Aidan Zielske has a new 13-inch MacBook Pro.
She's been using my 2003 PowerBook for years. It allows her to do practically nothing, save for surf the web and listen to music. If you unplug it from the wall, it dies. If you walk by it too quickly, it dies. If you exhale too exuberantly while in its vicinity, well, you know the drill. Suffice to say it's been on its last legs for about four years.
I made a deal with her a few years ago: you save up half the money, and I'll put up the rest.
With her new nanny job, she was able to meet her end of the bargain, so off to the Apple Store we went.
This is what pure joy looks like to Mac Heads.
I mean, look at how happy Alpha, our Mac genius was on our behalf.
I'm just going to say it: there is something truly sublime about walking into an Apple Store with the intent to buy.
Then we got home and the real joy ensued:
We approach every part of the process with extreme reverence.
Aidan will be taking this computer to college in just two years. I decided to put up half the money because a) she got all As during her sophomore year, taking subjects like Physics and Algebra 2 and b) I'm an Apple geek and will take any excuse to buy new equipment.
Plus, mama can always use a write off here and there, right?
Here's to where you find joy. Ours happens to live in a geekified tech land.
Where, pray tell, does yours live?
Barb says
I LOVE Macs and am super-excited for Aidan that she got a new one. (The idea of her going away to college in two years is making me very, very sad though…)
Petra says
As I sit here reading this on my 15″ MacBook Pro and my hubby sits beside me on his 17″ MacBook Pro streaming internet via our Airport Extreme both with an iPhone and Ipad each on our bedsides. Yup. We’ve got it bad. And that’s just the Mac stuff. We have a gadget graveyard of many a “must have item” at the time. Oh let’s see Palm Pilot (remember those?), then a HP version of a palm pilot it was Colour and used normal script and cost about $1200!! Can’t count the number of mobile phones & Laptops…. it’s almost embarrassing. I must confess tho that to our friends my hubby is known as “the go to gadget man” as he will know how to and what to with most that people bring to him. So it would appear our joy too lies in Geeksville. 🙂
Ilona says
@Aiden: ENJOY your new Mac Book 😉
Debbie Baillie says
I was with you every step of the way! You described exactly how I felt when I got my new MacBook air! And every mac product before it! It never gets boring or stale! Thank you and enjoy!
Debbie in england but on holiday in France on the iPad !
tape says
Aww! Congrats to Aidan! She’ll love it. I love my gadgets, too – got a MacBook Air but my phone is Android (HTC One X) – well, I love her anyway 😉
Amanda says
I made this exact same deal with my daughter ! Thanks to her nanny job she too has accumulated her end of the bargain and we are off to the Apple store this week <3
Know Aidan is going to appreciate ( and ENJOY ) her new MAC … Wishing all the Zielskes a WONDERful week *and hoping my girl will allow me photo her Apple store adventure !!
Tammy Eberhard says
Two thumbs up !!! How fun !!!
Kendra B says
I’m a MAC head too!! Gotta love’em!!!
cathy says
ME TOO!
cathy says
A girl after my heart…. : )
cathy says
Be sure to take pictures! : ) Very scrap worthy indeed!
carlajinar says
right there with you….one of my photos of the day is going to be “iFamily” just as soon as i can pry devices out of everyones hands for a few minutes to shoot a pic of our ipads, ipods, and iphone. lol
Barbara Eads says
First off, I have to mention how absolutely gorgeous your girl is! And it’s obvious she has brains—choosing Mac products. I’m so glad she drank the Kool Aid.
Coming from one who left a note for Steve on our local Apple store window last October!
Lida says
We visit the Apple store everytime we go by Orlando and drool.
She will love her new Mac.
Laney says
NEEERDS!! Um, I mean, YAY!!
Yeah, I’m just jealous.
Maureen says
Wow, Aidan is a stunner! but you know that. We are an iFamily too, and between the two of us have a flock of little iThings around the house. I totally totally understand! Waiting for August to upgrade my iPhone and say….Hello Sir!
btw, the grandchildren get our outdated Apple items.Happiness all around.
keianna says
She is so pretty and I am so jealous of her new item 🙂 enjoy
heidig says
My daughter did the same thing with her high school grad party money! She looked exactly as Aidan did on her shopping trip. Enjoy it Aidan! P.S. She just bought an IPad with her college grad money – time flies!
Dar says
Hubby and son decided an intervention was necessary, and pried my dinosaurous cell phone from me, and put in my hands a new cell phone. What is this thing? iPhone? Hmmm, this is pretty cool …
and so the joy begins! (Congratulations on your new Mac, Aidan and Aidan’s mom!)
bdaiss says
Oh *drool*. I am an apple addict as well. Unfortunately my husband is not. And he’s a penny pincher. So for now I content myself with my iPad, my iPod, and my iPhone. But one of these days… *sigh*
Congrats Aidan! I’m sure you’re already having a blast!
