Tinkerings

On Saturday I made the plunge into the wonderfully wacky world of Macs.  It had been a long time coming.  I pretty much had my ducks in a row thanks to the help of a great PLN devoted to all things Mac.  I knew going in that I wanted the Pro, but wasn’t sure what screen size I wanted.  I knew I wanted to up the memory.  I knew what hard drive size I could live with (pardon ending that sentence in a preposition…did adding these parentheses fix that officially?).  I took a deep breath, tried to hide the fear of the unknown, and stepped into the store.

Wow, it was busy.  There were people everywhere.  As my eyes adjusted to the ambient lights of dozens of LCD screens, I noticed people standing around in red t-shirts.  A lot of people.  Immediately I knew I wasn’t going to have a problem being served.

I was right.  In less than one minute I had a sales associate asking me if he could help me in any way.  I told him up front what I was there for, and that I needed a few things explained to me.  I asked about the differences between the 13″ and 15″ Pro (the 15″ has 2 video cards if you’re interested), what software comes pre-loaded, why Apple never seemed to have a sale that amounted to anything (oh yes I did), what One on One was, why I needed Apple Care, and a host of other questions.

The sales associate looked me right in the eye while answering all my questions.  He didn’t go beyond what I was asking.  In other words, he didn’t try to over sell me.  He paid attention.  He was focused.  He was committed to his product.  He didn’t try to knock PCs or Microsoft.  Why did he need to do that?

He did make one point that stuck with me.  He said that PCs were basically designed around functions.  It was a good tool to write documents, crunch numbers, and the like.  Macs, on the other hand, were designed for the experience.  Everything was designed with the user experience in mind.  I had to agree.  Just touching the keyboard of a Mac, or looking at the sleek lines of its aluminum case, or watching the list of programs in the dock rise and fall in magnified glory as you run the mouse over them is an experience.

He said one other thing that I picked up on immediately (and made fun of as soon as I could).  He said that Apple users identified themselves as a sort of “family.”  I immediately made a remark about being more of a cult.  He didn’t take the bait.  He said something like, “If by cult you mean that we are all focused on the needs of one another and reach out to help each other at a moment’s notice, then yes, maybe cult is a good word.”  I immediately thought of the DEN Family of which I am a part.  Some see us as sort of cultish too I suppose.  Given this definition they wouldn’t be wrong.

I thought about both of those things on the hour-long drive home.  Experience and Family.  Questions swirled in my head.  What experience do the kids in my classes have?  What does “family” mean to them?  Is family a good thing?  Is the experience positive?  How can I make sure both are positive things in the minds of the middle schoolers I touch every day?  Do I give as much attention to an individual student in my class as this sales associate did for me in the Apple store?  Isn’t that kid’s education experience more important than the way I feel using a laptop?

Only the kids in my classes can tell me about their experience.  Before they get gone at Christmas break, I think I’ll ask them.