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Sunday, May 12. 2013

Change Redux

This is a rerun, first published February 27. Much as changed since then, the old PowerPC tower is gone and it’s just the iMac and a printer/fax/copier/scanner on the desk.
And I added a new picture of Claudia at the bottom!
•••• •••• ••••• •••• ••••
This blog is about change. The say change will do you good. Sort of goes along with that other old saying, “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” That’s change of a whole different breed.

Last Sunday I went and purchased a new iMac, the one with the 27-inch High Definition monitor. It has some technical aspects that make it pretty cool, like an Intel Quad Processor and gigs — GIGS — of RAM and video RAM. It’s no longer called RAM, but I’m old school.

Sadly though I’m writing this bit with my old Mac, that trusty behemoth of a G4 PowerPC tower that’s done right by me for the past eight-plus years. But it was time to get a new Mac. This one has slowed down, due no doubt to the upgrades and possible spamware, malware, and all the other “wares” that get downloaded and wear down your puter. Also, it can’t handle high definition videos and the newer photos don’t look as sharp.

In fact, shortly after purchasing this G4, Apple announced they were changing the architecture of the Macs to accommodate the Intel processors they were incorporating into the newer Macs. So my G4 was obsolete within a few months.

But, the Microsoft Word program on this works and the download MS Office “thing” I bought at Best Buy didn’t work. In order to download the Office package you have to scratch off some paper to get the download code. Well, there wasn’t a code so now I have to take it back and get a new one … or maybe just get my money back and buy it directly from Microsoft online. Microsoft: why can’t you keep it simple? Just sell a DVD.

Which brings up another surprise about the new iMacs: they don’t have CD/DVD drives anymore. I never thought to ask or even look for the drive because every Mac I’ve ever seen in the past ten years has had an internal CD or CD/DVD burner. It never occurred to me this iMac wouldn’t have one. I even called Apple tech support — and spoke to someone within minutes! — and asked, “Where’s the CD/DVD drive?”

“Apple is phasing them out,” I was told. Apparently people don’t do DVD’s and CD’s anymore. Who knew? Well, maybe some people knew, but it was news to me. Hell, I have friends who still prefer vinyl to CD’s and MP4. Not me. Vinyl means scratches, skipping and getting up every 18-22 minutes to change the record.

One of the best new features for Macintosh (and bear in mind, “new” for me means after 2005), if not the best new feature, is this thing called the “Magic Mouse.” You slide your fingers up and down and back and forth and what’s on your monitor scrolls like an iPhone or iPad. Very cool … but it takes some getting used to; you’ll be doing something and touch the mouse and boom — what’s on the monitor moves or disappears altogether. I’m not really sure what else it will do. It’s wireless, like the keyboard and that’s pretty nice.

What’s holding up the process though is the transfer of all my files from the old G4 to the iMac. The guys at Best Buy and Apple said, “Yeah, sure! Transferring the files will be easy! Mac-to-Mac!” Yeah, well, not entirely true. The G4 is so old, nearly 10 years, it isn’t compatible with the transfer thingies on the iMac so it all has to be transferred manually, as my tech guru Eric explained to me.

So Monday Night we set about the long (20 hours) process of doing the transfer. We’re talking nearly 200 gigs of content, or at least 150 gigs. Well, about half way through that the transfer was interrupted so Tech Guru Eric will be back over tonight so we can get it restarted and — hopefully — finished.

And that’s where this blog (and all my other interests) sits. So I’m doing a little thing about change, because as my Tech Guru Eric pointed out, this sort of change takes patience. Someone once told me, “Don’t pray for patience. You might get more opportunity to test your patience than you are willing to tolerate.”

So, to soothe the impatient voices in my head I turn to this trusty old G4 to take some time and space to dedicate it to change. Once the iMac is up and running and this G4 tower and monitor are long gone and the frustrating delays and interruptions are over, it will be back to the new normal.

Here’s a part of the new normal: the iMac has a hi def camera on it and a program called “Photobooth.” There’s me in the photo above, with a chipmunk face.

Along with the new iMac I purchased a GoPro Hero 3 camera. I’ll strap it to my forehead and go snorkeling when the water warms up, but I’ve attached it to the handle bars of the Trusty Trek (I’m keeping that for the foreseeable future) and recorded some of my rides. Stew on that, young’uns! Okay, young’uns are already doing that with GoPros, but what the Hell. You can look forward to some awesome, homegrown videos. Anyway, one of those videos is included above.

But like me you’ll need to have patience. Change is never as easy as we hope, but often, at least when you upgrade to newer technology, life is a little better on the other end of the change.

Here’s a big change: this blog is less than 1,000 words. Don’t expect this trend to last much longer. Once I start writing on that iMac it’s back to the old normal. There’s only so much change a man can take in one week.

Posted by Tim Forkes in Life at 05:01 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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