Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend time with family and friends. Hard to believe another Christmas has passed already.

I also hope today there are many new MAC users, and lots of new MACS were under the Christmas trees. I’m sold on Apple.

I guess you could say I’m a total Apple convert. For about 10 years, my friends with Apples, were forever telling me to get a MAC. I thought about it, even went to the Apple store to look but always chickened out.

In the back of my mind, having had a PC for 10 + years, I thought the learning curve would be great. Finally one day, after fighting with my PC, I took it to a PC store, and found it had over 80 viruses. The was despite the fact that I ran a virus program religiously. I had enough and decided to go to the “dark” side.

Buying my very first MAC was quite an experience. The manual it came with was no bigger than 8 small pages. I brought it home and plugged it in and then wondered what to do. I called the Apple line to ask what next and they informed me that all I needed to do was check for software upgrades, run them and I was good to go.

The hardest thing I had to learn was NOT to think so hard. If you think logically you can easily learn an Apple without jumping thru hoops. It was the best decision I ever made.

They say if you go MAC you’ll never go back, and I can vouch for that.

I just went on a trip to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis Minnesota.

On my flight, I used the Delta Internet on board.I was able to send some holiday cards, do some email, and work online. After landing, the next day I turned on my MAC and nothing happened. I had a white screen only and it would not boot.

I thought the hard drive must have crashed although, I didn’t think they did that often. I tried everything but the computer wouldn’t boot. On black Friday, I went online and made an appointment for the genius bar at Apple Store In the Mall Of America.

I arrived for the appointment, they checked me in on time even though it was Black Friday. I’ve found Apple to be quite amazing and well organized.

A very nice Apple genius started up my MAC and got that same blank screen. He then hit “command v” and started it up and it started. He said you can also do the same thing by hitting the shift key and the on button. It had a bunch of garbage written on the screen.

The technician gout out a portable hard drive and plugged it in. He rans some sort of test and restored things. It took about 15 minutes and the machine was good to go. I was amazed.

He also noticed that the top of my laptop had a little crack in it. He said if I wanted to, I could make an appointment at any Apple store and take it in for a few hours, and they would replace the top free, as all plastic tops and stuff are replaced for 5 years.

My laptop was 3 1/2 years old, yet the genuis was able to fix it. There was NO Charge. What an amazing company.

Now you know why I LOVE MACS! It took me years to try one and now I’d never go back.

Apple Rules.

I’m still using Snow Leopard and debating the upgrade to Lion. Today I almost had heart failure with my Apple mail. I was on the phone, I went to open a message on my Mac to take a look at an email with the person on the phone.

I have no idea what I did, but all of a sudden a message came up that said did I really want to open something like 30,000 messages. I had a ton of mail on my Mac from the past years. Of course I didn’t want to open that many messsages.

I went to hit a key to say NO, and unfortuantely hit the ok key by mistake and the messages started opening and opening and opening. I almost had a heart attack. I immediately tried to stop them but didn’t know what key to hit so tried turning off the MAC. It didnt’ turn off and they messages kept opening.

I called a friend to ask them to look up the number quick for my local apple store and called. Unfortunately the girl that answered the phone, didn’t understand I only wanted to ask one of the floor techs what key to stop the mail…as it was not steadily going one and on.

Instead she transfered me to Tech SUpport, which meant I had to tell the machine first what I wanted before getting a live person. By now I was in panic. I could see myself trying to close all these messages for the next year.

When tech support came on, they had their standard questions first to ask and I could NOT answer them, as the mac was now opening so many messages that it was very slow. I could not pull up any other program. Finally I hung up and called the store back and begged them PLEASE to not transfer me to tech support but put one of the advisors on the phone. I knew they could tell me what to do.

She did pull a nice guy, and I explained what happened. He said don’t worry you can’t do anything with MAC that you can’t undo. He told me to hold the off button down for a minute or more. I did and the MAC finally went off.

I was so afraid to look, but we did reboot it. When it came on…..all the OPENED mail disappeared. I was so relieved and thankful.

I thought I’d share this story just in case you you may have the same issue one day. I’m back in business now but plan to go thru some of this mail and delete the old stuff I wont need anymore.

Back to the drawing board.

I just traded up and got a new Iphone. I was disappointed it wasn’t a 5, but finally decided the upgrade would be worth it. If you had a previous IPHONE it was easy to set up, and sync with Itunes.

I found a great article reviewing the phone. Hope it helps you decide if you want the upgrade.

When do you think Apple will be releasing the new Iphone 5? I’ve been waiting, and waiting and waiting.

I still ahve an IPHONE 3 GS. I upgraded it and right after getting locked into a new contract for 2 years, out comes the Iphone 4. GRRRRR

Well, my contract expired now earlier this year but I don’t want an Iphone 4 when I know as soon as I get it the next model will be out. So here I wait.

Rumor had it that it would be out early in September, but that doesn’t appear to have happened. It’s not past that time, and still no announcement. When it finally does release, I have another few weeks to wait, because I’m not about to go out and camp outside the stores over night just to be the first. I’ll wait till the crowds die down.

Still, I’m anxious for them to get this show on the road. Come on Apple, we’re waiting!!!!!! Hope to see it soon. How about you?

