From Broadsheet:

Last weekend in Anchorage, the Alaskan Women Reject Palin demonstration drew a crowd of close to 1,500, according to protesters who were there, including a local blogger, who writes: “Basically, in Anchorage, if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it’s a success … Never have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage.” The Washington Post reports that protest signs included: “Candidate to Nowhere,” “Rape Kits Should Be Free,” “Community Organizers Are the Real Patriots,” “Sarah Palin: So Far Right She’s Wrong” and “Hockey Mama for Obama.”

You completely need to see the photos on the blogger’s page.

I never realized I was this active a feminist.  Seriously - sure, I don’t get paid the same as my male counterparts, get treated like crud at doctor’s offices, and have experienced all the sex and relationship double-standards and violations.  But it didn’t occur to me that I might still have to be part of the fight.

Then this Hilary thing happens, and I think - this is awesome.  Finally, a candidate that is viable AND a woman.  But I didn’t really agree with several of her methods, and Obama did.  Because, we vote on the issues.

Suddenly, Palin happens and I am incensed.  Feminism and everything it stands for is being USED and ABUSED to promote anti-feminist agendas.  All the real feminist issues (sexism in the media, double-standards, etc.) can be used as weapons to defend Palin, undermining feminism at its root.

Feminism is not about putting a woman in the white house.  It’s about putting the RIGHT PERSON in the White House, regardless of gender.  It isn’t about putting women first, it’s about giving them equal opportunity.  It’s about dropping all the pre-existing judgments about what a woman is or should be/do/say/feel and paying attention to the quality of the person.

I cannot stand in silence while everything my mother and her mother fought for is thrown away to further a sexist, classist agenda that prevails only because it represents a myth about Americans that NEVER existed.  The War Hero Husband and the Small Town Values Wife are prejudices and stereotypes that are not real.

Don’t buy into it America.  Don’t buy into it Women and Men.

As a beginning, I would say that I am too often prompted to make posts by reading Penelope’s Brazen Careerist blog.  And rarely because we are discussing careers.

She posted, on Monday, about the Emily Gould article on the NYTimes.  I’d already started reading this post last week because it was left up on the Mac at home (which was probably a fortuitous accident rather than a planned jab).  At that time I’d only ready one page before I had to start preparing for my weekend activities.  Today, I read the whole thing.  My review?  Eerily accurate in the description of online addiction to immediate gratification and communication.  Otherwise?  Sort of a prodigal daughter story mixed with your average rise and fall of a job experience.  Just because it was in the fast-paced and exciting “blogging” career-field doesn’t make it any different than any other job experience.

However, beyond Penelope’s response of a jealous-tinged, “No one is special.  Get over yourself,” it makes me begin to think about online exposure and what propels us to be so open.

It’s an interesting topic.  Privacy is something we fought to protect, and has been included in the interpretation of the 9th Amendment to the Constitution.  How often do we receive privacy notices in the mail, or agree to them online?  Regulation S-P has pushed privacy into the forefront of the investment world.  We can opt out of mailings, opt out of getting phone calls.  How many times do we assert that other people can’t tell us how to live our own lives?  All on the basis of privacy.

So, how do we explain our nation’s growing love of invading privacy and displaying our lives openly?

The Emily Gould article discusses the online blogging phenomenon in a way that  I think many online bloggers might find a little too close to home.  It seems that online, we feel much more safe to share our personal information than if perhaps someone called us and asked.  If someone were to open our diary and tell everyone what we feel, we might freak out.  But we in essence do the same in our blogging world.  Some of us use alternate names for the people involved, but others do not.  And sometimes they don’t have to - as in the Emily article, or with Penelope, we all know who the individual is.  What prompts us to share so much of ourselves online?

Add in myspace, Twitter, and other online apps that allow you to keep in touch all the time, across the globe, and it becomes dizzying how much our culture is moving towards compromising our own privacy.  I admit - I easily put information out there about my life, at times perhaps more than I should. 

Let’s go further - what about Reality T.V.?  No longer happy with the typical soap opera fiction, we have show after show that delves into the lives of real people and their dramas.  The axiom to avoid airing your dirty laundry has changed to promote putting it all out there - even the stained underwear.  And it isn’t just an American phenomenon - Europe loves Reality TV. Reality tv is the definition of uncomfortable levels of sharing - it really exemplifies the whole “watching a train wreck” phenomenon. 

