get 'the max from your mac'™

I'm loving my new Mac as much as ever! Now almost two months into owning it, this beautiful addition to my collection of apples (yes, I do actually collect apples - from stove-top timers to ornaments and now a computer - see, it was meant to be!) is beginning to feel like a real friend.

I especially appreciated it yesterday. We had some carpet layers in to do an installation. This meant we had to empty the rooms of furniture - my office being one of them. How simple it was to disassemble my Mac, cart it upstairs, plug it in and get to work again in my daughter's old bedroom -- not like E., who now uses my old dinosaur and spent at least 30 minutes first labeling cords and plug-ins so he'll be able to put his Windows puzzle together again (mind, it's ancient; I'm sure the new Windows machines are much simpler).

I've been meaning to talk about the Mac class I took in June. This was free instruction that came from the Mac store (ours is Simply Computing in Langley) along with the purchase of a new computer.

Keith Richardson, the founder of a company called MacSeniors was our teacher. It was an eye-opening day, clueing me in to not only many handy keystrokes which I wasn't aware of, but to the variety things that the Mac allows you to do and make.

Especially interesting was the afternoon when Mr. Richardson talked about the iLife suite of applications (iTunes, iMovie, iDVD etc.). It was necessarily more of a demonstration than teaching session, but when I saw the DVDs that he had made (he made one as a Christmas gift for each of his grandkids), my mouth watered. I've decided that as soon as life settles down, I'm going to learn how to make a DVD!

Fortunately, we have Mr. Richardson around as a handy resource. He is also active in MacWest, a club that meets regularly (in Surrey) to discuss user's questions and explore things one can do with Macs. Members of the public are welcome (the next meeting is tomorrow, July 11th).

But you can access his wealth of knowledge too. On his blog are posted dozens of helpful links. If you're new to a Mac or if you're a longtime Mac user but have learned just enough to get by doing the things you do day to day - give it a look. After all, don't you too want to 'Achieve the MAX from your Mac'?