Let me take a moment and try to explain what it’s like to finish a summer class. Have you ever been having a really good day? One where things are going right, and you’re happy? Then, suddenly you get an injection of caffeine. Like quad-shot espresso or something. But it’s not any ordinary caffeine. No, this stuff doesn’t quit: you’re up all the time, in a great mood, and generally really happy. Even when you are tired, you are so relentlessly positive that everyone thinks something is wrong with you. In reality, you know it’s because your class is over.
With this glut of extra time, I’ve been putting in some hours on the St. Thomas CAM design, and also other hobbies:
Me (9:19:29 AM): in case you were wondering, my mission in life is to bother you at work
Justin (9:19:38 AM): great mission :-)
Me (9:19:47 AM): 100% success so far
I’m just going to go ahead and take responsibility (and blame, if anything goes wrong) for getting an Apple into the family. Katy recently purchased a Twelve Inch Powerbook, which impressed me far more than I thought it would. Apple advertises the machines as having “no sharp edges to catch on clothing.” I thought to myself, “well, I don’t have any sharp edges to catch on clothing … how special is that?” Turns out, it really is something you notice. The entire outside is as smooth as … smooth aluminum alloy. For a details-oriented born-again perfectionist such as myself, the subtle touches on the outside of the case are incredibly appealing. For example, the latch magnetically (magically?) clicks into position as the cover is slowly lowered. The light on the catch release pulses slowly when the computer is closed and asleep, as if it is breathing. The charge adaptor comes with a nifty clear plastic cap, and the input into the computer glows orange on charging, and green upon completion. The keypad and single button make for a very symmetrical layout, accented by the centered, gentle white glow of the Apple behind the LCD display. So it’s a work of art. Great. Useful things are always beautiful in their own way, but beautiful things do not have to be useful. Is the outer appearance backed up with real internal assets?
Yes.
Beyond the other “pretty” touches (animated windows galore, unrealievably sharp icons [Apple+Tab for a demostration], perfect sub-pixel antialiasing), OS X’s information design follows a near-perfect ladder of abstraction. Everything you need to see and read is out on the table, and obscure settings are available, but hidden at the correct times. The “face of the document” is an almost ideal presentation of what you need to know, when you need to know it. This reduction in superfluous floods of buttons and checkboxes communicates meaning by itself: “the settings I see must be the important ones that need tweaking.”
I want you to write about my Apple, dammit!
- Sis Meech
This intuitive layout is carried into the dock, where icons hop when executed, and angrily bounce when an unexpected incident is encountered. In the end, you feel like you are dealing with real objects (like in car: I see the steering wheel and peddles, they must be important), rather than administering an arcane system through the thick veil of a complex interface. At this point, I have to conclude that I would have bought a G5 if there was any way I could have afforded it.
While waiting in traffic, I wrote a song about traffic jams. At this point, I can only remember bits and pieces, but on Highway 61 @ 7am, I was belting it out. Catchy lyrics, clever rythm, upbeat tempo; would that I could write like that when I was in front of a piano. If the song does come back to me, I’ll record it and toss an mp3 up for all of your to cringe at. On second thought, I’ll take a raincheck on anyone hearing me sing for a bit longer. I am sure you have enough to worry about in your own life.
That was Tuesday morning. Monday’s are now (for the limited time of summer remaining) shirtless. That is, shirts are required to be worn for an absolute minimum amount of time. (Like that horrible sentence construction? Just wait, there’s more!) This faciliatates Monday’s other designation: commune with nature day. Think of it as a naturalistic way to start your week. Plus, it reduces laundry. Currently two (2) participants; join in if you please.
Unfortunately, I had to keep my shirt on throughout chem lecture, lab, and a workout. Shameful, I know - but I made up later in the day by staying upper-body-garment free. Chem lab began a revival of my weird injuries. Why weird? As a child, I was plagued by strange injuries. For example, a permanently perforated eardrum, waking up with my neck stuck in one position (for an entire day), being pulled into a tree by a dog on a sled (my fault), and a scratched cornea. Yes, something anhydrous we were using to demonstrate polymerization got airborn whilst I was massing it. My tongue felt numb for days. Then, coming home on the freeway with the window open, I got smacked in the face by a pebble moving at 70 miles an hour. That was pleasant. Uncommon injuries have stayed at a minimum since then, so I believe I might have escaped the past problems of my injury-prone youth.
This week also saw the purchase of a JanSport backpack. Called Moon Dog 33, this pack is exactly what I was looking for. While it was designed as a daypack for hiking, it is perfectly suitable for use around campus. The wide, ergonomic straps make any load seem far lighter. Combine this with a firm back plate (the model up had an articulated aluminum one, but I decided to go plastic because this model looks better) and a pad with wicking fabric means I can actually run without the dang thing swinging around like a drunken boxer throwing wild punches. There are even elastic bands on the shoulder straps that do a fine job of holding a clamshell cell phone. Combine this with lovely touches like glow-in-the-dark zipper pulls, a pocket sized perfectly for my full-size Nalgene bottle, and a damn snazzy blue color scheme — and you’ve got yourself a winning backpack packing packaged pack packer.
While shopping for the pack, I went to Coon Rapids to check what they had in a store there. Lovely shopping mall if you can find the blasted placed. In truth, my initial struggle to correctly locate the area was more due to my ineptitude than MapQuest’s vaguries or Minnesota’s freeways. Thing is, I was on a tight schedule and saw “10” and thought I saw “Exit 30” while I was on 35E. After 20 minutes of driving up and down Country Road 10 (becoming increasingly irate with each passing of the Barnes and Nobles there), I reasoned: “What are the chances of there being two main roads named 10 in the Coon Rapids area?” Pretty good, actually. In fact, I had taken the exit for the wrong 10. Sometimes I wonder about myself: am I really competent enough to make it in this world? I feel “with it” on a day-to-day basis, but am I really just bumbling through reality without a good idea of what is going on? Perhaps I will edit the famous aphorism to read thus: “All who bumble are not lost.”
