Porter MacGillikitty

Yesterday afternoon, I received a series of frantic texts from my daughter, who is still living at home while attending college to become a veterinarian. They went something like this:

“(Attached Photo of Elderly Cat in Shelter) Can I bring him home?”

I replied, “No, but he’s cute!”

“But he’s 10 and he’s been here a LONG time. He really needs a home.”

“Your timing really couldn’t be worse. I can’t.”

“Can I put an adoption hold on him?”

“I can’t agree to that. Your dad is pretty set against the idea, we would need to discuss it. I don’t want to drop this on him.”

“But, he’s perfect!”

“You can bring it up at dinner tonight, ok?”

There was a long pause. I assumed that she was driving home but the next text I got read:
“Please don’t kill me.”

I was furious until the minute she got in the door carrying the box and said it again, “Please don’t kill me.”[Read More]

30 Years of Macintosh

Mac Keys by Bill Jones

My first experience with a computer at all, was with an Apple IIe, for you youngsters who don’t actually remember the 80s, those came around before the Macintosh. I had seen computers on TV. I’d heard about them from friends who had computers, but the first time I touched a keyboard, I touched an Apple product. I was 11 years old. That moment, when I sat down in front of a computer for the first time and realized that I could pull things out of my mind and make them reality with this piece of equipment, changed my life forever. I was constantly thinking, “Why would you do that on pencil and paper? Couldn’t a computer do that for you?” I wasn’t the only one thinking that way. Slowly, but steadily, this sort of thinking brought us to where we are today. Apple’s computers for education program changed the world, one kid at a time.… [Read More]

Texas Judge Removes Kids From Parents For No Good Reason

Wow. Just wow.

For no good reason, other than the fact that a social worker cannot grasp why the mother isn’t insane for home schooling 7 kids, these children were removed from their home, possibly permanently traumatized in the process, will require years of therapy… not to mention the emotional trauma that the parents are going through wondering about the safety of their children.

I’m wondering when the opinion of a social worker, about something other than the health and well-being of children, became grounds for removing kids from their parents. If this is the way things are going, I have one thing to say to every parent in America right now: Be very afraid.

What’s stunning to me, is that this happened in Texas. I’d completely understand if it happened, oh just about anywhere else.

Read the story here.[Read More]

Android Fans Don’t Get It

When I check out their phones and ask about this feature or that, or tell them how surprisingly light their device is, or that I like the weight, or the casing, they ask me which phone I have and I pull out my iPhone. I get a look that makes me feel like giggling. The confusion is immediate, followed by a furrowing of eyebrows that clues me in to the fact that I have just been labelled as one of the enemy. I can see the question right there on their faces, “Why would someone who owns Apple hardware have an interest in Android products at all?” Sadly, not a single person has ever bothered to ask it aloud because the answer is a good one, and it would blow their minds.

The answer is, I’m not a member of the “Cult of Apple.” I buy Apple hardware, because it works.… [Read More]

October 22nd, Apple Event Summary

This is just a quick run down of the announcements as they will affect users that were made today during the Apple Event:

OS X Mavericks:

There are memory allocation improvements and power usage streamlining to make OS X Mavericks more efficient, use less battery and it should give you an overall faster user experience. There is cool social networking integration in Safari and elsewhere in the OS. I have been running the beta of the new Safari for a while and I have to tell you, I LOVE it. It’s very quick and very stable. There are new apps for Mavericks too, including iBooks and Maps. Document tagging allows you to tag any document you create with some keywords, making your entire creative workflow searchable, which is just cool. You can now get notifications from websites of your choosing when they update, or have sales. The new Calendar for Mavericks looks a lot like Calendar for iOS, but the Maps integration feature is killer because you can push a map route from your Mac, to your iPhone and leave.… [Read More]