Bad weather in Southern California created an air traffic controllers delay for our flight from Phoenix to San Francisco. David met a chum from work, in the PHX airport, also on his way to Macworld. Fred and David swapped stories of their individual legacies of Mac ownership.
“Aside from my house and my automobiles, I’ve spent more on computers than anything else,” Fred said. “I go all the way back to the Lisa.”
“Lisa!” said David. “That’s before my first Mac, the 128.”
>From there the two pre-geezers scrolled through their cranial hard drives, listing all the desktops and PowerBooks purchased during the past twenty years. “I’ve owned more laptops than desktop Macs,” said David, “beginning with the original, a PowerBook 100.” Both guys now have 15” PB aluminum G4s, and neither expects to get rid of it soon.
Don’t be so sure, I think, because Steve Jobs has a habit of making new product announcements in his Macworld Expo keynote address that precipitate swift removal of credit cards from rear pockets.
Bootlegging on a nearby airline club’s wireless broadband service, David checked his email on the PBook and I did the same on my iBook. A decent signal reached us 100 feet away, through a very solid wall. Looks like wireless technology is here to stay.
In my tote bag is the list of appointments and PR sessions scheduled in advance for the entire week of the Expo. Colleagues Owen Rubin, Roger Born, and David Casseres will join Weeks and Nemo to experience the magnificent mayhem. We don’t yet have any organized teamwork strategy, so watch this space as the events and our reporting of them unfold.
Tim Robertson, MyMac.com’s publisher, gave us a firm request for “LOTS OF PICTURES, JOHN.” I hear you, Tim, and I’ll submit as many as I can, as will the other four columnists. (Editors Note: First pictures from Roger Born now online here!)
The culture of a San Francisco convention begins to infest my mental space in October. During the following three months, a gestation period of anticipation, rumors, travel plans, and much more gradually consume most waking and sleeping time. By the end of December I’m adding and subtracting items from my packing list, fine-tuning it for optimum equipment and efficiency.
Here’s David: I’m revved up, as I was not able to make last year’s Macworld. I’ve no doubt that the Jobs keynote will recharge my flagging reality distortion field. But as a precaution, I plan to leave my credit card at home this trip, so no matter how glitzy the new Apple hardware is, the wife won’t have reason to worry about the bank account.
Hey, John. Boarding is starting, so send this to Tim and let’s go.
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