I had an Apple laptop at the turn of the (21st) century, a cute blueberry clamshell iBook – I spent a lot of time on it corresponding with a Tuareg man, I was certain he was my destiny.
I also started my first blog (a weird word back then), and discovered an amazing community of diarists.
I loved that little iBook even when it got buggy and crashed sometimes, and my biggest frustrations were software incompatibility issues and browser/website glitches.
In time I got a Dell laptop and somehow, and I’m not sure exactly when this happened – I became an Apple Hater!

Yes, I was an Apple hater.
It wasn’t the deep seething hate that consumes you; this was mild contempt with a dash of general indifference.
Like most ‘haters’ I thought Apple products were overpriced hypes with closed architecture.
It may have begun with the launch of the iPod, and the mass fixation that followed; everyone wanted one and proclaimed it an innovation.
My iriver MP3 player had all the features of the iPod plus a built-in FM tuner, yet no one raved about it.
Then the iPhone happened… I’ve ranted about the iPhone before so I won’t get into that.
I got the HTC Prophet (Windows mobile 5.0) a year before the iPhone debuted.
I loved my prophet! Probably because of all the time I spent on it – I joined XDA Developers and tweaked the heck out of that phone; it was as if I’d built my perfect phone.
The iPhone did not tempt me, as far as I was concerned my phone was superior to the iPhone.

Over the next several years I felt smug for not falling for the Apple hype, my laptops were Windows, (there was the Linux running Eee PC I used briefly), and my phone and mp3 players weren’t Apple.
With two pivotal incidents last year, I went from Apple-hater to owning several Apple products.
The first, was the announcement of the iPad, it was the first of Apple product that I felt was worth a little hype (not a whole lot though!), then I took one look at it and I had to have it – I envisioned many scenarios where it’ll come in handy.

The second incident came from dissatisfaction with my phone; I got the Google G1 phone (HTC Dream) in the summer of 2009.
It was exciting, new OS, open-source and all.
My issue with that phone was that there were no updates available for my hardware beyond version 1.5 (Cupcake), which basically rendered my phone obsolete three months after I’d gotten it.
Of course, I could have found cooked ROM and customized the phone to my specifications, but that wasn’t why I got the phone; I wanted a phone that I’d loved as is.
It no longer makes sense to me to pay money for a phone and spend ridiculous amounts of time tinkering with it (doing potentially illegal stuff), I’m not a developer, I just want a phone that works.

I could no longer deny the appeal of the iPhone, maybe I’m just getting old but I liked that it’s easy to use and works relatively well.
So I got the iPhone 4 in May of last year.

This Christmas I got a new MacBook Air to replace my aging Windows laptop, it’s going to be my primary computer – and this officially makes me a Mac user, I’m no longer a PC (except for work).

In the end there wasn’t a long drawn out decision to switch, and so far I love the simplicity and ease of use of my MacBook Air.
Maybe we’re still in the honeymoon phase…
I still don’t like iTunes, and I miss Live Writer – I haven’t found a worthy Mac version yet.

So I’m not quite the MacHead, it took me a decade to come around and i’m quite enjoying this switch.

I’ve never read (or bought) a self-help or relationship book in my life.
It’s not that they aren’t helpful, they probably are; I’m just too cynical to be helped.

I’ve been meaning to write about ‘What Do We Do Now?’ for months, but I guess life got in the way.
I bought two copies of this book mainly because of the authors; Keith and the Girl.
I gave the extra copy to my sister.
Keith and Chemda are hosts of the comedy podcast, Keith and the Girl; I’ve been listening to the show for close to four years now.

KATG is a very funny show, you should go download a couple and listen to them right now.
I was going to do a witty insightful review of the book, but I unfortunately have a cough and I don’t feel so hot right now.

So go read the reviews on Amazon instead and trust me when I say the book is good, it’s funny, practical common-sense, modern day relationship problems and advice.

I went for a run this weekend.
A long and familiar eight-mile dash along the seawall
I’m trying to ease back slowly into a regular running schedule.
I ran for the first time in months two weekends ago, and I could barely walk the next day.
There’s a term for this affliction; Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – DOMS for short.
This was a good run and I wasn’t sore the next day, my goal is to do one short run this week.

Weather permitting, I’d like to keep up the regular weekend runs; I’d forgotten how much I enjoy running in the mornings on weekends.
I’m using the Nike+ GPS app on the iPhone to track my runs; it’s also a coach and motivator of sorts.
I prefer it to my Garmin Forerunner and the mapping seems as accurate as the forerunner.
It’s easy to use and has a nice interface; it’s a very well made app with some very nice features.

Along with calculating distance, pace and the route, it has a voice feedback feature with updates as you run.
It syncs automatically and seamlessly with my Nikeplus.com account.
You can also create a list of songs you like to run to, and you get motivational messages from other athletes when you set personal records.
But there’s more… you can share your run on Facebook and Twitter.
The Cheer Me On feature, I haven’t yet used this yet, it let’s your friends on Facebook send you live cheers, comments and Likes.

You probably already know that the seawall is my favourite running route.
Well, it’s also due to a little laziness on my part since it’s practically my backyard; but there’s no denying that it’s lovely and inspiring.
I’m actually looking forward to trying out other exciting routes, I just have to wake up a little early for those.

We had the perfect fall weekend; it was sunny, cool and beautiful – perfect for a run.

And here are some old posts on my weird relationship with running…

I’ve become addicted to these little drops. As far as addictions go, it’s pretty harmless.
I guess I probably won’t admit it if I had serious addition problems.

So anyway, Les Anis de Flavigny are the most delectable little candies ever.

There were first produced in the 8th century by monks.
The candy is still made in the same ancient abbey of Flavigny.

It’s anise seed coated in sugar, and it’s simply delicious.
It takes an amazing fifteen days to complete the coating process and only the best natural ingredients are used.
It has just the right hint of mint with a touch of rose flavour.

I get them by the stacks from the Italian store.
They come in these very cute old-fashioned tin, I use the tins for all sorts of handy things afterwards.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that I’m slightly obsessed with Parisian macarons.
Seriously, my life changed after I tasted Pierre Hermé’s magnificent macarons last September.
I’ve had plenty a macarons since then looking to capture that glorious taste, and so far, non have come close.
I spent a small fortune at the tea shop, their macarons are shipped straight from Paris but they obviously aren’t shipping from Pierre Hermé or Ladurée

A wise man once told me in frustration that if you wanted good fufu, you went to a good chop-bar in Kumasi.
After various failed attempts to find that perfect macaron here in my fair city, I said; touché.

Looks like I’m going to have to go back to Paris!

Yet, when I saw these macarons at Trader Joe’s for $4.99 a dozen, I just couldn’t pass up on them.
Of course I wasn’t expecting mind blowing macarons, I don’t even know what ‘mind blowing macarons’ are anymore.

The Trader Joe’s macarons come frozen in a box, there are two flavours, vanilla and chocolate – six of each.
For store-bought frozen macarons, they are ok.
The vanilla ones are lighter and crumbly, maybe crispy; the filling is soft and very sweet.
The chocolate is a firmer with a ganache filling which gives it a fuller flavour.

You obviously can’t compare them to the real deal, but they’ll do in a pinch.