Book Review: Planet Narnia

"In our world," said Eustace, "a star is a huge ball of flaming gas."

"Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of."

(The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Chapter 14)

There was this one time in high school where me and some friends were in the car headed out somewhere, and "Higher", by Creed, came on the radio.

Can you take me higher?

To the place where blind men see

Can you take me higher?

To the place with golden streets

Solid.

My one friend Brett and I immediately started talking about how "solid" it was. This one girl turned around, though, and matter-of-factly said, "What's so solid about it? It's the same four measures over and over again: it's completely unoriginal and boring. There it is again! What's so special about it? What makes it so good to you?"

Brett and I just kind of stared at each other for a minute, and then started into this explanation of the great meaning and poetry of the lyrics and how they reached a good peak just when the music did, and all this other stuff... but this girl wasn't really buying it. She was really into music and couldn't see how, musically, it was anything more than just a banal pop song. To Brett and I, there was a whole world of meaning in that little song, but it didn't excite her in the least. She didn't see it.

There is often quite a difference between what something is composed of and the feeling it evokes. To use a cliché: an object is more than just the sum of its parts. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the third book in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia), the character Eustace is corrected on this topic. He was incorrectly associating identity and meaning with composition. Before he was gently rebuked, I don't think he would've liked "Higher" either.

I read the Chronicles of Narnia a lot when I was a kid, and I've enjoyed reading them even more as an adult. As an adult, I pick up on a lot more of the imagery, Biblical references, etc. that I missed as a child. I got the "don't be a traitor, be nice to your siblings, honesty is good" themes as a kid, but even now when I know these things I still feel a great sense of something as I read them: something that's more than just what's written there on the page, a sort of magnanimity that transcends merely the plot of the stories. But, to be honest, as many times as I read the books I still felt that they were pretty random at times. I mean, they're kind of fanciful, but it just seems like a hodgepodge of different myths and other elements, and there isn't always good resolution. And, they were popular: why stop at seven? Lewis could've continued on and given us more stories about The Golden Age of Narnia, or the beginnings of Narnia, or gosh, answering all the open-ended stories he has in there (how many times does he cop-out with a 'this isn't his story' kind of thing? A lot. C'mon, I want to know the backstory stories.)

Enter to this confusion Planet Narnia, a book released last year by scholar Michael Ward. It reads not as a book so much as an exhaustively researched thesis or dissertation, because that's what it started out as. In essence, the premise is this: the randomness that you sense when reading the Chronicles? It's not random. The hodgepodge of different myths floating in and out? Not a hodgepodge. Why seven? You'll find out. ;-) All of these questions can be answered when reading the Chronicles through a particular lens: one that is able to add to and enhance their reading. Ward admits that he's found no secret document, no hidden letter of Lewis' that had his intentions for the Narniad scribbled on them or anything - nothing like that. Instead, Ward is claiming that if you look at Lewis' entire corpus of work, especially his non-fiction Medieval books, his poems, and the Cosmic Trilogy, there are themes contained in them which appear even stronger in the Chronicles of Narnia.

I read the book a year ago and meant to put up a review then. As you can tell, I never got around to it. But, I've re-read some of the Narnia books recently and so have been thinking about it more lately. Make no mistake: it's a heady work. But, it's a must-read for anyone who's experienced inexpressible emotions when reading the Chronicles. It's so well-researched and convincing, it's not merely an approach to enjoying the books, it should be the approach to fully enjoying the books.

If you enjoy the Chronicles of Narnia because of what they say about certain virtues, or certain theologies, or anything else- if you're concerned, in other words, with what's just on the pages of the books, you should probably not read Planet Narnia. It will either go over your head, or at the very least will expose you to things that you'll wish you'd never heard of before you read it. Keep reading them on the surface for merely what they're composed of, and you'll remain content.

If, however, you enjoy the Chronicles of Narnia because of how they make you feel, you have to read this book. If you've felt something satisfying in your spirit as you've read the books, you may want to know why, and this book will help with that. I have a feeling you'll read it, read the Chronicles again, and think: "Solid!"

Free Advice #1

I know I should charge for it, but what the heck - here's some free advice to anyone who may be working on a screenplay adaptation of C.S. Lewis' A Horse And His Boy:

Please, oh please, start the movie during the "race" where Bree & Shasta meet Hwin & Aravis.

It doesn't seem obvious, I know, but hear me out:

• It gets the action going right away, with someone riding on a talking horse that's being chased by lions. Everything gets explained in short order to the audience.

• It dispenses with problems associated with time - Bree & Shasta were supposedly traveling for weeks before this occurred.

• It allows you to hear the backstory from the main character's mouths - Aravis tells their story (with Hwin interrupting) and Bree tells their story (with Shasta interrupting) in a more concise & direct (though still poetic) manner. In short, character development is so much easier.

• It wouldn't drag down the whole movie. That could take all of 20 minutes, and then you've still got plenty of time for all of Tashbaan, the ride north, the hermit, the trip to Narnia, and the battle at Anvard. If you were start linearly and track the story from the beginning, it would take forever. Or, in an effort to be shorter, would be made more terrible (for how to make an adaptation terrible, please see Prince Caspian. Actually, don't torture yourself like that).

Unpacking

Even though I've written of it before, and in spite of me going through it many times and it already being a week after I've left, I'm still at a loss as to how to properly end the summer and my experience at Casowasco. Most have already moved on, I know, but as I've unpacked physically, I still feel the need to unpack emotionally. Frankly, I'm unsure of how to do that. In The Return of the King, Frodo feels a similar sentiment:

"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand - there is no going back."

I realize that I'm probably the only one left dealing with it: the old fogey who doesn't have anything better to do than sit around and mourn the summer. Judging from Facebook statuses, that feels true. For several days, I just sat and looked at my bags and piles of papers and clothes, knowing that they needed to go back where they belonged, but not wanting to put them there. Most, I know, have rushed on to unpacking and repacking for college, moving in, and picking up jobs and friendships right where they left off in June.

