New.

It has been my attention to take a “modern” approach to my personal computing needs. I have an M1 Mac mini from 2020 for my desktop setup, and I’d do everything on my 12.9 inch M1 iPad Pro. Apple encourages users to try this approach and I was willing to give it a whirl. I tried this before with my old iPad Pro and I find the experience a little limiting when traveling.

I had my iPad Pro as my primary computer on my last trip back East and even though Apple insists the iPadOS can do everything I need to do, there were limitations. I’d go to a website to take care of some medical paperwork for my mother and it wouldn’t work. Multitasking is never easy, even with the latest updates to iPadOS. The setup worked 80% of the time and as we start traveling more, I need a setup that works 100% of time.

I finally convinced my husband I needed a laptop. I’ve been playing around with the idea of going to a non-Apple device again and focusing on a Linux setup. Even though there has been huge progress with Linux on the desktop over the years, again, I’d find myself becoming dissatisfied with that setup and knew I’d still be wanting a proper Mac laptop. After all, MacOS gives me the full UNIX experience I’m looking for with the terminal always being available.

Enter my new M2 MacBook Air.

For the first time in my Apple existence, I stepped away from the standard “Space Gray” and decided to go with their Midnight model. I also went up a notch from their base offering in the space and went with the 10 core GPU and 512GB SSD version.

I’m absolutely amazed at how fast this machine is. And it is gorgeous, oh so gorgeous.

Some unboxing photos.

I never owned a Mac that had the “butterfly” keyboard. My last MacBook Pro was the very last 2015 model they offered before switching to the butterfly keyboard. I set that loose a couple of years ago when it looked like it wouldn’t be easily supported by the latest versions of MacOS. My husband had a butterfly keyboard on his first MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (I don’t remember the year). His current machine, a 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, was purchased a year ago for his birthday and is still blazing fast.

The “M” series of Apple’s processors are absolutely amazing. I have always been impressed with the performance of my M1 Mac mini. Anything I threw at it was not a problem. When I used the machine for work during COVID, with video calls and multiple applications, and compiling software, and everything else, the computer didn’t break a sweat. It’s going to be repurposed for Jamie to use in his music studio, replacing a 2014 iMac he’s been using for a very long time.

This new M2 MacBook Air leaves that M1 Mac mini in the dust. I did not expect to see such a speed increase. This computer has been an absolute delight for the past 24 hours.

The setup was not as straightforward as I would expect from Apple. A few months ago Apple offered “Advanced Data Protection” for iCloud. This added an extra layer of encryption so that absolutely no one could access my data while in iCloud. The new feature requires the latest version of the relevant operating systems. As you can see in the last screenshot, the first thing I needed to do was upgrade my brand new computer from macOS Monterey to MacOS Ventura. Ventura made its debut last fall: five or six months ago.

Because of Advanced Data Protection I was unable to add my iCloud account to this new computer. That left me with two choices: add a temporary account so I could update the machine and then jimmy around in the users’ panel to add the “real” account or turn off Advanced Data Protection on iCloud (lowering security) so I could add the computer, update the computer, and then turn on Advanced Data Protection.

I tried the former, but ended up getting into a dead-end when it came to user management. This resulted in some fast searching to bring my computer back to factory settings and then I opted to go with option two. As a computing security zealot that is probably more paranoid than necessary, I found this approach unsettling but I went ahead and did it anyway.

The second solution worked and once that was done, I had everything up and running as I wanted within a couple of hours.

Aside from that hiccup, this computer has continued to amaze me with its performance. One thing I love about MacOS is that I can get to the terminal prompt and do all the UNIX (Linux-type) things I want to do but still have the MacOS experience riding on top of everything.

Overall I’m very pleased with the new computer. Aside from the few hiccups that seem to common around Apple these days, things are quite good and I’m a happy camper.

19 March 2023 by Apple. Geek 0

Testing.

This is a test post from a new blogging application.

I’m uploading a photo of a B747 flying over the house. It was using call sign ABIDE9

IMG 5013

19 March 2023 by Geek 0

Repaired.

