Tricklin

I really like Macs. I've only recently become an owner of my very first Mac, and with this experience, have grown to love Mac over PC any day of the week. However, that is not to say that Macs are without their problems. In fact, my MacBook has given me nothing but troubles. I haven't had it for a full year, and I've already visited the Apple store 3 times.

• Reason for first visit: The hard drive couldn't be found.
• Solution: Entirely new MacBook
• Reason for second visit: OS wouldn't boot
• Solution: Archive and install
• Reason for third and most recent visit: Initially lost my iPhoto Library, and after some self-tinkering, OS wouldn't boot. Please know that the tinkering I had done in no way possible should have resulted in this sort of problem.
• Solution: Back-up user files, archive and install, create new user & copy old files to new user directories.

I purchased this computer in August of 2008. That's 3 visits to the Apple store in 9 months. Not good. After my most recent visit, my wife said something with which I couldn't disagree. She said "Apple is so arrogant." She's right. They have been touting their superiority over PC for quite a while now, however, I've had 3 too many problems with my very first Mac. So, to all the fanboys out there, let me let you in on a little secret. Apple is not perfect.

One of my favorite new (at least new to me) internet applications is Google Docs. There are quite a few reasons why I like it so much. The following are just a few of the main reasons why:

• Office!? We don't need no stinking Office! For those non-windows users out there (which now includes me), you won't need MS Office anymore. Google Docs allows you to create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. You don't have to download any software either.
• You've been saved. Any document, spreadsheet, or presentation you create is automatically saved. Any changes you make get saved as well without ever having to hit the save button.
• It's polite to share. You can share any document/spreadsheet/presentation with anyone. This is extremely valuable when you are not the only one working on the document.
• Let's talk about this for second. If the person/people you are sharing this document with are viewing it at the same time, you can chat with them in real time about the document. This comes in very handy when making changes that will need to be agreed upon. I honestly didn't think this feature would be too valuable until I used it. It's especially valuable when you are working with spreadsheets. Being able to tell someone to look at Cell 'C16' in the very same window that contains the spreadsheet proves very useful.
• They're Everywhere! If you were working on a document using your work computer and couldn't finish up, there is no need to worry. When you go home, all you have to do is get on your computer and there it is, in your Google Docs repository, just waiting for you to finish working on it.

So if you're a Mac user, or if you like having more freedom with your documents, I highly recommend using Google Docs to manage all you documents. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

The day has finally come! Since my POS HP took another crap on me, I've decided enough is enough. So I went out and bought myself a shiny new Mac. And I must say, I'm so glad that I did! I love this thing. It never ceases to amaze me just how much slicker a Mac is over a PC, and a majority of the reason is the software. Mac just has the coolest stuff. From dashboard widgets to GTD applications, owning a Mac has made these last few days a sheer joy.

Thanks to a great article by Paul Stamatiou, and some research I did on tons of other sites, I was able to find some really great applications. Here is a list of some of applications I've downloaded since last week:
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