But at the same time, it also evokes a sense of salvation and after-school specials.  Lessons that used to be learned after 30 minutes of family sitcoms like the Cosby Show are now lived out, in painstaking episode after episode, inviting us to learn about “raw and uncut” human nature.  Either you are unsave-able (remember Omarosa of The Apprentice?) or a stray sheep who just needs a little direction to get back to the flock (just about anyone on The Biggest Loser, The Nanny, etc.)  Each person’s success or downfall is watched, discussed, and analyzed.  What did they do wrong?  Who deserves to win?  What are good traits to have, and what are failures?

Even within fictional tv shows such as Sex and the City, we are getting more and more personal in our displays and discussion.  The topics go deeper into the human condition.  Six Feet Under gets pretty vivid into our relationship with life- and with death.

Penelope’s blog is about where work and personal life intersect - and perhaps that’s a telling statement in of itself.  In our workplaces, we hear more and more about work-life balance (subject of future post) which makes us feel as if the two are interconnected more than they used to be.  Dealing with individual’s feelings about their job, their goals and personal issues have become a part of what your manager has to think of on your review.  These things used to not be part of the workplace, but today, you are quite the recluse if you don’t share what you did over the weekend, or talk about someone’s upcoming divorce.

Both Penelope and Emily talk about how they are “moved” to be completely honest with their readers, to share their innermost feelings.  This seems to set them apart from the crowd of bloggers who still use vague references or pen names - and garner them a whole lot of flak from commenters…and family. But is it really them, or a growing cultural phenomenon to open up to strangers?  They aren’t the only ones doing it.  And as Penelope points out, history has had those who felt the need to chronicle their lives and experiences. 

Why would we have this desire to open up to strangers anyway?  It seems antithetical in a world where identity theft is very real and information management is big money.  Even branding has a lot to do with projecting the right brand information out there, not all the brand information.  Is it narcissism and self-infatuation?

Or could it be born of a lack of community?  In our world we are so very separated from each other physically.  Once upon a time, we had a community of people we interacted with, we shared with, we lived around.  Now, this is less so - and perhaps that prompts us to seek out new communities (Livejournal, Tribe, myspace, Facebook, blogs…) in which we can get that human connection again.  In a world where it is sometimes deemed weird to look people in the eye while walking down the street, we feel able to talk about our favorite sexual position online.  Or share our poetry.  What we did last weekend.  Our breakup, our loss of a friend, our one-night-stand, our embarrassing drunken situation.  Things we might only tell a diary or a close friend…

And further - we are able to be whatever we want to be.  In the physical community, if you talked a lot about being a dancer, but no one ever saw you dance, few would believe your initial statement.  Now, someone can go online and do a minimal amount of researching to have an opinion on anything, and then position oneself as being part of that community.  And few people will be able to check your credibility because they don’t REALLY know you, despite how many IM’s you share.  Perhaps we feel free in expressing everything not because we feel close to the people on the net but because we feel separate from them - protected?  From revelation, from being who we really are, from having to explain ourselves.  Entitlement?

These are all just theories and thoughts - I don’t have an answer.  But I’d like your theories and thoughts.  I’d also like to throw out a couple of questions for those who inspire my post.  I’d really like to get insight into the source of their sharing.

Penelope:  What drives you to post about your personal life?   You could just write a diary and keep it to yourself, or write emails in gory detail to a friend.  What prompts you to feel you should share these things with others? Is it a feeling?  A liberation?  Is it a self-established code that you live by?

Emily:  Your article really seems to indicate that you feel the person you were who shared everything was the wrong person to be and that you’ve changed.  What makes you feel you should share less?  Is it your negative experiences?  What is it that pushes you to distance yourself from the online sharing - and why do you think that is better than what you were doing? 

Today, I read an article about how Apple, Inc. is suing New York City (aka, the Big Apple) for their environmental logo.  The claim by Apple is:

• the New York logo was “likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception in the minds of consumers.”

AND

• their internationally known logo was the one true corporate representation of tree-borne fruit.

So what do you think?  Here are the two logos, side by side. 

