Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Vintage Mac Living

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

- 2006.12.22

It came as a surprise to me because I haven't watched the news or The Weather Channel for awhile. I went to bed at about 4:00 a.m. Wednesday, and it wasn't snowing at all.

Now you might be wondering why I went to bed so late. Well, about a month and a half ago, my boss at McDonald's told me that we were going to extend our store hours to 6 a.m. through 2 a.m. instead of closing at midnight. He wanted to know if I would like to work the closing shift (7 p.m. to 3 a.m.). He told me that if I did, I would get a nice raise, so I said yes.

Anyway, I woke up at noon on Wednesday. It was payday at McDonald's, and I wanted to get my paycheck. I looked outside, and I couldn't believe my eyes! It was snowing like crazy, blowing snow at least 6" deep in front of my house. [Editor's note: Ted lives in Denver.]

I needed to get my paycheck, and after that much snow I was sure that it would die down soon.

Regardless, I had to take my family with me. There was now way I'd be able to drive in this mess, but my Dad is a very experienced driver, so I had him come with me.

It was a horrible drive: We almost got stuck on the way to Walmart (where my McDonald's is located). When we got there, I went inside, and my boss was making a sign on his computer that said "Due to the weather, we are closing at 4 p.m. Weather permitting, we will open tomorrow at 8 a.m."

That's when I knew how bad this storm was going to be.

I got my check, cashed it at the bank inside the Walmart, and my Dad and I set out on our journey home.

We couldn't take the road we had taken to get back home because the traffic was far too bad, so we decided to take another route, one that would take us through our old neighborhood.

The main roads were as bad as the side streets, all of them had a 6" or 7" layer of snow.

There are several steep hills between our house and Walmart, and there's no way around them. We tried to find a street where the hills weren't as steep, but everywhere we went there was either too much traffic or cars stuck sideways on the hills.

We got stuck a number of times, and about a mile from home we gave up. We had to abandon our Honda Accord. We were close to a friend of my sister's, and her Dad has a Ford F-250 pickup with four-wheel drive, so we asked him to give us a ride home.

After all was said and done it took 4 hours to get to Walmart and back - normally it takes about 45 minutes.

When we finally got home it was almost 5 p.m., and we were very tired.

It snowed all night long, and it didn't stop until about 12 p.m. on Thursday. When it finally stopped, there was about 3-1/2' of snow in our back yard.

The storm was so bad that my McDonald's didn't open on Thursday -most businesses didn't. The buses didn't even run.

Our Acura Legend is half buried in snow; it's so deep that you can't even see the front half of the car.

My Mom and I walked to the 7-Eleven, which is about six blocks away from home. It was the busiest I've ever seen.

It almost reminds me of the Blizzard of 2003, but the snow isn't nearly as heavy, and it isn't quite as deep.

I really wasn't expecting a three-day weekend, but I'm glad that it happened. It gave me a lot more time to get some stuff done around the house, and it gave me something to write about.

I hope you all have a very nice holiday and a great new year!

Recent Vintage Mac Living articles

If a Mac Plus can run System 7.5.5, why can't an 800 MHz G4 run Leopard?, 10.19. Apple supported the Mac Plus for over 10 years after its introduction. Why should Leopard cut off support for Macs released 4-6 years ago?
60 Mac models left behind: The ridiculously high cost of Leopard, 10.17. Mac OS X 10.5 officially doesn't support any G3 Macs, most G4 Power Macs, most titanium PowerBooks, half the G4 iMacs, early eMacs, or the first 12" G4 iBook.
What a waste! Some schools would rather store old computers than put them to use, 09.12. Denver Public Schools is one example of a school district so ready to buy new computers that it has tens of thousands of old, usable computers sitting in storage.
Why I don't want an iPhone - and really want an iPod touch, 09.06. The iPhone offers a lot of capabilities, but at too high a cost for someone who doesn't need a mobile phone or doesn't want to change carriers. The iPod touch is nearly perfect.
More in the Vintage Mac Living index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Apr. 2006 - The top-end MacBook Pro includes a 1680 x 1050, 2.16 GHz Core Duo CPU, and supports Apple 30" Cinema Display.
Group of the Day: G4 List is for those using Power Mac G4s or G4 upgrades.
November 24 in LEM history: 98: Microsoft's heavy hand - 00: Looking at the iMac - 04: The best Mac for the holidays - Picking the right replacement for a dead mouse - Better battery for 15" AlBook
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Vintage Mac Living articles copyright ©2005-07 by Ted Hodges. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.