And I can't help feeling as though that's a mistake, somehow. I feel like we don't have enough time to ponder and reflect as we ought to have, and that we're at a loss whenever we go through an experience and don't unpack it. I understand, appreciate, and agree with the sentiment that we should live in "today" and not dwell in the past; I get that. But I still long for a way to feel more closure with the summer camping experience.

I'm well aware that this is mainly a personal problem. I'm conscious enough of my surroundings to appreciate that most of my colleagues are grateful for a return to "normalcy", and are excited to be back in the swing of things wherever they are. And, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't partially as well.

But, I also know that camp is a transformative experience: we work and live together, cry and celebrate together, worship and grow together. Because of this, we cannot so easily detach from our "summer job" like our friends can; it's just not like that. It's deeper, it's more meaningful, it involves deep friendships and personal growth. It was life-changing.

So I guess I just wanted to take a few minutes and mentally unpack. Moving on is necessary and important - I guess I just hope that we all still take the time to appreciate what we've been through, acknowledge the changes that have happened within us, and allow God to lead us forward.

Review: MacBook (white) 13-inch, Early 2009

INTRODUCTION

Well, the MacBook came earlier than expected (last Monday afternoon instead of "Wednesday by 12pm"), and so I've been using it bit-by-bit since then. As you might expect, there's been both joys and frustrations along the way.

And I think that that's important to keep in mind: both joys and frustrations are to be expected with any sort of move to something unfamiliar - there will be some things that will be nicer, some things that won't be, and other things that just work differently. These are the things that make you to pause and think, "Well, that's stupid.", when in fact it's not stupid, it's just different. ::shrug::

I've encountered several of these so far, as you'll find below in this exhaustive review (well, you'll be exhausted when you finish it, that is). Please feel free to read it in chunks, if you're not up for a half-an-hour reading fest at the moment. So, gather round people, wherever you roam. Grab a chilled IBC (or, preferably, Ithaca brand) root beer, and ye shall hear of my tales of woe and elation. Yes, the times, they are a changin'.

UNBOXING

Before we get to the real deal, though (and I promise that this will come up for other reasons shortly), let's talk shipping. We ordered the computer in the late afternoon (EST) of a Wednesday and it arrived, FROM CHINA, on Monday morning. And, to be fair, it made it to the destination city early that morning. I think that's amazingly impressive. In loosely the same vein as a recent internet go-around, it used to take a year for people to go to China and back, and it usually involved people dying. So, let's give a shoutout to the Apple employees in Shanghai, as well as to the good people at FedEx. ::claps::

After receiving an e-mail informing me of its arrival, I went to pick it up and bring it home.

The shipping box is slightly smaller than the box my current computer came in when I bought it in a retail store. Surprising, but not monumentally so.

Opening up the shipping box, you see that the retail box is significantly smaller.

It's really a pretty ingenious way to ship a product like a computer. You could dent that shipping box significantly, without any harm coming to the retail box, let alone the computer itself. The triangular, cardboard box holders are really durable. They're a kind of cardboard/pressed board that you don't often see- just very dense and not cheap-feeling. I might use them for something else: they're that good.

Some size comparisons for you:

Moving on to the retail box itself, we see some tape on the outside of the box. It's really sticky. It's also got that "strong packing-tape glue" smell. Eventually it comes off, and the top unfolds like a pizza box.

I think I should mention here that I've looked at a lot of "unboxing" stuff online, so none of this was really news to me. But, I had really enjoyed the experience of unwrapping my iPod shuffle (1G), and knew that this would probably be similar. I might as well get it out of the way now: Apple provides, hands down, the best consumer product unwrapping experience, ever. Everything is made so that the consumer feels like they're valued, and that they bought some thing of value.

And so, we are met with the little (ostentatious, some might say. Not me, though) cardboard flap that proudly proclaims that this product was "Designed by Apple in California". That's just cool. I'm sure it meant a lot more when Apple started out and it really was a strange thing for a computer company to design and manufacture its computers in California, but I think it's still cool.

Little touches like that are all around: the packaging is simple, but secure. There's a nice quality black foam attached to the lid of the box that secures the laptop in the packaging, and even that is very aesthetically-pleasing. In contrast, I believe that my HP laptop came with some big blocks of Styrofoam and brown cardboard boxes.

Moving right along, we'll set the laptop aside for a moment while we investigate what's underneath.

Let's see, we've got a black cardboard pouch, and underneath that… a little white bag filled with what I'm assuming is the accessories I ordered: an Apple remote and a mini-DVI to DVI display adapter.

Accessories being included in the retail box was very surprising. I had expected them to be thrown in the shipping box, in their own individual baggies. But no - they were included in the retail box, in the same little bag. I think we can conclude a few things from this about the way Apple ships out its products and keeps an efficient inventory. The odds that Apple has a bunch of different baggies filled with a number of combinations of adapters and accessories has to be slim to none, and so the logical conclusion is that this was all done at the factory, a short 6 days ago. The factory's shipping area must just have a huge number of bins filled with computers, accessories, and boxes, and they put them all together as the orders come in. So, when Chen Jie saw my order, she got a remote and display adapter, sealed them in a bag, got a retail box to put them in, put in the black pouch and power adapters, placed the laptop in, and then closed the box and put tape on it, all in a matter of probably 15 minutes. It may seem like I'm blowing this out of proportion, and maybe I am, but this really impresses me. It just seems like such a contrast to my last buying experience, where I went to CompUSA, bought the advertised computer, and picked it up in a few days in an ugly brown cardboard box, with bits of styrofoam flecks on the computer and the accessories thrown in without care. Apple obviously has got things down to a science in their processing, and it feels personal. You could almost imagine the shipping person stuffing in a Polaroid of themselves or something in your box, and it wouldn't seem out of place for Apple.

In the black cardboard pouch, we find 3 things - two sides labeled "Everything Mac" and "Everything Else", and a black something underneath those two. Interestingly enough, the "Everything Mac" and "Everything Else" packets are two different shades of white. I'm not usually someone who'd notice that kind of stuff, but I did, so that should tell you something about how distinct they are. I later realized that it's probably because the "Everything Else" was a glossy disc pouch, whereas the "Everything Mac" was actually the matte paper user's manual. ::shrug:: Who knew?