Mark says
Appropriate that this Apple Store shopping trip was documented, because the Zielske girls themselves are very “on-brand” – unique, innovative, stylish, intuitive, cool.
Karen says
Here is where I think it’s gonna live…
http://www.amazon.com/Polaroid-CZA-20011B-Instant-Mobile-Printer/dp/B0019UGCLG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343059206&sr=8-1&keywords=pogo+polaroid
(Polaroid PoGo)… drool!!
BTW ZGirls are MacOOL!
Deonne says
“Intent to buy” You said it- nothing like knowing you’re not just looking. 🙂 I had to try hard not to get too giddy when I got my iPhone. I loved the app transferance from my other devices, but hubby is not a “stuff” guy and is still PC (yes, I love him anyway), so the giddyness wouldn’t have gone over well.
cathy says
Ooo. Mama like!
cathy says
Well, some of us are. That aint no lie.
Youre very frank, arent you?
tammy b says
hee hee. i totally know how aidan feels! mama just got her a new ipad last weekend in portland after the stp – figured why not save myself some sales tax?! it is such a thrill just walking in the apple store, but with the actual intent to buy? oh my. we are an apple family ever since i FINALLY converted my man a couple years ago. now he wonders why he waited so long….kinda like me and my mini van but that’s a different story. congrats aidan!
Christine says
I am an only child. My dad used to make deals like that with me all the time. Before I was old enough to work, he would give me a list of extra chores I would have to do to earn my half. I think it was his way of giving me a way to get pretty much everything I wanted without making me a total spoiled brat. Enjoy the fruits of your labor Aidan.
Britiney says
I have apples on the back of my car for each of our family members. Big ones for my hubby and me. Little ones for my 3 boys. ‘nuf said. :O)
My husband just got a service award for 25 years at his company and his choices include apple products. And we can’t decide what to get because we already have everything. It’s that bad.
Juju says
Yay for the new MacBook Pro owner!!! I know just what that feels like because I recently got a new MacBook Air, and it is so slim and sexy, I’m absolutely in love with it. My old MacBook is still my workhorse, but it now feels like a cinder block. My first computer was an Apple (Apple II GS, back in the days when they thought 1 megabyte of memory was all you’d ever need!), but after that I went through years of PC madness before switching back to Apple two years ago. I’ve never looked back. Thanks for sharing the Apple-geek love!
Kim McMillan says
gosh she’s beautiful:)
Liz says
I’m so excited for Aiden! It must be a lovely feeling…. that I’m still to experience!
DOLLY says
Aww, love, love, love it! I will never forget walking into the Apple store on my 49th birthday last year & purchased my first MacBook Pro. I even took the day off just so I could walk around the mall afterwards with that awesome drawstring backpack…just so everyone would know I was a certified member of Apple geekdom. Welcome to Mac ownership Miss A…you will cherish that precious laptop for years to come…promise. I still smile every single time I open mine each day.
cathy says
There is something about those dang bags, huh? : )
DanaMK says
We’ve been Mac junkies for 6 years now and I love my iMac. The big screen to do my digi scrapping is fabulous! 🙂 I’ve got an iPhone, hubby has an iPad and we’re considering getting another MacBook for work. I’m sure A will love her new toy and get good use of it too!
Nicky from Okotoks says
OOhh – ours it at the apple store also. can’t get enough of it
Keely says
I am SUCH a bad mom!!! Just yesterday bought myself a new 15″ MacBook pro so my son can take the old MacBook to school next month. he needs to get a job.
o-girl says
Love this! I hope to cause this look on the face of my girl (a high school senior this yr!) soon. I’d love to get her her own computer!
Bec Kilgore says
I am right there with you in Geekland. Then you combine Geekland with ArtsyCraftyland and there is my bliss.
Jennifer Condon says
I’m excited on her behalf! LOL
She looks so beauty-mous and happy! Congrats on doing well in school, savin’ up your money, and earning your new Mac!
cathy says
Id say youre a rather GOOD mom. ; )
Ali says
We are soooo with you! I stop at the Apple Store every time I am at the mall just to breath the air. Our house holds 2 original iphones – now just used as museum pieces, 2 iPhone 3G’s passed down to wee folk, 2 iPhone 4S, 2 iPad ones, 1 iPad 2, 1 iPad 3, one time capsule, 5 air port express, 2 nano’s, 1 shuffle, 1 MacBook, and 2 iMacs. Oh and there are only 4 people living in this house and two of them are under the age of 11. Yes it is very very bad – but I embrace our inner Geek!
laurag says
The welcome movie when you turn it on is the bomb-diggity isn’t it!
