Live and Let Di

Outfoxing Apple!

I've only been awake for a few hours and it's already been an incredibly productive day!!! I went on Apple's website, clutching my son's gift card in my hand, searching for a new charger for his MacBook. It's because I want my child to have everything he needs. Or it's because I want him to stop using my MacBook Pro charger which is prominently labeled with my p-Touch and because I'm tired of having to search all over the house for MY charger. Yeah. Sure. If you think it's the former, you haven't been reading my blog very long.

As I'm checking out, the Apple website prompts me for the 3-digit code on the back of my card. Naturally, I have this code along with the 16 digit credit card number committed to memory. So I go ahead and enter... Oh...almost had me there! I'm not going to tell you the code!!! Click and done. Right?

What about the gift card? So I got back on Apple's site and tried to change the order. Couldn't do it. Would have required a phone call to Apple. Not doing that. Then, in a stroke of brilliance, I realized that I could CANCEL that order and then do a NEW order using the proper payment method. I felt all smug in my cleverness.

NOTE TO OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE OLD LIKE ME: Yes, I used to roll my eyes when "old" people held things at arm's length to read them or handed something to someone else to read, saying, "Why do they make this print so small?" But, COULD APPLE POSSIBLY MAKE THE GIFT CARD NUMBERS ANY SMALLER??? I came this close to waking my son up to read it to me.

Then...as if all of this productivity wasn't enough...I saw that Karen at verbatim got the newest, fastest, coolest version of Firefox! It is a good thing that I did not succumb to peer pressure like this when I was a teen or I would probably be a drug-addled, tramp-stamped hoochie mama by now. It was all I could do to leave a comment before jumping over to download the new version myself. Karen actually listed some pros and cons of the new version...I didn't even read the cons. It's a good thing that my current drugs of choice are technology and golf or I would be in serious trouble!

And for the record, Karen is right...it's wicked fast. Flies. And just looks cool!!!

Di

Mac-ommendations (Vol. 4)

***Don't forget to enter my Eight Below Giveaway***

A little while back, I was delighted to report that it's possible to add addresses and phone numbers to your Mac address book from Mac Mail. However...this morning I discovered a little glitch...or at least something to be aware of.

This cool trick does not work if you access it from the preview mode within Mail. I tried it about six times before it occurred to me to actually OPEN the e-mail and then try it. I ALWAYS assume that I have done something wrong. I NEVER assume that there's a chink in the Apple armor.

The realization that Apple is human only makes me love Apple more!

Di

MAC + CSI = BUSTED!!!

I mustered up every ounce of diplomacy and restraint I had when I recently listened to my friend talk about her new laptop, learning Vista and how it's supposed to be "just like Mac." She's like this big executive person (see this post) so who am I to tell her what to do or preach about the error of her ways?

We all know that I am ga-ga about everything Apple and that not a day goes by that I don't think about how my MacBook Pro doesn't freeze up, never needs to be rebooted and does not require that I know anything about Windows except the Jeld-Wen kind. (It's kind of like how I feel every month when I DON'T get my period since my hysterectomy...I celebrate its absence!)

So I was thrilled to pieces when three of my favorite things came together in a news article sent to me by JoAnn, a friend for almost 15 years whom I have never met*!!!

Three favorite things:

• forensic detective work
• all things Mac
• justice

Article:

Stolen Mac Helps Nab Burglary Suspects

Di

* I was going to expand on how it is that I've "known" JoAnn for 15 years but have never met her, but I decided that I'll save that for a Thursday Thirteen of 13 Best Friends I've Never Met. In the meantime, you can visit JoAnn's daughter's blog in which she praises her Mom for giving her a great upbringing and sequins, because JoAnn, like Amy, inexplicably does not have a blog!!!

Mac-ommendations (Vol. 3)

***CLICK HERE TO WIN A HARDCOVER COPY OF THE STONE GODS***

Do you sometimes find that your Mac trashcan has some stuff in it that seems determined to stay there? I had an "untitled CD" in there which contained a Quicken File from January. I guess I must have decided to start the new year right and start backing up my Quicken files just in case...