In the "Everything Else" pouch we have a OS installation disc, an applications disc, and... stickers! It doesn't matter how old you are, stickers = cool. The problem as an adult, though, is where to put stickers: there's only so many surfaces I have that a) are going to be around for a while, and b) I want to use to promote a company. On the other hand, stickers help give a sense of ownership: it's all part of the experience. I didn't get any HP stickers with my last computer.

The black something underneath the manual and "Everything Else" pouch is wrapped in shininess. What is it, though? A cleaning cloth, maybe? If so, kudos to Apple. My HP screen gets quite dusty and dirty, and I seldom clean it because I don't have a cloth or similar object, and I've been too lazy to get one (or get monitor wipes). The question I had at this point was, "What about Applecare?" Didn't you used to get a CD with Applecare stuff on it? Maybe they just have a record of it? I guess I'll find out. (Update: it was all done online at the time of purchase.)

What to do now: read the manual, or unwrap the actual notebook?

I read the manual first. I wasn't sure if I had to charge the battery for a certain period of time before I used it or not (I did with my HP), and so I thought I should better find that out first. After I realized that it needed no charging, I turned my attention to the laptop itself. It was covered in a sort of foam paper, similar to the stuff that's wrapped around you at a dentist's office, but much nicer. There was a seal on the back discussing the software agreement and acknowledging that you agreed to it, which I thought was smart, because it was made of really thin paper and was impossible to open the laptop without ripping the paper. Maybe it's meant to be one more reminder that you shouldn't pirate or hack their software. Clever.

HARDWARE

The first thing that strikes you about the MacBook is its size: it's tiny, especially in comparison to my HP. To be honest, the size of my laptop never bothered me much. It's got a 15.4" display, is about the size of a 3 ring binder when closed (~2" thick), and weighs about 8 pounds. As such, toting it around wasn't that much of a problem; one-handed use was a bit onerous, but not impossible. When I got it, I wanted a large-ish screen, because it's all I use for watching movies & TV too. But, for church use, I didn't mind the 13" of the new MacBook. And so, even though I was used to this 15.4", 8 pound trooper, it's hard to not rename him in his retirement as "Mr. Chunky".

Yeah, it's a pretty huge difference. It's like the size delta between Duplo and Lego. I know that this isn't even a unibody construction like the newer Aluminum MacBooks, but... but wow. It's sort of heavy, but not heavy heavy... more dense than heavy. It's so well put together, so thin! As a point of reference, I had to take apart my HP to install the new fan back in January, and I got a really good look at its insides. Now, I haven't taken the MacBook apart or anything, but I've seen enough other people online do it that I know there's not much in there besides the essential components. The design differences are staggering. I guess you could say it's like the structural difference between an ant or a beetle and a human. The HP has this superstructure that all the components are fit into: there's braces and brackets and all sorts of junk. But the MacBook, it's just got this really tough exterior shell, you see.

::shrug:: Anyway.

The power adapter is also pretty small, especially in comparison to the HP's, which is not at all surprising considering its maximum draw is also half of the HP's: 60W vs. 120W. Yeah, I don't know if you've heard, but processors have made leaps and bounds in the last few years in terms of energy efficiency. The cords (especially the longer one) have a nice feel to them, and they wrap easily. The little fold-out prongs for wrapping the cord around the adapter are really helpful.

There was a nice foam sheet between the keyboard and display, which I had gotten on my HP too. The foam seemed nicer, but, ::shrug::... maybe it's just my imagination. I could ask my mom, though, since she kept the one from her HP laptop and always puts it back when she puts it away. ::minor eye-rolling::

The screen is glossy, of course. So is my HP's. They were just starting to become the rage about three years ago when I got it, and I haven't minded it too terribly.

I didn't check it out for the first few days, but I really enjoy the battery indicator on the bottom of the machine, too. It's a random thing, really, but I guess it's nice to know the battery level without having to turn the machine on.

FIRST BOOT

After the startup chime, Mac OS 10.5 ("Leopard") booted up and began the introductory set-up stuff. I ran to do something else quick, and when I came back there was a menu that asked me to choose a language. I had been away for a moment and hadn't touched the keys, and so it spoke to me! It said "Choose a language" or something, and I found that amusing and smart.

Then came the Leopard welcome video. Does it add anything to the experience? No, but it's just fun.

Then I was asked to register the product with Apple. Ugh. I hate registering for things like this. I'm always confused by them, because I'm not entirely sure what the information is used for. I also don't usually know how to change the information once it's done, and so I usually ignore it. I mean, do I put in the church's info, or mine? Does it matter? I think it'd be helpful if Apple (and everyone else) explained what the point of the Product Registration was.

Then I had to choose an account name. This seemed easy, until I noticed that it asked for a "name" and a "short name". Uh... huh? What's the difference? Why do I need to specify them? Are they case sensitive? Apparently so, since I used my name in both, the only difference between the capitalization of "K".

Then it gives you an opportunity to take a picture or video of yourself for your user account, via the integrated webcam. I didn't use it, because I don't generally like pictures of myself. But I thought it was pretty neat, and added a nice personal touch. In the age of online avatars and Facebook profile pictures, I think most people would appreciate this, though.

Oh, and there was also a bunch of questions about migrating data from another Mac and Time Machine (automated backup software), but I ignored those.

It logged me in automatically and so there I was, staring at the screen of my new Mac with nothing really in mind to do with it. Hmmm... Bluetooth was on automatically, so I thought I'd see how easy it was to transfer files from my Bluetooth-equipped phone. So I activated it on my phone and, voila! With a few clicks on each end, I was viewing the files from my phone on my computer. Wow. I had thought about buying a Bluetooth adapter for my HP for this, but it's just nice that it's integrated here.

I'm still a little befuddled as to what I should do. Hmm... How about Dashboard?

