July is Almost Over So I Better Hurry Up and Write This Month's Blog: Hence No Time for a Creative or Corny Title

Update:  I did, in fact, cross over to the Mac side, my friends. 

And per my usual MO, it was over a week before I even opened the box after I made my newfangled purchase.

I have a strict grieving process that must be adhered to when making the switch from one form of technology to another.

DENIAL:
I know I just spent X ridiculous amount of $ on this new computer, but I don't *actually* need to start using it yet. It's not like the old computer has died or something.

ANGER:
STUPID OLD COMPUTER DIED!

BARTERING:
Come on, old computer. Pleeeeease just connect to the internet. Please? I won't try to overtax your system by opening up 12 tabs at once again, I promise. I'm not ready to open the scary looking box on the floor in the corner of the room and figure out a new one!

DEPRESSION:
I don't wanna open the box……………. why is my life so hard??

ACCEPTANCE:
Wow. This isn't so difficult. I can handle this. This new computer is actually kind of awesome. I love life!

Indeed, my experience with my Mac has sent me through a roller coaster of emotions.

There are the highs when I think: "Oh my God, this is the best thing ever…how did I not switch over to this years ago? What can be better than this setup?" which are quickly followed by the lows: "My God! All I want to do is copy-paste! What in the world is the difference between the control and command keys? What happened to right click?!?! AHHHHHHH!"

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Like this… only in my mind.

And despite the fact that I admit to knowing next to nothing about the technological world, I keep buying every new shiny object it dangles out in front of me... just as I keep joining every new social networking site the cyber world has to offer.

I have discussed my fear of the internet ninjas that lie in wait to steal my identity before… they kept me from ever joining such fads as Xanga and Friendster and MySpace back in the day, and they kept me from joining Facebook for a good several years. 

But I can now not only boast (though I probably shouldn't…since really it's rather pathetic) having a blogspot and a Facebook but I can also proudly (again, replace "proudly" with "ashamedly" or some other appropriate adjective) proclaim that I have joined both the Twitter and the Google+ phenomenons. 

Granted, I've done almost nothing on either one, but I have one gosh darn it. And in the social networking world, just signing up for the account is 90% of selling your soul to it.

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Seriously… I don't have a problem.

And what have I learned through all of this social networking besides the fact that Facebook can function as both a noun and a verb?

Answer:  I now have so many usernames and passwords that the idea of keeping all of them straight in my mind alone is laughable.

(source)

Me… in 30 years… minus 29.

On a completely different topic, movie-wise this month I've watched two raunchy comedies and two comic book super hero flicks:

Horrible Bosses
Bad Teacher
The Green Lantern
Captain America: The First Avenger

The two comedies included the best words to describe them within their own titles.  They were awful… seriously. But they were also "horribly funny" and "bad in a good way." 

So depending on your personality, they were hit-or-miss kind of films. For some (like me) it was a fifty-fifty kind of scenario… half of the jokes were complete misses but overall it was made worthwhile by the other half full of absolute, dead-on, laugh-out-loud hits.

The super hero movies were both good in different ways.  Green Lantern was better than I thought it would be because I had convinced myself it would be absolutely awful, and Captain America was slightly disappointing only because I imagined it would be amazing on an epic scale.  

I feel that my high and low expectations are rather to be blamed than the actual films. The first was funnier than I expected, the second one more serious than I anticipated.  I am, however, looking quite forward to The Avengers movie.   

The real moral of the story?

Iron Man is still better.

(source) 

He's like... The Brave Little Toaster on steroids!

June Bugs… Stay Out Of My Computer.

Technological tidbit: 

I’m finally being proactive and searching for that new computer I’ve needed since last year. And of course, this means I must ask one of life’s biggest and scariest questions…

Mac or PC?

Now… lately I’ve heard a lot from the Mac advocates about how amazing Apple products are and how if “I go Mac, I’ll never go back.”

And if I was to base my opinion on how much I love my other Apple products (such as my iPod and my iPhone) and compare it to how much I have hated my Windows XP and Vista laptops (due to virus scares, overheating, and general other annoyances), I would have to say I am quite intrigued by this other mysterious computer world and am seriously considering taking a bite out of the Big Apple to see what all the fuss is about (yes, that was a lame pun. Get over it).

After all, I can no longer put off the inevitable. I need a new computer for grad school, so before August rolls around – come hell or high water – I will have a new laptop or Macbook or whatever it is they’re calling them these days.

And that brings up another point.  Mac will certainly require learning all new lingo, not just a new format, which for me is quite daunting.

Don’t you just love how brands have to separate themselves from the competition and create a new name for something that is essentially the same thing? 

Take ordering pizza at a restaurant chain for example.  Every gosh darn one of them has a different way of saying the exact same thing: “I want everything on my pizza.”

Pizza Hut’s Supreme vs. Domino’s Extravaganza vs. Papa John’s The Works

(source)

That’s right. You heard me. I said EVERYTHING.  More pizza on my pizza, fool!

Anyway, rabbit path.

If the Apple website is indeed user friendly and willing to hold my hand and help me on my journey as I make this transition, that’s a giant plus in its pro column on my handy dandy why-I-should-buy-a-Mac list.

However, knowing my desire to cling to all that is familiar (regardless of whether or not the familiar sucks), PC may still keep its hooks in me a little longer.

And if neither PC nor Mac works out…well, there’s always Linux. ;)