This afternoon, my wife, Nina, called from work to ask a question. Our daughter, Natalie picked up the phone in the other room, knowing it was her mommy. She was her usual cute self, but was interrupting a little, so we had to ask her to hang up. She complied, but then she got back on and said, "Mommy, I forgot to tell you. I love you, and even when I think I don't love you, I know I still love you in my heart."
What a great sentiment! In her own childlike way, Natalie was recognizing that sometimes we don't feel so happy about those we love, but that doesn't change our love for them. She expressed it so beautifully that I just had to record it for posterity!
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Friday, February 18, 2005
A new toy... and thankfulness
I splurged a mighty splurge the other day, and purchased an Apple PowerBook G4 laptop. My old Dell laptop had finally outworn its welcome, falling short on performance and capabilities when I needed them the most. In replacing it, I wasn’t going to go for the cheapest option, but for an option that would last me as long as possible. Since I have an 10-year old Powerbook 530c that still works (slow though it may be), and two Windows laptops that are five and six years old that have failed, I opted for a Macintosh. I should have done it sooner.
I’ve used Macs since they came out in 1984, and have used Windows since version 1.0. I used other things before that (MS-DOS, CPM), and have used various other systems in the past 25 years (Unix, Linux, VAX/VMS, etc). I have always found that the Mac systems were the ones that helped me get things done without getting in my way. David Pogue said it best: “I’m not a Mac bigot, I’m an elegance bigot.”
Windows has always been problematic. Before Windows 2000 came out, being an expert at Windows was always about knowing how to overcome its shortcomings. Windows XP was a major improvement when it came out, and I continue to favor it over all previous versions of Windows. It’s the closest Microsoft has ever come to “plug and play,” and has been by far the most stable Windows ever.
But give me a Mac any day. Especially now with Mac OS X, with its Unix underpinnings, it’s a real geek’s operating system, with a face that even your grandmother can love! For the past several years, I have had both a Mac G4 and an HP Pavilion Pentium 3 on my desk. They’re about as old as each other. I have had to reinstall everything on the HP at least three times, when it has completely crashed on me. Getting all of my programs reinstalled and getting everything configured correctly takes hours and hours. I have had to reinstall everything on my Mac G4 exactly once; recovering my configuration was as easy as moving a few folders around, and I only had to reinstall two programs. Time spent: about two hours.
So the choice to get a new PowerBook was as easy. Deciding to spend the money was tough, but with my consulting business coming together, I have some justification to make such an investment.
Tuesday, when I went to buy it, I went to the Apple Store at Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton. That’s very near my friend John’s office, so I invited him to come with me and share the fun! He met me there, and we gawked and drooled at all the fun stuff in the store while we were waiting for them to get all the pieces I wanted together. Then we went back over to his office, so I could open it up, kick the tires, all while kibbutzing and drinking coffee together. It doesn’t get much better than that. Well, maybe if there had been a large-ish basket of Gordon Biersch’s garlic fries....
As I was driving to John’s office, I was feeling very thankful. I started praying a prayer of thanksgiving to God. Not so much for the laptop; I doubt whether God gets as excited about our new toys as we do. But I was thankful for having a vocation that I enjoy, and good tools to do it with, and for friends who I can share such non-essentials with. Especially since I have several friends (John, Ken R., Walt B., Brian S., as well as my brother and my dad) who are fellow geeks and fellow Christians. The material things we enjoy together (computers, coffee, baseball, music, books) are transient, but the faith we share is eternal. We can talk about our mutual interests, build friendships based on our shared experiences, and know that we are building relationships that will be carry on into eternity. Computers will crash, become obsolete, and go in and out of fashion, but the fellowship of Jesus’ followers will go on forever.
So, what do you think? Is God a Windows user or a Mac user?
I’ve used Macs since they came out in 1984, and have used Windows since version 1.0. I used other things before that (MS-DOS, CPM), and have used various other systems in the past 25 years (Unix, Linux, VAX/VMS, etc). I have always found that the Mac systems were the ones that helped me get things done without getting in my way. David Pogue said it best: “I’m not a Mac bigot, I’m an elegance bigot.”
Windows has always been problematic. Before Windows 2000 came out, being an expert at Windows was always about knowing how to overcome its shortcomings. Windows XP was a major improvement when it came out, and I continue to favor it over all previous versions of Windows. It’s the closest Microsoft has ever come to “plug and play,” and has been by far the most stable Windows ever.
But give me a Mac any day. Especially now with Mac OS X, with its Unix underpinnings, it’s a real geek’s operating system, with a face that even your grandmother can love! For the past several years, I have had both a Mac G4 and an HP Pavilion Pentium 3 on my desk. They’re about as old as each other. I have had to reinstall everything on the HP at least three times, when it has completely crashed on me. Getting all of my programs reinstalled and getting everything configured correctly takes hours and hours. I have had to reinstall everything on my Mac G4 exactly once; recovering my configuration was as easy as moving a few folders around, and I only had to reinstall two programs. Time spent: about two hours.
So the choice to get a new PowerBook was as easy. Deciding to spend the money was tough, but with my consulting business coming together, I have some justification to make such an investment.
Tuesday, when I went to buy it, I went to the Apple Store at Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton. That’s very near my friend John’s office, so I invited him to come with me and share the fun! He met me there, and we gawked and drooled at all the fun stuff in the store while we were waiting for them to get all the pieces I wanted together. Then we went back over to his office, so I could open it up, kick the tires, all while kibbutzing and drinking coffee together. It doesn’t get much better than that. Well, maybe if there had been a large-ish basket of Gordon Biersch’s garlic fries....
As I was driving to John’s office, I was feeling very thankful. I started praying a prayer of thanksgiving to God. Not so much for the laptop; I doubt whether God gets as excited about our new toys as we do. But I was thankful for having a vocation that I enjoy, and good tools to do it with, and for friends who I can share such non-essentials with. Especially since I have several friends (John, Ken R., Walt B., Brian S., as well as my brother and my dad) who are fellow geeks and fellow Christians. The material things we enjoy together (computers, coffee, baseball, music, books) are transient, but the faith we share is eternal. We can talk about our mutual interests, build friendships based on our shared experiences, and know that we are building relationships that will be carry on into eternity. Computers will crash, become obsolete, and go in and out of fashion, but the fellowship of Jesus’ followers will go on forever.
So, what do you think? Is God a Windows user or a Mac user?
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