More Apple For Me

I have moved more of my technological burden onto the Mac bandwagon. I recently purchased iWork, the Apple contender of Microsoft Office. A fundamental reason derived itself from a strong, altruistic principle: I do not want to support Microsoft if I do not have to.

But, that wasn't the sole deciding factor.

Glancing at the recently released Office 2008 on Amazon.com, I noticed very few enthusiastic testimonials of the product. When I checked iWork ’08, I saw many more satisfied customers. Now, many of these reviewers may have a congenital bias towards everything Bill Gates (which is a sentiment I find no fault with). Yet, the general sense I took from reviews and the product description is that iWork ’08 is an efficient, yet slightly watered-down, Office-like application. Hey, that works for me.

I consider Pages (the Mac version of Word) to be the primary component of use. I write more than I make spreadsheets and presentations. Even when I was in college (and I do hope to return to academia in the future) I was not required to utilize some unique word processing facet native only in Word. I just needed the document to save and print. iWork does this just fine.

Perhaps the most pressing concern was compatibility with Office, which is what most of the world still uses. A feature in Pages allows the user to export (i.e. change) the format into .doc. Likewise, Numbers (the Mac Excel) allows conversion to .xls and Keynote (Mac PowerPoint) into .ppt. Some users complain that the conversion is not always perfect. Fine. Point taken. However, I don’t need absolute perfection. I don’t need to send my own writing to co-workers, or anyone else, for that matter. In fact, the inherent formats of both Pages, Numbers and Keynote will probably suite me just fine.

The icing on the cake was handing the VCU employee $40 for the product. The new Mac Office 2008 version will cost non-students $140 (some students can get if for about $70). Some Office 2008 reviews I read recommend that potential buyers keep the previous version, released in 2004, rather than upgrade, it was that worthless. I chose iWork and, subsequently, Apple over the dominance of Microsoft.

Mr. Gates, if you happen to read this, don’t take my purchase personally. It’s your products that are overpriced and suck. It has no bearing on you as a person.

Where To Buy Books?

Matt Yglesias of the Atlantic wrote a post that caused some circumspection. As a book lover, I will always revere the book store, whether chain or independent. In a perfect world, I would frequent an independent seller every weekend, willfully handing over my money to support a small business owner (one day I hope to do so). As a relatively poor individual, however, I greatly appreciate the prices of Amazon.com. Amazon has done well in their attempt to translate the book store experience into an online format (whoever came up with the idea to scan select pages of each book so that the online shopper can "flip" through a potential purchase was well to do so). If I hear about a book or author that intrigues me, I quickly look up a title, add it to my Wish List, and buy it at a later date. The conveinence of Amazon just cannot be outdone.

Recently I purchased 1 Dead in Attic, by Chris Rose. At a book store, it would have cost $15. Amazon's price: $10.20. For someone who attempts to read about a book a week, the year-long savings are apparent.

However, I will always extol the average book store experience. A recent bout of fickleness regarding my next literary endeavour reaffirmed this. Meandering fluidly through aisles of books, removing one from its spot, flipping through it, then returning it is, dare I say, a mystical experience for me.

Comparing online and in-store book buying is similar to dating. Yes, web sites such as E-Harmony, Match and Chemistry are popular and, to varying degrees, successful. However, sometimes you need to meet another person face to face to see if the sparks fly.

McDonald's Side Effects?

Yesterday I did something that I had not done in quite a while: I ate at McDonald's. I now regret this. After seeing the famous Supersize Me documentary, I quietly affirmed to my dietary conscience that I would never step into the light of the golden arches. However, the lengthy time spent away from McDonald's made me curious, and I felt compelled to try it again. You know, for old time sake. My foray into the infamous and noxious menu, you ask? A double fish sandwich, medium fries and a medium chocolate shake. I will admit, it tasted pretty damn good. Really good, actually. Yet, my momentary culinary elixir soon faded as I developed a headache, one that has lasted, albeit inconsistently, for two days now.

Can a spontaneous Mickey Dee's splurge after significant time away do this? I now remember why I vowed to stay away from that hideous place, where good and decent Americans go to guiltily increase their waist size and risk for coronary conditions.

A Recommended Reading

Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon writes a well-written editorial supporting Barack Obama in the Washington Post this morning. It's worth a read.

A taste:

To support Obama, we must permit ourselves to feel hope, to acknowledge the possibility that we can aspire as a nation to be more than merely secure or predominant. We must allow ourselves to believe in Obama, not blindly or unquestioningly as we might believe in some demagogue or figurehead but as we believe in the comfort we take in our families, in the pleasure of good company, in the blessings of peace and liberty, in any thing that requires us to put our trust in the best part of ourselves and others. That kind of belief is a revolutionary act. It holds the power, in time, to overturn and repair all the damage that our fear has driven us to inflict on ourselves and the world.

