Fifty and a Half » mac computer http://www.fiftyandahalf.com healthy, wealthier and wiser Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:35:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Macs are Ubiquitous – Why I love mine. http://www.fiftyandahalf.com/macs-are-ubiquitous http://www.fiftyandahalf.com/macs-are-ubiquitous#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:52:26 +0000 Ryan http://www.fiftyandahalf.com/?p=133 The thing that really loses me when I read newspapers and magazines are the $50 words columnists use to show off how smart they are. Sure, I like to learn new words just as much as the next person but I don’t carry a dictionary with me when I read the daily paper. That is probably why I don’t buy one every day like I use to. Why do columnists use the word “diminutive” when they can use the word “small”? Is this one of the reasons that newspapers are going the way of the dinosaurs?
dictionary3
Now what does that have to do with my Mac computer? I came across this word recently and all I had to do was highlight the word and drag it over my “Dictionary” icon and voila! Almost instantly the word was there before me with its meaning for me to understand. Once I knew what the word meant I could use it everywhere. I noticed that the Mac computer was everywhere too. In TV shows, TV commercials and movies. In Starbucks and even my local Chapters bookstore uses what unmistakably is a Mac computer as their search “station”.
I like to read blogs from reasonably intelligent people that don’t overdo using obscure words that only 2% of the population know without consulting a dictionary. But when I come across a word that I don’t know it’s great that my Dictionary is right there on my desktop.

]]> http://www.fiftyandahalf.com/macs-are-ubiquitous/feed 0 Boredom Sucks the Life Out Of You http://www.fiftyandahalf.com/boredom-sucks-the-life-out-of-you http://www.fiftyandahalf.com/boredom-sucks-the-life-out-of-you#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:38:57 +0000 Ryan http://www.fiftyandahalf.com/?p=81 Boredom. What do you do when you’re bored? Remember summer holidays when we were kids?  We were always complaining that there was nothing to do.  Well we’re not kids any more.  Sooner or later we’re going to have to deal with our boredom.  Hopefully, long before we’re retired and have 8 to 10 more hours a day of “freedom”.   I don’t know about you but I find myself going to the mall or to the book store or maybe even to the Mac computer store when I’ bored – just to see what’s new.  I think being bored boils down to one word. 

Creativity.  We just don’t know how to be creative anymore.  When we were in school we were always using our brain to come up with creative answers to the tasks at hand.  When I was growing up we didn’t have video games and video on demand every time we got bored.  We made plans to go to the movies.  We made plans to watch a favorite TV show because if you missed it that was it until the next episode the following week.  If you missed seeing a movie the theater there wasn’t a video coming out it the next year.  You had to look for it in the TV schedule if you wanted to see it.

Some of us took piano lessons so we had to practice every day even if we had to be reminded to.   And during the rest of the time we had to be creative.  I took empty cereal boxes and created board games on the blank side of the cardboard.  I made go-carts with the spare parts that my dad gave me.  We even played on the street – games we made up.

So what am I going to do to conquer boredom starting right now so I’m prepared when I’m retired?

  • I’ll probably still hang out at the book store but I won’t be spending any money.  Maybe I’ll even get my library card again.
  • Do a lot of walking – with my dog and without.  Walking sometimes helps me come up with things to write about on my blog.
  • Get a bike and maybe get rid of one of our cars.  Take long bike rides.
  • I’d like to continue writing my blog.

So, what are you doing to prepare yourself for filling up the extra time you’ll have when you retire?

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