Chris K's Mac Story – Designer, Dad

Hi! My name is Chris and I'm the executive editor of My First Mac. I am publishing my Mac story not because I'm particularly interesting (I'm not!), but to give all of you MFM readers an example for submitting your own story. My First Mac is about you, not we who help run it. By submitting your own, you'll help me push this one down to the bottom of the list.

Here's a bit about my Macs and I: Right now I have 3 Macs for my family and business. I think I've owned 9 total from my Mac Classic to this one I'm writing on. For my businesses, Atomic Blue Web Design and Real Color Architectural Marketing Graphics, I use my PowerMac G5 2x2.7. It has 3.5G of RAM (normally 5.5, but I have to figure out which chip is bad) in it, 2 monitors and several external hard drives. I also use 2 different Epson large format printers. For the family, we have an aging 17" PowerBook G4 for photos and movies, and a 1st gen MacBook for the wife and kids. Over the years I've owned a Mac Classic, Centris 610, PowerTools Mac clone, Powerbook G3, PowerBook G4 Titanium, and a PowerMac G5 2x2.0. I've also spec'd more Macs than I can remember for my studios and art departments.

So I've been around the new Mac block a few times. And I can't wait to get a Mac Pro with CS3, but the budget isn't there for it yet. Damn you, Adobe!

As a designer, the Mac speaks to me. I figure that if I'm going to be staring at a computer all day and sometimes nights, it should be beautiful and inspiring. But what I'm most proud of doing with my Mac isn't my work; it's but creating movies and slide shows of my family and friends.

Last year, we joined 4 other families for a trip to Club Med Ixtapa. (If you want a vacation where your kids are occupied all day with fun, safe activities of their own, this was the place! Parents, you know what I mean…) ) Anyway, after we returned I pooled all the photos and video from our friends and created a DVD using iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD that encompassed the whole experience. It has music, 11 movies including the kids in their talent shows, and 5 slide shows. I used the stock templates in iDVD and I must admit, I couldn't be happier with the result. I gave out copies to the other families so they can have it as a keepsake, but I suspect I watch it more than anyone. Even though I've created DVDs from old super 8 film and others for special events like birthdays and Christmas, the Ixtapa DVD was the most involved and satisfying.

One of the great aspects of using the Mac for all of this is I've been able to use the same photos and movies for our family website, calendars, books and more with little extra effort. The fact that I can even do this at all amazes me each time I try. I'd like to suggest that after you get up and running on your new Mac, spend some time to get familiar with the iLife programs. Give yourself a goal and persevere. I believe it will be worth it!

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