On a literary side-note, I've read, and was underwhelmed by, Chabon's The Final Solution. I own the Pulitzer-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and hope to take a crack at sometime soon, if I can finally get through A Confederacy of Dunces.

Maybe Marketing Isn't Really For Me

I hate sales. (Forgive me, but I feel I should be more accurate in explicating this opinion, dear reader, even at the risk of sounding vulgar)

I fucking hate sales.

A lot.

Yesterday afternoon, amidst a rather warm winter day, I stood in front of a K-Mart store in Fredericksburg, VA, a city I often pass during a common route I take involving Springfield and Richmond. This was my first time there. It shall, the good Lord willing, as they say, be my last.

I am a rather private, coy individual, especially in the company of strangers. I have held this social trait for as long as I can remember. I don’t foresee its amelioration anytime in the future. Furthermore, I’m fine with this. Really. I am.

So, imagine my anxiety when I realized that my introduction to a local direct marketing agency (the name of which I will not divulge) involved me approaching strangers, beckoning them to a table of virtually worthless products, then (in a act more fruitless than not) trying to close a sale. Truly, an asocial individual’s worst nightmare.

The marketing agency works with numerous companies, both profit and not. The idea of direct marketing is to increase the efficacy of advertising. A typical television commercial, I came to find out, convinces only one of one hundred people to buy the specific advertised product. Direct marketing, on the other hand, increases the ratio to ten of one hundred. From a business perspective, direct marketing is the more advantageous campaign.

The non-profit company we represented this particular day has noblest of intentions: reducing the number, and time spent away from family, of missing children. Who wouldn’t be motivated to aid such a respectable organization with such an admirable cause?

Of course, such sentiment is the primary attraction of would-be buyers. The best marketer, in this case, does their best to quickly locate and extrapolate such sentiment to persuade an individual to buy something. “This t-shirt is only $15, and the proceeds go to help missing kids!” I heard this uttered often throughout this abhorrent day. It’s a truthful statement, but one that I explored a bit more.

I asked the man whom the agency sent to oversee and appraise my sales techniques and potential. I asked this rather mellow and genuinely nice man just how much of the proceeds this non-profit agency receives from a sale?

The answer was 1%.

The sales person involved in the transaction received 30%. The remaining portion would be allocated between the production cost of the specific item and the marketing agency itself.

Although both the manager and associate I accompanied were quite accommodating and affable, their line of work seemed to be in contrast to my personal and ethical constitutions. When asked if I was going to take the position, I responded in the same manner I do when asked if I would like oral sex from a toothless, veteran prostitute.

Thanks, but no thanks.

The American Face of Change

One luxury of unemployment is the attention one can divert from actual work to that of television. I have tried my best to not refute my intellect by divulging my viewership toward the likes of Judge Judy and Maury Povich. Instead, I have focused on CNN and MSNBC coverage of the New Hampshire primaries, specifically the momentum that has propelled the Senator Barack Obama campaign into viable contention to win the Democratic nomination.

I consider myself fortunate to have seen Senator Obama speak publicly while he was in Richmond supporting the Jim Webb senatorial campaign. It is quite easy to notice the affable character, warm demeanor and moving oratorical abilities that the Senator possesses. It is precisely these characteristics that have helped trump the “inevitability” of the Senator Hilary Clinton nomination.

It is difficult for Clinton to regress, even slow, such momentum because of what Obama has become. His campaign has evolved into a movement of an idea, and ideas are slow dying. Obama recognizes this, altering the use of the pronoun I with that of we in recent public speeches.

Many Americans are weary and disenfranchised with current political ideology and implementation. Obama represents the desire to correct such political aversion. He has effectively appealed to Democrats as well as Independents (and some Republicans as well). As long as he does not commit any unforeseeable grievances in the eyes of prospective caucus goers, it appears that Obama stands to win the Democratic nomination.

Change does seem to be palpable.

Poetry

White Elephants

Atop the distant trickle
of the willow river
mustard and auburn leaves float.
The sun reaches
into the cemetery
where the Confederacy are,
sunk in unkempt grass and
the occasional Skittles wrapper.
The sinking light peaks
from behind the cotton swabs,
warming a swarthy dog that cuddles
gravestone, sleeping
to the sound of river,
dreaming without the
burden of collar or past.