THIS WEEK’S IRRITANTS

- Snap.com popups on Wordpress blogs (yes, I know they can be turned off)
- Humourless activists
- People who confirm their attendance on Facebook and then don’t show up
- All flavours of Windows (eternal irritant)
- Pontificating academics
- KMB commentors
- People who can’t stand upright without leaning on walls
- Shitty microphones
- Accountants
- Retired army officers
- DHA surveyors

Upcoming diatribes:

1. The fashion industry and the manufacture of insecurity
2. The advertising industry’s appropriation of aspirational language

Cheesy as it may sound, today is one of the happiest days of my life.

After saving pennies for a year, I got my insanely great Mac Plus in 1990, from Solutions Unlimited. It had an 8 MHz processor, 1 MB of RAM, and a single floppy disk drive. No hard disk! I learnt everything I know about the Mac OS on that Mac Plus, using a single 800K floppy disk. One disk for System 6 and the apps (MacPaint, MacDraw, MacWrite) and another disk for saving data. Pity today’s brats born into a world of terabyte storage - you’ll never know the joys of infinite disk swapping! Or the sweet, sweet sounds of Quack and Sosumi.

Anyway, after a couple of years, I traded in my Mac Plus for the finest Mac e.v.e.r. made - the Mac SE. Many tears were shed but the uber coolness of the SE and the awesomest keyboard and mouse Apple ever shipped, made it okay - after a while.

Since then, I have used and owned dozens of Macs - my current computer is a 15″ MacBook Pro. It runs Leopard, has gigabytes of hard disk space, a DVD burner, an aluminum exterior, a glossy screen, a built-in iSight camera, blah, blah, blah. It’s a fantastic Mac and I adore it.

BUT … nothing can compare to the original ‘computer for the rest of us’.

My Mac Plus was never resold by Solutions Unlimited. For a decade and a half, it travelled from one office storage cabinet to another, and finally ended up in Zak and Nuz’s kothri where it rested in dignity for 10 years.

Today, the 6th of May 2008, after 16 years, I have been reunited with the Mac Plus that changed my life.

I can’t stop the tears.

And now, off I go to polish my beautiful Mac Plus back to its original lustre.

Fun interview with the other Steve. Bring on the Apple II manuscript!

It’s that time of year again. The first banner has been spotted by spies hovering about Moscone Center in San Francisco. In a new identity typeface (Myriad Pro Light), Steve says:
2008. There’s something in the air.

SAVE THE DATE:

Steve Jobs Live at Macworld
Tuesday 15th January, 2008
5:00 pm GMT | 10:00 pm PST

Major Mac sites and Engadget will live blog the SteveNote. Tune in …

i am tired.

tired of running
tired of the struggle
tired of arguing
tired of explaining
tired of the machinations of the rich
tired of the mumbo jumbo
tired of the greedy
tired of the bored
tired of the dumb
tired of the petty
tired of waiting for another day
tired of being polite
tired of corporate crime
tired of generals
tired of taxes
tired of banks
tired of coping
tired of the silence
tired of the battles
tired of the smug
tired of the manipulators
tired of being tired
tired of life

stop the world. i want to get off.

I have never been so excited to sign a cheque than I was today. I paid off the final installment for my MacBook Pro and properly own it now. I got my first Mac in 1990 and to date, have never had the money to buy a computer outright. It’s always been a struggle involving loans and credit cards and endless pay-back plans. This time, owing to a quirk of fate, I was able to pay off the MacBook Pro loan in 4 months - the quickest turnaround time for ownership in 17 years. Thank you to everyone who has enabled me to have a Mac on my desk ever since I fell in love. You know who you are.

The Macs I’ve Owned Over the Years:

- Mac Plus
- Mac SE (Best Mac EVER)
- Mac IIvx (Worst Mac EVER)
- PowerBook G3
- iBook 12″
- PowerBook 12″
- PowerBook 15″
- MacBook Pro 15″ (Sexiest Mac EVER)

No matter what Steve says, I’ll always bleed in 6 colors

Visit the Reclaim Karachi Website for information about a citizen-led campaign to take back our city.

Compelling Conversations: Reporting from the Front Lines of Terror

Join us at T2F this Thursday to hear a young reporter’s experiences of Oct 18th 2007. Urooj Zia will talk about the “job” of reporting, political rallies, the “gullible” masses, and the fact that we have nothing to lose but our chains.

Date: Thursday, 1st November 2007
Time: 7:00 pm
Minimum Donation: Whatever you like

Venue: The Second Floor
6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Karachi
Phone: 538-9273 | 0300-823-0276 | info@t2f.biz
Map: http://www.t2f.biz/location

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!

Have just finished installing Leopard

I have loads of first impressions but for now, an enormous shout-out to my friends, Farah and Omer for their unbelievable generosity and goodwill. You guys have no idea what this means to me. THANK YOU, Farah, for braving the wind, rain, and cold of New York, and THANK YOU, Omer, for the family pack license and for parting with that shiny, holographic, sexy box the day you received it. Altogether too many commas in that last sentence but damn, I’m twitching all over.

Peace!
Reclaim Karachi