As I anxiously await the verdict of what it will take to repair my MacBook Pro I have been researching my options in case I have to replace my laptop with something new. I love Apple products, but I am open minded enough to at least explore the non-Apple alternatives out there.

So I stopped by Best Buy today to see what is on the market for new laptops. I don’t think I could bring myself to use Windows, so I was looking with the plan of running Linux or maybe try to get Leopard to run on it.

As I walked from laptop to laptop I have to admit I was really disappointed. Aside from cheap price tags, there wasn’t anything that appealed to me. The specs of almost all of them were well beyond what I probably need in terms of storage and processing speed. Computers are so fast and have so much storage that you don’t really have to count gigabytes or processor speed like you used to. So what does that leave a person who is shopping for a computer?

Put simply, it is all about design. I want a computer that has been built with attention to detail. It doesn’t have to have Apple’s every-square-inch-has-thought-behind-it level of design, but it has to be a joy to use. It can’t have flaws that show that the people making the computer didn’t have me in mind when they built it.

I was a graphic designer for five years in the RV industry. If you know anything about RVs you know that this is an industry with very little differentiation between brands. It is hard to tell a Winnebago RV from a Fleetwood. The things that pass for innovations in the RV industry are quickly cannibalized and copied by competitors. All the products are basically the same, all purchasing parts from the same vendors. That’s how I felt in the laptop aisle. It was really hard to tell one brand of laptop from another. The same design flaws existed in pretty much every PC. I am talking about attention to detail: seams everywhere, flimsy plastic, non-intuitive keyboards, clunky buttons, cheap materials, screen glare, awkward textures, etc.

The thing that struck me as I evaluated the PC products was that I would rather have one of the generic PCs than the ones that tried to stand out from the crowd. The few computers that were a little different weren’t better. For example, the HP laptops now have a reflective metal keyboard and case. On the one hand, this sets it apart from the other laptops, but it doesn’t make it any better. The reflective surface is distracting and gets covered in dirty fingerprints almost instantly.

Another brand emphasized big woofer-looking speakers. Again, the design was different, but not better. Another was covered in an interesting pattern that although it was somewhat elegant seemed random and lacked purpose. Some had mouse pads that were off center for seemingly no reason.

The one computer that seemed the most promising was a Sony. It had a keyboard similar to the Mac. It also had some attention to detail that although it was meant to be Mac-like it wasn’t quite there. If I am going to buy an imitation Mac, it would have to be a great imitation.

So if I am going to by a PC I am left with two uncomfortable options. I can buy a generic looking PC that doesn’t have any new glaring design flaws. This option leaves me with a laptop that lacks personality. Option two is to buy a unique machine with obvious flaws. Neither of these options is acceptable.

So now I am back to looking at Apple’s product line where I know I can’t go wrong. The remaining question is: do I fix my old MacBook Pro or do I buy a new one. Hmmm.

I suppose it was bound to happen some day. This morning I started up my 17 inch Macbook Pro and the startup chime sounded as usual. A few seconds later the chime sounded again. Then again. And again. And again. Uh oh. Not good. Nothing I tried worked. I couldn’t get it to respond to anything. I tried zapping the PRAM. Starting in safe mode. Booting from a cd. All I got was an endless loop of startup chimes. Finally, I gave in and took it in to be serviced.

While I am still waiting for the official diagnosis, I am anticipating that the logic board went bad. That’s pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a laptop.

The thing about losing my laptop is that I feel so lost and aimless without it. I feel bad for being so attached to a material possession, but it is really hard to be without it. Almost everything I am is connected to that machine. Photography, friends, family, work, writing, music, entertainment. Everything. When you are being fed by a machine and the umbilical cord gets cut your body goes into shock. This afternoon while driving home after dropping my laptop off with some stranger that won’t love it nearly as much as I do, I literally felt sick. My head hurt and I was nauseous. It turned out to be a migraine (something I have never experienced before) but I have to wonder if somehow it was related to my losing my computer. Could I be so dependent on that machine that even my physical health depends on it? I hope not.

Luckily, I was able to get Betsy’s MacBook loaded to a satisfactory level so I can hopefully survive until I get my laptop back. My headache has subsided and I am once again getting regular digital sustenance. Sweet, sweet sustenance.

I know what you are going to say. Another blog? Well, yes, I am adding my voice to the Red Rocket Blog. If you haven’t heard, I recently started working for Red Rocket Media Group up the road in Windsor. I love the place so far, and a blog is just one of the things they do to keep ahead of the curve.

My first post went live yesterday and I am looking forward to talking about design again regularly. When I wrote for Be A Design Group and the audience of mainly designers it was a bit like “preaching to the choir” so the expanded audience should give me plenty of new material to explore. After all, if a designer can’t communicate with non-designers he isn’t much of a designer. That’s my opinion at least. I hope you add Red Rocket to your regular reading and jump into the conversation by leaving comments. See you over there!

(First of all, if you are on Twitter, my handle is ade3. If you are on Twitter let me know so I can follow you.)

