What's in a name?

As I talked about briefly here, I attended the launch of Kerri Sackville's first book in Sydney last week. It was an amazing night, an opportunity to meet so many wonderful tweeps in real life, to get to know properly people you'd been tweeting with for ages. But most of all, to celebrate Kerri's fabulous book!

Amidst the cries of "Wow! You look just like your avatar", "Great to meet you!", and "Look at those shoes!", the question I was asked most is "Where did Macsnorky come from?". After being asked a few times, and being the lazy person that I am, I decided it would be easier to blog it than to repeat it a dozen times in one night.

I hasten to say, it's not a hilarious story, and probably not even particularly interesting to most. But I have been asked, so I will explain.

When Thing 1 was a newborn he used to make a strange snorting sound, like a cross between clearing your throat and Peppa Pig, when he was working up to a cry. This earned him the nickname Snorky which we still torture him with now.

Back in the days of build-your-own-PC (who'd bother now?), a friend rebuilt a PC for us and named it Snorky. Since then there have been several variations on the Snorky theme for PCs including Snorkzilla, MiniSnork and Snorklet. A while after Snorky was built, I got my first Apple machine (a Mac G4 tower), which the same friend then named MacSnorky (of course).

Like everyone, I've use many different nicknames over the years for forums and blogs, but given  my Apple fascination, and lack of creativity, Macsnorky has stuck. And seems it's here to stay.

The one who dies with the most toys wins

Yesterday I got a new toy. Well, in truth the new iMac will be used mostly for work, but as with all techy goodies it's still a toy.

That I got a new toy isn't an especially huge revelation. What is extremely earth-shattering is that it wasn't unpacked and set-up immediately. Especially when the new desk had even been cleared of the AFS filing system and was itching for a new tenant.

It did eventually get taken out of its spunky white box and put in place yesterday. Oh how she sparkled! The reason it didn't get fired up yesterday is because I had work to do. We all know how long it takes to get things going by the time you do the important things like download software updates, import all your old bits and pieces, sort all your settings, and choose a screensaver. So the machine I had bought to do work on couldn't be set up because I had work to do. The irony wasn't lost on me.

So today as soon as I was able, it was time for the great unveiling. Removing the keyboard and mouse from the small box. Peeling off the protective plastic coatings (and let me just say there's a whole other post right there!). And finally turning it on with the sound of the familiar Apple chime. I was in geeky heaven!

Of course, things never go as you plan when it comes to technology, and the same was true today. I got an email. That email. From the ISP. "You have used 100% of your quota." NOOOO!! My morning of downloading and updating and sorting and organising my new puter was out the window with the words "we will apply shaping". The only bright side being that the new month begins at midnight tonight. *sigh*

So, my new precious and I are halfway there. First thing tomorrow I'll be hitting the "Software Update" button and off we'll go. I might even stop procrastinating and do some work!