Christine says
Yeah for Adrian. I’m currently on a 2007 13 inch macbook and I recently did some extra work for my employer and I plan on getting a new 15 inch macbook pro. I just can’t decide on getting the retina display model with no disc drive or the pro with the disc drive. Going to pull the trigger very soon on this problem.
Melissa says
I love, love, love my MacBook Pro. I have the 15-inch. I was so determined to learn about it the RIGHT way, that I drove FIVE HOURS to Pittsburgh in March 2011 to go to the Apple Store with my brother. I knew my brother would steer me in the right direction. I knew he would help me with my selection in a way that no store employee could. I knew he would tutor me all the way through it, as I learned about its awesomeness. This was my first EVER experience with a non-PC. My brother might as well be an Apple salesperson, he knows the MacBook so well. (While we were in the store, a customer overheard my brother telling me all about it as we sat in front of one, and asked if my brother worked there!). Mine usually lives in my lap while sitting in the living room, but at night can be found at my desk just off the kitchen, and sometimes it lives upstairs in my scrap room. This year it is THE SINGLE most important thing I own … because it allows me to Skype with my hubby in Afghanistan! Enjoy it Aidan! It is awesome!
Suzy Coborn says
Your daughter is so gorgeous!
Lee says
Yay Aidan! Not only are you smart, you’re beautiful as well!
We made the switch to Apple seven and a half years ago and LOVE it.
Until I read the comments I had never heard “iFamily” but that’s us.
And for the folks who are attached to their MSFT Word and Excel software you can get it on a Mac – although I much prefer Pages and Numbers. ;o)
Enjoy!
– Lee
Patricia10 says
We’ve been an Apple family since 1983 (hello Apple IIe!). Totally understand the joy. So great to get one so young!
Grace says
I am slowly but surely converting every one in my households to Mac heads and I am totally enjoying it. Told hubby he really, really, really needed an iPod a few years ago. He balked and balked and balked…well you get the picture. We gave him one for his birthday 2 years ago and you would have thought it was his idea in the first place the way he walks around outside doing garden work with the thing plugged up in his ears, instead of frightening the neighbors with a boom box on LOUD! And yes, I said BOOM box. He’s that stubborn!
Today he got his first iPhone. OMG! the reaction was the same as Aiden’s. I might add that not once during this time of conversion to the “dark side” as my friend calls it have I ever, ever said “I told you so”…..but you bet I was sure thinking it each time.
kass hall says
You call it raising a MacHead, I call it outstanding parenting.
All about the perspective, right?
Louise Fortune says
I like the incentive scheme – I will remember that in 5 years when my first born goes to college.
(seriously only 5 you have to be kidding, I only just got him peeing in the toilet and sleeping through the night, didn’t I ? )
we are very mac orientated here too, we have main mac, little mac, pocket mac one and two and also mac 4s.
Vera says
Congrats to Aidan! I just got my new 13-inch MacBook Pro at work today, too!
cathy says
Nice! : )
cathy says
Yay!
plumbing fittings says
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Beth says
My 23 year old has recently shared her excitement over a newly purchased red silicon spatula. We’re culinary geeks!
cathy says
I can totally relate to the love of a good silicon spatula!
Abby P. says
Congratulations Aiden! And, what gorgeous photos of her and her new “baby”! Only wish my boys would let me document their “mile stones”! 😀 This might sound silly Cathy, but did you use your iPhone or big-girl camera for these photos?? They came out great!
stacyj says
YOU were the one who told me to walk out of Costco and go to Best Buy and just buy a mac all those years ago. I will LOVE you till I die for your bold recommendation and now Aidan has one of her own — Congrats missy!! You’re life will forever be enhanced and your creativity can now soar as you intuit your way through mac land.
cathy says
Yeah, I did huh? Still my proudest accomplishment. ; )
Pamela K. says
Congratulations Aidan! We are a bunch of Mac Heads in our home, too. It’s funny how my hubby, who is a technophobe, talks about the latest Apple gadgets like he’s an expert. lol! I promised our son that he will be getting a MacBook Pro for high school graduation in a couple of years. I would put the money on one now, but PC’s is what they use in his high school. As for me, I’m anxiously awaiting the release of the iphone 5. Can’t wait!
RitaQ says
So where’s the template/layout documenting this milestone?! 🙂
Diane says
Oh…my 20 year old daughter and I are your Geekfield neighbours 🙂
I just filled out a survey at out local big shopping complex … from a list of yummy food stores and great fashion shops I chose Apple as the store I would most like to see in the complex 🙂