As with all my electronic hardware, I have a love/hate relationship with my MacBook Air. It’s beautiful, light, and does most of what I need it to do. I can haul it around an airport with ease. It’s great for surfing the Web and iTunes for my iPhone, and it’s perfect for when I’m traveling (weight- and size-wise). There are a few things I must mention that have become pet peeves since I’ve gotten it, though. I dislike having to move all of my pictures, video, and audio after every long trip, but I had to sacrifice space for weight, I know.
At home I use a PC, and on the road I picked the Mac. Because Chris loves Macs so much, I thought, maybe it would convince me to switch altogether. As it turns out, though, I still like Outlook and lots of other programs that only run on a PC. So now I’ve gone and invited trouble, as some would say, by trying to make my traveling computer get along with my home computer. Sigh. Why is so hard for them to just “get along?” If you ask me, it’s total malarkey. Considering all of the developers, hardware geniuses, and software gurus there are in the world, I know its possible — it just hasn’t been a priority for Apple or Microsoft. If, of course, the right people wanted it to happen and the right funding were in place (and the politics and importance of moolah over consumer comfort were put in the backseat instead of the front), anything should be possible.
“Me! Pick me!” I feel like a first-grader holding my hand up in class, waiting to be called on by the powers that be. I’ve been holding my hand up to be called on for so long that I now need to hold it up with the other arm! “Please, please! How can I get my computers to all sync and talk and work with one another while still being able to choose from more than one brand and style?”
Is that really so much to ask for? I mean, I pay for them, I load them with software you all tell me to buy, I’ve done my part by paying for and using them; I even diversify. Diversity is good, yes — it’s supposed to make the “population” pool stronger, right? When it comes to computers, though… not so much.
My example: I was on a recent shark diving trip off Guadalupe Island, Mexico (the most amazing trip ever; I had a ball). But I also had to endure electronic hell on more than one occasion, as did many of my fellow divers. My personal nightmare happened when one of the other divers, Dave, offered to let me copy his pictures from his SD card onto my computer. (I had been copying them all day from my own SD cards.) Ah, but he was a PC user, and I was a traveling Mac user. Instead of just working as intended, do you know what happened? The Mac rewrote the SD card and wiped it clean, losing all of his pictures! I almost had a heart attack, and I think Dave did, too; I felt so, so, so bad! We made a CD of my pictures for him and I promised I would do whatever he wanted, but… I couldn’t put his pictures back on that card and make it so he could flip through them on his camera. This was horrible; I ended up wasting hours of my time searching the boat for a tech expert to help save my butt.
Still, after giving him the CD, I could still see the disappointment in his face. He was sharing and got the crappy end of the deal. (I’m still sorry about that, Dave — blue hair Dave from Chicago, Illinois! Thank you for sharing — I appreciate that you did, and I will always know your sacrifice. Did you check out the video of you and the dolphins? I’m hoping that will up my worth factor! It’s amazing, I promise!)
My second nightmare came when a local shark scientist who was doing amazing things with great whites did a presentation for us. He had awesome footage and a PowerPoint show; I tried to capture it on my flip to share later, but it lost a lot so I asked if I could get a copy of his presentation and some of his pictures. Sigh. Again, because of my Mac and his PC format not playing well together, we had no luck. I ended up going back to his boat and for another half hour one Mac user tried to help move files from his PC onto my Mac — the pictures copied, but the PowerPoint didn’t. Dang it.
So I love it and I hate it, as is my usual mantra when it comes to tech devices. In theory, everything I buy is supposed to make my life easier, more productive, and hassle free. Then in real life… somehow, when it comes to technical issues, I always have some to share. So the MacBook Air is great because it’s super portable and I can move pictures onto it. The MacBook Air is not so great because it doesn’t share or receive easily from others. Ah, well, I’ll learn. I’m sure there are other ways to get around these problems and software that will make my life easier. Know of any?
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