‘Apple’ Category

25 November 2009

A silly and serious thankful list

By: Jessica B.

Well tomorrow is the big day, Thanksgiving, and I am already fasting as I type this.

My parents are divorced so every year I have two Thanksgivings in one day. Moms in the morning and dads in the evening. And the first year we worked out this arrangement, I thought my stomach was going to explode from all the food. My dad found me passed out with a plate of turkey next to me and woke me up to go to bed.

The image of me passed out on a couch, drooling with turkey next to me is hilarious. I wish I had a photo of it.

Anyhow, tonight I’m on my way back to Wisconsin to be with my family, shop my heart out and try to get into the Christmas spirit.

But before that, it’s time to share a silly and serious list of what I’m thankful for this year.

Serious:

  • Family (we’re not perfect, but they’re mine!)
  • Friends (even those I’ve been estranged from lately)
  • A good job
  • Good health
  • No credit card debt
  • A good life in a great city

Silly (this is more fun):

  • Jacob’s abs (cougar time!)
  • Glee
  • HD-TV
  • A full head of hair (I would be more thankful if I didn’t have so much gray)
  • iPods
  • Text messaging
  • John Krasinski’s hotness
  • Push up bras
  • Cotton leggings
  • Nordstroms
  • A good sense of humor
  • Twitter (which will help me get through four days at home)
  • Mac and cheese (or just cheese)
  • Honey crisp apples
  • Cupcakes

And of course, thankful for all of you :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

So what are you thankful for this year? It can be silly and serious!

13 April 2008

Meet my Macbaby!

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Apple, shopping
To celebrate my 100th blog post, it’s time to introduce everyone to the newest member of my Chicago family….my Macbaby.

I’m pleased to introduce you all to Lulu…born officially on April 5, 2008 in Milwaukee weighing 5 pounds. The first time I looked at her, I did know what to say. She looked back at me and I knew right away that she was all mine. Even the little Apple book that came with her said that we were “made for each other.” *Tear!*

After some initial trouble, primarily with merging my Windows iTunes songs onto the Mac, Lulu and I spent a lot of quality time together yesterday during the rain and I think we learned two things. 1) I’m in charge and 2) despite the bumpy beginning, we’re going to get along just fine. I’m amazed at how fast she runs, how bright the screen is and how cute she looks from far away.

As a former PC-only user, there are still a few adjustments that I need to get around, primarily not being able to right-click on the touch pad, but I know Lulu and I will work through this as we spend more time together.

I even picked up a copy of the Apple Store workshop schedule so that I can take Lulu for her first day of school and make sure the other Mac kids are nice to her. I think next weekend we’ll be checking out the iLife or Photography workshop, but I have to stop by the Genius Bar because my arrow keeps stalling or disappearing on the screen but again, Lulu and I will beat this. It’s part of the “getting-to-know-you” process.

So below are some more picture of my baby’s first big weekend in my apartment. Now it’s time to go get her some cute accessories, primarily Bose speakers and/or some nice treats from the Apple Store. We’ll see what she takes a shine to. Welcome to the family Lulu.



Images from top: Lulu in her baby blanket, breakfast, bath time and going out with mama.

30 March 2008

Party time!

By: Jessica B.

Last night the full Chicago Team Hamster group (Liz, Mike, Ryan and me) went out to celebrate Liz’s belated birthday at Tarascas on Wrightwood and Broadway.

First off, it took about an hour for me to decide what to wear and then when I was ready on time, my counterpart Ryan was pokey, thus making us 30 minutes late. We were the last to arrive and Liz was already halfway into her jumbo margarita with an umbrella. Ouch.

Tarascas boasts a certain charm, such as being crushed in the restaurant like sardines, sitting on cheap, plastic lawn chairs and viewing a wall-sized mural of a topless woman with six-pack abs. But with a pitcher of margaritas on the rocks between Ryan and me, it is all irrelevant.

As a note, when ordering your margarita pitcher, don’t ask for the house tequila – ours had a “gamey” taste that makes you wonder if you’re actually drinking rubbing alcohol. But after the first round, that is irrelevant too. Also, my chicken enchiladas were awesome and Liz’s birthday flan wasn’t bad either, although it did look a lot like cheesecake at first.

