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| Happy Mac-iversary to Me! | | Date Created: Jul 28, 2006, 12:57 AM |
 Ten Years ago today, I became a Mac User.
On the 10th Anniversary of working at my company, I decided it was time to branch out into new territory and buy a computer.
I sat at my desk, writing "Yes" and "No" on pieces of paper, placing them into a free company cap we'd been given, and asking the questions: "Is this something I should do?"
"YES"
"Should I get it today?"
"YES"
"Should I wait for another time?"
"NO"
"Should I buy an Apple? (I'd been longing for one since I had the chance to sit down for one minute at my nephew's Macintosh a month earlier).
"YES"
"Should I buy a Dell?" (I ask silly questions sometimes. DELL was what we used at work.
"NO".
During my lunch break, I stopped by a magazine shop and noticed a bunch of computer magazines, and among them something called "Macaddict", which was at Issue No. 1. The cover read something like, "Why Apple's Future is Bright!" I decided it was time to buy my Macintosh.
So, with that, I drove to NOBODY BEATS THE WIZ, an electonic outlets store we used to have in NY. I drove all the way out to Westbury Long Island that evening, no less. I did a bit of homework on the model I wanted. It had to have video capability. I'd wanted to work on videos. More than anything else, I wanted to rekindle my old hobby.
I saw the model I wanted - An Apple Performa 6200.
Buying an Apple computer at that time was a risky venture. The company had lost its initial luster, which was being reaped upon by Microsoft Windows 3.1 Everybody who was buying a computer in 1996 was buying a Windows PC. Heck, that was what we used at work. It didn't make sense to go against the grain. Why spend all that money on something that might be obsolet in a day? An hour? A Minute? But then again, I was always different.
I had always noticed that whenever they used computers in movies, or in special effects, it was always a Mac. Star Trek IV, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Forest Gump, Independence Day, are all examples of movies that featured Apple Computers in them. If Hollywood was using them, why shouldn't I?
The salesman was a guy my own age, who didn't try to distract me from buying the machine, though there were more Windows objects in the store than anything else. There was no Mac software. No games anywhere. Not even any attachments. But I still wanted that machine. I needed that machine. I had to have that machine. Besides, based upon what I saw on Rich's Mac, they came with everything I needed.
I got it home, completely worried about how to put it all together, how to set it up, how to get it all rolling. But within minutes, I was up, running, and working on stuff. And from that moment on, I became addicted. Finally, here was a tool that I could use to do all the things I'd always imagined- writing a script, doing stories, creating artwork, working with photos. And oh, yeah- some rudimentary videos. Within months, I had figure the thing out, reading all sorts of books and things about how it runs, how to use it, etc. I even learned how to type with two hands (by using a program).
That Mac changed my life in more ways than I can possibly explain, without sounding too geeky or preachy. It was the catalyst for a million and one creative endeavors that have been possible on it and its successors. Yes, in a decade I've perhaps gone through more of them than people have gone through cars, but at least I got the mileage out of them. And my life has never, ever been the same. |
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