It was vivid scarlet about a minute before this. (iPhone 5 panorama)

Good advice in NYTimes this morning for us keyboard users, article by Tara Parker-Pope: “…Jack Dennerlein, a professor at Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences in Boston who specializes in ergonomics and safety, suggests a variation on the 20-20-20 rule used to reduce eyestrain. In the case of the eyes, the rule is to take 20 seconds to look at something 20 feet away (instead of your computer), and repeat this every 20 minutes. But Dr. Dennerlein notes that this eye rule can be applied to movement as well. Every 20 minutes, walk 20 feet away for 20 seconds or more. Stop by a co-worker’s desk. Get a cup of coffee. Pace. Just don’t sit.…”
https://shltr.net/XwKjMc

The only thing really bad about my MacBook Air is that Apple’s new operating system, Lion, does not support Rosetta, which is the engine that makes the robust Eudora mail program run. I have used Eudora deeply for years and we can’t find a substitute. MailForge is thus far an embarrassingly krappy mail program. Anyone solved this problem?

I have to admit I’m big on epiphanies. That said, this one was in recognizing that over the last year, with the accelerated work that always goes along with finishing (and printing) a book, I’d been checking email and blogging on weekends. Ulp!

   I’ve decided to knock off the the e-Stuff over the weekends, to get back to a better balance between the world of the Mac and the world of physical reality.

   I realized that in my email box there are continually deadlines, rushes, things that need attention tout suite. Also realized that one doesn’t have to respond instantly. Been-there-done-that. So I’m gonna kick it down a notch. Doing book signings here and there in the next 3 months, but by golly on some of the days in between I’m gonna get away from the keyboard. More clamming, crabbing, and fishing. More sleeping on beaches. Get going on our Water and Wheels book in the summer.

   This weekend I got a lot of backed-up stuff done in the shop. Sharpened chainsaw, fixed clock, greased bearings of boat trailer, set gopher traps (the little fuckers got 4 of my six cabbages), cleaned up clutter on floor and benches in shop, etc.

   On Friday I’d gone into San Francisco and had a great day and night, more to follow…

Firehouse in South San Francisco on Friday

I just finished reading the book (on my iPad, natch) and it really moved me. In the personal realm , I never knew what a prick he so often was, but the extent of his involvement in design is staggering. He refined and refined and was pretty totally insane about producing insanely great products. Hard on people, yes, but oh those designs!

   I’m typing this on my 11″ MacBook Air at Cafe Roma in North Beach (San Francisco) early this morning and as I’ve probably mentioned, it’s my favorite tool in the world right now. Brilliant elegance.

   What’s stayed with me from the book is Steve’s unrelenting refinement upon refinement. It’s made me look at a lot of things I’m doing and think of ways to improve. Rewrite the paragraph one more time. Get my carpentry tighter. Streamline my backpacking gear. It’s looking at everything I do with an eye to improvement, it’s looking at my work through a filter of excellence — well, say rather, improvement.

Kevin was way ahead of me with this tool. He’s decorated it with “…Random stickers I had around the office.” Here’s his write-up:

“I am loving my 11-inch Mac Air.

Since I previously did not have a laptop, I carried a first generation iPad for my travel device. I spent several months on the road with only the iPad in the US, and a several long trips overseas with only the iPad for my connection. I had trouble doing a lot of writing on the iPad so I got the nifty blue took portable keyboard — which is a very fine piece of technology. I considered duct-taping the keyboard to the iPad to prevent the frequent inadvertent key activations which drain the pad’s power, but then these new Airs came along to solve my problem.

The smaller 11-inch Air is about the same weight as the iPad plus keyboard, and just as cool. Battery will last a cross country flight. Instant awake (from sleep), compact, enough speed and power for non-game needs, it has everything I wanted except a touch screen. It’s more of a working stiff, but it can play too. It has a full sized keyboard, and sits easy on the lap or knees, or even in your arms. Compared to an old Mac Air it feels light as a breeze, and feels like a zero compared to a MacBook.…”

Yesterday he emailed me the below link, along with the comment: “It would be perfect if it had an optional 3G cell phone connection. Lots of cities in the world have almost no wi-fi.”

More at: https://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/03/nice_air_book.php