone else noticed this? I went to Wal-Mart the other day, and I saw a sign on my shopping cart saying Wal-Mart has implemented a new security feature on the cart that will cause the wheels to seize up if the shopping cart is taken outside a clearly-marked boundary in the parking lot. I assume this is to keep homeless people from taking their carts.

The odd thing is, I looked at the wheels, and I didn't see anything that looked like it could manually lock the wheel. The wheels look normal. And I didn't see a boundary in the parking lot. I'm thinking this is an empty warning. It makes me want to drag a cart outside this so-called boundary just to see what happens.

Hillary Clinton

You don't change Presidents in the middle of a war, or so the old saying goes. In the next Presidential election, we won't have any choice, assuming the war doesn't end before that time. There are no signs suggesting this might happen.

Over the weekend, Hillary Clinton threw her hat into the ring. And I've been asking myself all weekend, is America ready for a female President? Recently, we saw Nancy Pelosi become the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives. But with a war going on, it is really hard to tell if the American public would be receptive to a female Commander in Chief. Recent polls are showing America is tired of the war, and that Iraq is the single issue with the highest importance. Therefore, if she has any hope of winning, she will need to have an outstanding plan for Iraq.

Blocking Unwanted Ads

If you're like me, you get tired of seeing ads all over your browser. Here is a website with a pretty easy way to remove ads from your browser: mvps.org

Basically, you replace the hosts file in your operating system with their hosts file (be sure to backup the original hosts file first).

An Inconvenient Truth

We just finished An Inconvenient Truth. I'm already convinced we need to try to do something about global climate change, but after watching this, I'm doubly convinced.

I felt Al Gore did an outstanding job of explaining the science behind global climate change, while keeping it accessible to everyday people.

One of the scariest parts for me was when they showed how the United States is drying out, and the south central part of the United States (where I live) is going to go through a major water shortage in the next 50 years. We're already in a drought. Up until now, I've believed to be a temporary condition, but now I'm not so sure.

Oh well, maybe the ice caps will melt and we'll get an inland sea again...I'd love to have a house on the beach.

New Oklahoma Postage Stamp

A new Oklahoma-themed postage stamp is going on sale this Thursday (January 11) to commemorate the Oklahoma centennial.

XM Radio

XM Radio made the news today. They've reached something like 7 million subscribers now, and I'm just wondering...who has XM? Everyone I know that has satellite radio (except for one) is on Sirius.

User-Friendly Software

There's no doubt that computers are easier to use today than they've ever been, but there is still room for improvement.

My Yahoo Messenger window recently started taking up the full screen when I got a message...and then some. So each time I would get a message, I'd have to resize the window to make the close button visible. After some google searching, I found that I needed to set my desktop resolution to smaller numbers and then back to the current resolution to fix the problem. That's intuitive!

Another unintuitive procedure happened to me a few months back when I upgraded iTunes, and it wouldn't play any of the music I had purchased prior to the upgrade. I actually had to create a dummy user account, open iTunes with it, sync my iPod to that account, and then finally log back into my original account and re-sync the iPod with it.

Banning Trans Fat

I know it's been a while. Happy New Year. On to important things...

I read the other day that New York City is banning trans fat in restaurants. This morning, Universal Studios Hollywood announced a similar measure. As someone who takes cholesterol medication to improve my cholesterol ratios, I think this is a good first step.

American diets are terrible. We eat all the wrong things. I think it is primarily because junk food and stuff that we shouldn't be eating are available everywhere. I hate to say this, but I think the only way Americans will be skinny again is if we start legislating healthier diets.

High fructose corn syrup is another culprit people should avoid. Since HFCS was introduced, diabetes levels in the United States have been on the rise. You can thank the American Farm lobbyists for that.

I don't want to go overboard, though, and get rid of all bad food. People still need ice cream every now and then.

Bye Bye Bell's

A rollercoaster enthusiast website I visit has more information than our local news is reporting about the forced relocation (if, indeed, they relocate) of Bell's Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority apparently decided not to renew the lease, stating Bell's was not financially viable. That, after apparently having stated at some point that Bell's is the “No. 1 long-term tenant as far as revenue.”

Bell's announced earlier this year that they are going to build a new rollercoaster next year. After having fought for years with the local neighbors who claim the noise is already too loud, I suspect that someone got to the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority and made some kind of deal with them. But, then again, I'm conspiracy minded. It just doesn't feel right.

