Stealing Vegetables and Using Apples
My girls are thieves. Really. Every time I turn my back they steal vegetables from other people. They even steal vegetables from each other. They especially like to steal vegetables from people in China while they are sleeping. Sometimes the put weeds in other people's gardens so that their vegetables can't grow. Or maybe they put rabbits in other people's gardens to eat their vegetables. Of course other people steal their vegetables too.
I am sure this computer game has a name, but it is in Chinese. The girls tell me that many people in China play this game now. Each person has a farm where they can grow vegetables. They can also have animals like cows. I noticed that one person had a dog that was pacing back and forth near their garden, presumably to guard it though I don't know. I don't know what they do to collect animals, but I noticed that Cici had a small herd of cows in a fenced area. I am sure the girls would teach me how to play the game, but I have too many other things to do.
Right now I am multi-tasking. The playoff game is on, but I have my laptop sitting on my legs on the laptop desk that I bought for Cici. My feet are on the ottoman, so this is a comfortable position in which to use the laptop. This is a new laptop. I bought my previous laptop in 2002, so after almost eight years of use, I retired it. A lot has changed in eight years in the computer world.
With this laptop I left the windows world, or at least I will use windows on a different platform. This is a MacBook. Apple recently changed the MacBook, making it just like the MacBook Pro except for the color. I therefore followed the advice of the experts and didn't pay extra for the MacBook Pro. It is incredibly fast booting up and shutting down. The same is true with launching applications and websites. This works so well that I know my next desktop will be the iMac.
Ping has been talking with a client who called her on her cell phone. This happens more and more frequently. She has already brought more money into the law firm through her marketing efforts than I spent traveling to China to see her and Cici. In fact, one particular client alone has paid us more fees than what I spent. Each new client seems to bring in another client as word spreads in the Chinese community both here and in China.
Ping had no way of knowing for sure what my skills as a lawyer might be, but she has been receiving steady feedback from clients. After talking with this client tonight, Ping told me that the client will call me tomorrow morning at the office. She wanted to protect my down time this evening. You do a great job for our clients, she told me. I have raised you higher and higher in my mind until now I have you on a pedestal very high, she continued. All of our clients say such nice things about you, and they praise you for what you do for them. You make me very proud, Niu Baobao.
Well comments like that can swell a country boy's head, let me tell you. I am glad that I have pleased our clients because many of them have become Ping's good friend. One of them knows how much I love Chinese food. Her husband doesn't care for Chinese food, so she sometimes cooks Chinese food for me and Ping brings it to the office.
Ping has made another good friend who she told me about this evening. I want to invite her to our office and we can take her to lunch or dinner, she told me. This is an American lady who is about 30 years old. She is the teacher in Ping's ESL classes that she attends each Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She is so beautiful. She speaks so clearly. She is such a great teacher. I really like her as a friend too, Ping said. So her circle of friends continues to grow. She is an amazing woman, this wife of mine. I am lucky to be counted as one of her friends.
Ah, the QQ garden game. My wife and son play this game as well, although my wife usually helps her friends by spraying their weeds (but she definitely steals their crops, especially when they are sleeping
A MacBook, huh? They are pretty nice little machines, and now that they model has the LED backlight, it is thinner and lighter and has a longer runtime on battery. Even though it uses the same processor as similar notebooks, it isn't bogged down by anti-virus and other background tasks you typically get with a machine running Windows (although Windows 7 is a vast improvement in that department as well).
I too am amazed at how quickly my wife makes friends. After finally meeting the family over the holidays, everybody loves her. So it is no surprise to me that Ping has the same effect in your circle. My sweet Chinese lady has definitely made the world a better place.
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Welcome to the family!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!
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Looks like I was the last one to join the party.
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OK, I have to respond to this. Just for the record, I am an Apple Certified Mac Technician (and have been for close to 18 years). Although I also am no slouch when it comes to Microsoft OSes or Unix either
Mingjun wants Cici and Ping's QQ names so she can steal vegetables from them, too
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I am anything but certified in either tech world, but I am enjoying learning how to use the Mac. I ordered the bible on Office for Mac, and also bought a book on the MacBook. One frustration was not finding a "home" page icon, so I have been using shift-command-H, but I am hoping to discover a way to set up an icon to make it easier. One thing for sure, the start up and shut down of the Mac is light years faster than the PC.
Now about those vegetables ... I wonder if that game has any redeeming social value.
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Well, as for the home page icon, if you double click the hard drive icon, and navigate to the Users folder, you should find your home. Hold down command and option (command has the flower on it) and drag your home icon to your desktop. Or if you prefer, you can drag it to the small section of the dock that already has your Documents and Download folders there (or at least that is the default).
Another thing I highly suggest as an inexpensive insurance policy is to buy an external USB hard drive. Time machine will ask if you want to back up to one if you plug it in, and backs up everything automatically anytime the drive is connected. Backups are always a good idea, no matter what OS you use, and time machine is really easy.
If you would like more details or other information, feel free to email me (or let me know if you lost my address
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Thanks Craig. I guess that looking for the little house is ingrained in me from Mozilla and Explorer, so it seemed strange that Apple wouldn't have an icon for the same function.
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