Hunter and his first portable, obviously an Apple

Uncle Steve has good taste in armor.

What started out as a relaxing Saturday afternoon before our vacation in a couple days ended abruptly with a phone call from my sister-in-law Anje. Somehow her brother received a free MacBook Pro through another person who insanely didn’t want it anymore. Anje was trying to reset the computer and having a hell of a time. The original owner didn’t have its 10.6-baed media, there were food stains, a couple dents and although she is a teacher by training, I could sense the frustration. I quickly seized the opportunity to meet up, clean it up and turn the computer into a kick-ass tool for Hunter.

When you have an uncle at Apple who is a 14.5-year veteran with 22 years of Macintosh experience, it’s like having a n IT angel in your corner. OK, I’m bragging. Sorry. Actually I love to this kind of work. Flex my hands-on muscles. The Apple Store at Barton Creek also had these great cleaning pads from Bausch & Lomb to remove the gunk. The armor selection wasn’t as good. Hunter wanted green or blue. Black was it for the vulcanized/rubbery surface. He did like the X-Men theme I gave the computer. I will find an appropriate sticker to put on the armor over the Apple logo to complete the effect. Make it similar to mine: I have the Flyers on my personal and Batman on my work units.

I have to admit to being jealous. When I was 13, computers were far from portable and cost about as much as a used car. Rather ironic we never had one at home when I lived with my parents because my old man was a systems analyst plus he constantly harped on me to go into CS/CE/IT throughout high school.

Hunter is ready to go and keep in touch more easily before and after the move to Qatar. Well, once he finds out his e-mail password. I’m hoping Hunter will keep in touch via the MacBook Pro, flex his creative muscles via iPhoto, iMovie, Garage Band or a personal blog. There’s more to computers than games, social media and homework.