I often wear my AirPods Pros when I’m out for a walk. I don’t wear them when hiking, but if I’m walking the neighborhood or on a nearby trail I’ll listen to a podcast or some music. I’m also a fan of Apple’s “It’s Time For A Walk” series with their Apple Fitness+ service.

For the past several weeks I’ve been hearing intermittent static and white noise-like sound when I’m firing up these first gen AirPods Pros; Mike suggested it sounded like a manufacturing defect he had read about a while back and suggested I take them to the Apple Store.

I did that today.

After a few minutes with the kind man behind the Genius Bar, he took my pods into the secret room for some tests. A few minutes more and he came out, informing me I now had two new AirPods Pros in my existing case and he gave me instructions on how to charge them and get them paired to my iPhone.

My walk this later this afternoon was a delight and there was absolutely no issues with my AirPods Pros. They were covered under a quality program of Apple’s and they replaced them without request and without hesitation.

This is why I pay the so-called Apple Tax.

18 March 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Caturday.

This is Truman relaxing on our bed yesterday afternoon. I’ve noticed that when he’s in this particular pose he can be a little aggressive. He likes to bite my hand once, and then he doesn’t do it again for a while. It’s not a damaging bite, he just puts his teeth on my skin but doesn’t break the skin. Then he retreats and holds his mouth open like he’s breathing through his mouth for a few moment. I suspect this activity is because he was neutered around two years old and he might have a few hormones dancing around in his system and he really wants to grab a lady cat by the scruff of the neck and do more things, but what do I know.

At least in this photo he was in a calm pose. As I type this entry he’s sitting on the window sill apparently trying to push the sides of the window wider and making screeching noises. He’s only loud when the rest of the family is trying to sleep.

We love him dearly.

18 March 2023 by He's A Feline. 0

Festive.

The mood at tonight’s hockey game was quite festive. We went a little earlier than usual to enjoy the drinks and food in the area in front of the arena before the game. Being St. Patrick’s Day I thought the area would be a little more populated, but it was comfortable. They didn’t have Guinness, though. They were serving corned beef and cabbage for $15 a bowl, but we didn’t buy it. The line was too long.

There were quite a few folks dressed for the St. Paddy’s holiday. They were also dyeing beer green. I had a Dos Equis Amber which didn’t look very green, though they tried. There was a lot of green in the stands though.

The folks in front of us were fun and dressed festively.

17 March 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Flight.

Last night I joined a flying club with a very similar structure to the club I belong to back when we lived in Upstate New York. I’ve been looking for this opportunity for a long while and have been on the waiting list for a couple of months.

It was pouring rain when we met at KTUS Tucson International Airport, but we made our way to the hangar where I got to take a look at the three airplanes I am now co-owing with 49 other folks. The airplanes are all Cessnas and all types I have flown before. I’m anxious to get checked out in these airplanes, meet the other members of the club, and start talking general aviation with folks again.

16 March 2023 by Fly. Pilot. 0

Hide and Seek.

Lucky and Jinx enjoy playing hide and seek in the great room. When they’re not playing hide and seek they’re running around at full speed with occasional stops to sniff the rear of the little ginger animal (Truman) that occasionally makes an appearance.

The dogs recently celebrated one year of living with us and it has been a year of delight. I enjoy their energy.

14 March 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Popped.

I’ve mentioned before that my favorite food is popcorn. I can’t get enough of the stuff and honestly, it’s probably my favorite element of the cinematic experience.

Earl and I went out to dinner the other night. I noticed they had a popcorn dish as an appetizer. Popped in bacon grease, the popped corn was topped with bacon, some other seasonings, and the sprig of green that I fail to identify at this time. I enjoyed the popcorn so much that at the end of the meal, when we decided to splurge for dessert, I stepped away from the traditional dessert menu and ordered another of the popcorn appetizer.

It was delicious.

Maintaining my popcorn mood, I popped myself a bowl of corn for supper last night. Every once in a while we have a “every man for himself” dinner experience and while the others made sandwiches and the like, I opted to eat a bowl of popcorn.

I didn’t include bacon this time around.

13 March 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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