nano-nano
It has been a hectic time the past few weeks - so much to do, so little time. Not only are we doing a massive push to get Office 2008 ready to ship, but we are also doing a huge amount of work around our launch of said Office 2008. And we are also ramping up our communications – not only on MacMojo, but with a broad variety of partners. If that wasn’t enough, we’re also preparing for our internal strategy review. So blogging has just fallen off a cliff for me. But I was wide awake in the Sheraton in Palo Alto late last night and I was mostly caught up on email and I couldn't bear to look at another strategy PPT, so I briefly rejoined the blogging world and wrote this post (slightly modified while I wait for my next meeting right now) (written in Word 2008, BTW!)
I have a 4 and a half year old boy named Duncan and an almost 7 year old boy named Angus and I love them both with all my heart. The demands of my job mean that I am only around them for about an hour and a half in the morning during the week – I typically don’t get home until long after they are asleep. And those 90 minutes are harried - we all tend to wake up around 7am, and then it is a mad dash of a blood test & insulin for Angus (he was diagnosed with type 1 (aka juvenile) diabetes last December), then KT & I have to create two breakfasts, two snacks, and two lunches and then I have to shower, shave, dress and roar out the door by 8:20 so they can be at school at 8:30. So on weekends the boys and I make up for lost time during the week by doing what I dubbed years ago "boys day out". We do things like go to parks & playgrounds, we ride the ferry, we explore the Seattle Center, we go to the zoo or the aquarium, we visit the Lego store (I should blog about my Lego habit some day. I have… um… lots), sometimes we go to my office so I can catch up, and oh yes… and sometimes we go to the Apple store.
This Sunday was one of those Apple store trips. Like anyone who paid $600 for an iPhone (for two iPhones in my case) and then saw the price drop to $400 a couple of months later, I was irritated. However, I realized that if I had it to do all over again, it was worth the extra money to experience the early adopter excitement - so I got over my irritation pretty quickly. And then I put two and two together and I realized that I had not one, but two iPhone rebates pending – so a brand spankin' new 8GB iPod nano was a now a freebie. As Mr. Burns from the Simpsons would say.... Exxxxxxcellent!
My spankin' new nano is cool – I love how surreally thin it is, I love the look of the anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel, and I love the bright screen. Oh, and I love that I can drop it in the parking lot and barely scratch it (a big oops! yesterday morning). But most surprising to me is how usable it is as a video device. I was skeptical – after using the iPhone for video, I swore I would never use my iPod again for video because I loved the screen size of the iPhone - and the nano’s screen is even smaller than my iPod. However, on my flight to San Jose yesterday morning, I decided to check it out and I watched an episode of CSI: Miami (gotta love David Caruso!) and it was great. The nano is so light that you can hold it forever, and the screen, as it turns out, is big enough. It's no iPhone or iPod Touch, but it is an OK size. I did get irritated by the fact that it was about a gazillion clicks to move between full screen and wide screen (and you have to stop watching the video to do it) when it is a double tap of my finger (without leaving the video) on my iPhone, but that was the only negative part of the experience.
I also have a new 24” iMac (I frickin' LOVE my job!), but more on that later.
nano-nano!
Comments
Craig,
When I was very small, and my dad had only worked at IBM for a few years out of his 35 year run (so far. they refuse to let him go), my dad had a manager who used to stay at the office until 11 at night.
One day, mom and dad were at a social engagement with manager and manager's wife, and manager's wife said (cue vmarks theatre)
INT. - DINNER PARTY - NIGHT
MGR WIFE, MGR, MOM, DAD are talking, socializing, holding drinks while extras socialize around them in small groups.
MGR WIFE
You know, MGR gets along great with our two boys. He plays with them every day!
DAD
But MGR, you don't have kids, really, do you? When do you play with them! You're at the office til 11 each night.
MGR WIFE
(answering for MGR, as only a wife can)
Oh no! MGR comes home at midnight every night. We wake the boys up, MGR plays with them for an hour, and then we put them back to bed. He's a wonderful father!
MOM
(to dad)
You'll be coming home at 7pm from now on.
END.
I later went to work at IBM with him and saw first hand the toll on family. IBM didn't help matters with the dissolution of things like IBM family day, which was a fair with amusement park rides that IBM set up at each campus around the nation.
I used my $100 iphone coupon on the airport base. hadn't meant to, but needed to when the BRAND THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED decided to fail.
Posted by: vmarks | October 31, 2007 8:20 AM
waiting on new comments and posts. and office 2008. and windows live messenger for mac with video.
Posted by: vmarks | November 17, 2007 8:44 AM
Hey vmarks - sorry for the huge latency, I've basically ignored this blog the past two months as the drive to ship hit a crescendo – and then I had to dig these comments out from about 700 spam comments that had accumulated.
We’ve RTMed Office 2008, so it is on track to be in stores mid January in the U.S. and a number of other countries. As far as AV in Messenger goes, check out this blog post on Mac Mojo.
Posted by: Craig | December 16, 2007 8:33 PM