Why I Love Apple

I love my MacBook. Between blogging, news gathering, ongoing research projects, fantasy leagues and my screenplay project, my computer gets intensive use -- at least 10 hours a day every day.

I take reasonably good care of it (OK. When I get overly fired up I do tend to bang the keys a little harder than necessary). My only complaint is a largely cosmetic one -- my MacBook was part of the cracking plastic case batch. Other than that I've never had a problem with it.

A year and a half of constant wear and tear on my MacBook resulted in a broken hinge. This never happened to me before with any laptop. Oh, and one of the shift keys cracked two weeks previously. Fortunately, I had invested in AppleCare. Unlike most extended warranties, AppleCare is worth every penny.

So I call Apple. Less than 24 hours later the pre-paid pre-addressed next-day shipping box arrives. (Is there no limit to the number of hyphens I can cram into a sentence?). This past Monday I pack it up and ship it off to Apple.

AppleGuy calls Tuesday afternoon with bad news. My hinge repair is not covered by AppleCare. I have three distinctly distasteful options:

1. Apple repairs my MacBook to factory standards for $500.
2. They ship it back to me. I trek to TekServe to see how much they'll nick me knowing full well it may be neither cheaper nor faster than Apple. (Natch).
   
3. I hit an unauthorized service dealer and void the 16 months left on my AppleCare warranty.

Cue the pregnant pause that always accompanies this kind of downer AKA the **Gulp**. There's no way we Forester's can scrape up 500 bucks to fix a laptop that is probably worth like $850. Fuck me. I am now officially and totally screwed.

I lay a few facts on AppleGuy. I typically spend most of my day writing and doing research so my computer use is unusually high. Any "damage" occurred through normal use. For real. I never had this problem with my G4 or other iBooks* I had owned. I said all of four short sentences.

AppleGuy: "You sound like a truthful person. And you're obviously a MacFan. I'll tell you what, we're going to take care of it."

I was like, "Excuse me?"

AppleGuy: "Apple will cover the cost of the repair."

Me: "Thank you."

Despite the holiday, my computer showed up today. It's better than new. Looks like Apple swapped out my old hard drive and put it in an entirely new case. New hinge. New disc drive. New Screen. New keyboard. New track pad. New everything. Nice!

Compare my Apple experience to how Dell still handles their customers or how spend $150,000 and still suck. Not one of those folks, their friends or their families will ever buy another Dell.** It's simply not enough to make affordable computers, Mike.

Apple fosters their famously fierce buyer loyalty by coupling fantastic, frequently cutting edge gear with superior customer service. Add Mac's intuitive, often effortless operation and I'm convinced I'll never buy another brand's computer.

Yep, I'm a MacFan and a MacMan.***

-AF

*iBooks did have a nasty tendency to blow logic boards. Apple always fixed 'em.
**My mom has a Dell -- Absent the hell they put her through, I'd nonetheless think they're total crap.
***With no apology whatsoever to the late Harry Carey.

More Robert Reich

What can I say? The guy's busy...

How Obama is Already Taking Charge

-AF

YHTBFKM: Follow-Up

My now notorious "You Have To Be Fucking Kidding Me" post raised a few eyebrows, hackles and gorges. If it made you stop and think, so much the better. We need more of that.

Look. We got our wish. The MSM now does pay attention to blogs. When they strike a current of discontent, they seize on it. Worst of all, our petty grumbling serves to further energize and validate the opposition.

We have to trust that Obama knows what he's doing until he proves otherwise. Or at least wait until he's sworn in to start petitioning for impeachment hearings.

Segue to today's AFP story, Obama's cabinet -- change or Clinton era retreads? The RNC & The NY Post reliably sputter their patented anti-Dem/anti-Bill Clinton vitriol. Ignore them as per usual. This story offers both an important reality check and a history lesson:

But are these anything more than predictable political attacks, and is it fair to brand Obama's picks as retreads?

No, say many analysts, who argue that there is a limited pool of Democratic operatives with government experience qualified for top cabinet jobs.
Obama's personal brand is so strong, after two years campaigning on change that his cabinet picks may be less important than his own actions and rhetoric.

That's the money graph. Picks not nearly as big as Obama's deeds -- Pool of qualified candidates small. Brriiiiiing! Class dismissed.

For extra credit, please keep reading:

Such are the myriad crises facing the nascent Obama team, the president-elect may have concluded that while some officials may hark back to a previous era, he cannot afford to snub the best Democratic brains.
And had he sent a group of neophytes to Washington, he would surely have been pilloried for picking people short on experience.

Former president Bill Clinton, who came to power in 1993, decided not to stack his administration with veterans of the Jimmy Carter administration, which was seen as a failure.

