Squatting at the edge of the technology fire,
looking in, eyes aglow...
So. Got the new 'puter two weeks ago, coolest one
I could reasonable afford (ed: who's
reason? - Hush). Now what to do with it? Got a
good deal on Final Cut Express, which the helpful salesman at CompUSA informed
me was a much more powerful tool than the installed iMovie.
Powerful. It's funny how that word
means different things in different contexts. Most folks wants a more powerful
engine in their car, probably, and no one has ever flown a fighter that was
powerful enough. In the context of technology, it seems to me that it can have
two meanings: from a hardware perspective "powerful" is taken to mean, "won't
crash a lot when I've got a bunch of windows open or am goofing with Photoshop."
But software?
There's the rub: In the
context of user apps, "powerful" tends to imply, "difficult to master." Raise
your hands if you've got MS Office installed on your 'puters at home or work...
hold on, I'm still counting... k - put your hands back down. (the idea that
untold thousands of people just raised their hands gives me a perverse sense of
real power - of course you've got MS Office, it's pretty much the standard, no?
On the other hand, the indisputable fact that no one out there actually raised
their hands, because they know I couldn't see them [ except for that guy who
keeps leaving his webcam on] could cause me to call into doubt fundamental
elements of my sanity.
Anyway, my point
(and I believe I had one), was that MS Word, for example, is an exceptionally
powerful tool. Like the human brain however, most of us use only a very small
portion of the inherent capacity. Why? Because we can send letters to our
congressmen without having to muck about in a bunch of control-alt-shift-F
codes. Who could remember?
So anyway, I
break the seal on the cool new app, and out tumbles a sheet of laminated
shortcut labels, suitable for placing on the keyboard of the Mighty Mac. Also, a
tutorial DVD. Eh.
Last time I saw
keyboard labels was about, sheesh, 12 years ago, back before WYSIWYG meant
anything to those benighted heathens trapped under the grinding boot of Bill
Gate's illegitimate and dictatorial C-prompt regime. Wordstar had been the word
processing app of the moment for the US Navy. When we shifted over to the Office
suite, many poor yeomen had to be dragged kicking and screaming from their 5 1/4
" floppy disks. Their specialized skills were threatened with buggy-whip
manufacturer-like obsolescence - now they would have to learn a bunch of new
keyboard prompts. Me, I smugly did my correspondence on my
cool-as-a-dry-martini-in-Las-Vegas Mac Classic, font managing to my hearts
content.
(If anyone out there ever
reads this and feels compelled to defend the WINTEL regime, either down through
history or in the moment, please, PLEASE let it go... I am a southerner by birth
- defending lost causes is a part of my birthright. And I won't listen
anyway.)
I watched the DVD. Twice.
Hooked up the digital video cam, poked around a bit and decided I would tackle
re-editing the Kat's horseback riding competition some other weekend. It's fully
charged now, sitting by the 'puter quietly, biding its time, waiting for its
turn. It'll have to wait a little
longer.
It was what, four days ago? I
downloaded IBlog, and have been having fun with it ever since. I was instantly
aware that it combined the best kind of power - easy to use "out of the box" and
hiding sleek muscles beneath that friendly exterior. I've been around the
blogger block, I've seen the cool things actual Users can do. So I wanted a
taste for myself, just a bite - a counter would be cool, and the friendly folks
at Site
Meter and iBloggers.net were there to hold my hand - it
was pretty easy. Comments are pretty cool too, assuming that 1) anyone ever
visits your site, 2) actually reads what you've got to say, and 3) feels like
entertaining themselves by posting a response. That proved a bit harder, but
consumed no more than about four or five hours of my time
(ed. that he'll never get
back) thanks to the helpful folks at HaloScan and
more mentoring with the aforementioned iBloggers. It also required mucking about
in Java, something that I have always been loathe to do. I was always aware that
Java was out there, and sort of like Chinese Algebra, knew it was important to
some people, but didn't ever think it would be me. It wasn't
too
bad, but couldn't really be called fun.
The last thing on the blogger plate
(week one) was to have been a blog roll - sadly, the kind folks over at the
blog
rolling store are in the process of moving servers, so I guess
letting either of my readers see what sort of fever swamps I troll around in
will have to wait until next
weekend.
Bet you can't
wait!
Posted @
02:29 PM
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Posted in
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Sendit
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Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