Because I am, let's say "obsessive," in the non-medical usage of the word, I was driven to find a way to get my trash serenely empty, if only for a moment. Command-Delete was not working...although that command works great when you are deleting a file and don't want that annoying, "Are you sure?" message to come up.

What I finally discovered was that if you double click on the trash and open a Finder window that shows you the contents, you must simply hold down the Option key while clicking the "Empty" button in the upper right hand corner of the Finder window. And just for an added bonus, it makes a cool, incinerating sound. The sound effect gives you an even deeper sense of satisfaction than the sublimely empty trash icon.

Please note that this does NOT seem to work if you hold down the Option key while selecting "Empty Trash" on the drop down menu next to the gear-like object on the upper left. You must use the Option key in combo with the "Empty" button. Also, since I'm running Leopard, I have no idea if this or any other shortcut works in Tiger.

Di

Mac-ommendations (Vol. 2)

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY CONTEST! IT'S EASY AND YOU CAN WIN A BOOK!!! CLICK HERE

This is such a cool feature and I only learned about it because I read iCreate, a magazine out of the UK that is devoted to all things Apple.

Let's say you are reading your e-mail. (OK, I know you are now saying out loud, "You are reading your e-mail." You are so immature!!!) Someone sends his phone number and address in the e-mail. So naturally you open your Mac address book to enter the information. No, no! Too much work. All you have to do is:

[Ed. note: Thanks go out to Karen at verbatim for pointing out that these shortcuts work only on Leopard]

Let your mouse hover over the number and a little white-on-grey arrow will appear to the right of the number. Click on that and a drop-down list will open up offering you the alternative of creating a new contact or adding the information to an existing contact. And check this out!!! It offers you the alternative of showing it in LARGE TYPE!!! So if you are going to try to dial the number from the e-mail and you don't have your reading glasses, just click Large Type. If you can see THAT without your reading glasses, that is.

The same holds true for addresses:

And dates can be added to iCal!

Just more little ways that Apple makes my life easier...and yours too, I hope!

Di

To visit my Mom2Mom post for the News & Observer this week, click here.

Mac-ommendations

My conversion to Apple started about three years ago. At approximately the same time, I read The Tipping Point and met Debbie, our then-PTA president. I quickly identified myself as a "connector"...a person known for linking people with other people...and identified Debbie as a "maven...a person who learns about things first and starts the trend with others.

Debbie came to the PTA office with her new Mac laptop in hand, raving about the amazing service at the Apple Store and the ease of use of this amazing machine. I went home to my husband and said, "Buy Apple stock because if Debbie got this Mac laptop, I guarantee you everyone in the PTA who buys a new computer in the next year will buy a Mac. And chances are there are Debbies all over the country representing the 40-something PTA Mom and Macs will sell like crazy in this sector of extreme buying power." Well, he did and we made enough on it that I could actually buy one a few months later.

I am no Mac Genius (those are the people at the Apple Store with the cool badges around their necks), but I am just a wee bit obsessive about new things that I launch into. Consequently, I dig and dig for ways to improve my Mac-ability and make my computer time more productive. Sometimes it's as simple as a shortcut...click on the Apple and the shift and the 4 [Apple-shift-4] to take a picture of what is on your screen. Sometimes it's the discovery of software that came preloaded on my MacBook Pro that I didn't even know was there...how cool is the "Stickies" application?

So, I'm going to do the occasional Mac-ommendation post with these little tidbits. If you aren't interested, but don't read those posts. I don't want this to become a Mac forum or anything, but I just want to "connect" the soccer-Mom sector of Apple-philes to little tips that might make their Mac experience better, quicker and more fun. FULL DISCLOSURE: Yes, I do own Apple stock, but I do not delude myself that anything done within my blog can influence the performance of the stock!!!

Di