I confessed to an addiction to computer solitaire a few weeks ago and admitted that I missed solitaire on my iBook. This weekend I decided to look for some freeware on the net and of course I found (amongst much else) MacSolitaire.
This was of course not a good idea. I have already lost too much time that should have been used on the corrections for my thesis.
Deichmanske Bibliotek - Oslo's main public library - has a free wireless network. I found this out a few weeks ago and tried it for the first time last week and I am back with my Mac today. I am quite a regular visitor to the library anyway, now I just have to remember to bring my iBook. This is quite easy, for as I wrote of my first impression of the iBook, it is conveniently small.
As I am writing this in the library, I am surrounded by very few who have brought their own laptops. This is a bit sad, but I suppose it reflects the fact that many come to use a computer (They are eMacs) as they do not have one of their own and that those with a laptop and an interests in using free wireless, would rather be in a cool café.
While I am at it. I love the new features of the library. Not only free network connection but also the DVDs. I am usually here for the books (I am reading Balzac at the moment) and CDs, but today I have borrowed It's a Wonderful Life and The Importance of Being Earnest. Being a member of the library is free and open for all Norwegian residents and borrowing is free as well. This includes CDs and DVD (and VHS and CD-ROM). I do not know how this compares with other countries, but in St Andrews these things were not free of charge and I find it wonderful. I buy (too) many books and a few DVDs and CDs, but my interest in books, films and music is wider than what I care to buy. I feel it is wonderful that the public library is become modern.
Carl Deichman donated his private collection of books to Oslo (Christiania) in 1780 and this was the start of a public library in Oslo. I believe it is in his spirit that the library now can offer new media.
This is an embarrassing confession, but after changing from PC to Mac I have found that I miss playing Spider Solitaire. I did not know constituted an important place in my life. Though I was aware that I used it ti fight writer's block, which of course occur too frequently.
When checking my new iBook for small past-time activities, chess was the only thing that took my fancy. I read on J.K.Rowling’s homepage that for the first Harry Potter books she had five minutes breaks for a smoke, and when she quit smoking she started playing Minesweeper, because too only took a few minutes. Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire have the advantage of being games that you can finish in a few minutes, chess however could take hours and is not suitable for a five minutes break. I suppose some people would just make one move and then get back to what ever they are writing, but I do not have the concentration to get quickly into a game for a few seconds.
Mac creates another image than PC, and I wonder if chess as their standard game is a confirmation of Mac’s intellectual image.
At the university library in Oslo the reading desks that have internet connection are grouped in the way that four people are sharing one big table. As examinations are coming up (in May), the library is full.
I was the first on my quadruple, but as it filled up one by one took up an iBook from his or her bag. On the other tables there were mainly PCs. As I am already a Mac devotee (it is so easy to have an overview with all the windows [are they called windows in Mac?]open), I felt quite cool to be on this Macs-only table. Are all Mac devotees like this?
I have now been a proud iBook owner for a bit more than 24 hours and I have been online with Safari for 12 minutes. It might be silly but I have just read about how people experience differences when using different browsers, using Safari is a new experience for me. Of course I had to check out historiologicalnotes.org and it look slightly different from what I am used to - perhaps even better.
An iBook is very much a laptop. I love having it on my lap. My Dell laptop was too big and got uncomfortably hot. And I love the keyboard. It will be a pleasure to write on it.
I have already become an Apple devotee.