I set the clock widget to Eastern Standard time (which I realized afterward wasn't set by the system clock, so I had to change that in the System Preferences as well)

The Weather widget wouldn't correctly identify the city I input, which was strange: "No cities found." What? Not even by zip code?! The Yahoo Weather widget that I use on my PC does it, why can't you? ::minor sigh::

The Internet seems much slower compared to my HP: Facebook is taking FOREVER to load. I realize this is Safari 3 and not the Safari 4 beta, and I also just opened "Software Update", so maybe that's slowing the network down, but still…

While Software Update is busy looking for updates, I decide to check out the System Preferences. The trackpad seems slow, so I quickly scan and go into the Keyboard & Mouse settings. Wait a minute… it just has stuff about keyboards, there's nothing about a mouse! Going back to System Preferences main menu… ahhh, there's a separate preference for trackpad. Gotcha, I'm stupid. I just didn't see it at first glance.

Okay, there's tons of updates ready for the machine. Ugh. I start downloading them and since I don't know what else to do, I play a game of Chess to pass the time.

The trackpad seems a bit weird, too: even when the speed's amped all the way up, it seems slow compared to what I'm used to. It might just take getting used to a different surface and the pressure/etc. I have to use on it.

The contrast and color of the display seems off compared to my HP, a little "washed out" you might say. This is a little annoying because I know that my HP is washed out too, I just never knew how to get it really accurate. (Update: after a couple days I downloaded another color profile, and it seems much better. The contrasts and colors seem much more rich.)

While I was waiting for the Software Updates, I decided to start getting down to work. First, I needed to copy files onto my external HD to transfer them over to the Mac. So, that took quite a long time (transferring, oh, 4GB or so). While that was happening, I decided to check out some more widgets. I'd been using Yahoo! Widgets (née Konfabulator) on my HP for a couple years or so, and I generally like it. I've only got about four or five widgets, but it's nice to see some of that information at-a-glance. Those widgets, of course, live on the desktop, and not in their own visual layer like on Mac OS X. I'm not particularly attached to either format, but what does bother me about the Mac OS X iteration is that there's always a delay in the widgets "refreshing" themselves. Why does the calendar widget need to refresh at all? And the calculator? It's mildly irritating that there's always a stutter when you open Dashboard.

I also checked out the Apple remote. I explored a bit of Front Row, but of course I don't have any media there yet so it's kind of useless. Wait, what's the "sources" menu? ….ah, it's found my iTunes shared folder from my HP. Awesome. Let's see, I just put in the passcode with the remote (wait, maybe I could've used the keyboard? ::slaps forehead:: duh! Update: no, you can't. As soon as you type on the keyboard, it shuts Front Row) and… boom! Well,… not really. It's still loading it, after a few minutes. I mean, I've got a few thousand songs shared, so that might be the problem. Or, it might be that the HP's too busy sending files to the external hard drive to notice that it's supposed to be doing something else too, which is not outside the realm of possibility. Or, come to think about it, the network might be a little busy fetching all those software updates. Right.

Speaking of which, let's check out how Software Update's doing. ::sigh:: It's hung on the Airport update… I waited for over ten minutes for it to go from 1.7MB to 1.8MB, and it never got there. So, I stopped the download. ::sigh:: This is discouraging.

Apparently, Front Row isn't able to load my music, either. This is weird. I don't understand, I've shared my iTunes library multiple times, and never had a problem before. Ugh. Another unfortunate thing: overall, the MacBook seems sluggish :-/ It's mostly Front row, I guess, but still: it's got TWO processing cores of much more efficiency than my AMD Athlon-64, much better graphics, etc... what's the hold-up? It's not just Front Row - file browsing seems that way too. I'm not quite sure why… I suppose that maybe it's the trackpad that's still throwing me off. I.e., scrolling doesn't seem as responsive because I'm not scrolling in the "right" way. I do love the two-fingered scrolling, though.

Question about file organization that might drive me insane: is it possible to organize files by type in list view, or can it only be alphabetical? If not, that is a huge bummer. (Update: found out how to do that).

I started messing around with System Preferences again, and Software Update stalled again. Starting for the 3rd time.

I thought I'd try a DVD, so I started to put the DVD in the drive, but it didn't get "slurped" in: I had to basically shove it in. That's unexpected and slightly scary. :-/ I put in a Simpsons DVD, and immediately get prompted to input the region coding. What?! It's not formatted for Region 1 to begin with? Ah, it's set for China (region 5). Hmm... I guess that's to be expected since it was, you know, built there. I honestly don't recall if I had to input a region when I first watched a DVD on my HP. So, I started to watch an episode of The Simpsons. To be honest, I've really been spoiled with these HP speakers. The MacBook's aren't terrible, I've certainly heard worse, but the HP's are definitely superior - better midtones and bass. The MacBook's sound is thinner and lacking overall robustness. Having the remote is pretty nice, though, definitely.

I have a copy of Microsoft Office v. X (2001) that I planned on using with this. It'll be interesting to see what kind of performance hit there is, since it wasn't build for Intel chips. I guess I don't expect it to be a hassle or unusable, but I guess we'll see.

::sigh:: ....SOFTWARE UPDATE HUNG AGAIN.

Oh, and the Office installation failed, because apparently it's just an "upgrade" version, not the full version (only one line in small print on the box). Suck. I'll have to copy the folder over from the iMac G4, I guess. ::another sigh::

Software Update hung again. :-/ And again. And again. I really wanted to CTRL+ALT+DEL or something, which seems sad. I "Force[d] Quit" a lot of times, but am really confused as to what the deal is. The iStatPro widget shows a certain healthy internet traffic, then after a while it goes down to 0kb/s, for no apparent reason. I watched this happen multiple times.

Some positive news: the thing is virtually silent, I only hear the hard drive a tiny bit at heavy disk access, and the optical drive is pretty loud when you insert a disc, and then silent when it's playing. The sound of the DVD drive starting is unnerving at first: the consolation is that Apple has this place I found on their website where they have common sounds related to your optical drive, to comfort you if you think yours is malfunctioning. Classy.

I really like the keyboard. I know some people have complained about it, but I think it's really solid-feeling. My HP's is pretty nice, with not much give at all, but I've certainly met my fair share of really crappy laptop keyboards as well. The MacBook's is probably the best I've ever used.

After a while of using it, I really started to notice the sharp edges of the case. If you'll notice from the above pictures, the HP that I'm used to has curved speaker grilles on the front, so it's a natural and comfortable place to rest my wrists/arms while I type. Doing this on the MacBook results in red lines after a while, because the edge is so sharp. It's not huge deal, though: as I used it over the next several days, I learned to support my arms differently. It's probably more ergonomic that way too, I would suspect.

