The Brilliant Mr. Jobs is gone

Once, at a family gathering, my nephew the IT dude told me that he would not hire me, because I am not technologically proficient. He is a Microsoft guy, and I am a Mac user. Thankful that I wasn't looking for a job, I just smiled and changed the subject.

Steve Jobs, co-founder and visionary at Apple, has been behind so many technical devices and concepts that I and countless others use every day. My nephew was right— I live and work in a technologically sophisticated world, with little understanding of exactly how all of this stuff functions. Mr. Jobs and company created the devices, the software, and the slick interfaces that have made it just as easy to operate computers, music players, smart phones, and other items without being able to crawl under the hood and fix them. Just as I drive my Honda, without knowing its valve clearances and final drive ratio, I can create a web page, edit a movie, or share music without understanding the inner workings of my iPad, Mac, or Airport Express. The beauty of all things Apple is that they operate intuitively, with no need to read the manual or hire a member of the Geek Squad.

During his career, Steve Jobs has repeatedly been able to see what people wanted, then create devices that did those things. Moreover, his company went beyond that, and created hardware and apps which I didn't even know I wanted— until I saw them in action.

I am saddened that his family lost him at such an early age, 56, and I am also sorry that his passionate vision has been cut short. Just today, Apple announced the introduction of software that lets customers verbally interface with the newest iPhone, a technology that promises to change everything, one more time. And in Apple stores across the globe, customers are seeing this new feature, and thinking, what will they think of next?

Ironically, a more important question might be who will think of these new things, now that the "insanely great" Steve Jobs is no longer with us?

Checking in

I've been bad about not updating Pam's Pages of late. Four factors have contributed to my hiatus from the web.

First, I had "end of the quarter" duties at my technical college, which included grading a good sized stack of research papers.

Second, my son wore out his welcome at the local public school, so I have begun the "homeschooling" experience. I must say that the Hall County Home Educators have been a blessing in this endeavor. Those folks have provided advice, contacts, and they have a nifty drama club which my son is enjoying.

Third, and most significant, is my decision to have arthroscopic knee surgery between quarters. While not major surgery, in fact mine was done as an outpatient, I have had some difficulty with the recovery. The enemy of this type of surgery is swelling, and there has been a fair amount of that. My doctor promised that I could return to work if I had a "sedentary" job, but apparently mine is not sedentary enough. I've been on crutches, which makes it difficult to do many things, from grocery shopping to cooking. And certainly, it isn't easy to get upstairs to my circa 1999 PowerMac G4 desktop computer.

Finally, the reason I need that old G4 is that my new Macbook Pro is dead, and Peachmac in Athens has had trouble getting a logic board from Apple to complete the warranty repair. When I am downstairs, I am using an old Dell laptop that belongs to hubby, and it is not equipped with the latest software.

I am in hopes that I will soon ditch my crutch, finish up physical therapy, be able to stand for an appreciable amount of time, that Apple will fix my notebook computer, and that certain educators will, as one presidential candidate stated, "find a new line of work." Just now, I will keep on keeping on. I did get manage to read some good books while I have been sitting around, so I will be talking about some of those soon.

It's getting close—

I'm sorry for the hiatus. Two factors are at fault. First, term papers were due December 4; final grades due December 14. Since I had the largest number of students I've ever had in ENG 101, that was a ten day marathon of grading, averaging, posting, and then answering many emails from students requesting grade information. Secondly, my Apple iBook G4 notebook computer had a hinge blow out the back. I took it to the Apple Store at the Mall of Georgia, which was a huge mistake. It seems their "genius" is an idiot. The next day, I took it to Peachmac, in Athens, and it is still there. I purchased Applecare for this machine, and it is still under warranty, but both service departments state that it doesn't cover hinges! I'm doing this on a G4 desktop which was manufactured in 1999. Unlike the iBook, it just plugs along with few problems.

Having declared this month a time to share recipes, especially easy ones, here is one my children call "Judge Fudge." When hubby and I married, he wanted sweets, regularly, so my mom tried to teach him to cook some of his favorites. Alas, he was a lousy student of culinary arts. He does make this one confection, and it is done in the microwave. There are far better fudge recipes around, but I really don't think any are quicker or easier than this:

• 2 packages (16 oz. each) confectioners sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 and 1/2 cups of chopped nuts, optional
• 2 tablespoons vanilla

Mix the sugar and cocoa, making sure there are no lumps in the sugar, in a 4-qt mixing bowl. Add milk and butter, but do not stir. Cook on High 7-8 minutes, or until butter is melted; add nuts and vanilla; stir until smooth. Spread into a well greased 8 inch square dish. Chill until firm and cut into squares. (His honor usually does half batches, with a couple of extra tablespoons of cocoa. The cooking time for that is about 3 minutes.)

For favorite recipes with a real southern history, our local electrical service, JEMC, sells a cookbook known as "Watt's Cookin'." I have my grandmother's copy, which has pages which are golden with age, but I still consult it for many items, including homemade Brunswick stew, which I made last week. Living Jackson reviewed it a while back, so I will include a link to that gem. If you look at the link, my copy has the green cover.

Do try the fudge, if you like quick and easy recipes. If you have an old copy of Watt's Cookin' drag it out and look for something southern. And do not go to the Apple Store at the Mall of Georgia in Buford!

Laptop in limbo

My beloved G4 iBook was DOA last evening. Hubby and I made an early morning trek to the Apple Store at Lenox Square in Atlanta this morning, where I made an appointment with an Apple Genius, who did what I did at home, plus trying to run it via a remote server and came up with the same conclusion that I did: hardware problem. That means a trip to a service center, and I have applecare on it, so the repair won't cost me, but my hard drive may or may not be salvageable. I do write some of my Pam's Pages posts a bit ahead of time, and I have one on getting published ready, but it is on that computer and not on this one. If Lazarus makes it back, I'll have that post in a week or two.

In the mean time, I'll mention some of the things going on in the publishing world—
•A romance ebook publisher, Triskelion, just folded. Some of their authors are scrambling to find new homes for their books, so that will make publishing that genre and method a bit more difficult for a time.
•Whiskey Creek Press continues to have issues with distribution. Right now, the authors on their Yahoo group are bemoaning the fact that Barnes and Noble stores won't even order a trade paperback book from WCP, saying they are non-returnable. Actually, WCP does take returns, but B&N is quite arbitrary in their policies, so good luck changing that, folks. Unless WCP will bow to publishing conventions and use a distributor such as Ingrams, the books will experience very slow sales indeed.
•Some of my author friends are saying that My Space is the way to promote authors and books. One of them told me that his My Space profile gets more hits than his website and his blog, combined. I don't yet have a My Space. I have looked at it, but it seemed so busy and confusing that I just went back to blogging. I have looked at some profiles of my teenager's acquaintances, and all I can say is that the entire site should be rated "R"or "X" and I prefer to have my promotions be family friendly.
•POD pricing, which was high to begin with, is getting higher. Booklocker went up on set-up fees and cover prices in June, and they are among the cheaper such publishers. It will cost approximately $500 to get into print there, and you'll pay a bit more for Lulu or iUniverse. Xlibris, once a viable printer, is up to a couple of thousand, so I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, although I have done so in the past.

That's it for this week folks. Let's hope the repair facility can resurrect my computer without sacrificing my hard drives' contents. BTW, all of my current manuscripts are on it, and they haven't been backed up lately. If it goes, so does a few months of work...