Anyway, Bell's will be gone from the fairgrounds, and it is a sad day for Tulsa. Sometimes I feel this city is not progressing but going backwards.

Election Day

Just a reminder. Today is election day. Get out and vote, dammit! Even if you don't think your vote counts, it does...but maybe not in the way you expect. It turns out that precincts with more voters typically get more government money funneled their way. So even if you don't like the candidates, you might still see some benefit just by showing up and casting a ballot.

Rush Limbaugh Needs To Shut It

I don't normally wish bad things to happen to anyone, but if there were such a person it would be Rush Limbaugh. He recently made the statement that Michael J. Fox was either off his medication or acting in a series of political ads where Fox states he supports embryonic stem cell research. Fox has Parkinson's disease, and it apparently obvious in the ads. He's been struggling with the disease for years now. That's why he left Spin City--it was affecting his performance.

My grandpa had Parkinson's too until he passed away, and for Limbaugh to make such a ridiculous statement really upsets me. Why does this guy continue to spout ignorance? You'd think he'd say something smart every once in a while, but I haven't heard it.

Osage Hills State Park

Yesterday, I spent most of the morning at Osage Hills State Park. The trees are turning yellow, orange, and red, and it is at it's peak right now. It's spectacular.

I saw lots of animals yesterday. I saw a couple of raccoons, an armadillo, several turkey vultures, a tufted titmouse (never seen one in person before), some woodpeckers, a duck, and probably a dozen deer. My most surprising encounter was with a doe. I had just closed up my camera bag and was preparing to move to the next photo spot, when I suddenly got the feeling I was being watched. I looked up, and there she was, staring at me from about 20 to 30 feet away. She had two fawns with her. Luckily, my camera was still available to shoot, so I shot a couple of pictures of her before she lost interest and moved on. It was one of those magic moments that keeps me going back out into the woods.

Speaking of which, I really need to thank my dad for getting me involved with Boy Scouts when I was a young man. At the time, I went through periods where I hated it. We went camping a LOT. But when I look back on it now, it really helped cultivate my appreciation for nature and all its splendor.

Kick-off of the Oklahoma Centennial

The Great State of Oklahoma is turning 100 next year. I got a thing in the mail the other day with some of the upcoming celebrations. The three that caught my eye are fireworks displays on three consecutive nights.

On November 16th, there will be a fireworks display at the 96th Street bridge near Jenks. The following night on the 17th, there will be one at the 21st Street bridge in Tulsa (where they have the 4th of July fireworks display every year). And the grand finale will be on the 18th in downtown Tulsa. This one I am very excited about as it is literally a once in a lifetime event. The downtown display will have not only fireworks but also lasers. A few years ago when Tulsa turned 100, they did the same thing, and it was spectacular. I thought I'd never see it again.

Right Lane Closed

Here is something that happens in Tulsa (maybe other places too) that is really aggravating to me. A lot of times (usually on the weekend) you'll see an orange, diamond-shaped sign on the side of the road somewhere that says "Right Lane Closed". So you'll immediately dart over in the left lane, only to find out that the right lane really isn't closed, and some lead-footed (possibly clairvoyant) jerk will pass you by on the right. Every time this happens, you'll see the cones or barrels that were used when the lane was closed on the curb. So basically the road crew finished up its work on the road and moved its cones out of the way. But these guys always leave the damn sign up. What's up with that? Laziness? Sick sense of humor? Incompetence? What?

Cyndi Lauper

We saw Cyndi Lauper last night at the Brady Theater. I felt bad for her. She said they had just put together a new show with a new crew, and they were having a lot of problems getting the sounds levels adjusted. More than once, she yelled at the people off-stage (and a couple of times at her band on-stage) to do this or that. Apparently, she's a perfectionist, which is not a bad thing--she wants to please her fans.

Despite the technical difficulty, she put on a helluva show. She came out into the audience several times, and I was literally only a couple feet from her. The security guard did not like her doing that, and he told her to get back on stage. She said something like "I know you're not talking to me. You gotta deathwish or something?"

It was a fun show, and I recommend anyone who likes Cyndi to go see her when she comes to your town.

President Bush Turning Green?

I just read an article claiming the White House wants to halt or regulate a bunch of high seas fishing techniques that are destructive to the environment. And his plan has an emphasis on creating sustainable fisheries, too. I know, I know, I'm in just as much shock as you are. Considering how he reacted to the Kyoto Protocol, this really doesn't sound like something he would say. Maybe there's hope for him yet!