It is kind of silly to put the weight of the world on the shoulders of something as trivial as Twitter, but that’s what I am going to do. Unlike Facebook where you only interact with people you already know, your Twitter network is farther removed. You follow friends of friends and people you are interested in but don’t know personally. In general, I am not very trusting of people outside of my safe circle of friends. Part of this is just general insecurity, but the other part is from observations about how strangers interact with each other online. For example, take a look at Digg or YouTube and follow almost any comment thread. The comments are filled with hateful arrogant people that tear people apart for no reason at all. Read enough of the negative threads and you seriously start to question what has become of the human race.

So I guess that was part of my hesitation about joining Twitter. Why would I expose myself to people I don’t know and another source of negative comments? As a blogger my experience is that the most vocal group of commenter isn’t the people that liked your posts. The people who comment are the ones who don’t like your ideas. That negativity is a big part of the reason I stopped writing for Be A Design Group and its audience of designers.

Once I started tweeting and following people on Twitter I was surprised by the tone of everything people wrote. Tweets are generally honest and trusting. Conversations are helpful and sincere. People are grateful when you follow them and generous in their interactions. This was the opposite of what I was expecting. Maybe my perception of humanity was a little off.

Despite evidence to the contrary, people are generally good. Most people will help you when you are in need. Twitter proves how much each of us craves friendship and how quickly we can let our guard down and invite people see behind the walls we construct. That is good news for people like me who were beginning to wonder where all the good people had gone.

Yesterday Rian snuck past me as I worked in the basement with an envelope in his hand. When he reappeared without the envelope he told me that he had a surprise for me, but I had to find it. “Daddy, you are cold. Warmer. Warmer, hot, hot, hot!” I picked up the envelope and opened it. “It’s a picture of you!” Rian said proudly. I opened the envelope and enthusiastically praised his drawing skills.

I have very fond memories of drawing when I was a kid. My parents had me drawing in a sketchbook at a young age, and they were very supportive of the artist in me. I remember dictating to my mother who would patiently write out the stories to accompany my illustrations. When I was in grade school my mom helped me organize an art club and invite my friends over for an afternoon of drawing and learning about art. We only met once or twice, but it helped me establish an identity at an early age of being an artist. My friends knew that was my “thing” and they respected it.

If you ask any successful person to point to people that influenced them when they were young, I bet most of them can quickly identify some key people. We all remember that one teacher who inspired us and encouraged us. When you think about these people you realize how life changing a few words of encouragement can be. A little praise of a kid’s math skills may send them on a lifelong journey into engineering. Praise a person’s singing and they may love music for the rest of their life.

Seeing my son’s drawings brings back great memories and makes me really proud of him. I gave him a sketchbook today and we had a fun time drawing pictures of his R2D2 toy. I hope he enjoys drawing in his sketchbook as much as I enjoyed mine. I don’t know if he will grow up to be an artist or an astronaut, but I know that being supportive of whatever he is interested has the potential to shape his future.

As I finish writing this Rian snuck past me again. He says he has something for me because “You are my best friend, and I love you.” This time he has a stack of about a dozen envelopes. I bet each one contains a drawing of me. I guess that just proves my point that a little positive reinforcement goes a long way!

Recently I have been trying to rustle up interest in a book club for Northern Colorado designers. The club will be called Co.de. Read and I have been handing out “decoder” business cards to every designer I know. (If you haven’t got one yet contact me and I will send you one.) So in anticipation of getting into a routine of regular reading, I have spent some time trying to finish the books that inevitably stack up in an unread pile on the corner of my desk.

One of the books I am enjoying is called “Modern Art and the Death of a Culture.” It was recommended my my dad and although you can’t tell from the title it deals with the relationship between art and the Christian church. Here is a paragraph that hit really close to home for me:

“Today it is well known that within evangelical Christian circles there is little interest in the arts. As a change becomes apparent, as the younger generation born and raised within these circles comes to understand the importance of the arts, all kinds of problems and tensions arise. Any sort of critical way of thinking is almost completely lacking. There is no artistic insight, nothing to point to, no answer to the relevant questions of the rising generation. Many want to be artists in a Christian sense – but have to find the answer for themselves. How should they go about it? What does it mean? Many have turned away from Christianity or, more tragically, from Christ, as they have come to feel that, if this vital aspect of human life is outside religion or faith, then something basic must be defective in the faith.”

That pretty much sums up my thoughts about “Christianity” lately. Any spiritual growth I experience any more seems to have nothing to do with my Church. That bothers me. Honestly it makes me wonder if I really am a Christian and if I want to even claim to be a part of it. Something is wrong when I can get more spiritual stimulation from playing with my iPhone than sitting in a Church for an hour and a half. I tell myself that there are Christians out there that are thriving and alive, but it’s hard to remember.

I guess this post got a little negative, so I feel like I should apologize. I was criticized the last time I ripped on my church so let me try to wrap this up on a positive note. We live in a time where it has never been easier to grow, whether that is spiritually, physically, artistically, emotionally, or intellectually. It is really exciting to be more connected than any civilization in the history of mankind. I hope you are taking advantage of it and growing.