Oh to be an Apple employee

As you can tell by this link to The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW for those who are Apple fans), Tulsa - my hometown - is finally getting an Apple Store!

For about 2 years ifoApplestore (the absolute source for all things about Apple's retail efforts) it has stated that Tulsa would have an Apple store at Woodland Hills Mall, Oklahoma's largest mall, sometime in 2007. But this hadn't been corroborated by any other site, until now.

Even the local paper (Tulsa World) had a business briefing about it in Sunday's edition (3/25)!

Finally!

For many, many years I have wanted to be an Apple Computer employee. I appreciate their products, and have long been an evangelist for Apple's MacOS in my sphere of influence. Heck, I was even a network admin/service tech for 35 Macs at a publisher I worked for!

Even though I haven't been able to purchase the latest and greatest Apple products, I still have 4 Macs and 4 iPods in my family. I was even one of the early adopters of the iPod, purchasing a 1st generation iPod BEFORE it was Windows compatible!

And now Apple is coming to Tulsa!

Time to get that resume together and see if I have what it takes to even make the first cut. I have a theory that someone who confesses to being an Apple evangelist in public won't be touched by the company as an employee. Too much publicity about an individual for a company so notoriously secretive.

Time to put it to the test! Going to Apple.com/jobs right away!

Choices, choices

Why does it seem that many times in life you either have no options, or too many?

Now, I will agree that having options is a good thing. A very good thing. But why do they have to all arrive at once? But I whine.

Just as I made the decision to back off on the 2-job situation and give my notice, I am presented with the opportunity that I had sought for so long -- to ditch the "day job" for a career with my night job. Sigh.

Mentally, I don't know if I have the energy to handle a decision of this magnitude. I am tired in many ways of "worrying about my future," and that opens my eyes to a huge failing on my part.

I lack the fortitude to consistently allow God to hold sway in my life.

As I am faced with a huge decision as this, I must stop and willfully walk into His peace. Put this on Him and trust that I can make a decision using godly wisdom and discernment.

I'll be back and let you know. For now, I'm seeking and praying.

Growing up?

I've grown used to being tired and not having enough sleep due to other factors that I don't really control (2 jobs, family obligations, etc.). But when I lose sleep due to my own folly, it really burns my britches.

Last night, I had some free time at home. Instead of reading a book, watching TV with my family or playing a game with my kids, I started playing Ages of Empire II. Yes, I know its very old school, but I still love it. The command-and-conquer theme is just what I need as a 40 year old man. :)

But I stayed up to freakin' 1:30!

That's late, especially when I have to be at my day job by 8:00 at the latest. Sigh. Tired on the job. Yawn.

And today is the day that I get to go have lunch at Cherokee Casino (and hopefully drop some coins into the slots!). Bummer that I have to go in a half-awake state. Not very smart.

I think eventually I will get this all figured out. Maybe. Sort of.

Feeling Old

Woke up late this morning, rushed to get in the shower and dressed and out the door. Put a pair of shoes on that looked okay, felt okay and were a change from my everyday footwear.

Then I got to work and had to walk to my building from the parking lot.

A short story about my parking lot - it is actually a street with angle
parking. I am way too cheap to pay for parking. I may have to ride the
shuttle bus or walk half-a-mile, but at least I'm not paying for asphalt
privileges.

So once I started walking to the office, the "change of pace" shoes started rubbing my feet in odd spots. That's when I really started to feel old. My feet hurt and it was 7:45 in the morning.

Once I finally made it to the office, and took off my shoes, my feet started to feel better.

See - that makes me feel old. Hope this day gets better.

Working the weekend

Being a married father of 4 kids leaves little time to do much other than what needs to be done.

What does that mean? That means, as a person committed to a viable marriage and rearing four children into responsible adults, one is left with little unoccupied time, other than time set aside for sleep.

Now before anyone reads this and thinks that I am going to go on a rant about not having any time "for myself" let me stop you before you leave. I am NOT going to do that.

I'm just going to talk about what life is like being busy from waking up 'til going to sleep.

Also, I am very aware that my life is not unusual.

I am blessed to have a wife who is more than helpful with our parenting responsibilities. So, its not as if I am a single parent. Single parents deserve any extra blessing that comes their way. I can barely make it happen as a married parent.