A niggle about volume buttons along the top of the keyboard: I keep hitting the wrong ones. I'm not sure if it's the line-art labels (why not a circle with a strikethrough for "mute"?), or if it's the order that I'm used to, but I keep hitting "Mute" when I mean to hit "Decrease". On the HP, the shortcut controls are in the decrease/increase/IR receiver/mute order. I'm used to this, and am also partial to it because it separates the least likely function from the more likely functions. Apple's layout makes logical sense (none/some/more), but I'm feeling right now that the more common sense approach is to have the mute button separated from the other two, since it's not used as often. I'm sure I'll get used to it, though.

SOFTWARE

Some things about Mac OS X ("Leopard") are great, while others have been maddening. Folder views, for example, while not always consistent on Windows XP, are MUCH more predictable than Leopard. John Siracusa's Finder & folder view criticisms, are spot on: these global settings are going to drive me nuts.

Oh, my flash drive completely froze the system, too. This really boggled my mind, because the drive's worked with a lot of other Mac OS X systems in the past with no problems. After I had to do a hard restart of the computer, I tried the other USB port and it worked fine. I tried the first port again, and it didn't work. I would understand if it's slightly flaky - the drive's an 8 year-old 64MB drive with a FAT-16 file system, but still... it's weird that it works fine on one port and not the other.

Oh, and the Software Update and other internet problems? Well, I thought it might be a network security thing, so I fiddled with those (WPA 128gigabit RBG HEXSCSI mode, etc.) for a while and it didn't do too much, but the next morning everything seemed to work fine. Go figure. (Update: it's still happening. ::sigh::)

A few surprises (some OS-related, other Application-related):

- Dock magnification is off by default. It just seemed interesting to me, since that was always kind of a "cool" factor in my mind of Mac OS X. I suppose that it's not that practical for everyday use.

- There's a 31 character file name limit on Office v. X?! What a great Carbon port. This is certainly annoying, but I'm not sure if it's enough to make me buy Office '08 for $92. The real problem isn't going to be in creating new files of a certain name length (which does sort of make me feel like I'm back in Windows 3.1), but in editing old or received documents and re-saving them.

- Things get put under Dock from time to time. I've seen this before on other Mac OS X systems, and it never ceases to be annoying. This just shouldn't be possible, just as it shouldn't be possible that windows in Windows shouldn't be able to spring up beyond the viewable area, but it is. In Windows, I've got my Taskbar on top, and programs that don't think about that beforehand sometimes put windows up there, and I have to do some weird key combination to move them around so I can see them. ::shrug:: Either situation, in Windows or Mac OS X, isn't annoying enough to make me switch OS's, but programs just shouldn't do it.

I also copied over and opened an iMovie project from the iMac G4 (iMovie HD? iMovie 5? I don't know which version it is), and then all sorts of things started to go wrong. It didn't open iMovie '09, so I opened the project a second time. Then Word started to go haywire and unresponsive, the system wouldn't restart, and then wouldn't shut down. I had to do a hard reboot, again. That's about 3 or 4 in, like, three days. The project did eventually import into iMovie '09, though.

Shared folders on Windows computers didn't work well at first. The computers showed up with no problem, but when I tried to connect to them, they didn't connect. Or, when they did connect and I tried to open a file, I was denied access because I didn't have the correct permissions. After a while, though, everything worked itself out. I'm not joking: I really changed absolutely no settings, and everything started to work. I was sharing files between the office's desktop, my laptop, etc. Setting up the shared laser printer on the office desktop was relatively painless, too, with about as many hoops to jump through as getting it to work through another Windows XP computer.

For e-mail, I've been using Thunderbird on Windows, and so even though I could've used Thunderbird on the MacBook, I thought I'd give Mail a shot. It would've been a familiar interface if I'd gone with Thunderbird, but I wasn't sure how well it integrated with the rest of the OS/contacts/etc. My current e-mail "system" is that everything is in my Inbox, and I use the "unread" marker as things I need to respond to. I know, I know, it's probably not the best system. But, I hate using folders to organize, because things don't always translate into a black-and-white "this folder as opposed to that folder". So, I keep my Inbox sorted by "Unread", then by date received. Unfortunately, Mail can't do that. ::sigh:: It was slightly disappointing, until I realized I could create a "smart mailbox" that only contains unread items, which in some ways is even better. Having to add contacts is a bear, but that's how it was when I moved from Outlook to Thunderbird, too. Then, I thought I'd try something clever: I exported my contacts from Thunderbird on my HP, put it in my shared folder, copied the file from the shared folder over the network onto my MacBook, and imported the "LDIF" file into Mail. Yes - I am, in fact, very tech-savvy. All the contacts transferred fine, but the groups didn't, so I had to rebuilt those lists. It wasn't a huge deal, though, and only took me about 20 minutes or so.

I had downloaded the last version of the old-school iMovie when it was up as a free download a few months ago. I tried to install it on the MacBook, but couldn't because it said I needed to have installed "iLife '08" first. Huge bummer. I guess that's a good incentive for me to get used to iMovie '09 fast.

Also, this may be something you may already know and I'm just beginning to experience: syncing data between two computers sucks. This week, I brought both the MacBook and my laptop to work, but I certainly don't want to do that forever. My goal is to end up using the Mac exclusively for work, and not relying on any software on my laptop (e.g., Photoshop). So, I'm using Dropbox for a few things that I occasionally use on both computers (a spreadsheet or two and some pictures), but my fear is that some day I'll be working on something and need a file from my HP that I don't have with me, and it'll make me frustrated. ::shrug:: We'll see.

CONCLUSION

As I stated at the beginning of this review, switching to something different is always going to result in three different sentiments - the feeling that some things that are nicer, some things are worse, and some things that are just different. I feel like I've touched on a lot of those here, but what's the takeaway message? Would I have rather gotten a PC? Am I happy that I got the Mac?