But he soon hit trouble and had to call in Washington hands like veteran White House operative David Gergen.

"With the economy in such critical shape, to not choose people with experience would be foolhardy," said Martha Kumar, a political scientist with Towson University.

Be mindful we are watching a work not in progress but in gestation. The canvas is on the easel. The palette stands at ready. A brush flashes blocking in the foundation over the underpainting. When we can't possibly know what this sucker will look like, it's pointless to harp on these earliest of hues.

So let's be cool, babies. Breathe.

-AF

Robert Reich Drops Some Science

Ex-Bill Clinton Secretary of Labor & ex-Harvard prof explains Why We're Rescuing Wall Street and Not the Auto Industry.

Shorter version: Paulson & Bernanke's Street pals scream "'You let Lehman burn so you screwed our economy. Detroit deserves what it gets. Nothing."

-AF

It's Over

I've worked on this for a couple days 'cuz I'm positively bereft. Yet another dagger is thrust into the heart of my youth.

I'm a reasonably rational person. I realize as I grow older beacons of my formative years will inevitably dim or die out altogether. But I was not prepared to bid adieu to Out of Town News.

It may be a National Landmark but to call Out of Town News such is to tag the Pyramids a pile of rocks. (Similarly, I believed OOTN to be there for eternity -- Wrong-em Boyo.) Few "landmarks" impact our daily lives. I lived on the NYC waterfront for 13 years. I can tell you with certainty nobody gives a rat's ass about Grant's Tomb.

To quote the great sage Homer [Simpson], "But I digest." **burp**

Out of Town News was an icon. It was a cultural institution. It was a genuine meeting place.⁺ It defined Harvard Square. Hell, it was the heartbeat of The Square. So much so that OOTN is featured prominently Harvard Square's Wikipedia page, get it now kiddies?

As the Page Fucking 1(!) Boston Globe story tells it:

John Kenneth Galbraith bought a copy of Le Monde there every day. Julia Child searched for obscure Italian and German cooking magazines, and Robert Frost once stopped by - it actually was a snowy evening - to get directions to a reading. Over the years, pretty much anyone looking for news from far and near, be they eminent professors or the masses rushing to work on the Red Line, found it at Out of Town News.

Yes, Out of Town News was that important. Seattle Weekly pinpoints it as the newsstand where Microsoft founder Paul Allen picked up Popular Electronics, had his eureka moment and ran to find Bill Gates. (I hear they both did pretty well after that). Name me any other kiosk to reach this millennium that boasts such a diverse and occasionally historic constituency? Stop now because you can't.

Hub Arts' Joel Brown, whose father used to work there, nails it:

Out Of Town News was second only to Harvard in securing the Square's reputation as an international crossroads of learning and weirdness. You could get anything there, and it was a great relief to many that the newsstand survived the various "improvements" to the Square over the years. It maintained an eclectic clientele even as most of the Square's once-eccentric businesses gave way to the toxic blandness of chain retailing. Now it will probably turn into a f*ing Starbucks. This is heinous news. At least Charlie's Kitchen still serves a cheap martini.

True dat. Even though (and later because) I lived at the very opposite end of the Red Line, I frequented Harvard Square. My mother brought me there early on to experience that "international crossroads of learning and weirdness." Still in elementary school, my first unchaperoned trip on The T was to Harvard Square. (I think we got banned from The Coop -- maybe that was later on). Regardless, it was impossible to go to Harvard Square without a glimpse of OOTN.

Now I'm certainly not a John Kenneth Galbraith, Paul Allen or Robert Frost (I swing more Julia Child-like w/o the dress. Natch.), but Out of Town News played an important role in the ongoing development of my musical sensibilities. When I ventured from the 'burbs to "The Square" to taste its "weirdness",⁺⁺ I could pick Melody Maker and NME without the ball-breaking double-back to the original Newbury Comics. OOTN was also a Ticketron outlet.

This was key. Back in the day, tickets weren't electronically printed at a terminal as you bought them. Concert tickets were much smaller. Unlike today's generic tickets replete with bar codes, old school tix had a color and maybe a font distinctive to each show. Tickets for every seat at every concert were printed ahead of time. Just before on-sale tickets were physically distributed to various individual ticket outlets. Very quaint, I know.

Most music fans preferred the closer, Boston proper ticket outlets. They hit Out of Town as a last resort once the good seats were gone in town. Armed with this knowledge (gleaned from extensive trial & error), I'd split school for a short ride on the old Mattapan trolleys to Dorchester's Ashmont Station. From there it was a long trip to the end of the Red Line, Harvard. I'd pop out of the station, grab some of the best seats available in all of Boston (maybe a Brit music mag or two) and hop a train to the bus back to my safe suburban home. It was ritual.