I think I understand though - Apple, Inc. is just paying forward their experience with Apple Records (or Apple Corp) which sued them in the seventies for use of the logo.   

The result of that litigation is that $80K went to Apple Records, and Apple Inc agreed to stay out of the music business.  That was until, in 2003, Apple opened its iTunes music store and the fight renewed.  Apple Corps lost that legal battle, but Apple, Inc. and Apple Corps settled their continued disputes privately not long after that.  Take a look at the logo comparison, and you can see why Apple, Inc. might have originally said, “What the heck?” (and if we included the original rainbow apple from the 70’s/80’s, it would be even more of a difference.)

Still, it doesn’t appear that Apple Corps ever claimed that it was the “one true corporate representation of tree-borne fruit.”  But Apple, Inc. appears to have learned a lesson from all of this - and apple is an apple is an apple, and they all should belong to Steve Jobs.

Seriously, Apple thinks people might become confused about the logos because all apples reference Apple, Inc.?   Even when New York City has been called the Big Apple since the 1800’s? Look out Adam and Eve and the story of creation! (hat-tip to a comment to the original article.)

Additionally, NYC’s goals are for environmental awareness and efforts to make the city greener.  Apple, Inc. is fighting a positive reform action that NYC is trying to take.

And the reasoning isn’t exactly parallel to the previous case where Apple Corp said, “Hey man, just keep your Apple out of the music business and we’ll be cool.” Apple, Inc. is claiming it owns the image of apples - in any corporate market.  ONE TRUE CORPORATE REPRESENTATION OF TREE-BORNE FRUIT.  Does that include plums and pears, as well as other tree-borne fruit?  Can you “own” the image of something natural?  Or is it really that you can own an interpretation of that natural item?

It really sounds a lot like fundamentalism.  “One true corporate representation” is eerily close to “one true God,” don’t you think?

I feel I have a message for Apple, Inc. : There’s this term called HUBRIS.  You should look it up.  It’s almost always accompanied by a great fall.

[Edit - Check out the Complaint filed by Jizo Sama.  Hilarious.]

So, you read my post about the Continent of Trash in the Pacific called the Eastern Trash Patch.

And hopefully, you were appalled.

So, what do we do now?  I wanted to open this up to anyone and everyone to really brainstorm on what we can do to make a difference here?  No - perhaps you and I cannot go and clean up the Pacific Ocean (but hey…Hawaii is nearby…).  But can we do things to keep from adding to it?

Right now, I’m searching the net for ideas, and I’ll post more about my ideas in further “parts” to this post.  I’ll post my ideas and my findings.  But I really want to know what YOU do as well, because I know there are a lot of green-minded people out there.

Have you checked out Fake Plastic Fish?  This blogger is trying to change the world, one plastic item at a time.  She’s got a lot of stories about what she does to avoid plastic in her life.  Some are seemingly annoying.  Others are pretty easy.  Here are a few items from her List of non-plastic alternatives:

Stopped drinking bottled water and bottled soda except for the occasional glass bottle of seltzer. Now, I fill up my stainless steel Klean Kanteen bottle with filtered tap water before leaving the house and refill it wherever I happen to be. If I have a craving for soda, I buy seltzer in glass bottles and add a little fruit juice. I’m considering buying a soda maker but haven’t gone there yet.

Carry reusable utensils in my backpack. I bought this cute little To-Go-Ware utensil set, but there are also stainless steel travel utensils as well as just plain reused plastic cutlery. I’m not suggesting anyone go out and buy new plastic forks and spoons. But if you already have them in the house, why not put a few in your purse, backpack, or briefcase in case you’re out in the world and can’t live without a hot fudge sundae on your way to work?

Brought my own tableware, glass, and utensils to keep at the office. This way, I can avoid all the disposable cups, plates, and cutlery in the lunchroom.

When ordering online (which I’m trying to do less and less of), try to include a message to the seller requesting zero plastic or Styrofoam packaging. When this doesn’t work, I’ve started to send back unwanted plastic packaging with a letter of explanation. And I send back unwanted plastic I receive unsolicited in the mail or on my doorstep.

