I just had to delete quite a few feeds from my Bloglines reader due to excessive noise (saying a lot but not saying anything of substance).
I know posting frequently on your blog is a great way to build traffic, but if your posts have little or no substance, you won’t be able to maintain that traffic. Please stop with the noise.
Since the holidays are coming up that means spending a lot of time with family members you haven’t talked to in a while. One topic that always comes up is my career and where it is going. George, a co-worker, pointed out that family members always think you can simply pick the company you should work for. “Why don’t you just go work at Google or Yahoo? Those are successful companies, you should work there” Right. Because getting a job at Google is as easy as calling 1-800-Google and telling them you want a job and you’ll start Monday.
One specific question people always ask me is “what is your dream job?” Even though this is an annoying question to ask (because you are already implying that I can’t have that job since it is a “dream” job), I normally stated it was a job where I made a lot of money doing very little. Well, that is certainly a dream, the loftiest of all dream jobs because it can’t happen. If you want to make money, you have to work. If you want to make a lot of money, you have to work a lot.
Having said that, I really don’t have a problem working a lot… on things that I enjoy. So now, I think my (realistic) dream job would be one where I would pull in a nice salary while creating web applications, web sites, web designs that I enjoy or will use. That sounds like working at a web development/design agency, but working for an agency wouldn’t be the same, because I would be working on other people’s ideas and not ones that I believe in.
So there it is. Basically my dream job would be to have a nice salary to work on my hobby of creating web sites. But be careful, this isn’t the same, nor will I accept it to be, as being hobbyist photographer and then working at a camera store, or a hobbyist musician working at Guitar Center. This would be doing the hobby for a living, and since my hobby is creating web sites for myself or friends or family, that is what I would want to do to earn a paycheck.
Too bad it isn’t that simple.
Even though I am saving money to buy a house(more likely a condo) somewhere in the Bay Area, I am thinking of buying a nice new Apple computer. I am growing more and more tired of Microsoft Windows and all the problems that come with it, each and every day. And I am not at all looking forward to Vista or the price or the probable security bugs. The only reasons that kept me from switching over to Apple computers were the price of machines and no Intel processor compatible version of Photoshop (which I need and want for design work).
The second fact looks to be an issue no more. I could either use Photoshop now using “coherence” with Parallels or wait a few months for CS3. So with that, I think I am officially in the market for an Apple computer.
Now I just don’t know which type of Mac to get, maybe. Mac Mini? Maybe a Mac Pro but just kiss about $2,800 good-bye (and that’s without a monitor), but then again, kiss all the Windows problems goodbye too. Or iMac? But what about a notebook? Hard choice too. Mac Book Pro or Mac Book, in black?
I don’t know, but I guess I would have to say I am leaning towards a Mac Book right now because it is inexpensive and portable. But then I would like something a lot more powerful than a notebook. Plus 13.3 inches would make it difficult to work in Photoshop. iMac’s are nice as well, but can they be upgraded easily? Maybe I’ll get a Mac Mini and a Mac Book, does that sound like a reasonably not-dumb idea? So I would have a relatively powerful desktop machine for Photoshop and maybe video editing and then have the Mac Book for the portability and to blog, do email and web development work. All while keeping the price low?
I think I’ll hit the Apple stores this weekend to test drive the Mac Books and ask the staff for their thoughts. But I do know that if Apple prices were lower, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and I would have jumped from the Windows ship long ago.
LATER: In the comments EagerDragon advises I should wait until the January announcements from Apple, just in case. I think that is a smart move, so I’ll wait until then. If nothing comes out, I’ll probably buy a Mac Book Pro and Cinema Display, like Mark suggested.