I rarely wasted time with The Orpheum⁺⁺⁺ box office. It was Out of Town where I bought my tix to see The Clash London Calling Tour (3/9/80), Devo Freedom of Choice Tour (7/17/80 - a veritable sauna & 17th row floor!!), Pretenders (5/81 - original line-up & The Jim Carroll Band too!), U2 October Tour (11/14/81 - 3rd row balcony⁺⁺⁺⁺), The Jam The Gift Tour (5/20/82 - 1st row balcony!)...I could go on and on.

**Sigh**

I'm not alone in my despair.

Out of Town News tributes pour in here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

-AF

⁺Countless hordes of people have said to one another, "Meet me at Out of Town News."
⁺⁺In this context probably means smoking pot -- Shocking I know.
⁺⁺⁺For Boston-area high school kids (underage by definition), The Orpheum was the prime place to see our heroes. Boston's best club, The Paradise was impossible to sneak into tho' we did get for an early R.E.M. show.
⁺⁺⁺⁺The first rows of The Orpheum balcony were fave seats -- unobstructed view and still surprisingly close to the band.

You Have To Be Fucking Kidding Me

...Or Look At All The Chickens Little Run.

The scale of the hand wringing and rending of garments I'm seeing over each and every one of Obama's cabinet picks is unbelievable. This is the shit we liberal/progressive/Democrat-types do every fucking single fucking time. I hate it with the force of a thousand suns.

I'm all about individuality, critical thinking and what have you. But just this once could we show the same unity, discipline and sense of purpose that's proven so effective for conservatives? Fuck no. We run around crying, "Maybe Hillary could bring in Michael O'Hanlon! The sky is falling The sky is falling!"

It's predictable. It's pointless. It's stupid. It's embarrassing. It makes the wingers rub their hands together with glee. It's well past time we ditched this chicken little act.

I'm only gonna say this once: Barack Obama just ran the smartest, most effective, most transformative political campaign in American history! Do you honestly think Obama's picking these candidates impulsively? He's not throwing darts. He's had 2 fucking years to put together his cabinet wish list. Chill the fuck out already.

Much of this angst seems focused on Hillary Clinton's Secretary of State nomination. Stupid. Stupid. And more stupid. I will genuinely miss Hillary Clinton as my Senator. Because she's done overall an exceptional job for NY, I selfishly didn't want her to win the Presidential nomination.

But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton puts her squarely on the world stage. Short of being President, this singularly prestigious cabinet position offers her the opportunity to make history like few before her. Do not underestimate the importance of this. It's Hillary's best and possibly last chance to silence years of muttering about the Clintons' "legacy".

We used to say in the music industry, "You're only as good as your last record." Let's face it, this could be Hillary's last go 'round in public service. At the end of Obama's first term, she'll be 64 years old.

Yes, she'll still be plenty young enough to serve her country but Obama will be running for re-election. The Senator replacing her will be running for re-election. For Secretary of State Hillary Clinton any office below Prezzie or Veep would be a serious come down.

Then there's those of you who persist in kvetching over potential ego clashes blah yak blah yak. Hillary will not fuck this up. She has demonstrated her honor of and sense duty to her country. Furthermore, Hillary and thus Bill's "legacy" is now inextricably, permanently tied to the Obama Presidency.

Her success depends on Barack's success and vice versa. There's no chance in hell that Hillary Clinton will be anything less than outstanding in her execution of Obama's foreign policy. The ego-thang is overblown. She will defer to him.

Get it? Got it? Good. Get over it.

Let's get back to the hard work of fixing our country. This includes showing great support for our and confidence in President-elect Barack Obama and his cabinet nominees.

Fer crissakes the guy hasn't even been sworn in yet.

-AF

My MacBook Is Illin'

The "lap" is in mortal danger of disconnecting from the "top." Before I ship thus sucker back to Apple tomorrow, I do have a few topics to address. After that posting will be more erratic than usual.

-AF

Stunning

I was well off the mark. CNBC tracks the bail out toll to date: $3,800,000,000,000+.

"Oversight" looms. The American people are impatient and growing more pissed. The piggies go to full feeding frenzy mode hoping to score pieces of that sweet bail out pie before it and their bonuses are reduced to crumbs.

-AF
(HT: ThinkProgress)

Two Months Ago

I said the bailout cost was going to top out at around $5 trillion. That doesn't sound so crazy right about now.

-AF

Canada's Banks Good. Our Banks Baaad.

Time tries to explain why the Great White North's financial system is on solid footing as opposed to our all rabid howler monkeys clawing to the front of the bail out line to secure their massive bonuses, Dionysian spa retreats and thus relaxed resume fucking the rest of us.

-AF