All of that said - holy smokes! What a weekend. Busy, busy, busy. Friday night - work function, followed by softball practice. Saturday - work in the garage, work the second job, concert & babysit. Sunday - worship, NAP!, work in the garage (some more), feed the frenzy.

Now, I doubt I was as efficient as could be. But that's beside the point. It's remarkable how much we try to cram into our lives. And it's not even soccer season or basketball season! Yikes.

But, hey, I did get to watch some of the NCAA tournament, view the last 39 laps of the Nascar race on Sunday and assisted while my wife made some serious progress in organizing our storage room, errr, garage. So it was productive.

And that's my point. Are we allowed to complain if our time "off" is productive? Or is that whining?

I'm sensitive to whining. I don't like it. Don't want to be perceived as whining.

So I guess I'll just shut up.

Have a great week.

What a dad does...

To start, full disclosure - I am an Apple diehard. Began using the Mac in the late 80's at a publishing house, and fought through the bleak "Apple is dead" days of the mid-90's. I raised a family of knowledgeable Apple fans. Not Apple zealots, but the kind that can have a reasonable conversation about why the like the Mac and where Windows' strength and weakness lay.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the success that Apple has enjoyed the last few years. It's been gratifying to see that quality does have a place in the market. The iPod has been big in my family. We own all types, from a first-gen to a new, 2nd-gen Shuffle. We love them.

BUT, I absolutely despise the silence that Apple has taken towards some iPod issues. What's wrong with admitting a problem, and presenting ways of correcting them? Not everyone with an iPod expects Apple to pay for every little problem - people just want to know that the "mothership" hears their complaints and is working on a solution.

All that said, my oldest son's (Ethan) 4th-gen iPod began experiencing the dreaded hard drive "click-of-death" recently. He first went to Apple.com and other related sites for help. He tried the "5 R's" and restoring the iPod. That didn't work at all. Then he brought it to me and asked for helping in buying a new one.

I smiled and spent the next 4 hours trying many a different trick found on various websites and Apple forum discussions on fixing. Staying up 'til 2:30 am killed my next day at the job. Sigh.

Then, acting on something Ethan mouthed off about, "some guy even dropped his off his deck and it started working again" I Googled "dropping my iPod on the floor."

Amazingly, 8 pages of hits came back! Yikes! Serious iPod troubleshooting and apparent rage.

Digging throught the results, I found the one linked above from Crunchgear on "how to fix an iPod that won't boot" with the hard drive click of death. This guy figured that if he put some paper or cardboard about 1/16th of an inch thick in between the iPod's HD and the metal case, it forced the HD to begin spinning again due to the added pressure on the HD's case. Amazing.

So, in my better judgement, but attempting to give my kid back his music - I followed the steps on the posting. AND IT WORKED!

What a dad does for his kids. I lost many hours of sleep, but ultimately got the iPod to work and made my kid smile. That's why you do it, right?

Needless to say, much love goes out to Crunchgear for their great tip.

Why doesn't my team ever win?

Just finished watching my team lose their 1st round game in the NCAA Men's Championship Tournament. How frustrating!

While being the lower seed, they lost to a team that played boring, slow-it-down-because-we-can't-score basketball. I don't care if they are in a "BCS" power conference. It was still amazingly boring.

Yes, they should have done more to win and didn't. Yes, they lead at halftime and could've played better.

But just because a team can hold on to the ball until after 25+ seconds has ticked off the shot clock doesn't mean they're actually that much better. Just wait until the second round.

Sigh.

Is it really that hard?

Every day for some people is a grind. Many days, lately, "some people" has been me. Working 2 jobs has been no fun, and the money never seems to go far enough. No time to spend with my family. Cars breaking down, appliances to fix.

And that's when I ask - is it really that hard? Daylight savings time screwed many things up, and not just my computers. But the sleep schedule and the morning routine and the night routine. It's Wednesday, and I am still sleepy. Sigh.

It's at this point when my traditional upbringing starts playing the voice recording, "Only things that are hard are worth having" - or something like that. And when I think of all the stuff going on, I think that my life is hard.

But then I realize that I am healthy, my wife and kids are healthy and we all like each other (most of the time). We have a reasonable lifestyle, and rarely go without what we want for long. Do we take big vacations - no. But we do have 4 kids in a good private school and live in a nice neighborhood.

Compared to many here in my hometown, much less those in third world countries, it's not that hard.

It's actually really easy.