Unapologetic Hypocrite

This is a repost of an article that I published on Tumblr last year.

This is the story that you will hear over and over again by many, many computer users across the web.

I used to be all about the PC. Microsoft had me believing that it was the best solution for all of my computing needs. Sure I had used an iPhone before, and it WAS a great experience. To this day I still claim that my favorite phone that I have used is a jailbroken iPhone 3GS. But surely the experience on a Mac couldn’t be that much better than the PCs that I had used for years. After all, how could 80% of the computing world be wrong? Right? Let me answer that rhetorical question for you: WRONG.

About two months ago I decided to buy an iPad, just to see what all of the hub bub was about. Needless to say, I loved it. It became a mainstay of my internet and entertainment usage. I used it to surf the web, play social games, email, social networking, listen to music and the list goes on.

Three weeks later I decided to move on from my beloved Google Nexus One and move on to an iPhone 4. The iPhone is great, always has been, but don’t get me wrong, I still love Android and all that it has to offer. I do like that it just works. There is very little crashing of apps and with less user maintenance than Android I get the same results.

My transformation became complete when I tried to sync my new iPhone to my Asus laptop. While many, many people sync their iPhones to iTunes via a PC and have no problems; I had nothing but problems. And this wasn’t the first time, previously I had problems with Microsoft de-authorizing my copy of Windows, crashing and freezing programs, slow startup times and problems connecting to my secure wi-fi network (which includes wireless printing). 

So on to apple.com I went and ordered my first MacBook Air. Sure I spent (a lot) more money on a less powerful machine, but I have never regretted it. My new MacBook Air is light, powerful, fast, easy to use, and… it just works. There is no crashing, no error messages, no compatibility issues; in short no frustration.

So you can call me hypocrite if you wish. And after 20 years of Mac bashing, I deserve that. But going forward, after I have experienced what life without computing frustration is like, I will never every buy another PC. And my advice to anyone who is considering a new computer: Buy a Mac. Spend the extra money and cry once. Once you experience a Mac I am confident that you too will never go back to a Microsoft product.

P.S. I have also purchase an Apple TV since my Mac purchase. AAAAAnd queue the “Fanboy” chants.

IF...

As most people know (unless you live under a rock) Joe Paterno died a couple of days ago. He was many things to many different people. To most that played for him he was a father figure, a role model, a coach and a mentor. To others, whether you liked Penn State football or not he symbolized winning, as he is the winningest coach in Division I NCAA Football history. While still for others, because of the events that lead to his firing at Penn State, he symbolized that which is wrong with college athletics and the power that they command.

All that pushed aside, and above all else, he was a father and a grandfather. This morning I saw an interview with his son Jay, who is currently an assistant coach at Penn State, on ESPN this morning. The interview discussed what JoPa meant to him, his family and his team. One of the most poignant parts of the interview for me was when Jay discussed how his son asked for a minute alone with JoPa, at which point he read Rudyard Kipling’s “If” to his grandfather. As I had never read the poem before, I Googled it and was very touched.

IF you can keep your head when all about you 

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

This should be required reading for every boy in middle school. If you hope to become a man these are sound rules that should govern every man’s life, not only in fatherhood, but also in business and life in general. At the moment that he read this JoPa’s grandson was more of a man that most.