My gift

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  On July 9th 1985 God gave me a gift. It was wrapped in hard work, disguised as poor timing and cloaked with blinding love. I returned that gift into the world on Sunday March 6th 2011.  It is fully equipped and ready to make it's mark in the world.

 I'm left with a void in my life and a smile on my face as I see how well she turned out.

 As I drive to her new place with her skateboard (Snow board) and things I can't help but remember that day...they handed me this curly stranger with dimples to feed. Sitting in a room in New York Queens Hospital, I laid eyes on Diana Cecilia and fell in love. I felt the compulsive desire to memorize every part of her and protect her. It was like a wave, it was blinding indeed. Nothing and no one could ever occupy the same space in my heart in quite the same way. Everything I did from that point on was to provide and protect her.

Notice she is wearing my wonder woman underoos :)

I made many mistakes along the way and will continue to make them.  One would think that I would learn by now but babe, every new thing is new to me and I'm either going to do it right or mess it up but I will fix it, change it or adjust along the way and no matter what, Diana, I love you and want the best for you.

I'm happy and sad, and it occurs to me I should have had more babies, they could habe been a back up, an opportunity to try on my new found wisdom, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Instead I'm alone for the first time in my life. Free to be. It is exciting, scary and sad all at the same time. I'm looking forward to Diana's future and my own with Michael and mostly hope, some day, to spoil her children and be there for her as a lighthouse while she ventures into the world and tries new things.

I am proud of you. Thank you for being you.

  

My first Blog and the Mac affair

Welcome to my blog, so I lied, my real first blog was in 07. The last four years I have been trying to pick a topic...One topic for this blog or a book and it has been extremely hard because I have many interests. I can no longer postpone this so...I will start blogging and let the chips fall where they may. Don't worry, I will keep the topics to the following Genre's...for now:

1. Fashion
2. Entrepreneurship
3. Technology
4. Self Improvement

My first blog will be about the topic that is most consuming

in my life at the moment: Technology. Particularly switching to the Mac.

I admit it, I am a geek at heart...I have a problem I love gadgets and the men who love them. My first computer experience was in NY with a Key Punch machine. Ha...yes and I'm old too, but to be fair I was a pre-teen when I was learning to key punch. In fact I never really connected Key Punching with computing until later in life. In High School I took a computer class and went straight into

a Technical College for Electronics Engineering Technology. In College I had to build the core of a computer with an 8085 chip on a breadboard and program it with assembly language. Talk about drinking from the fountain. A year later I used my first IBM in the school computer lab and bought an IBM clone PC in the late 80's with the help of my first gear head boyfriend.

This affinity and interest in technology goes way back and I can blame it on my mother who in her 70's is enamored with the MyTouch android phone she inherited from me. She is 70 ish and if she finds out I'm telling her age I will not live to see 70.

Ok so the Mac...it caught my eye back in high school maybe early college. ( I graduated high school at 16 and finished college at 19 so it's all vague) Anyway it was the computer wars Apple, IBM and Microsoft were at constant war then my cousin Giovanni in Ecuador had a and Apple Macintosh . He is an Architect and showed me how he used ApplePaint.

Shortly after that I joined the working world and got my first portable computer at GE Medical as a field engineer. That thing needed a floppy disk to boot up...really. It had 10K of memory. It might have been 10K of RAM but I'm not sure. I'm sure it had no hard drive. It was an IBM, DOS based so definitely not an apple :(. I used it to diagnose some of the x-ray machines I was repairing and installing at the time.

Picture me walking down a hospital's hallway toward the X-ray department, 5'7 about 120 in pumps, an overall a tool box and my IBM portable computer, really. So there, my computer use began with DOS and later entered windows world. I never really thought about the Apple except for the media and hype at the time. I became content with "paint" GOD I loved the eraser on that thing.

Years later my daughter, Diana, a pre-teen at the time wanted an Apple and she has been begging for one to this day. She is 25 now, time flies. Unfortunately my comfort with windows and trusted advisors at the time would shut that request down immediately. The comment was ALWAYS ahhh the Mac is nice but you just can't get all the programs. It's too expensive and I don't know anything about the Mac I wont be able to help you. So that was that. Diana got a PC and was happy with it...sorry babe.

So fast forward to 2007, I bought a Sony Vaio TZ150N It was/is small light and S L O W. I loved it's size and weight. I've been lugging laptops since 1991 so it was wonderful to carry one that didn't break my back. Light and small was top on my list and the Sony was the lightest and smallest laptop in the market. Top buy for mini computers. I did my research and saw the "slow" comments in the reviews. Lesson No 1. Pay attention to "the bad" when you see a review. If they say its slow they mean SLOW. OMG it took 5 minutes to turn on!!! I hated turning it on because I lost interest by the time it was ready and with a smart phone I could be done with what ever activity I wanted to do by the time the Sony was up. Worst of all is it came with windows XP which needed more capacity and made the computer look even slower slower then it really was. And all the junk Sony pre-loaded on it to sell you was beyond annoying and just added insult to injury.

