I know I don't talk about it much - and it's certainly not because I'm ashamed or looking to keep it a secret. As a matter of fact, all my friends and family are in-the-know and if you've ever been to my house, you've seen her with your own eyes. So being that today is a day to recognize the ones you love I think it's a perfect opportunity for me to pay homage to the other romantech figure in my life. My Mac.
About two years ago, I got sucked into the Mac madness and decided to experiment like a girl gone wild. I didn't really have anything in mind for her, I just wanted to add some spice to my tech life. I wasn't looking to replace my PC, our relationship is still going strong - but I thought, maybe we can add a little excitement to the mix with a third party *wink wink*. My PC brings home the bacon, it's the man in my life; we've been together a long time, we have a groove and we really love eachother - that's not to say there aren't days when I want to ring it's neck - there are DEFINITELY those days! But the Mac, well, I knew she would be my good time girl - always up for some fun - there to help exercise my creative side, listen to music with and really, just available to help me "get away." So without telling the PC what I was thinking, I brought home a Mac Mini
With the help of the internet, the book and my personal Mac tech therapist, Ernie The Attorney, the Mac assimilated herself right into my network and has since been just another member of the family. I gave it a prominent position right on my desk, because she's just so pretty and elegant (the PC is relegated to the closet, he doesn't have that kind of sex appeal). And I have them both on a switch box so I don't have to have separate monitors in my small space. I use a regular keyboard and mouse for it because the Mac ones died and I didn't feel like replacing them.
It seems like I'm so busy all the time that it's hard to give the Mac all the attention she deserves. But I had a feeling that would happen so I bought the Adobe Creative Suite
home network like any other PC would be. The PCs (my desktop and my laptops) see its drives and the Mac sees and accesses any of the theirs. I simply use SyncToy to send the files over.
So for me, the MAC is a wonderful addition to my tech collection. It's been great to learn about and experiment and of course so good to have when a client or a friend has a question about it. I don't use it very much for business purpose as most of those apps are still on my PC. Of course, there are plenty of people, including lawyers who use it as their only computer and swear by it. I am not going to argue one over the other, that's a waste of time and energy - everybody, every lawyer has different needs and skills that merit an individual discussion and decision. Besides, why decide when you can be bi? Bi-tech!
Check out these sites for more talk about using the Mac in your practice:
- Ben Stevens is The Mac Lawyer, he'll tell you all about Using The Mac To Practice Law
- Grant Griffiths is The Home Office Lawyer and as a Mac user has many ideas about using the Mac for work
- MacLaw Online is an email discussion group by legal professionals who use Macs
- The South Carolina Bar has a Practice Management page dedicated to resources for Macs
Happy Valentine's Day!