When ordering sodas or coffee in paper cups from take out places, try to always specify, “No straw and no lid.” This can be hard to remember. But the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Buy in bulk as much as possible. As I’ve mentioned before, we have some great bulk food stores here in the Bay Area (Rainbow, Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods, for example) and I can get almost all dry foods as well as some personal care products from the bulk bins. These foods include rice and other grains, pasta, beans, seeds, nuts, all kinds of flour, baking soda and other dry baking ingredients, cereal and granola, pretzels and chips, some candy, tofu, oils, nut butters, olives, herbs, tea & coffee, and more things than I can think of right now. The key is bringing my own reusable bags and containers with me to the store. But even if you live in an area that does not have bulk food stores, you can still buy non-perishable goods in large size packages, which will decrease the amount of plastic used overall.

Reuse all the containers that I can. I especially love glass pasta sauce jars but I also save plastic tubs and bottles from products I bought before this project began.

Do household cleaning using white vinegar (which comes in a glass bottle), baking soda, Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap (which comes in 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles) and a few essential oils. Baking soda is awesome as an alternative to any kind of scouring powder. I cleaned my refrigerator with it the other day and was amazed how effective it is. I use a mixture of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water as an all-purpose spray cleaner (storing it in a reused spray bottle) and produce wash. I’m using the Bronner’s to wash the dishes, but I think I may have ruined it with too much lemon juice. (Does the lemon juice cancel out the soap?) So next time I’ll just add a few drops of a citrus essential oil and see if it works better.

Switched to compressed natural cellulose sponges for cleaning dishes (instead of synthetic) and other natural scrubbers and brushes. Compressed sponges are often sold without any plastic packaging because they don’t need to be kept moist. They expand when wet.

Avoid products sold in liquid form when a solid alternative is available. By doing this, I can reduce the need for plastic bottles and containers. I switched from liquid hand soap to bar soap, liquid shampoo to Lush bar shampoo (and am looking forward to trying Burt’s Bees bar shampoo when that is gone), Lush solid container-free deodorant (and am considering trying baking soda when that is gone), and am currently testing bars of shave soap (Simmons, Williams, and Lush Emperor of Ice Cream soap) instead of canned shave gel.

Brush my teeth with baking soda instead of toothpaste and use a Preserve toothbrush. Preserve toothbrushes are made from recycled plastic and are recyclable by sending them back to the company. Baking soda rocks, once again. More info here.

Switched to buying cases of Seventh Generation recycled individually wrapped toilet paper. It’s recycled, plastic-free, and I can get a great deal on it through Amazon.com.

Additionally, Fake Plastic Fish has a Plastics Guide, that explains a lot about the realities of plastics.

Green Sangha also offers information about non-plastic alternatives, and from their “Don’t Think Plastic Bags” come the following recommendations:

Alternatives to plastic bags→  Take alternative carry-out bags with you, made from all-natural fibers:  jute, hemp, woven cotton, and canvas are all available.  →  Use, and re-use, brown paper bags for fresh produce and bulk items such as beans and rice.→  Use no bags – simply pick things up and put them in your shopping basket (this works for large items such as apples, bananas, carrots, melons, etc.). Two large canvas bags of premium quality cost about $30, and should last about 10 years.  If plastic bag fees, under consideration in some

California communities, are instituted at a conservative 15 cents/bag, a family switching from four plastic shopping bags per week will recover its purchase cost in the first year.  In the nine years following, an additional $30 per year would be saved.

These are two websites that have immediate ways to make a difference that probably only cost a few cents more right now, in exchange for cost savings later.  Plastic bag charges are becoming more prevalent - Ikea is charging 5 cents per plastic bag. 

Please - share your thoughts and ideas!

I would never assume that LifeHacker was reading MY blog , but I certainly read theirs.  And today, I see that they have touched on the fear of mixing Mac and PC in your household (which I discuss in my blog post about Mac Vs PC), and provide ways to make it work for a harmonious household.  Bravo! 

But is it just the beginning of the sibling rivalry? 

Neopoleon.  Favorite post so far?  “The Smartest Man in the World is …Me!”

http://www.neopoleon.com/home/

And the HR post is pretty funny too - the comics make me laugh my butt off. 

Yes, I admit to the fact that I found this blog when looking for comics about Mac vs. PC.  My evil pursuits of continuing a dead conversation lead me to such riches, though, that I might continue to look!

