I Came This Close...

The past weekend was declared a tax-free holiday on purchases under $2,500. I thought I would be a shrewd player and go grab one of the new Apple MacBooks to avoid paying the roughly $50 in sales tax. Bundled the little one into a snugli and went to the North Shore Mall, ZDnet MacBook review in hand, hoping to score.

When I saw the security guards posted outside the Apple Store, I knew I would be in for it. The moment I set foot in the store, I was swept away in a whirl of teenagers, "helicopter parents", and POD people in the Apple issued uniform of black t-shirt with computer+ iPod logo. I was approached by a man wielding a clipboard and he was very nice, showing me the laptop that was the focus of my desire, flirting with Chloe, and telling me about the "free" (rebated) HP printer, copier, scanner. Great, I just wanted to get a laptop bag and I would be on my way.

As I looked at bags, knapsacks and attache cases, the little voices kept popping up in my head, "it's easy, too easy, something will go horribly wrong, it will explode when you try to boot up Photoshop" The word Photoshop swirled around in my head like that scene in the Simpsons where Homer's waiting for his free company beer and he keeps hearing "Dental Plan (lisa needs braces). Then I remembered a line I had read. "Check to make sure your current software is compatible with the new Intel processor before buying."

I went back to the front of the store and flagged down a salesperson. He said the new MacBook would NOT run Photoshop CS but it would run Photoshop CS2. I had a brainfreeze and called Chris to make sure what we had at home. Left a voicemail and waited, fed Chloe a bottle on a bench in the back of the store. (its a very kid-friendly store BTW) And finally he called. Photoshop CS.

I trudged back to the front again and ran into a different salesperson. He rushed to pimp the MacBook but this time I said no, it won't run PhotoShop CS. "Yes it will, sure it will." But then I asked the first salesperson again, "No, it won't run that, only CS2." "Okay," I said, "Can't get it then." and walked out of the store.

This whole scenario kind of blows my mind. Here's the world's second biggest computer company, aggressively promoting a new laptop for a decent price for once, BUT it only runs the Adobe software that came out last Tuesday. Anything earlier, nope, uh uh, useless. With the price, it seems that Apple is making a play for the consumer who might be wooed by the $1,099 pricetag, but spooked by prices like $1,299 and higher. I argue that it's a reasonable assumption that someone like that is not likely to be running out to upgrade their PhotoShop software every 5 minutes.

It's a mystery, rapped in a riddle, but I think the answer might be here. You can read more about the Apple conundrum here. And here.

I Came This Close...

Here's one for the Web Wayback Machine

5 years from now, we are either going to look back at this and laugh at how paranoid we all were, (see: McCarthy Era) or, we are going to collectively sigh and reminisce about the “good old days” when you could still fly with your clothes on.

Here's one for the Web Wayback Machine

Life's Little Victories #84

In tribute to the excellent cartoonist and Malden High alumni, Kieth Knight, kreator of "The K Chronicles" here is one of life's little victories for me; Seeing an idea that you had about 5 years ago show up as a Kottke.org headline on how to save money on airfare!

OLD HAG (not me, silly, the commentor on LifeHacker!) says:
"When traveling internationally, look for an agency -- yup, a real live agency -- in a neighborhood with a high percentage of citizens from the country you're traveling to (Williamsburg for Poland, for example). Those agencies buy out huge chunks of a flight and you can get cheaper fares -- I once went to the Czech Republic for $700 when everyone else was paying about $1200, and I have heard equally good things about flights to China, etc."

Yes! This does work. I went to a travel agency in Boston's ChinaTown about 5 years ago and got two (pre-9/11) roundtrip tickets to HCMC (Saigon) for about $1,200 bucks each during the Tet season which is the equivalent of scoring roundtrip tickets to New York on Thanksgiving weekend for $200. The only problem I had was when the travel agent didn't realize my name is Jennifer and typed it onto my ticket as Vennifer. ( Probably what the tabloids will come up with for Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaugn's wedding)

Life's Little Victories #84

Yo! Your baby's so fat...

Our neighbor has an 8 month old baby that is ENORMOUS. Our daughter had a lot of trouble with weight gain when she was about 2 months old and it's a little scary to see her photos back then. She had cheekbones like Kate Moss on a desert island. I tried to breast feed her, but when it came down to choosing between my pride and keeping her weight on, I had to switch to formula. She's chubby, but not on a National Enquirer scale.

What an interesting time to be alive. I can read an article about how worried everyone is about American children being 59% more likely to be obese than 20 years ago, right next to a ad for a charity to keep babies from starving to death in the rest of the world. If you are seriously pondering this irony of modern life, then I encourage you to read "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond.

Yo! Your baby's so fat...

A Nation of Wimps?

So I went onto MSN.com this morning, like I always do. I was prepared to surf ahead to the sites that I actually read, when this headline grabbed my attention. It's a virtual kick in the nuts for any parent to see something that hints their child may be disadvantaged or damaged in some way and there are a lot of pundits and advertisers out there that know it. Pretty much since the moment I saw the little pink plus sign 12 months ago, I have operated under the general rubric that if it was something that my parents could have either lived with or without and still survived through the 1930's, then I didn't have to worry. It's the only defense I have against a barrage of coupon books, "helpful hint" pamphlets and parenting magazine columns. Electric wipe warmer? No thanks, if a cool, wet wipe touched my baby's behind, I figured it would get her attention, not psychologically damage her.

It's actually a pretty decent article on the site. Written by Hara Estroff Marano for Psychology Today, it touched on a huge nerve for parents. How much parenting is too much? Do we hover over the kid to ensure that we never end up as a Boston Herald headline? "Salem Mother Turns Back, Child Plummets From Changing Table". Or do we step back and nudge them to deal with the real world. For years I 've heard anecdotes from friends who teach school about parents that practically turn into Carmela Soprano when their precious pumpkin misses the deadline on their book report. Not to sound like one of those curdmudgeon types that grouses about "kids these days" and "walking twenty miles to school EACH WAY, but I did find myself talking with a group of adults about my age and one by one, we volunteered our complaints about the "new hire" at the office who flitted in and out and told them that the deadline for the financial report was "kind of a bummer."

I think the root of the problem here is that people are starting to feel the trickle-down effects of a spike in population. More people means more competition for things like education and well-paying jobs. So now everyone in the know is jockeying for the same few spaces so Tyler and Kaylie can get their shot at the brass ring. Well, what else is new? Some kids will become spoiled and convinced that nothing is ever really their fault. They'll probably end up being right, because nowadays people are as apprehensive about firing incompetent workers as landlords are about evicting unruly tenants. No one wants to be called discriminatory or (shudder) unfair, so people are allowed to drift along, blowing off their responsibility. Other kids will develope their own ways of getting along and learn through trial and error the basic equations in life and probably end up managing the first group.

By the way, two things about this article made me laugh. Right next to the sub-header at the top; "Parental hyperconcern maybe why kids can't cope." was a big ad for a video game company that featured a masked soldier with a rifle. Nothing in modern life T's me off more that seeing a family that lets their kids become surgically attached to a gaming console. Little kids bleeping and bonking their way through an entire family outing on their PSP's, kids that are allowed to play war simulation games in 10 speaker surround sound when there are actual WWII vets present who could probably scare the crap out of them with stories about what THEY were doing at 19. No wonder kids "these days" don't have a sense of the real world, they never see it. The other thing was that the article contained a quote from a Bernardo J. Carducci, founder of Indiana University Southeast's Shyness Research Institute, a concept that would have made my grandparents giggle in disbelief.

A Nation of Wimps?