Good morning friends, today I come to you from a 'Barnes & Noble Cafe' (serving Starbuck's Coffee)' I'm feeling very cool and chic working on my laptop with about 10 other senior citizens (not that I am one, but I feel like one today.). This spot is probably popular with seniors of the laptop persuasion because the Wifi is free here.
Ever notice how mornings belong to the elderly? I'm here because I had a One To One session at the Apple store in the mall this morning. So first the seniors, then the Apple experience.
My appointment was at 9 am, which is well before the mall opens. Malls today - in case you are not old and do not get up early in the morning and hit the mall when it's still closed - open their doors early so that those wishing to can walk in air conditioned comfort and safety (walking in your neighborhood may not be as safe as you'd like it to be). Some of these malls even provide 'mile markers' along the route on discreet little signs that the uninitiated might notice and puzzle over but that those in the know appreciate greatly.
I love watching the gaggles of little old women trundle around the circuit all the while chattering about last nights dinner disaster, the raising of HOA fees at the complex, the price of bread (...why when I was young....) and the latest doings of the grand and great grand children (.....that good for nothing, snotty nosed kid had the nerve to .....,). Really people, I couldn’t make this stuff up.....Anyway, this morning I ran into just such a gaggle using the public restroom en masse. As I entered the room I was greeted by the happy sounds of animated conversation. In my wicked little mind I pictured a high school bathroom hazing and one of the little blue hairs getting a swirly in the handicapped stall. I don’t know why, I think just the happy jumble of voices took me back to those days and then my imagination did the rest. After being in there for a few minutes with the group, believe me I had the one pegged that should get the swirly too. The ‘one ups-men’ granny, her grand kids were the worst, her stories were the most horrifying in every category. Yikes.
Where was I going with this story anyway. No idea...Oh, I know, I was just thinking about why it is that seniors are up and abroad so early. It’s because they don’t sleep. It seems grossly unfair to me that those of us with no time to spare in our days are cursed with an absolute need for a full 8 hours (9 or 10 for me) just to function, and that these lovely oldsters can get by on 4 or 5 hours of sleep. Opening up all sorts of spare time for them.
In other useless news....I’m enjoying my Apple experience thus far. I’m a huge fan of the One to One classes. These classes are available only with new Apple purchases for a small fee and must be purchased at the time you buy your computer. That being said, I do not advertise for them, I just feel that the whole concept is a stroke of genius. You can go in as often as you like (by appointment) for a whole year and they will teach you anything you want to know about your computer hardware, software and peripherals. Also if you are working on a project they will help you with the technical aspects of it. I initially went for a ‘getting to know your Mac’ class, but have since been to have them explain aspects of my digital camera, some third party software, and explanations of the Mac filing system. I love this program and intend to go in as much as I can for the year that I have it available. One hour to pick the brain of an Apple genius one to one is fabulous.
And then briefly back to the oldsters. I get my appointments in the early morning, because I drop Aidric off at pre-school and then go in to the store. I find that the early morning appointments are filled mostly by older people and mostly women. They are working on getting to know their computers. Some the basics, how to use e-mail, how to get on line, some have more elaborate projects. I met one woman who is an artists and she was working on producing a multi media presentation for a gallery of her art pieces. Her art work was beautiful and her presentation was very inspiring. I met another woman who sews, she had just purchased a very expensive embroidery machine and was working on software to design her own patterns for the machine. She also had a short media presentation of her sewing work. Anyway, thus far I am very happy with my new laptop. One big reason is very simple, my old lap top could only be off ‘life support’ for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, this new one is good to go for 6 to 8 hours depending on what I’m doing.
Boy, this has to be one of the most boring entries I’ve ever typed, but that’s ok because I’m enjoying the coffee shop atmosphere. It’s filling up with all sorts of people now. There’s a very rowdy group of special needs teens a few tables away and they are doing a great job of moving the seniors out with all the noise. Alas me too.....
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