No I lied windows XP was not the worst...at about nine months the Sony began to crash I, I got the blue screen 3 to 4 times per day. The stupid thing would crash and it got worse and worse...and don't get me started with the Geek Squad...that's is a topic for another post. Long story short they blamed it on me and software I loaded...software issue they said. I HAD ONLY ONE PROGRAM, Adobe Pro, and the computer NEVER crashed when I used IT. Breathe in Janet it's over...you are safe now... argggg

OK, I'm back, so finally to the good news. I started looking for computers. Still really enamored with being light but more...much more willing to exchange a couple of pounds for speed. This time I need, wanted hoped and wished for fast. Fast to start, fast to shut down, fast to process, fast. I was willing to go up to 5lbs and believe me there is a world of difference between 2.7lbs which is what the Sony weighed and 5lbs. So needles to say I abandoned the mini computer world and returned to the mid size.

In my research I looked at ALL manufacturers, except Sony, and was debating between the Dell XSP 15 the Lenovo Thinkpad both about 5.2 pounds. I was ready to buy the XP mostly because my boyfriend Michael has a Dell and the home service he has is phenomenal. Did I mention the Best Buy extended coverage sucks. In case I didn't...there I said it. Sorry I digressed.

Michael and I stopped at Fry's to get a feel for the Dell and Lenovo because I'd would die before I bought a computer at Best Buy. The specs said the were heavy and remember....I take the "bad" section seriously. Truthfully I didn't like either but Michael assured me it would be fast so I was willing to get the Dell. Then on the way out to order a souped up Dell online, we passed the Mac section and he...not I...he made a bee-line to them. The apple section OMG what is he thinking. There, that is the moment I recognized how much I wanted one. My excitement was visual and I practically jumped with enthusiasm at the idea that he might be open to buying an Apple. So there we had "the talk" he would he truly support me in my transition. I expressed my fears and we headed to the "Apple Store"

There are not enough words to express the magnitude of this moment. Michael L O V E S Dell and rightfully so. The computers are solid and did I mention their in home service is a class act? He also is a Google and Android lover and never had kind words for anything apple. In fairness, I did hear him say to one of our agents who was shopping for a computer and wanting his opinion "Apple is a nice computer if you like it and it works with our google services you should get it....I just can't help you with it" and there that was the end of it. He did get an Apple though and he loves it. I stayed away from it as if were crack.

At the Apple Store in Brea We walked in, but this time allowed someone to help us. Michael let me ask the questions. "I'm looking for a laptop the fastest I can no heavier then 4 to 5 lbs. It must work in the Google world because that is where I reside almost 100% of the time. Gmail, Gtask, Google Voice, Google Docs, Evernote, dropbox, ZOHO, Adobe Pro and Google Apps in general are my main work tools and I cannot afford to do with out them. There...that was my list.

He walked us over to a 13'' white laptop and I just wanted to run the other way as he told me the spec's. Show me all the computers with I5 chip and above please I said calmly. Why? he said. Because I want it to be fast and latest technology. In 10 minutes flat the apple representative had both of us sold. He addressed the most important issues for me.

1. All Apples take the same amount a time to turn on and off. One speed FAST. I clocked it about 1 minute. No matter which chip they have.
2. You don't need the high powered spec 's you normally look for on a PC because the Mac doesn't needed it. He opened several applications and showed us how little resources it was using.
3. Then we played with some of the tools I mentioned above.
4. Finally the 14 day return guarantee and the One-to-One program sealed the deal.
5. Then came the frosting. He showed us how the pdf viewer can do everything I needed without having to buy Adobe Pro, sweet. I always hated that I have to purchase a high powered program just to make a few highlights, remove pages and merge pdf's to create on document oh and print to pdf.

I was no longer scared to make the switch in fact I was eager and borderline excited but very contained in case I need to return it. This time I will not suffer as I did with the Sony, if it doesn't do what I want it, I will return it period. Unfortunately I had to order mine online because I wanted the MacBook Pro middle of the line computer but with matted screen so I can sit by the pool and do some work with the sun warming my back. So sue me, I love the sun and I'm an Entrepreneur just so that I can work where I want when I want to barring the fact that others I interact with work 9 to 5 :(

So with the help of our store, I wish I remembered his name, rep we ordered my matted screen Mac on Feb 11Th 2011 and was delivered at my doorstep on the 17Th by the most awaited Fed Ex driver in the world. That relationship ended quickly, in fact it got cold as soon as I closed the door with my Mac on hand.

The unveiling of the Mac

So, inside this normal looking cardboard box was another beautifully designed package which resembled a briefcase. The laptop was gloriously shiny, neatly wrapped in a clear cellophane/plastic wrapping which peeled off easily. The Box's lid has foam lining to keep the Mac safe during transport, and the laptop was nestled in a black tray. Everything looked beautiful, WOW. I held it in my hands a little more excited, still nervous but still reminding myself that I may have to return it so don't get attached. It's heavy, solid but easy to handle because it's slim so I can get a good grip on it.

A love affair began

The Mac was slightly hard to open but turned on quickly and I was done with the set up in less than 5 minutes. Ahhh no junk software to wade through or remove, no registration needed or pervasive virus checker software, no Key's to enter. Just the computer, a few necessary and fun applications (programs) and me. In a couple of hours I had an appointment for my introduction to the Mac. Unfortunately I was a half our late so I didn't get the full session but the Genius assigned to me, and I don't say that in a condescending way, that is what Apple calls them,. The Genius gave us the short version just to get me started and relieve some concerns. I have used it daily since and I've yet to re-schedule. I just dove in, watched some videos on the apple website and you tube and got to work. Michael also got me the book "Switching to the Mac" I had wasted a lot of time looking for a computer so needed to catch up. Needles to say it took some adjusting but you are going to have to pry this lap top from my dead hand to take it away from me. I will write more later. Good night