Once I crawled over the table to get out, rubbing my butt awkwardly against the people crushed next to us, we headed into the bitter cold to Mickey’s, who decided to “class” up their plastic tent with a $5 cover. No thanks. So after walking by a Starbucks, where the intoxicated version of me saw a woman working on a white Macbook (my baby) I yelled at the woman through the window that I loved her computer. She seemed scared, but then it was off to the Tin Lizzie.

There we were treated to another sign of spring – the first slutty summer top with tacky plastic bra straps! Three women came in for a champagne cocktail and preceded to begin gyrating their hips and swinging their arms in the air to Kayne and Justin Timberlake at the bar. They might have been confused that it’s a bar and not a dance club. Ryan and Mike were quite surprised yet hypnotized by this, but nothing tops Mike turning back to us while the girls were having a hip-swiveling seizure and saying, “wow those girls have to be so high on coke.” Love this guy.

Another night out in the city and another day of waking up with a “sock-like” tongue and a wicked headache. Unfortunately, during my margarita haze, I slipped to the group what my Macbook’s name is. So while they know, everyone else will have to wait until I see her next weekend.

21 March 2008

Where’s Jess now? Hint: It’s not the Midwest

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Apple, travel
Hey y’all. Yes, I’m keeping my Southern drawl for one more day. Why? Because I’m in Atlanta, instead of Wisconsin, and no this was not by choice.

After another bright and early start today (4:30 a.m. this time). The horrible snow in the Midwest, especially in Illinois and Wisconsin, has stranded me in Atlanta and made me feel like a horrible mother. I say this because my Macbook is still in Wisconsin – where I will not be going now this weekend. Now my baby girl and I won’t be together for two weeks. Tear. I was so looking forward to that. I had a name picked out for her and everything!

See below for the full explanation of how I got here (to the airport Sheraton). It’s an interesting read.

The saga of how I ended up stuck in Atlanta
By: Jessica

This morning started off great. I blissfully flew from Pensacola to Hot-lanta, and even arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule! Beautiful! Then dad starts calling with weather updates and that the weather in Wisconsin is really not good, but the airport gate manager assures me that we’ll be able to take off and land. More beautiful! Then we board the plane, even though I’m sitting across from this woman with two devil children and am beginning to relax…until the pilot tell us that conditions in Wisconsin no longer allow us to fly right now. So we’re delayed about 1.5 hours, no biggie. I work a bit, do some research…it’s all good.

Then comes the announcement – our flight has been cancelled. Panicking, everyone runs over to the ticketing booth to reschedule and I call dad in a panic. After a mild fight, resulting in me hanging up on him, I get on the first flight they can confirm me for…tomorrow, but hey I can get my bag back so it’s okay. I now head over to the baggage area to claim my bag and I find out that the bag will not be pulled for the claim because it’s still headed to Wisconsin on a later flight. Much fighting, name calling and arguing start and I finally start to have a minor meltdown. After about three hours of back-and-forth (including some woman telling me that I am not capable of understanding the full answer to a question, which is why she is giving me the “PR” answer), I get a hotel reservation for overnight and resign myself to the fact that a) I’m spending Easter alone in my apartment and b) I will not get my computer this weekend, but rather in two weeks when I go home for a wedding shower. So now I start to cry (from exhaustion and disappointment) and take one last look for my bag…in a fleeting hope that something will go right. And to my horror (pleasant horror) I see it standing next to a security guard. I scream and claim it, with her providing me helpful directions to the hotel shuttle area. I would have given her an awkward hug if I could have then.

So I checked in at the hotel (painless) and a nice man carried my luggage upstairs. Suddenly the tummy starts rumbling so it’s room service and then a traditional “lay down” because now I may as well force myself to stay awake. Whatever I did to deserve this…I’m sorry. It takes a lot for me to say that.

13 March 2008

Great day

By: Jessica B.

So today was a pretty good day. It was sunny outside, warm in Chicago (a balmy 50!) and this morning, the elevator in my office building ran express right to my floor. I walked out of the elevator at 8:15 a.m. with a smile. For those in the Aon Center, especially on the high floors, going directly to your floor in the elevator is a big deal because is not an everyday thing.

Then, I got really good news from work :) That plus a good workout at the gym and news that my Apple-baby has shipped via Apple-stork. I can’t complain. There was a brief moment of worry when my iPod froze and I could not restart it, but fortunately it was fixed (in case you were worried.)

So now I’m off to enjoy some Cheerios and watch the Colbert Report. Love that show.