That's a complicated answer. I think the truly foundational piece I've read on the topic is John Gruber's "Familiarity Breeds A User Base", written about three years ago. In it, he explains how the familiarity with, and knowledge of, something corresponds to the likelihood of moving to something new. That's exactly how I feel right now. Our first family computer ran DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1, and I actually enjoyed learning some of the command line, keyboard shortcuts, and Windows tricks. We had that machine for four years, upgrading only the RAM. The next machine we got ran Windows 98SE, and most of what I already knew transferred fine, and I picked up even more knowledge. By my freshman and sophomore years of college, though, using Windows 98 became frustrating: Explorer would crash at least half a dozen times a day, for no apparent reason, and I got at least one BSOD ("blue screen of death") per month. After hearing and reading about Windows XP, I was actually excited about it, and bought it the day it was released. It had its own quirks, sure, but the UI was nicer than Windows 98, and the plug and play support was much better. It didn't have all the drivers I needed, but they came with time. Besides, it was monumentally more stable, and I took to it like a duck to water.

And so, I used Windows XP almost exclusively for the next eight years. To put that into perspective: in the 14 years that I've had a home computer, I've been using Windows XP for over half of them. I've used it twice as long as the next longest OS, which was Windows 3.1. Yeah, it's safe to say that I'm invested in Windows XP; I've got a workflow in Windows XP, I know XP. This isn't even taking into account that I've been on the same hardware now for over three and-a-half years. All the muscle memory isn't just based on OS knowledge, but actual physical muscle memory of my HP zv6130us, its latch and screen, its keyboard layout, and the rest of its clunky hardware.

So if I've got so much invested in Windows, why did I ask for a Mac? Well, for several reasons. First of all, I really love Keynote and Pages. Whenever I've seen them, I've thought, "Wow, that's so much easier to use." I also want to do more video editing at church, and all the low-cost PC editing software I've used is complete crap: it's buggy, it's confusing, it's terrible. Since we're going to use this for projection, too, I also wanted to avoid using MediaShout, and to me that meant either Keynote or ProPresenter. And, maybe above all else, I was hoping that once I input all my contacts, any kind of syncing would be much easier, with anything. This may turn out to be false, but I hope not: I'm really looking forward to it.

Back in that piece from three years ago, Gruber wrote:

"I don't think there's any easy way for Apple to overcome this familiarity factor, and I think it's the single biggest impediment to would-be-switchers."

He was right then, and still is to an extent. But as it turns out, Apple didn't have to do a thing to overcome it - Microsoft did it for them. The other major reason I asked for a Mac is that I've actually got virtually nothing invested in Windows Vista (or, consequently, Windows 7). I know some keyboard shortcuts are the same, as they always will be, but all the system settings are changed around, the user account control is disastrous, and the UI - desktop, buttons, menus, etc - seem very different and annoying. My investment in Windows XP doesn't extend as much to Vista as I think Microsoft would hope for. ::shrug::

(And, as a last aside - there are easy ways that Apple can help to overcome the "familarity factor". For example, I know I have a larger laptop and therefore larger keyboard on my HP, but gosh, can there please be some Home and End buttons on the MacBook? Or at least have a universal way to invoke them? Maybe I just haven't figured it out yet, but it seems like each Application can designate what Control/Command+Up or Control/Command+Down do, which is terrible. I use Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End on my HP tons of times a day, and I haven't been able to figure it out yet on the Mac. Also, where's the forward "Delete" key? And why does it say "Delete", when I can select a file, press that key, and nothing happens? Shouldn't it, I don't know, "Delete" it? Apparently not.)

The slight dissatisfaction and frustrations that I feel right now? Most likely temporary. After all, some of the things that I'm most looking forward to just aren't here yet - I haven't bought iWork yet, and been dazzled by its ease of use and great templates that'll save me bunches of time. I haven't bought ProPresenter yet and found out how much more stable it is compared to MediaShout. iPhoto will be nice, but I haven't imported all my pictures yet, or categorized them properly. Having all sorts of contact and calendar information synchronized will be really helpful, but I don't have all the hundreds of contacts and all their info added yet, or calendars set up.

On the other hand, I can wake the MacBook from sleep in under 3 seconds and "Boom", it's ready for me to start working. Make no mistake - I'm really glad I get to use it, and am looking forward to many happy years ahead. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean it in a big way.

Out For Delivery

"Mar 30, 2009 8:25 AM

On FedEx vehicle for delivery"

So close.

Update

It's left Memphis and headed north.

New Computer Preview

So, right now I’m tracking my new work computer as it travels on its way from Shanghai, and let me tell you- I am pretty darn excited about it.

Ever since I was hired over two years ago, I've been using my personal laptop (a 2005 HP zv6130) for everything I do, and it’s served me well. It’s quite a beast, really. I truck it around quite a bit, and while I’ve never been rough with it, per se, it’s certainly showing its signs of wear and tear. Kids enjoy making fun of it because it’s so “huge”, “ugly”, and “like a brick”. While it wasn’t exactly a cutting-edge design when I bought it, it is decidedly dated-looking nowadays.*

Aesthetics aside, my primary exhaust fan started to fail back in January, which left me using a 1998 Sony laptop and a 2002 iMac G4 in tandem for over a week while I ordered a replacement fan for ~$60.

After I installed the new fan and things were back to normal, I had given up on the idea that I’d get a new computer. But, we’re starting a new service in a few weeks, and we needed a computer to run the slides, show movies, or whatever we were going to do with it. Suffice to say, none of the computers owned by the church were really suited for this purpose. We have:

• the aforementioned Sony laptop (a Craigslist find I got a while ago),
• a Pentium III Dell desktop hooked up to a TV on a cart,
• a 5 year-old Dell laptop,
• a 4 year-old HP desktop in the main office, and
• a 6 month-old HP desktop that lives in the pastor’s office

…not a particularly adept crew, no.

I suggested that we could buy a new computer that could be shared between Youth Ministries and the new service needs. I looked at some different prices and deals, and requested an Apple MacBook (white). It was agreed upon, and that is why at this moment I’m anxiously awaiting e-mail updates about a package coming from Shanghai.

