The Monday Mashup is an experiment, designed to get my creative juices flowing. I get a random word and a random number, and I write a list based on that mashup. I’m not going to require myself to make the list perfect or expert–just requiring myself to do it consistently. At least for now.
This week’s mashup: Three Choices (that I make each day)
1. PC or Mac?
I grew up on Atari and then on PCs. We never had an Apple computer in our household, and I avoided using them in school because PCs were my comfort zone. I got to know Apple during undergrad when the folks I worked for during the summers (and after graduation) used Macs exclusively. But I still favored PCs.
But then I got a Dell Inspiron 1720 that was equal parts pink bubble gum beauty and spawn of Satan. I designed it to be my dream computer and it mocked me with its pretty exterior and clusterbumble of Vista issues inside. I spent more time fixing it than I spent using it. And around the same time, Apple came out with the “Hi, I’m a Mac” commercial series… oh, Apple. You had me at “I’m a Mac.”
I got my first iMac early this year, and it was passionate love at first type. For all of the PC folks who say, “Tell me why Macs are better than PCs, and give me a reason other than ‘It just works,’” I say, “How sad you’ve forgotten what life can be like when you have a computer that just works.” I could not run my business if I had to deal with the headaches of Windows. So I still own my beautiful pink PC… I just use it as a backup, a Hulu/Netflix display, and as an in-case machine, should I wind up with a client who needs something generated via PC. But I choose my iMac as my main machine–enthusiastically.
And I love those Mac commercials so much I want to re-convert all over again when I see them. Marketing genius.
2. Coffee or Tea?
Both! But in the morning, it’s decidedly coffee. I have only one mug of coffee each day, but I cannot start my day without it. Not because of the caffeine, but because of the ritual around it. I pour the water into the coffee pot as my dogs eat their morning meal. The aroma of dark roast coffee wafts out to greet me as it starts to brew. The pot finishes its brew cycle as I let my dogs outside after they’re done eating and just as my morning toast pops up from the toaster.
I doctor up my coffee in a particular way, too. Since I can no longer afford the (exorbitant) luxury of Starbucks fancy coffees every day, I make my own version. I use three Tablespoons of hot cocoa, one packet of Stevia powder, and two Tablespoons of Peppermint creamer in my mug of coffee, and stir it all up. It is heaven in the morning.
Throughout the rest of the day, I have a variety of teas, often using my Libre because I like to watch the tea brew and change color and swirl. But in the morning, I choose that one mug of coffee that makes the world all right.
3. Early riser or night owl?
Whether this is a choice is debatable. I think there’s a strong built-in urge to be one or the other, and I think you can tailor that urge, but you never really get rid of it. I’m a night owl. Always have been. My body does not know the rhythm of getting tired as night draws. I tend to get burst of productive energy that hits around 10pm and lasts until around 2am Eastern.
I really like the early morning hours, though. There is something magic about the hours when the earth around me is just waking from its slumber, when the birds sing to a quiet neighborhood, as if they always get the Time To Wake Up memo an hour before anyone else. But it’s nigh impossible for me to get up at that time and stay awake all day. If I sleep for 8 hours and wake around 10am, I’m golden. If I wake before 9ish, no matter how long I’ve slept, I’m exhausted within a couple of hours, and throughout the day.
So I’m a night owl. I’m experimenting with trying to be a morning person, but so far, nothing has been as effective for making my waking hours, well, actually wakeful as being a night owl.
Your turn!
Are you a PC or a Mac? Do you favor coffee or tea? Do you share my night owl tendencies or rise with the early birds? What other daily choices to you make?
I’m Marissa, can-do-ologist, perpetual Curious George, and daily adventurer. 
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: _i_n_g_e_
9 November 2009 at 8:37 am
I really like your mash-up series. I’m a list person.
) None of your choice moments are actual choices for me: I only have a PC, don’t like coffee and I’m definitely an early riser.
One of the choices I make every week day is to go to work by public transport or bicycle. The last one is the better choice: better for my health, quicker, cheaper. But public transport is the comfortable choice: it’s dry, warm and reading time. So in practice, if the weather report only remotely leans toward ‘maybe rain’, I’m in public transport. It’s still better than driving a car, right?
Twitter: marissabracke
9 November 2009 at 11:51 am
Inge! So glad you’re enjoying the Mashups. They are fun to write… never know what the Randomizers are going to have in store for me.
The public transport vs bicycle choice is a great one. It’s one that (when I was working in an office, and not at home) I wished I had. I lived too far from the office to bike or walk, and there’s no public transportation system in my (very small) town. So I say kudos! to you for each bike trip you make–and yes, public transportation is still better than car. So kudos for that too!
I’m a PC. I blogged about this at Turning Left Against Traffic
I try to choose each day to be an “office day” or a “meetings day”, which also works well.
