Futile

I can officially label myself as an Apple fan boy. I’ve owned countless Macs (or Macintoshes, as they used to be called), including my first, the LC III, a Performa 5215, the PowerBook “Wall Street” G3, iMac DV SE, iBook (of the 12”, 600 MHz G3 variety), and now a MacBook Pro. I feel a little left out because I never even owned a G4 or G5, skipping directly from the Motorola 68030 to the 603e to the G3 to the (gasp!) Intel Core Duo. I’ve had my share of Mac versus PC arguments, but not of late. Now, I just remark how much I love my Macs and leave it at that.

In addition, I’ve grown accustomed to rearranging my schedule to watch MacWorld keynotes given by Steve Jobs. I remember the days when they used to be broadcast live across the Internet. Now, Apple posts a recording online later in the day, and I have succumb to simply “reading” bits and pieces of the keynotes as they are passed from the keynote through some invisible web of keynote-goers, WiFi, IRC, SMS, IM, email, RSS feeds, and AJAXified web sites to appear on my screen minutes—yeah, minutes—after they have been uttered from the lips of the man himself.

I am well versed in the reality distortion field, and while I appreciate its value in rallying the base, I pretend strive to remain objective in the presentation of that “Oh, one more thing…” I have seen the reality distortion field eat people alive after disappointing keynotes. It’s a sad sight, really.

I have owned four iPods, spanning three generations, the first and second of which are still in use by my brother, the “third was stolen”: , and the fourth goes running with me when I have the time. iSights, Airport Expresses, iChat, iWork, QuickTime, iTunes, and iLife are all common words around my household.

To top it off, a few moments ago, I participated in a video chat (with my built-in iSight, on my MacBook Pro, with iChat) with my sister, who, as luck has it, was at the grand opening of a new Apple Store in Reno, Nevada. I’ve visited my share of Apple Stores: Portland, Denver, Seattle, Las Vegas, Glendale, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, McLean, Arlington, Bethesda, but never, have I ever had the opportunity to attend a grand opening. The fact that I am shameful on this point and used my Apple gear to invoke my presence at the grand opening in Reno is proof enough: I am an Apple fan boy. Resistance is futile.

p.s. You can make out the Apple marketing materials in the background, and I have to apologize to my sister for the awful moment I caught her at with the screen shot. Also, one of the Apple Store employees popped into the conversation briefly, wondering to whom my sister was talking. Ironically, he invited me to come down to the store, but I informed him that I am in DC—all the way across the country. Too funny.