I’ve had several opportunities to reflect on 50 years of Apple in the past week. I’ve also been reading my share or recollections by others – many of whom are friends. And I’ve noticed that the loopbacks come in two flavors – stories about bumping up against Apple, the company, in the person of executives or memorable product moments. Or, people have written personal stories about how things that Apple made changed their own lives. I didn’t know this when I wrote about my own beginnings as a Mac user. But I quickly realized that I preferred stories about users,…
Category: Random Personal Nonsense
On the anniversary of Apple’s founding, I wrote for Six Colors about my Mac nerd origin story. I soon discovered I was far from the only one moved to do so. I’ve told versions of it on podcasts over the years, but it was good to write it out with a bit more detail. Actually, I left out a few things that I later threaded up for social media. In case you missed those bits, I offer them below: I wanted to aim higher with my brand-new journalism degree, but most starting-out reporter jobs in those days would have sent…
The Blog Returns
Posted in Announcements, and Random Personal Nonsense
Lately, I’ve had a lot of thoughts about technology, accessibility and the world at large that have no natural place to go. So I’m going to try and blog about it. Wish me luck!
NanciNet Days: How Nanci Griffith’s Music And The People Who Loved It Kept Me Going
Posted in Random Personal Nonsense
Gonna pack up my two-steppin’ shoes And head for the Gulf Coast plain Gonna walk the streets of my own hometown Where everybody knows my name. – Nanci Griffith, “I Wish it would Rain” I typed the above lyric from memory. Admittedly, that recollection has been made sharper during the week since Nanci Griffith passed away. I’ve been listening to her music a lot, and I produced a radio remembrance about her. But I think my memory would’ve been just as accurate before I heard the sad news. The song meant so much to me when I was living in…
Pandemic Feels
Posted in Random Personal Nonsense
On some level, it’s true. We are all supposed to be practicing the same measures to keep ourselves safe. But what I learn when I talk to people in those little video squares on my computer is that there are a lot of ways to feel and be right now, and that, well, I haven’t heard exactly the way I feel expressed out there. I don’t have kids. That’s the first thing my work colleagues let me know – not me personally, but me and my fellow childless as a group. For parents with kids at home, this whole thing…
Web Heroics, Catching Up, and Doing it Live
Posted in New Media and Tech, and Random Personal Nonsense
This Web site has been under the weather for awhile. I’ll play the hero and tell you that I wrestled t to the ground, pummeled the mySQL database and made it do my bidding. Then I reassembled these pages from the ashes of mixed metaphor, backed it all up and went on about my business. A consequence of the site’s troubles is that I haven’t done many updates here. I’m making Parallel episodes. I went to CSUN and made a load of Blind Bargains content, and I continue to make radio at Texas Standard. As to that last, I’ve now…
See What’s in My Non-#WWDC Bag
Posted in Access and Disability, New Media and Tech, Podcasting, and Random Personal Nonsense
I won’t be at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, or WWDC, this week like all the cool Mac kids. I make part of my living doing something other than reporting about Apple, so this is my lot. I’m not complaining, but it’s times like this when I am forcibly reminded how different my day, and often my relationship with technology, is from those developers, writers and podcasters whose bag packing lists I see online. Yes, I said bag packing lists. If you’re not familiar with this subgenre of tech journalism, you can see examples here, here and here. Anyway, the thing I…
“The Possum Story”
Posted in Random Personal Nonsense
In 2006, a weird thing happened at our house. I included the story on my former eponymous podcast, in the middle of an episode called Mystery Sinus Theater. The photo also made the local paper as part of one of those sights and sounds of Christmas photo thingies. Front page, baby! I subsequently made a Facebook post that I share each Christmas Eve. Because I’m not as good at social media as I think I am, the story hasn’t hit this blog. For your reading and hearing pleasure, here’s the original podcast audio (just the story), with caveats about old-timey audio quality…
Update: Now with a dramatic reading, as heard on NosillaCast #606, at about the 30 minute mark. Thanks to Allison for the opportunity to relive high school poetry interp competition. Lots and lots of people have asked if I bought a new MacBook Pro; the one with the dongles and the touch bar. And then, I couldn’t sleep. So I wrote a poem. I Did Not Buy a MacBook Pro When I’m on a podcast show, To talk the tech with friends I know, I cannot share their Apple glow, I did not buy a MacBook Pro. At coffee shops…
Try, Try Again
Posted in Classic Film, and Random Personal Nonsense
I have always intended this blog to be a place to collect the work, and other creative projects I make. I created categories and design elements that would make it possible for someone who shares my interest in accessibility, podcasting, or cocktails, to follow just the posts and plugs for those topics. But some projects got more attention from me than others, and a few simply taunt me from the sidebar. Now i’m enlisting you in my effort to broaden and deepen my involvement in what the mashed up there calls long tails. To cut to the chase, your job…