217. Communing with My New MacBook Pro Computer, 15 inch, from UCSB Bookstore

I don't know why Karl, one of my housemates, was giving me a funny smile. He was working with his lab partner--from Europe?--downstairs on a Thursday evening with research.
I just finished griping to Julie--my housemate who's about to move out to go to Stanford *sigh*--about recent experiences, and now I face the dreaded task of opening up the Macbook pro box.
I bought the computer a while back--maybe a month--but still haven't opened it.
It's like starting from scrap. Like exploring a new planet, getting dumped into a new country with a new language and new people (or new aliens)... and trying to figure out everything all over again. But I know macs to some degree, from last summer's Blue Horizons program.
I know it's going to be a new reality.
My first response is how is something SOOO SMALL going to be able to edit a giant, big rock crab film. Not feasible.
I am already meditating on purchasing a used Mac G5 or the like. I have to check out what UCSB's Digital Editing Lab has.
At least I have this one for portability issues. I am thankful.
But I am clogged and I am quickly getting buried with rock crab data, so it is vital I pursue the opening of the dreaded packaging and endless instruction manuals. *sigh*
To my surprise, macs are so simply beautiful and super-user friendly. From design to manuals.
"Congratulations, you anre your MacBook Pro were made for each other." That was just the first page of the manual.

"This is just the beginning of a beautiful relationship." Some famous movie lines.

Wow. All I can tell is that Mac people up in Silicon Valley really know how stupid people are. Including myself. They talk so simple, they just suck you in slowly to complexity. Those... computer geeks DO have some eusocial skills.

Here I am, the peak of modern civilization, communing with a frickin' computer for social hour... and not even another human being.

I have a computer, isight camera (scary, video chat, simple video), time machine, imovie, iphoto, garageband, iweb (no shxt).

Mac ilife, standardized. How come macs are resistant to viruses and PCs get viruses up the wazoo?

They basically designed the instruction manual as if you are communicating with another human being for coffee, which is interesting, given that it is a book, and it's a piece of strange metal conglomate called a "computer."

All this cool music to relax you. Doesn't he have some kind of group project due. GIS?
Welcome collage with cool soft music. High stress to fun.
Don't worry, Vic. Go around 5pm.

Okay. I am already having fun. I get to take pix of myself with the dxm computer. Shxt ya. I am looking high above in the sky. The lighting got good as soon as I put the lighting above my head, and it had dramatic shadows. My arm was extended up, making a diagonal. I was looking high in the sky. At first I was above the camera looking down, but that was ominous, ogresome, like I had an ego complex. I decided I wanted to be humble and at the bottom of the picture, extending upward. I then lifted the lamp for better lighting above my head than below. Below I look horrible. Yuck. But this is all standard lighting technique. They always have lighting "above" in those make-up commercials. It was a very sharp contrast picture. Pretty creative! Woohoo!

I am supposed to be purchasing a .mac. You get to share movies and photos online. Publish an iweb website, ad-free imap email, sync important info across macs, access mac from any other mac on the internet. SCARY. share and ad back up documents with disk. Get 10 GB of online storage. All scary. Not going to buy now.

Fine print. email is stokastika@mac.com, 100MB online storage. email server is mail.mac.com and SMTP server is smtp.mac.com. Expires July 21, 2008. Not a lot of time. Shxt. Portal is http://www.mac.com. My .mac member name is now my Apple ID. No longer evoterre@yahoo.com. It's now stokastika@mac.com. "You can use it the next time you make purchases on iTunes or the online Apple Store. Maybe the computer name is still EVOTERRE.

"Enjoy using your Apple computer and Mac OS X."

Software already being updated. There's hardly any startup time. WHOA. It just turns on bam like that! Supposedly 200 GBs here.

I just finished this "black box" of instruction manuals. Simple. User friendly shxt.

I do something new, and then I do something old. I have had enough of my new computer right now. I am now making a mirror box for the rock crab film. Miriam will be very pleased....

239 bucks for apple care protection plan. OH shxt.

Didn't get the other scholarships for the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference, but they were largely need-based.

Then I fell asleep.