@robbyslaughter
Robby Slaughter´s last blog ..Kingdoms in the Company
Twitter: marissabracke
9 November 2009 at 7:00 pm
A great post, Robby! I like that you wrote about Raymond and Jonny and not just the machines themselves. It put a unique spin on the PC/Mac debate and discussion. I don’t agree with all of the differences you cited between the two, but I did really enjoy the way you presented them!
Office Day and Meetings Day is a good one. I don’t have to leave my office for meetings anymore (they’re always by phone), but I do tend to group my phone meetings into blocks, so that I have about one full day of meetings every week or two and leave the rest of the days for solid work sessions.
I’m a Mac. They are beautiful and they work. That’s all I ask. Also, I feel like my Mac is part of my family (hence the reason it is old and slow and I cannot bear to replace it still.); I have never had that same feeling for a PC.
(Those commercials are genius.)
Coffee/Tea: do not like either, unless they are disguised so that you can no longer taste the coffee or tea. I’d pick hot cocoa with peppermint ice cream.
Can you be an early riser if you don’t wake up early? I’ll say yes. Definitely not a night owl. And I do like to wake up early – but my body doesn’t want to these days.
elizabeth´s last blog ..i wonder
Twitter: marissabracke
12 November 2009 at 6:25 pm
Elizabeth: Hot cocoa with peppermint ice cream?! Yes please!!
I’m actually not much of a coffee fan either when it comes to the flavor of plain black coffee. I like espresso, though. (Is that odd?) And I’m intrigued at the question about whether you can be an early riser if you don’t wake up early, because I really do love the morning hours, but my body agrees with yours on not wanting to wake up then! Maybe we’re both non-practicing early risers!
hmm… these are good questions!
Like you, I was raised around PCs and used them almost exclusively, despite losing patience with Windows systems when I needed to get things done. I learned the art of backing up EVERYTHING in at least 4 different places thanks to PCs.
Then when I returned to the workforce after having my children (and after getting my degree…doh!) I got a job as a tech support agent for Apple US (I’m in Canada, so it was a bit odd) and I learned everything there was about OS X and Apple systems at that time and I was hooked. When my (now ex) husband needed to replace my home computer, I HAD to get a Macbook… and I have been pretty much Mac-o-centric ever since. My kids have a PC, though, only because the replacement cost of it is so much lower… and I’m thinking I SHOULD have just bit the bullet and bought an iMac for family use…
I am DEFINATELY a coffee person. I drink coffee all day at work… straight up for the most part. There is definately a ritual component of it (especially with the Tim Horton’s runs) in our office, and so it is a very social factor. On weekends I make coffee at home to carry with me in a travel cup while we run our errands all day… those are the days I get to try out tasty creams and sugars… And when I really want a pick me up treat… its STARBUCKS baby!!
But to get wound down at night? Its always a cup of tea…
Lastly… I am most definately a night owl. I have tried to get up early, but as the sun starts to rise later and later I find it more and more difficult. While dark at night doesn’t drag me down, dark in the morning makes me want to just stay in my warm bed… even when I have to get up. Once I am up and awake, I enjoy the quiet of the morning hours… but its the prying myself out of bed that is hard.
Pam´s last blog ..Friends, Romans, Countrymen…
Hi Marissa:
I really enjoyed this post…I’ve been thinking about buying a laptop in recent weeks because it will help me to be a more mobile job hunter/entrepreneur. I’ve spent a good amount of time checking out prices, etc. I’ve always been a PC person with the exception of a short freelance stint on a Mac.
As I write this, I am on the fence, so to speak. I know that I would love the Mac. I think all of the cool stuff loaded on the Mac computers are awesome, including Garage Band, video editing, etc. But, there’s that part of me–out of habit–has always had a PC. I am sorry and almost embarrassed to admit this, but I will probably buy a PC out of habit. I know that a laptop PC is also a little cheaper than a MacBook, which is important to me right now. I know this is a terrible reason to buy a PC, but I bet there’s a lot of people like me out there.
I enjoyed reading your experience of buying the Mac. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up getting one. Or for the time being, I will hold off getting anything. One thing I know…I love going to the Apple Store in Chicago…a very cool shopping experience even though I don’t own a Mac or an iPod (I have a Creative Zen, which is awesome). Thanks for this post!
Tim´s last blog ..Crushing It in Chicago With Gary Vaynerchuk
Love coffee (live alone, will brew one pot, and reheat it over and over until it is charred by day 3 when done. HA!).
Am a PC snob except when it comes to all things “i”. iPod. I LONG FOR an iPhone. Why a PC snob? BC I am too broke for a Mac and I’ve not used one long enough to see the benefits.
Early mornings with a mid-day nap. Delicious. Best part of working for myself.
Keep it up girl! Eating mashups like candy while I catch up on The Prisoner.
Kelly´s last blog ..Is the Social Media Emperor Nekkid?