Yesterday, I read this great blogpost from The Wild Green Yonder about the differences between environmental movements in terms of shades of green.  K-Co, you’ll be happy to see that you were spot on. 

Their shades are reposted below.

It’s very obvious that our world has issues with the environment that need to be dealt with.  The growing problem has created these different greens that are each looking at the issues from different perspectives.  Everyday more facts indicate that our world is sick with the damage that has been done to it, with the green community hotly debating which level of illness we are dealing with (Some Peak Oil proponents might, for example, state that our situation is terminal and it will take a virtual miracle to survive.)  Wild Green Yonder makes it pretty obvious where they feel we should be heading, as if the greens are three levels of environmental enlightenment. 

However, I’m not so sure that it is so bad to have these three different shades/perspectives in existence together, instead of having to shed one to move onto another.  And no, it isn’t my love of Lime Green as a color that makes me cling to it so. 

Certainly for the present they are a welcome change from the past.  There was a time when every person who cared about the environment was viewed as what I could deem the shade of  Olive Green -  the color of hippies, eco-terrorists and tree-huggers, cargo pants and worn out fatigues, good for all those earthy types, but not something the general public should be concerned about.  It symbolized resale shops, composting and marijuana - and really gave the impression that these people were out of touch with society, relegating environmental issues to the backburner.

I’m just very glad that we’ve moved beyond this into a spread that reaches more people.  Lime Green still espouses consumerism, which still has its negatives to the environment, and many environmentalists are very skeptical and deroggatory about Lime Green’s achievements and methods.

But Lime Green is getting people to embrace the idea that environmentalism is accessible…and desirable.  I think Lime Green is the ground floor that most people climb from to get to Grass or Forest Green levels.  So we need Lime Green to be the turning point, the launch pad for expansion into the other realms.  It wasn’t until I started trying to be more ecologically conscious in what I purchased (aka, Lime Green) that I started to really recognize the deeper aspects of ecology (Grass Green).  It is almost as if Lime Green is the first level at which you can see the other greens in the horizon. Once you’ve reached Lime Green, Grass and Forest Green seem actually attainable for oneself, instead of being the realm of the Olive Greens.

At least in American culture, if you create a holier-than-thou atmosphere, you’ll never get buy-in.  And buy-in (a telling term at that) is what we need from the American people to support green initiatives.

So Lime Green is an integral step towards building the ecological perspective.  Lime Green is Whole Foods, Co-Ops and local farmer’s markets, Hugger Mugger, Gaiam, Real Goods - companies that have feet in both the Lime Green and the Grass Green worlds to offer sustainable options to both - and facilitate the movement of Lime Green perspective into Grass Green perspective.  Consider that these companies are often the only way the public is even made aware of many current issues.  Many people read about an eco-friendly widget and learn about the issues behind the non-eco-friendly one - for the first time, the message about an issue is getting through.  Lime Green is, therefore, also an educational stage that preps for the other stages.

I also feel that not all of society will ever move totally to one color, and that there will be standards of living that still require Lime Green responses, highlights among the darker, richer colors of Grass and Forest that make up our worlds.  In the end, perhaps we can achieve sustainability through employing a wide array of shades to work together. 

So, what shades do you fall into?

 From Three Shades of Green:

Lime Green is the color of green consumerism. It aims to make environmentalism cool, continuing to provide the ever-higher standards of living we’re used to, only with a green twist. Hybrid cars, clean coal, corn-based ethanol and CFLs are some of the Lime Green topics circulating in the news these days. To companies with a Lime outlook, sustainability is a consumer trend that may or may not go away, but it’s certainly worth capitalizing on for now. The system is working great, say the Lime Greens – if anything, it just needs a little tinkering. Lime ideology is summed up with quasi-green oil giant BP’s slogan: “It’s a Start.”

Fortunately, the Lime Green ethic is fast being eclipsed by something a little more substantive. Grass Green, the middle shade, treats climate change, habitat destruction, and water pollution as real and dangerously pressing issues, and recognizes that we’ll have to make some serious changes to business as usual if we want to survive much longer. This is the shade of green espoused by popular environmental advocates like Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and Bill McDonough, who call for a “new industrial revolution” that will transform our economy from one of inequality and great material waste to one of efficiency and abundance for all. How will this happen? Through ever-improving technology, social entrepreneurship, and sensible government regulation: think Cradle to Cradle, micro-loans, bike boulevards and carbon taxes. A fringe movement only a few years ago, the Grass Green philosophy is fast gaining ground in board rooms across the States: execs from top corporations like Whole Foods, Staples and Wal-Mart have been saying some remarkably Grassy stuff recently, and the cover story of the latest edition of BusinessWeek posits a near future where environmental responsibility is at the top of the corporate agenda.

