Monday, May 14, 2007

mac vs. pc

this weekend, we had a project for work. a big project, a FUN project. it was awesome. we made a video for the newsboys "SHINE" (the cool version, not the 80's version) to show in church as part of the sermon.
i started plugging away at my powerpoint, enjoying the project and wishing (as always) that i had more than 3 days notice to have it completed for sunday. tim thomas (who enjoys this kind of stuff as much as i do!) took the project home and brought it back the next day - it had taken him 45 minutes using imovie what would have taken me a good 3 hours in powerpoint!
so... i was converted, we agreed to get together saturday and finish the project using his fabulous imovie program.

a bit of background: i'm a pc girl. my mind thinks in nice little windows. i even like the name "windows." it's catchy. it brings to mind sunlight streaming onto my desktop and a beautiful view... but i digress.
so when this whole "imovie" thing came up, i already had a long standing feud with anyone who stood for apples (rotten fruit computers), fueled more by my lack of knowledge than experience. we fear that which we do not know...


so we met tim and heidi saturday morning, had brunch together (it was delicious, tim makes fabulous buttermilk waffles without buttermilk) and dug in, heidi to her math homework with joel tutoring her, and tim and i to shine

...and the rotten fruit computer to making our lives miserable. i have never experienced hiccups, glitches, and yes, mr. steve jobs, crashes, like these on any sunlight-streaming-through-happy-windows-pc that i have ever had the great priviledge to work with in my 20 years of pc-infused life!
it deleted work, it confused itself, it decided things about our movie that we hadn't begun to think of, it changed its mind, it hiccuped, it sneezed, it stopped and started without warning, it behaved like an undisciplined, tantrum throwing 3-year-old!
finally, exhausted, at around 1:30am we finished our project, fighting the computer every step of the way. it was magnificent. much better than anything we could have done in powerpoint. it was a work of art, and could have only been created on a mac...

but where was the reliability lauded on...

oh... wait...


mac commercials


right.

got it.


duh.



actually, after this weekend, i really want a mac (but don't tell anyone). they can do things that i've never been able to do with my dell and so easily! and i guess this was the first time that tim has ever had problems like this with his mac...
however, i don't have the fortitude to resist this opportunity to take a few shots at macs, though my feud is now more of a sour grapes thing than lack of knowledge... i don't know what i'll d0 if i ever actually get a mac... part of my identity as "the mac hater" will be lost, or else i'll be in denial, or...

what can i say, i have issues! meanwhile, enjoy:






5 comments:

Tim and Heidi Thomas said...

Hahaha!! This is a great blog, Lani. Honestly though, Tim's computer is just a little rough around the edges right now--he needs to get the "bugs" worked out of it I think. Don't buy one on craigslist, unless it's under apple care warranty! :) You both did a fabulous job!! -Heidi

kristal said...

lalaland is back!! i was so excited to see all the new entries, and especially delighted at this latest one. as the wife of a macman i must say i have over time come to see what people love about them. i think your experience was rare, as i've been exclusively on a mac for 4 1/2 years without a glitch. if you continue with photography, slide show/movie creating, and other creative ventures, a mac is definitely for you. maybe your children will ask to go, not to chuck e. cheese, not to disneyland, but to the mac store like mine do:)

Tim and Heidi Thomas said...

Alas we make progress! I knew it was only a matter of time before my superior computer would win out. And yes, it did have a few glitches (it could sense your slight hatred and disloyalty. Quite frankly he probably spited your repetitive criticisms).

I have to agree though with your one coment. I do like windows. It is really the only place your PC should be tossed out of. a moving car WINDOW :)

-T

Anonymous said...

In his poem, "Divine Justice," C S Lewis says:

God in His mercy made
The fixed pains of Hell.
That misery might be stayed,
God in His mercy made
Eternal bounds and bade
Its waves no further swell.
God in His mercy made
The fixed pains of Hell.

I supposed I've become accustomed to "the fixed (window)pains of hell" (i.e. the PC). My fear is not that fruity computers aren't actually better (I suspect they are), but that at so many points I would have to interface with the paned world of MBC ... and the interface scares me more than either of the machines (or, if you prefer, MacHines).

lani said...

ha! awesome!

except... it says
"God made the fixed pains of hell (pcs)"

...and i'm thinking bill gates has enough of a god complex already - he doesn't need poetic encouragement!