The Cost of Premium: My Year in Apple Products

The original iMac. And my first computer.

Since I knew what the difference between a Mac and a PC was, I have always been an Apple product partisan. (Just ask my parents – it’s true!) My first computer was a bondi blue first-generation iMac (pictured above), and I still remember the glee I felt when I realized I’d be spending my first summer at sleep-away camp with a cool new iPod (I was nine and that iPod was definitely cool in 2004).

Fast-forward to 2016, and I’m still that much of an Apple devotee. I’m currently typing this on a MacBook pro, texting on my iPhone, and listening to some Drake through Apple Music (I turned off Spotify premium when Apple Music dropped and haven’t looked back since). Earlier today, I was browsing Facebook (on my mac), and came across this great Odyssey article by Maddie Graham. The title: The Eternal Question: Mac or PC?

Here’s the first paragraph:

This summer I broke both my Mac and my iPhone. Yikes. I’m usually good in dealing with cracks, but both the phone and laptop were either beyond repair or way too expensive to repair. The laptop repair would cost around $700 and combined with the iPhone repair or replacement, the total cost would be upwards of $1,000. I immediately looked into ways I could get some extra hours in at work and other ways I could earn money on the side to afford such costs. Then I came back to my senses. Here I am, trying to make over $1,000 just to pay for a REPAIR and replacement, when I could get a non-Apple products (scary I know) for much less money.

Finals Playlist

I’d like to start off by saying I think I have a problem. Whenever I’m confronted with any sort of dilemma in life, or just a rough patch, I find myself creating a playlist for it. Although this started when I used iTunes, the addiction to playlist making has been enabled by Spotify Premium, with its access to unlimited combinations of songs and lack of barriers to listening.

Anyway, here’s a short playlist I created for finals studying. It’s relatively calm and contains quite a few throwbacks. Check it out!

Fall 2014 Playlist

Fall is already hitting here at school, so of course it means my Summer 2014 playlist has hit its expiration date. That and I needed something a little more relaxed to ease back into an academic state of mind. I created this playlist with the idea being that I want something that’s good for studying and socializing in the library, (or if you’re lucky enough to be somewhere where it’s above 70, outside.)

(The songs are sorted by artist, so I would just put the playlist on shuffle if you’re going to listen. I’ll try sorting it, but that’ll be a project for another day!)

Yom HaShoah and My Thoughts on Religion

My first year at college has been one of many changes, and one of the biggest ones I’ve faced is realizing and coming to terms with the fact that I’m a member of a religious minority. Before college, I lived in jewish neighborhoods and went to an (unofficially) jewish sleep-away camp, so I was always surrounded by others with whom I shared the Jewish faith. And while the college I now attend does have a vibrant Jewish community, going from majority to less-than-a-quarter Jewish still represents a significant change for me. And it has profoundly altered my relationship with Judaism. At the beginning of second semester, I bought myself a Star of David necklace and put a mezuzah on my door. And I’ve given more thought to how I view Judaism, both in the wider world and as a part of my own identity.

FREE MUSIC

Adriano Rozental is one of my close friends who I have worked on Composition and Music theory with for the past two years. He’s incredibly talented in the field of software music – please check out and download his album!

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Yes, it’s President Obama’s birthday today.

After Dusk (Live Version)

Basically, this is a live version of the MIDI rendering I posted further down. It’s probably my favorite piece out of everything I’ve written – hope you enjoy it!

Something on my Mind

I am still incredibly shocked and saddened by the bombing at Copley square today. As someone with ties to the city through family and friends, and who was visiting a boston-area college right home when the bombing happened, it hit home incredibly hard.

What I guess I’m trying to say is that my thoughts and prayers go out to those most deeply affected by the today’s attack. The finish line of a marathon should be no place for tragedy.

After Dusk

Here’s a MIDI rendering of a piece I recently composed for Strings and Piano. It’s called After Dusk, and I thought some of you might want to take a listen to it.

If you want to follow along with the score, it can be found here.

Welcome to my Blog

Hi. My name is George, and, I decided to make the switch over to WordPress from Tumblr. I want to start taking blogging a little more seriously, and plus, my text posts were feeling lonely in Tumblr photo-world.

Anyway, there really isn’t much else to say right now. If you want, you can read a bit more about me by clicking the tab that says “About Me,” but odds are you already know about me because you clicked the link on my Facebook or Twitter page to get here. If not though, I did try and be at least somewhat comprehensive without giving too much away.