With the release of Lion, I learned a few things. Don’t upgrade right away until you get feedback from the early birds. Also, it’s a memory hog so you may need more memory.

I decided to get set up to wait and carried in my IMAC to the apple store. Unfortuantely, Apple does not even stock memory. They said I could order it online, and bring it back in OR I could check Best Buys.

Since I was out and about, I went over to Best Buys. The Geek squad took the memory from the shelf, and said come back in an hour (after I paid about $150 in advance. I went to lunch and then came back an hour later. They said the memory didn’t work, and refunded my money.

I asked around and someone told me to go to Crucial.com so I did. On their site they had a little testor to test to see what memory I needed. Their price was only $49 for 2 – 2 meg sticks and it said it was guaranteed compatible, so I ordered it.

They were very efficient and the memory arrived 2 days later. I went to YouTube and watched their “how to” video twice. Then I got brave and put my IMAC on the kitchen counter, and opened it up.

I was shocked at how easy it was. The hardest part was pulling out the old memory sticks, as I could not reach them. I called the Crucial people to be sure I was doing it right, and they stayed on the phone with me and told me step by step what to do.

What GREAT customer service! I put the IMAC back together, plugged it in and tested it and found I had double the memory.

SO…. if you’re planning to add memory to your IMAC, try the do it yourself way. If a blonde with no hardware skill scan do it anyone can.

I’ve been reading a bit lately about the lastest IMAC. It seems to be getting good reviews. I’m considering an upgrade to the 27 inch version.

The reports say that it is much quicker and has had some rave reviews. They say it has a QUAD processor that is 3 times faster than the version I have. I have no idea what that means, but since mine is pretty speedy that has to be really extra speedy.

The only thing holding me back from an upgrade is I’m waiting for the new operating system so I can upgrade all at ones. They say Lion is coming out sometime in the fall, so I guess that’s when I’ll be upgrading.

I’m very grateful for Apple Computers. They have made my life much easier, and with less headaches. I love simple. If you’ve not tried one yet, I highly recommend you get an Apple. You can thank me later.

I love MAC’s. I love my IPHONE but I sure would like the next release.

Anyone hear when the IPHONE 5 is coming out? I am waiting with baited breath on it’s release. I had the IPHONE 3. When the GS came out, I had to wait for it. Just as I was able to get that one, I was locked in a new contract and out came the 4.

Well, now I’m contractless (if that’s a word), and waiting for the 5. I’m not planning on signing up for any more contracts until I’m on the front end of the release.

So…. I’m waiting again for Apple. Waiting on the 5. I’m also waiting on Lion, to get the newest IMAC. Why change now and then have to upgrade it in a few months.

Word on the street is a new IPHONE is due out this summer. Anyone know? I’d love to know for sure. Apple is amazing and great but they sure keep secrets about when the next version of things are coming. This time I’ll keep waiting.

Apple has the neatest way of keeping on top of things and making life easier for us all.  Recently they updated announced they would be updating ICal  (the calendar to keep you on top of things).

If you have an IPAD, IPHONE , Macbook or IMAC  you can now keep one calendar, add your even to any of the devices and syne it using Mobile me and you’ll ge right on top of everything.

It’s totally cool.    You simply  get a subscription to Mobile Me, and it keeps everything up for you, just like having your own private virtual assistant.  Never be late or miss an appointment.  Have your calender beep and remind you no matter what device you’re on.

All you have to do is update your new calender  and you’re good to go.  Typical of Apple update is free.

I’m so thankful I made the change to Apple.  I never realized how difficult things were with Windows and their drivers, updates and stuff you need to do to keep on top of things.   Be sure to update your ICAL and enjoy being on top of everything.

Apple ROCKS!

Remember, if you just bought a MAC, you can’t hurt it. Experiment and use it. It’s really simple. The hardest thing I had to learn was not to think so hard and just do things logically.

What if you could enjoy the internet without having to constantly reboot your computer when it bogged down? No more defragging, etc. No more clean up constantly. Well with Apple you can just do what you want to do easily.

It does so many things you struggled with in Windows, automatically. Don’t so hard. You can find anything you want with FINDER. Type in a word of a file or even a name of something in a document you’re looking for and “wala” there is a list of all those things you need. Click on the file and it will open the program associated with it.

Apple makes life simple and enjoyable and fun. The neatest thing I’ve found is when I help someone new to mac and show them how to do something by dragging and dropping, or just clicking. Many things you would have had to struggle with in Windows now are simple and easy.

If you signed up for the $99 one on one course when you bought your mac, they will give you weekly lessons, with yourself and your personal teacher. You can go every week and learn as you go. I bet my life though soon you’ll find you don’t even need their help.

I LOVE my MAC. I would never go back to a Windows machine. If you’re reading this and have a new MAC, feel free to contact me if you have a MAC question. It’s just a short learning curve, and soon you’ll be in the wonderful world of no more computer hassles.

I know MAC’s cost a little more but the extra pays for itself 10 times over when you find you don’t have to waste so much money trying to fix all the hassles you have with a windows pc.

That’s my 2 cents on this subject and I’m sticking to it!!!