Finally, there’s Forest Green. Inspired by the Deep Ecology movement of the 70s, Forest people claim that another industrial revolution is the last thing we need. The anthropocentric heritage of western civilization is what led to our current predicament in the first place, and any attempts to make our current system more sustainable are, to use ecophilosopher Rudolf Bahro’s term, “cleaning the teeth of the dragon.” We don’t have a chance at creating a truly sustainable society, Forest Greens argue, until we value the well-being of the planet over and above the flourishing of any particular species – including our own.

What would a Forest Green society look like? For one thing, it would be much smaller than the current one: a couple billion people at most. Levels of consumption would be far less than those we’re accustomed to in the overdeveloped world, with each person’s ecological footprint averaging a hectare or two. Our shelters and possessions would be modest but of high quality, and the production of food would be integrated into our cities and landscapes through design techniques such as permaculture. How we arrive at a Forest Green society is another question entirely; answers range from the enviro-anarchism of Derrick Jensen to the grassroots utopia-building of the ecovillage movement.

Clemens Vaster had a post with Blogger Types that I found interesting. 

I’m obviously in the “I want to Blog” section.  I really only started this recently and have been trying to stay active.  I’ve been a member of LiveJournal for a long time, and posting items in various personal “blogs” for a while as well.  But this blog has been the first that I have attempted to keep informative or at least invite discussion, rather than blather about my personal life.

Blogging is a media that I’ve recently grown interested in, and I like the idea of having a conversation with tons of people across the world.  It invites long posts (a bad habit of mine) unlike bulletin boards or forums.  The Blogosphere is really, in essence, the new newspaper or magazine, but much more accessible to the general public as writers. 

This means I get a chance to do the writing I’ve always wanted to do.  It also means that it is less likely to ever mean anything to anyone but me.

In my attempts to get a better grip on what I should be doing, I of course read other blogs.  Penelope Trunk’s information on How to Start a Blog contains a lot of interesting links and information, such as Finding a Niche and Choosing a Niche.  She even indicates that blogging will help my career.  Blonde2.0 suggests ways to make a blog more viewed, and Amy Gahran gives tips for successful blogs through conversation.

In reading these articles, it seems like the major questions to ask are - What do I know? Where do I want to go?  How can I make this blog appealing to people? 

But I think a more messy question is uncovered - Do I want to have a “professional blog” - and what exactly does that mean?

I certainly don’t want to have an online journal anymore.  I never felt like I could be totally honest in it anyway.  Because, unlike David’s Journal’s wishful thinking, what’s posted doesn’t necessary stay put.  That’s the issue with connecting to all your friends and acquaintances to a personal journal - you can’t really be HONEST about your feelings.  You can’t post about that annoying neighbor, or something your friend did that pissed you off.  Because, frankly, your friends are reading and you’ve just taken a personal issue and made it public, regardless of how “private” your journal is.  Even if the person you are posting about isn’t connected to you, they could always find it. 

I’ve seen huge dramas originate out of journal posts where someone talked about someone else in a negative way, which spurred on a retaliation post, and started a long friction between several people.  I’ve also seen relationships get severed through comment strings (ouch!) and snarky comments be used to berate someone for past wrongs - all passive aggressively because the majority of people cannot handle direct face-to-face conflict to deal with their issues.  Thus the personal journal becomes a forum for venting and attack. 

And all of this from just being connected to your friends, just like everyone is.  God help you if you are linked to for some reason as an example nationwide. 

So, I don’t want to be in there for the emotional vomiting or daily uninteresting or forced updates that many personal journals can be - or at least, I found that mine were becoming.  Some people can do it - misspotsit always keeps me interested in her personal journal, but I don’t have the pizazz to accomplish that.  And I think a lot of interest comes from her insight and detailed posts - and comments in various other areas of the web.

