Monday, October 31, 2005
Apple Workshops
The Apple Store in Soho has daily workshops for a host of Mac applications. Jim and I went there this past Saturday afternoon for the iLife series and found it to be more of a thorough demonstration of all of the softwares' features than a hands-on workshop. Some people had laptops and were playing along, except for one Moby-looking guy in front of us who was doing an elaborate sketch of the iLife interface on a legal pad, and another shaved-head guy who was jumping ahead and creating some kind of death metal video in iMovie.
As it turns out, thorough demonstrations, even of software you've been using for a while, are not a waste of time. I usually teach myself a new program by doing a project that involves that program. The problem with that is, even the most complex project will leave out the use of some of the features...even the most basic ones. So I'll know how to scan and clean up something in Photoshop like an expert, but end up the first day on a new job trying not to let my new employers know that I don't know what the heck the little lasso doohickey with the magnet is supposed to do.
So I learned some exciting tips and tricks that have nothing to do with the video I'm currently digitizing, but will come in handy with future projects I wish I were doing instead right now.
The woman to my left, who looked like Dieter from Sprockets, kept clutching my arm and exclaiming"Waaanderful!" Jim, who had previously regarded Garageband as something that could have come from Emenee, was impressed and looked forward to going home to try out the new knowledge.
The Apple Store has a Genius Bar where you get an expert to help you with a Mac question or problem. We were mocking the title, "oh, Geeenius Bar" and rolling our eyes, and yet I thought, well, if I were hired for that job and I kept hearing "Yes, that woman is one of our geniuses, she'll help you." it would do wonders for my self-esteem. But then, I know myself well enough to realize that eight hours of customer service on my aching feet would turn me from a confident genius to the Evil Queen from Snow White.
As we left, I checked out the new 60 gig iPod and kootchy-kooed the cute little itty bitty Nano. It's very tempting, this new Nano, and the fact that it only holds 4 gigs doesn't faze me, since I tend to treat my iPod as some kind of glorified mix tape. But to a New Yorker who depends on the subways and is in the middle of crowds all week, the corollary to "You'll hardly even know you're carrying it" is "you'll hardly even know when it gets stolen."
We went to get something to eat. As recently as ten years ago, you could easily find a place in Soho to get a halfway decent burger or salad, nothing fancy. But for the past few years, Soho's turned into nothing but stratospherically-priced boutiques that ain't even that hip, combined with big box and chain stores. (Since when does L'Occitane have a salad bar...and what, pray tell, is in the dressing?) We plunked ourselves down at a little table in a pub, only to have the hostess rush over and say that there was a half-hour wait. She pointed to a knot of people at the bar; there had been no "Please Wait To Be Seated" sign where we came in.
We ended up hiking the few blocks north to the Village, where we grabbed a Footlong at Subway and trundled home. So if you're going to check out the Apple Store and need some sustenance, your best bet is to go either north of Houston to the Village, or east of Broadway to Nolita. That's a neighborhood that used to just be NOrth of LIttle ITAly, and is now getting as trendy as Soho.
As it turns out, thorough demonstrations, even of software you've been using for a while, are not a waste of time. I usually teach myself a new program by doing a project that involves that program. The problem with that is, even the most complex project will leave out the use of some of the features...even the most basic ones. So I'll know how to scan and clean up something in Photoshop like an expert, but end up the first day on a new job trying not to let my new employers know that I don't know what the heck the little lasso doohickey with the magnet is supposed to do.
So I learned some exciting tips and tricks that have nothing to do with the video I'm currently digitizing, but will come in handy with future projects I wish I were doing instead right now.
The woman to my left, who looked like Dieter from Sprockets, kept clutching my arm and exclaiming"Waaanderful!" Jim, who had previously regarded Garageband as something that could have come from Emenee, was impressed and looked forward to going home to try out the new knowledge.
The Apple Store has a Genius Bar where you get an expert to help you with a Mac question or problem. We were mocking the title, "oh, Geeenius Bar" and rolling our eyes, and yet I thought, well, if I were hired for that job and I kept hearing "Yes, that woman is one of our geniuses, she'll help you." it would do wonders for my self-esteem. But then, I know myself well enough to realize that eight hours of customer service on my aching feet would turn me from a confident genius to the Evil Queen from Snow White.
As we left, I checked out the new 60 gig iPod and kootchy-kooed the cute little itty bitty Nano. It's very tempting, this new Nano, and the fact that it only holds 4 gigs doesn't faze me, since I tend to treat my iPod as some kind of glorified mix tape. But to a New Yorker who depends on the subways and is in the middle of crowds all week, the corollary to "You'll hardly even know you're carrying it" is "you'll hardly even know when it gets stolen."
We went to get something to eat. As recently as ten years ago, you could easily find a place in Soho to get a halfway decent burger or salad, nothing fancy. But for the past few years, Soho's turned into nothing but stratospherically-priced boutiques that ain't even that hip, combined with big box and chain stores. (Since when does L'Occitane have a salad bar...and what, pray tell, is in the dressing?) We plunked ourselves down at a little table in a pub, only to have the hostess rush over and say that there was a half-hour wait. She pointed to a knot of people at the bar; there had been no "Please Wait To Be Seated" sign where we came in.
We ended up hiking the few blocks north to the Village, where we grabbed a Footlong at Subway and trundled home. So if you're going to check out the Apple Store and need some sustenance, your best bet is to go either north of Houston to the Village, or east of Broadway to Nolita. That's a neighborhood that used to just be NOrth of LIttle ITAly, and is now getting as trendy as Soho.
