The downside of wireless

When the keyboard batteries run out of juice in the middle of a post you're typing at 10 PM, that's the disadvantage to no unsightly wires in a de-cluttered office.
"You should always have spare batteries" I hear you cry.
Well, of course I keep spare batteries. In fact I'd just opened a new four pack but I'd put two into the wireless mouse and the iMac wireless keyboard takes three. Three AA batteries. That's so wrong. Thanks to Renovation Therapy (formerly Upstate) though, I managed to score a battery deal: money off plus a $2 coupon! I did have to argue with the sales assistant that the price on the register was not the price displayed, forcing her to walk half-way round the store to check, have a conversation with the manager who wanted to know where she was going, which turned a five minute pharmacy dash into a fifteen minute tussle. But hey, I was right and I saved $2.50, a dollar of which I promptly donated to this week's charity at the pharmacy.

Much happier now

clean desk
Originally uploaded by modernemama

See that desk? See how free of clutter it is? That's because I have now imported all my cds into my iMusic library and filed them away in the media cabinet in the den. Yes. I love a mess-free environment.
I've also mastered how to upload photos from the new iMac to Flickr! (There's a specific designation for media on this OS).
So I can stop complaining about the Leopard Operating System and just enjoy the iMac.
One of the best features is the sound quality of the speakers. Oh, and the volume. These dudes rock. Now I can choose whether to blast music through the speakers in the den, great room and kitchen from the amplifier in the den or to blast it through the house just from the iMac. It really is that powerful.

iMac, so bad it's evil

By far the worst thing that happened last week was the loss of my iBook. The guys at the apple store attempted to revive it but it was a hopeless cause. I did have one night's elation when it looked as though they would be able to get the remaining data off the hard drive but it was not to be. I had managed to rescue all my photos but the documents they retrieved weren't the ones I needed and the hard drive eventually died while transferring the contents of my iTunes library.
This is where it all got interesting. Steven bought me* a new iMac for my birthday and it is a thing of beauty. Huge screen, super fast and gorgeous. But the Leopard OS is driving me nuts.
For a start there is no AppleWorks any longer, you have to purchase iWorks separately. A fact I was not aware of until I tried to write a document and the iMac requested $80 before I put virtual pen to virtual paper. Nice.
Then I wanted to automatically upload the photos I'd taken of the kitchen to Flickr. Flickr and Leopard aren't yet compatible. I'd put that down to teething troubles except that I can't upload photos to Blogger either. Apple would prefer I used .Mac to publish on the web and thats an add-on too. $70 a year for web-hosting. At the moment I have to select the photos I want to use and drop them on the desktop where blogger can see them. Another step I don't need to be doing.
But the most irritating thing is the sync with my iPod. I used to be able to transfer the contents of my iPod to my iTunes Library. Not anymore. The only things I can transfer now are those purchased at the iTunes store. And I do have one song I purchased and one I got for free, neither of which it would kill me to live without. I do, however, have another 1000+ songs that were downloaded elsewhere or imported from cds I no longer have, and those tend to be the ones that get played most frequently. So I won't be "erasing the contents of my iPod and syncing the new iTunes library. I will, however, be waiting for a hack to solve the issue. Or for Santa to buy me a new teeny, tiny iPod nano, in red, so I can play the new cds I got for my birthday at the gym. Which is probably what Mr Jobs wants me to do.
Right now I'm transferring all the songs that didn't make it off the iBook, and that I still have, from cd to computer. So far it's taken all week and I'm about half-way through. Anything to do with decorating the house for the holidays or maintenance on said house will just have to wait.
*Steven has suggested turning my office into a media room so we he can watch movies on the flat screen.

What did we do before blogging?

My beloved iBook went terminal on Friday and I am unable to do anything blog-oriented like post photos or type, or even read emails on a regular basis. If you're keeping track, that's three computers in one year that have bailed on me. Unfortunately the iBook pretty much contains, if not my life, then certainly my address book, my photos, my music and all resources for the house.
I was in the middle of transfering files to an external hard drive when it crashed so Friday and Saturday were given over to weeping and gnashing of teeth. On Sunday I decided I had to do something other than sit there and try to restart the iBook again and again, so I tried out a few more colour swatches on the kitchen walls. At this point there is very little wall left that doesn't have a trial colour on it, and I'm beginning to think different coloured rectangles on the wall is a look that might catch on!
I sent Steven to get the colours this time. It was getting too embarrassing for me to keep going back to Aboff's the paint store. He chose shades of green: Benjamin Moore Wind Chime and Crystalline in trial pots. Naturally he likes the darker more sagey one and I prefer the lighter greyish tone. We have until tomorrow afternoon to pick one if we want to paint on Thanksgiving Day. We've invited people to come over and way in on our choice (and paint too if they're so inclined) I'm making Rogan Josh and there will be "likker".
That's plenty to do and hopefully it will stop me from fretting about my mac for a while.