But back to the point - do I want a “professional blog” and what does that mean?  Can’t I just blog about things in general, and then people will find it and a great conversation will begin?

It sounds like that is a No. Having a professional blog means doing what many of the other blog articles mentioned: choosing a topic.  That involves having to get to know that topic, knowing other blogs out there about that topic, and more.  And writing about that topic and other topics that affect it all the time - including weekends.  You have to keep up with it.

Assuming anyone will be reading it anyway.  From the reading, it sounds like you have to be out there, commenting on other blogs, reading other blogs, really staying fresh with what is being discussed, and drop your URL everywhere to get traffic, and marketing plays a part as well. 

So, it comes down to What Do I Want? 

I think I want a forum where I can post ideas and articles where people will come in and read and comment, and a discussion will happen.  I’m not sure I have anything that I want to market or that I’m looking for international fame.  Sure, a part of me thinks it would be cool to be the well-known connosieur of widgets that everyone reads to know the “real deal”. 

And ultimately, the coolness factor has a lot to do with it in the end.  “Do you know Lane?    You should totally read her blog.”  Yeah…

But mostly, through the discussion, I want to return the favor to numerous bloggers that have answered my questions over and over again.  Or the blogs that have made me laugh so hard I had to do the potty dance (you know you’ve done it).   Or just really insightful thoughts, or just sharing information I didn’t expect to get.  Like Kathy Sierra’s blog that really inspired me on a few levels until its dramatic (and scary) end.

Do these goals equal a “professional blog”…

1. A place where I can write my thoughts, or share articles or information, about topics of interest to me…
2. where people from all over can discuss the topic and some people may learn or their lives may be made better through it?

…or do they belong somewhere else?

When perusing blogs, I came across the article, “8 Reasons Windows Users Don’t Switch.” (care of SteelBuddha).

I thought I’d open the conversation to a less “Mac-oriented” world, if only to avoid the rabid bite-back.  I think Steven Leigh’s article has hit the nail on the head in just about every point.  (well…I would contend that Vista and I are not on speaking terms, but I digress…)  It is true that there are generalities made about those who use Windows (Window of Opportunity referrring to corporate people and big-whigs - those of us only interested in money and power) and those who use Apple (hipsters and artists, the cool people who make beautiful things, or hippies and trend fanatics.)

I’d like to respond to the points myself and perhaps add a couple others that may not have been considered.

I’ll start out with a discussion about my background with Macs.  I have had computers in my house since I was six years old (24 years) and it wasn’t until last year that I had an Apple.  However, at grade school we only had PET computers or the glorious Apple IIe - with the first MOUSE I had ever seen.  There was ONE in the entire rural school.  By the time I went to high school, they had PCs. I’ve had various PCs most of my life, usually on the low end.  My first husband had an old old old Apple II of some sort that was only suitable for playing Mah Jong and typing up term papers, which he still did on my PC. 

Last year, I obtained a three year old iMac laptop with OS X (no idea what animal) that had primarily been used as a speech pathology tool.  Within a few months, I was avoiding the thing as much as I could until we purchased a new computer.  We want to give it to a new owner, but that would require getting it to boot up again so we can erase our old files.

So I’ve been no Mac fan - but PCs have many problems too.

1.    Ignorance

It’s true - I lack knowledge about how Macs work and this is a huge hindrance for me.  While the author indicates that the GUI and task usability is intuitive, I find myself frustrated by Macs.  I find myself not knowing where to find some of the most basic things.  Whether this is due to years of familiarity with PCs or some disconnect in my brain, it still makes me leary about giving Apple a spin.

2.   The Office

This is a huge reason for me.  Every office I’ve ever worked in uses PCs and Windows exclusively, and I often bring work home.  These days I bring the work laptop home, but just the idea of having to switch platforms mentally is not appealing to me.

3.    Hardware

This wasn’t something I’d considered because I have enough ignorance about Apple to not know whether EVERYTHING they sell is customizable.  From reading this article, I note that it is NOT, and this too is a huge detractor.  What if I want to change the motherboard?  What if I want to add hardware?  A company that makes it hard to make my computer MINE would seem to me to be trying to squeeze extra dough out of the users.  It feels like leasing a car - I’m not allowed to fully use it, change it, or really make it MINE.

