Last week I accompanied my mother and father to the Apple Store in the Green Hills Mall. I was not particularly interested in the trip, as I’d been there many times before and played with the iPhone plenty. I strolled over to the Body Shop and smelled their fragrances and scrubs and incense, before deciding I needed none of those things. Returning to the Apple Store I saw my parents and another man hovering over a laptop. I wandered around and played with the children’s software until they made their purchase. I wasn’t particularly excited, as my mom and sister both had Macs before, and I hated them. They were small and portable, but felt clunky and plastic, with a tiny screen and a keyboard that wasn’t comfortable and the trackpad was entirely too sensitive for my likings. I couldn’t touch it without the dashboard popping up or a window being hidden, I was easily frustrated with it. I agreed to set up the new computer just because I love doing that, being the first to use a computer. It makes me gleeful.

And taking this lovely laptop out of the box, I realized this was no iBook, this was a kickass, beautiful, sleek, Macbook. I set it up the way I thought would be most convenient to me and my mom’s usage. I obtained Corel Painter X and some cool little widgets. I have new icons for the desktop and have taken entirely too many photos with Photobooth.

I have been converted. Sure, I’ll still use my laptop, but mostly when I want to access something in particular I have saved on it, or if my mom is using the Macbook. The Macbook isn’t mine, afterall, but my mom told me that night after I showed her all the cool features, that it was as much mine as it was hers. I’m going to try not to hog it too much—but when I install Civ IV I can’t make any guarantees.

P.S. What good timing for me to become a convert, what with Leopard coming out in a week or so.