Welcome, new readers!

I learned yesterday via CNN that a tribe of Amazonian natives never before contacted by the outside world has been spotted and photographed by passengers in a small airplane flying over their thatched-hut community. The survival of this village is threatened by expansion of the a burgeoning illegal logging industry.

The indigenous Brazilians, mostly painted orange (one seemed to be painted gray) seem to have interpreted the flyover as a potential threat, brandishing bows and arrows, spears, and what appeared to be giant spit ball shooters at their aerial observers.

For better or for worse, I suspect that these tribesmen and tribeswomen will soon be exposed to the technology and advancements of the so-called "developed world". And, when they are introduced to the likes of the Chick Fil A chicken sandwich, underwear, Lost on ABC, Cedar Point roller coasters, the wheel, surely there will be no turning back to their old way of life (they'll have to tune in each week to see if the Losties finally get off the island). And, before long, they will certainly stumble across this great world wide web of communication I like to call the Bloggernet.

My goal is to make this blog as interesting and accessible for as wide an audience as possible, including the previously uncontacted. Because, beneath our clothing or protective gourds, we're all people with similar hopes and fears, frustrations and dreams. We all want to be loved. We all have the same experience of trying to pick the quickest line at the grocery store and having to wait as the customer ahead of us with eight items or less waits for a price check on their Kikkoman Soy Sauce or fruitlessly searches their purse or wallet for coupons they just know they couldn't have left at home. We've all had that dream of showing up for class on the day of the final exam naked (or gourdless) and having forgotten to study.

Orange-painted spear-wielding aborigines, may I be the first to officially welcome you to the blogosphere! I hope you'll find the Land of Yajeev to be your online home away from home! Please check out the archives for older posts and feel free to leave your comments whenever you feel so moved.

photos by Funai-Frente de Protecao Etno-Ambiental Envira via Reuters via MSNBC.com

Living the dream...

...and it's a not a good one.

Yesterday I shared with you my horrific nightmare, in which I accidentally purchased a Dell computer instead of a Mac PowerBook.

Computer Karma got the best of me today, however, as I spent two futile hours attempting to perform what was supposed to be the straightforward task of converting my dissertation from a Microsoft Word document to a PDF file (without losing any of the formatting, bookmarks, or links). My department's Mac Information Technology professional and I attempted to use three different Mac computers and countless combinations of older and newer Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat versions to effect the .doc-to-.pdf transition.

After over two hours of fruitless labor (and a discouraging email from the Electronic Theses and Dissertations help desk), we threw our arms up in surrender. I conceded defeat, swallowed my pride, and took my dissertation to the computer lab-- where I used a brand new (and yet still strikingly sluggish and decidedly non-multitasking) Dell Computer to successfully complete the task.

Dude, I am still a Mac snob.

Apple of my eye

I knew that I preferred Mac computers over PC's, but I didn't realize the extent to which I had become an actual Mac snob until I woke up this morning in a cold sweat from a nightmare in which I had accidentally purchased a Dell (dude!) instead of a new MacBook Pro.

When I realized what I had done, I desperately (and unsuccessfully) pleaded with the computer salesman (who happened to be a member of the Best Buy Geek Squad (they're so cool)) to allow me to return the Dell. He kept trying to tell me how great the Dell laptop I had just bought was, but he was saying things like "It's got a huge 10-gig hard drive" and "It has a floppy disc drive instead of a clunkier CD/DVD drive", "The battery will let you work for up to 30 minutes without being plugged in", "Newer Dells only crash once every two or three days of use, although current models like yours haven't been around long enough to generate good reliability statistics".

The giant storeroom began to spin, and I pounded my fists on the counter in front of me. "Nooooooo!" I screamed. The scream must have been intense enough to nudge me into consciousness. My eyes popped open and I glanced around the room without moving. It took me a moment to realize I had been dreaming.

I rolled over and reached over the side of the mattress to feel for the laptop nestled under my bed. My fingers caressed the cool, frosted metallic surface of my trusty 2005 15-inch PowerBook G4.

All was right with the world.