4.    Price

I know little about the price of Macs, but I can tell you something about the price of iPods.  Holy Moley!  We’ll get more into the price vs. the usability of that little piece of metal shortly.

5.     Lies

Steven brings up one of the top reasons why I’ve never gotten a Mac - none of the games on the shelves work with Macs.  Almost everything I’ve ever wanted to play has played on PC only…or if there was an Apple version, it was more expensive or hard to get. 

I’ve also had tons of my friends who do use Macs indicate that Macs are better, are superior, are more efficient, less buggy, etc etc.  My personal experience with Macs has not been any of these things.  In fact, I’ve always felt that Apple has pumped up its products to an unreal expectation.  They don’t appear to be easier to use, less expensive, better made, or all that better thought out.  I’ve always wondered, “What’s the big deal?”

 And let’s discuss the iPod.  I spent a LOT of money on the iPod for many reasons.  Nothing seems to equal hubris more than to say that you’ve created a device that works on both Apple and PC.  Then watch how clunky the connection to the PC works.  Nothing says, “Screw you” more than your iTunes library becoming corrupted 8 times in the span of one year.  At best, my iPod and my computer have a thin truce until one decides to vomit on the other.  I’ve also had to reset my iPod at least 6 times, had to reinstall iTunes three times.  At one point, just having the iPod plugged in would keep my computer from booting up.

No joke.  It is has been mainly my experience with the iPod that has kept me from really giving Apple a full out try.  I tried somewhat with my iMac laptop, but it died too.

Oh - and I’d like some background on that “Apples don’t get viruses” malarky.  The laptop went all wonky after it was subjected to some serious virus ridden docs.  Simple logic indicates that the viruses might have made a difference there.

6.   Windows Bashing

This ties in a lot with the previous, but I’ll add on that one of the reasons I know so little about Macs is because when I do hear about them, it is only in reference to how much Windows sucks.  The very fact that Apple portays PC users as “The Man” offends me.  I’m not Corporate America.  I’m quasi-average Jo.  I’m also an artist to some degree.   So, purporting that I’m on the “Dark Side” of the Force does not win me over.

7.   Vista

Vista has the capability to be super powerful.  But it is also super buggy, and the experience of moving to Vista (which was FORCED on many of us) makes me feel that changing to Apple would be similar.  Suddenly, certain hardware and tools didn’t work anymore.  Games and programs all had to go because Vista didn’t support them.  I cannot explain the level of annoyance this caused for my household.  So the very idea of going through an even BIGGER upheaval with a switch to Apple is anathema.

8.    Mac Users

This one is a large component - but I have to say the Apple user doesn’t fall far from the Apple Company.  Apple’s elitist attitude has positioned it as the snooty know-it-all that the regular person can’t get behind.  The same issues I have with our current administration (Bush & Co) is the problem I have with Apple - hubris and arrogance.  And I’ve read enough classical literature to know that those with hubris and arrogance always fall. 

Additional Reasons:

Comfort:  It’s comfortable to be using a PC.  It’s what I’ve been doing for years.  I know Apple frames that statement as part of the “old way” whereas Apple exemplifies the new generation.  But this isn’t Computers vs. Typewriters here.  It’s Pepsi vs. Coke.  Two similar products that accomplish the same goals in slightly different ways.  The pluses of changing to a Mac are simply not good enough to make me want to even consider changing.

Compatibility: Steven Leigh mentions in item #2 that MS Office compatibility is there.  Yet when I read reviews I read that compatibility between Apple and PC in MS Office is a joke.  All the things that highly efficient Office users want to do are not easy, or sometimes even possible.

This has been long, but I’d like to know what your feelings are.  What do you prefer to use and why?  If you’re a rabid Apple fan, feel free to explain (succinctly and courteously) why you feel Mac is the way to go.  Does the trendiness play a part?  Do you really feel it is easier to use? 

PC lovers - speak out as well.  I’d love to know of people out there who have both Apple and PC experience and ultimately chose PC.  Why?

And just for kicks, if you ever owned a TI-99, please give a shout-out here.  I’d love to commiserate with those who have experienced the Wumpus.

Just as a note, the weirdness that would not allow people to comment on this blog has been resolved, and you may make comments either at Livejournal or at the Blog itself. 

Ta Da!