Just came from an excellent Aperture Workshop at the Apple Store! I learned so much more about all the different options, stuff I always wondered what they did but didn't want to blow up my pictures. I hope this is the beginning of more Aperture classes at my local store. Oh yeah, and it was free. Apple rocks!

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Apple has joined Google in publicly opposing a California ballot initiative that would deny marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The company announced Friday that it would donate $100,000 to the No on Prop 8 campaign, which opposes a measure to ban gay marriage that California voters will consider a week from Tuesday. Google has also spoken out against the ballot measure.

"Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees' same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person's fundamental rights--including the right to marry--should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8," the company said in a statement posted to the Hot News section of its Web site.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is trying to polish its bruised performance with shiny new products.

On Thursday, Apple confirmed speculation it would be holding a media event Tuesday that focuses on notebook computers. The company is widely expected to unveil new versions of its Macbook and Macbook Pro notebook computers that cost below $1,000.

The Cupertino, Calif., computer maker is also expected to take the wraps off a new manufacturing process that carves a computer from a single piece of metal. The process is expected to significantly reduce Apple's manufacturing costs.

• I was putting some bottles in the wine fridge this morning (w00t~!), and I noticed a tuft of cat hair on the bar countertop. The cats are obviously conducting their own building inspections. I hope we're up to code!


• I reiterate: kitties are not digging the "get locked up in the bedroom all day" routine. And of course if the door were open, they'd still spend 90% of their day in there! It's just the closed door they object to. But I don't care what they think. Until all the contractors and subcontractors hand me back their spare keys and I can be assured that no one else will be coming in and out of the house when we're not there, the cats stay sequestered in the bedroom during the day.


• Speaking of the remodel: stuff in the kitchen works! Like last night, I unpacked the microwave stuff and set up the little plate, and found a place to store the convection rack. (Ooooh fancy!) I ran it at very low power for 30 seconds. You know, just to make sure the plate was in right and able to move. And it works! Today we turned on the hood, and it's got 4 nice bright 50 watt bulbs in there. The fan is... kinda loud. But if you turn it down to 2 (out of 6), it's manageable. If I'm watching TV while I'm cooking and running the fan, I'll be very glad for those two speakers installed in the kitchen ceiling. I started putting in oven racks, but it feels too loose. Need to find the manual and make sure I'm doing it right.


• I'm wearing an inexpensive brown T-shirt I bought at Target a couple weekends ago and my new beige skirt. I look decent and am very comfy! I must go snag more of these cheap and cheerful shirts.


• Just saw a headline go by: "Unlike 1Q, Apple shares rise after 2Q report." Translated: when Charity buys Apple shares, she gets a decent earnings report but the stock tanks anyway. After they claw back up to a reasonable level, she sells them to Hubby, who then gets a hhhhhhawesome earnings report, and they go sky-high. Eh, whatevah. I am clearly not cut out to own individual stocks. I will stick to mutual funds. Or bonds.


• But yeah, so I got my Apple stock money back, and my 6-month CD matures next Friday. So when they announce the next release of the MacBook Pro, I am ready, baby! I figure they'll do a refresh in time for the back-to-school buying crowd. I'll wait till November or so to let them work all the kinks out, then SNAG!!!


• Today was "Bring Your Young'uns to Work Day." Remember when the whole idea of it was Bring Your Daughter to Work, so she can see different roles for women so she doesn't have to stick to "nurse" or "teacher" or "mommy" as a career path? Yeah, so that lasted. My company actually has organized programs for the kids now, and they shuffle them off to the auditorium or something so you hardly see them. This is a vast improvement from when it was just an excuse for the kids to eat all our cookies and download South Park cartoons at their mothers' desks. (Tru fax, saw that with my own eyes.)


• Dr. H and Dr. M back-cracked me yesterday. I consistently have tightness and issues with my mid-back, so I got the office ergonomics guru to give my desk a makeover. So he's got my chair rearranged now. It's weeeeird. Not bad, just weeeeird.


• Wanna hear something that sucks? Next month Hubby has to fly down to Tampa for a meeting at 1 p.m., then turn around and fly home! I mean, he prefers not to have to go away overnight and all, and there is value in face-to-face meetings. But doesn't that seem like a huge waste of money!? Not to mention an e-nor-mous pain in Hubby's posterior.


• I'm sneezing and blowing my nose like a mofo today. Hard to tell if it's the cold or allergies compounding the problem. Although I am grateful that the sore throat has finally! passed. Hopefully this won't last much longer.


• I do see my doctor next week, but that's because I need a new scrip for Wellbutrin. Even though it hasn't helped much lately with not overeating, I think I should stay on it. When I read that story a few weeks ago about Cabinet-level members of the administration sitting in on torture meetings, I literally got depressed. I had to shut off the TV and go to bed. Coincidentally, I had been alternating days on with days off, to try and get off it. After that, I was like, "Oh yeah. We're keeping it." I'll be interested to see what the doctor says.


• 3 shots of decaf espresso + large cup full of ice = free iced coffee at work. Take that, Starbucks!


• So glad I'm getting my hair cut on Saturday. It's becoming bushy, and no matter how much effort I put into blow-drying, I still look like a little Dutch boy with a bowl haircut by the end of the day.


• Back to remodeling news: we're meeting with a lady next Wednesday. She's a friend of Georgie's and does cool things with framing and mounting photographs. We're going to have a bunch around the 2nd floor, including two super huge ones on the dining and living room walls.


• To those of you on my F-list who need it, just know I'm pulling for you.


• And finally, boom de yada!

1. Log Cabin Republicans: all the self-interest plus extra self-loathing!


2. What biofuels do is undeniable: they take food out of the mouths of starving people and divert them to be burned as fuel in the car engines of the world's rich consumers. This is, in the words of the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, nothing less than a "crime against humanity".


3. For you Macsters out there: tweak your GMail IMAP and Mail.app settings.


4. Has anyone heard of the New York Institute of Photography? I've decided that I need some serious education if I want to progress with my photography. I picked up a copy of
   Shutterbug
   magazine to read on the plane on Wednesday, and I didn't understand half of what they were talking about. It was kinda depressing, really. This NYIP thing may be a way to start.

CUPERTINO, Calif., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today added new models of the iPhone(TM) and iPod(R) touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. The revolutionary iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499, joining the 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299.

"For some users, there's never enough memory," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. "Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world."

Do you use a Mac, at home, at work, at school, or some combination of the above?

If you use a Mac, which is your default browser?

If you use Safari, how much do you like it? (1 being utter hate, 10 being complete head-over-heels in looove)

View Answers
Mean: 6.50 Median: 7 Std. Dev 2.57

1	1 (16.7%)
2	0 (0.0%)
3	0 (0.0%)
4	0 (0.0%)
5	0 (0.0%)
6	0 (0.0%)
7	3 (50.0%)
8	1 (16.7%)
9	1 (16.7%)
10	0 (0.0%)

If you don't like Safari, what improvements would Apple have to make for you to like it?

1. make an album with the photos you want


2. apply a border to each photo, one by one with each month


3. arrange them in the correct order


4. order a Snapbook, in either 4"x6" or 5"x7", with the little wire binding on the top

1. Hubby’s MacBook Pro, upstairs in his office on the top level of our townhouse
2. My MacBook, most often used down here in the recroom
3. The mac mini, on which we run EyeTV for TV and DVR’ing