SOME HISTORY

My first experience with Apple products, as it relates to this (pre)review, is really a set of experiences during high school. Our computer labs, as I usually remember them, were filled with the G3 all-in-one “molar”'s. These were steadily replaced by iMacs (Revs. A-D) in the computer labs, and others filtered into other classrooms.

I mostly hated them.

I’m not sure what it was about them, really. It certainly couldn’t have been speed, since at the time we had a 66MHz 486 running Windows 3.1 at home. I’m guessing my hatred was mostly directed toward “At Ease”. At Ease was this network environment that must’ve been great from an IT perspective, because you could control all sorts of program and network access from afar. But, from a user standpoint, you couldn’t do jack with it; it was useless. As a natural tinkerer, it made me upset that I didn’t have control over any sort of settings, or get to launch any program I wanted. Therefore, Macs sucked.

I won’t deny that I thought those original iMacs were cute. (Amusing, related story: a fun pastime in Physics was to rearrange all the keyboards and mice so that none of the colors matched each other.)

The breakthrough really came during my freshman year of college, when a friend down the hall from me had a Powerbook G3 (“Pismo”). I was immediately smitten. Sure, it had cost him a lot more than the desktop I had at the time, but it had some really cool programs, and seemed faster, and sleeker, and… well, just look at those curves.

He also got me interested in checking out Mac OS X. Before it launched, I watched all the intro videos on Apple’s website, the cool Dock animations, and was blown away by the beauty, simplicity, and elegance of Aqua. My friend got it the day it was released, and a few of us watched as he installed it.

I think you could say that I was officially hooked.

I used Macs for a few education classes (PowerMac G4’s), during my student teaching (lots of iMacs, iBooks, and an iBook SE graphite), and to edit video for an “aesthetic experience” project (iMac G4). I can’t point to any one thing that I thought was so much better on Macs versus my PC, or other PC’s for that matter. But,… well, that’s not quite true. Editing video was much easier on the iMac G4, even compared to the dual-Pentium III workstation I had also used. Maybe it was merely the difference between iMovie and Adobe Premiere, but all of my experiences left me with the impression that “you know, some day I should look into a Mac.”

My perception is that this has been the situation for a lot of people, and maybe a few are even on the fence of whether to "go Mac" or not. In that spirit, I thought I’d post a comprehensive review of the new MacBook for the edification of us all. Check back in a week or two for that.

Oh, and by the way: it’s in Oakland now.

* I don’t think it’s a particular failing on HP’s part, it’s just that almost all laptops around then were about two inches thick (Apple laptops aside). The move to 65nm and more efficient chips has done wonders for laptop designs. Ironically, when I brought my iMac G4 to church last fall, kids could not believe that it was 7 years old. They were convinced it was much, much newer than that.

The F Stands for Failure

You speak, but no one can hear you.

You hunger, but there is nothing to satisfy your desire.

The cold, hard loneliness surrounds you, and you wrap your arms around your body so that you retain at least some sort of control over your faculties.

But it’s useless. There’s no ambiguity that you’re there: the eighth circle of Hell.

To the ordinary laymen in casual conversation, this is called “Terminal F at the Philadelphia International Airport”.

Now, I may not be a very balanced source, because I’ve only flown into Philadelphia about half a dozen times. But, four of those trips were in the last year or so, so I feel that my experiences still carry some weight. And, I might add right up front – I have very little experience with the other terminals there, so I’m not going to bother talking about them. This is all about Terminal F.

“Well gosh,” you might start to ask. “What makes Terminal F so bad? What makes it so much worse than Terminals A through E?”

I was hoping you’d ask that.

There are a multitude of sins that Terminal F commits, some of which are created simply by the function it serves. See, the only airline that Terminal F serves is US Airways Express, which means that all of the traffic arriving at (or departing from) Terminal F is from relatively short distances/flights. Basically, the Northeast.

Living in that region, I know that every time I fly into Philadelphia I can be sure that I’m going to arrive or depart from Terminal F.

In some ways, this is extremely convenient. After all, you can get used to a certain terminal – its layout, restaurants (more on that in a moment), and general feel. In another sense, it’s extremely maddening because you know you’re going to have to go to another terminal to catch your next flight. This wouldn’t be so bad in and of itself, except for the fact that when you cast your gaze from Terminal F toward the rest of the airport, you see this:

Yes, it’s so far removed that not even the laws of perspective apply.

What you should quickly realize in this factual rendition [Flash link] is that it’s virtually impossible to walk to the other terminals, and it’s actually impossible if you want to avoid going through Security again. So, in order to transfer to and from Terminal F, you must take the bus. Leaving Terminal F on the bus is a relatively easy affair (I suppose they feel at least some compassion for the poor, lost souls who are stranded there). But, taking the bus from Terminals A-E over to F will result in 1) A long line of people crowded in a small, cold, windy stairwell, 2) cramped space on the bus itself, 3) Waiting for at least ten minutes in the aforementioned stairwell.

The normal person, when faced with such obstacles, would think, “Well, I’ll just walk over.” Ah, but recall - about a half-mile walk, with a security checkpoint somewhere in between. There’s not even one of the fancy “moving walkways” that connect all the other terminals together – you’ve got to hoof it all the way.

So, the distance is considerable, the shuttle bus miserable, and the fact that you (I) always have to interact with Terminal F makes it a foreboding experience.

Let’s say that you next feel the pangs of hunger. Most likely, you will sigh when you discover that although Terminals A-E have some amazing restaurants, Terminal F is decidedly more limited.

• A Sbarro.
• A Chinese place.
• A small sports bar.
• A new Au Bon Pain.
• 3 “newsstand”s of the sort that sell wilted deli sandwiches for $6.95.

Let’s look at the list of restaurants at just Terminals B & C, shall we?

I assure you that A, D, and E have even more, and this list is out of date (I saw a sign for Chik-Fil-A, which would’ve been awesome to have. Alas, it was Sunday, and in Terminal E, I think.). The food options are not only depressing and inadequate, but really in poor taste when you consider what the other terminals get access to without the need for bus transportation.

