It is scary sometimes to think how much my life is connected to such a small thing. Oh wait I’m not talking about Babyhead (although I heart him too) I'm talking about my little white lap topping Mac. But seriously, the thought of anything happening to my computer gives me a pit in my stomach. I am sure many of you can agree. We have put all our eggs in one hard drive. Our photos, memories, work, ideas, music, home movies, schedules, contacts, everything!! A whole life mixed together like a good margarita in one little machine.
Sorry if this is boring for all you PC’ers out there, but I just wanted to share some of my favorite Mac updates and how a glowing apple has made my life better.
Best Website Builder
Two years ago I attempted to design a website through an online program, it was a disaster. So when it came time to design another website I got very nervous. Being a DIY-er and not having the dough to fork over to a web designer I started to explore some options. I clicked on the icon for “iweb” that I've had on my desktop forever, but never bothered with. Ten minutes later I designed my home page, easy as pie. The best thing about iWeb is that you don’t have to be online to build your site. An online program takes forever to load any changes you make, whereas iWeb is live and only publishes when you are completely done.
Once I sat down and really hammered out the site I was done in no time. A site I was actually proud to tell people to visit. I do give it up for real web designers though, now I know what it takes and you people are hard workers! But if you are a Mac-er and want to DIY a website check out iWeb.
What is genius about iTunes is that since each downloaded song is only $1.29-0.99 it’s no biggie to get a song here or there. Where as I distinctly remembering scrimping and saving in high school to buy the new Dave Matthew's Band CD. But before you know it a download here and there adds up people! This is why iTunes is genius cause your spending the scrilla without even knowing it.
What is also genius about iTunes is Genius. You pick a song from your library and then turn on the Genius function and a mix list is instantly created based on that song. I have always loved putting together song mixes, but sometimes it is nice to have someone else do it for you.
I once worked with a computer genius who could work the function keys like no ones business. Where as the normal person know basics like apple+c = copy and apple+v=paste, this guy knew every short cut for anything he wanted to do. He credited his master keyboard skills to pure laziness, that moving the mouse to a drop down menu and selecting an action was too much work...and one day someone will invent away to control your computer with just your mind. To him that would be the greatest day of his life, when his fingers didn’t have to move.
At the time I thought he was ridiculous and clearly a nerd, but when I updated my operating system and web browser to Safari 4 my own little lazy nerd surfaced. Safari 4 has a new function called Top Sites. With the click of an icon it brings up the last 12 pages that you visited. Why is this so wonderful? Because I no longer have to go to History or Bookmarks, drop down the menu and select the recent page I want. Plus it looks soooo cool, dude. My nerdy, little, tired, mouse clicking finger thanks you Safari 4!
I didn’t know how hard it could be for a small business until I started one. Sure you know it’s going to take a lot of work, but it’s the American dream! You have a good idea and you think you can make some money off it.
Turns out that even if your business is not booming (or doing anything at all) there is a lot of time and money being spent just to stay legit. In the state of California there is quite a bit of fees and paperwork required just to say you are an LLC. I consider myself a pretty good citizen and wanted to accept the civil responsibility to run a company, so I filed with the state. But imagine if you helped an old lady across the street and then she flipped you off once you got to the other side. That’s what it feel like BOE!
So you could imagine my heart attack when I received two letters stating that my LLC has to pay over $400 in fees to “file” with the state and the money is due in a week. I tried to fall asleep that night, but all could think about was the little old lady (BOE) and all her stupid fees.
The next day before I tearfully wrote the checks I did a little investigating online about these fees. You could only imagine my next heart attack when I discovered that these very official looking letters were a SCAM! Thank the heavens that another good citizen put up a blog to warn people like me. The blog is appropriately called “Business Filings Division” which is the “source” of the very official looking scam letter. The blog linked me to the Secretary of State’s website which has a page dedicated to warning people about this rip off.
Juuuust to be sure I gave the SOS a call to verify that I didn’t owe them money. Yes, they confirmed that I had been a victim and really the LLC filing fee was only $25 and not the $239.00 that was demanded of me in the fake letter. My only hope is that other small (or barely visible) business owners catch this blog off their Google search and save their hard earned pennies to pay the little old lady and not some crook who sits around making up official sounding things like “California Corporations Code Section 17060.”