In Terminal F, you also have to suffer through the mundane idiots that lose all hope and become monosyllabic mouth-breathers. I sat next to one recently and, I swear on all that is holy and good in this world that I am not exaggerating (by much), his entire vocabulary consisted of “Mmm”, “H’yah”, “Awesome”, and “Man…”. It was dispiriting to know that he’s enrolled at Cornell.

At any rate, in case it hasn’t been abundantly clear to you yet: Terminal F gets the shaft by the Philadelphia International Airport, and it’s a rough place to have to spend several hours. Of course it’s not on the same scale as hell,… but it’s bad. The sad thing is that they built Terminal F 8 years ago. 8 freaking years ago. …and it still doesn’t have any decent restaurants! And you still can’t get there by walking! And it’s still cold!

...::sigh::

But it’s all good, ‘cause if I’m there, it means I’m either on my way to somewhere fun and interesting, or on my way back home to somewhere safe and comforting.

So I guess it’s not all bad.

Responding to Authority

So, I got a ticket recently.

It happened a few Thursdays ago, when I headed back to church at about 9:45pm or so to double-check that a) the oven in the kitchen was turned off and b) the pizza that had been in the oven wouldn’t be a dried bit of crusty debris when I got there on Sunday morning. It wasn’t really in any danger of catching on fire, per se, but it’s better to be safe than sorry – right? Well, it turns out that the oven had been turned off (thanks Martin!), and I took the pizza out and shoved it in the freezer to save for another week.

On my way there, though, I got stopped by the police. (I almost just capitalized both “the” and “police”, to emphasize their importance, but then I realized it could be taken to mean that I was stopped by the 70s & 80s pop band. Sadly, they aren’t the ones who pulled me over.) Honestly, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. A few days beforehand (3?, 5?) I had noticed that one of my headlights was out. I mentally resolved to have it replaced when I got my car inspected this month, but didn’t worry about it again until I saw the red and blue flashing lights in my rear-view mirror that night.

I started to laugh, actually, as I pulled off to the side of the road. You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought. There’s no way I get pulled over for the headlight that’s been out for, like, three days. But, I hadn’t been speeding or anything, and so I knew that that was the reason. So I turned the engine off, rolled down my window, and turned on the interior light.

The officer that approached me was very nice, and he let me know right off the bat that, while he was going to give me a ticket, if I got the headlight replaced and got it signed off by a police officer within 30 days, the ticket fee would be waived.

You know what? That sounded like a really sweet deal to me.

I suppose you could scoff and argue and be all “What, do they have a quota or something? Why are they pulling people over just for broken headlights?” …but that’s not the issue. The issue is whether or not I was guilty, which I was; I broke the law. You’re supposed to have two, fully-functioning headlights. There are reasons for it, and while I’m sure you could argue against them, that’s the law, and I was in violation of it.

The officer was doing his job of enforcing the law, and whether I like it or not, when I got my driver’s license I agreed that I’d be in full compliance with that law. I agreed to it when I got my license, car, and insurance. But for some reason we’ve gotten really complacent in the way we treat authorities in our lives.

It’s like when I was in college. For a year, I was the RA of a “substance-free” floor. This basically meant that everyone, even 21+ year-olds, weren’t allowed to have alcohol (or cigarettes, etc.). That was the agreement you made when you signed the Residential Life contract. And yet, there were students throughout the year who violated that rule, got written up for it, and got upset for being written up. ::shrug:: What’s there to be angry at? You made the agreement when you signed on to the deal in the first place.

And so it is with all the authorities in your life, apart from your parents. Live in the U.S.? Then you have lots of freedoms, but still have to abide by national, state, and local laws (traffic or otherwise ;-) ). High school student? That’s great – you’re able to learn about a multitude of different subjects for basically free, and therefore have some rules imposed on you. College student? That’s awesome, but you still have to abide by whatever rules your college has that you agree upon when you become a student there. Work at a church or a camp? Same thing.

I bring this up because I spend more time than I should reading things online, and I’ve been consistently seeing this thread of, “Well, I disagree with this particular law, so I have the right to ignore it.” on all sorts of sites. This really bothers me (and sometimes convicts me). It bothers me because, frankly, it reeks of weaseling. And as someone who wants to live a life that honors God, that behavior- that kind of adolescent justification of “Well, uh… it’s not fair! I wanna, so I’m going to do it anyway!”- is not at all honoring to God, and it's not who I want to be. I hate to sound like it, but recently I’ve been feeling a lot like Danny Tanner or Cliff Huxtable (or any other TV dad), saying, “If you’re not going to abide by the rules of this house, then you can go find yourself another house!”

It seems harsh, but c’mon - in this country, they’re exactly right. We in the United States are gifted with the opportunities to go to school wherever we want, or travel and live wherever we want. We’re also blessed with the fact that if you don’t like the rules, you can peacefully protest and object through legislation and democratic processes. But, standing on the sidelines and saying, “It’s just wrong, man.”, and violating the rule anyway? Please. You know that’s not how society should work. It’s not the precedent set for us by God, and even when we’re in the process of breaking a law (speeding, anyone?), we feel it and know it’s wrong. I think we feel it because we know it’s hypocritical. It’s hypocrisy to agree to certain things and be protected in certain ways, but not “x”. And, if you’re really wanting to do “x”, shouldn’t you be willing to leave the comfort of whatever authority you’re under in order to do it? Hasn’t God said that He “opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”? (James 4:6) Suck it up, throw away the pride of opposition, and be humble for a while under the authority in your life. I know it’s not popular, but whenever you’re tempted your answer should just be, “ ’x’ isn’t allowed here. And, while I may or may not agree with it, I’m under the authority of _____, and I will respect them.”

…if it turns out that I do have to pay a fine for my ticket, I’m going to do it gladly. The police force that may inconvenience me from time to time with a traffic ticket is the same police force that keeps me safe and enforces the rules that I, as a member of a democratic society, have chosen. Whining doesn’t make it any better, and acting as if the law doesn’t exist or doesn’t apply to me doesn’t make it better either. What makes it better is knowing that I’m honoring God with my decisions, and that with every decision I make, I’m learning more about Him and growing more into who He wants me to be, who I was created to be.


::shrug::

But that’s enough of that for now. Stay tuned soon for a post about a place in the eighth circle of Hell.