Apple Store in San Francisco, CA.

And though they’re better than PCs, they still haven’t grown in popularity worldwide. Why?

The primary reason for this is that Apple’s products have this reputation of having horrendously high prices worldwide. Walk into a cafe, in say, San Francisco, and you’ll find that a majority of the people using a laptop there are using a Mac. That’s because they’re able to afford one, or sometimes even more than that.

Worldwide, not many people have that sort of money. In the United States, we can buy Apple products direct from the nearest Apple Stores. But the fact is that there just aren’t many Apple Stores in the world. There are more Apple Authorized Resellers, those small shops that have been authorized by Apple to resell their products with a raise in the original price to make a profit. They also need to import the products from elsewhere, and that leads to import costs.

Combining all of that, you get an Apple product that’s way out of the reach of most of the people in the developing countries across the world. For example, the company could definitely have a huge market in India, but they don’t. Because their prices put their products out of reach of most of the population.

People just make do with PCs. If they can’t afford something better, they’re willing to stick with what works and what serves the purpose it’s meant to serve. Obviously, Macs work a lot better. But if something has the basic essentials, they don’t look for better. They merely seek out what they can use to suit their own needs, which oftentimes aren’t very much.

They simply don’t want to spend their money on high-end stuff.

There are more than a few PC manufacturers worldwide. Lots, actually. Apple isn’t very popular worldwide, though that’s changing, albeit slowly. The thing is, PCs are still far cheaper than Macs. People would be willing to buy it because it does what they want it to do.

So they go for it.

And you see that Microsoft still dominates worldwide.

He was everything to me. He showed me how to live. He showed me how to never let anything bog you down. He showed me how to see the sun in between all the dark clouds. He walked with me, cried with me, laughed with me, played with me. He was around for me during my entire childhood when my real father was not. He was my daddy.

And then he went. Went away to heaven. Because of a car accident.

And I would never get to see him again, never get to hold his hand, never get to walk with him.

When I found out about that, I think I died a little inside. I contemplated jumping out of a window, I was so grieved and miserable. I did not want to do this because of suicidal feelings, I did this because I wanted to be with him, wherever he was.

I like to think I know what pain feels like, because I’ve gone through a lot of it myself and because I know what sadness, misery, and despair it. Part of this understanding comes from the fact that I knew at a young age everyone around me would die, and I would too, eventually. Part of it comes from the fact that I am a psychology student. Part of it comes from my personal experiences.

I don’t normally post personal things here, unless they are of relevance to others. In fact, I dare say people on the internet know very little about me at all.

So I guess I may be writing this to obtain a bit more closure.

And I know not everyone has probably dealt with the passing of a loved one so dear to them as my father was to me, but to those that have, you can make it through, no matter how sad you may be.

I mentioned above that I knew at a young age everyone around me would die and I eventually would helped me to deal with the fact that death is as natural as being born. It is a part of the vicious cycle of life that is governed by Mother Nature. And it is a part of the cycle of balance on our planet. If no one died, the planet would be flooded. If no one lived, the planet would be bare and empty. Nature abhors a vacuum, and Nature tries to achieve a balance in everything. If you put those two together, it equals creation and destruction. And I know scientifically speaking, there is no creation and destruction. But there is a death and there is a birth.

Growing up with a series called Harry Potter taught me that Death will come for you, one way or another. It is inevitable. The thing is, you’re not truly alone in this world. You’re probably never truly alone. And that is by far the most important thing Harry Potter as a series has taught me. When someone dies, they will be gone physically. But their spirit and their memory lives on, and with that to guide you, how can you be truly alone? You embody that spirit, and you carry on their memory. Their memory will be more than enough to give you strength to face life’s many obstacles. And in the case of Harry James Potter, the memory of his parents and those he loved and cared about gave him enough strength to walk to what he assumed was his death.

You should never be afraid of dying. Because when Death comes for you, treat him like an old friend. When you know you’re going to die, and when you can fully accept the fact that no one will live forever, no matter how hard they try, you become a true master of Death. You can be safe in the knowledge that you will leave someone behind, someone that though you may not know it, will carry on your spirit and your memory.

Writing all of this reminds me of one of my favorite songs in the history of my favorite songs, called “Welcome to the Black Parade”, by My Chemical Romance. It is from the album The Black Parade, which deals with the concept of death and living on, according to me.

These lines particularly stand out.

Went through it all, the rise and fall,
The bodies in the streets.
And when your gone we want you all to know…

We’ll carry on,
We’ll carry on.
And though you’re dead and gone, believe me,
Your memory will carry on.

It stands as a true testament to the fact that no matter how far away a loved one may be, you are always there to carry on their memory.

To my father, wherever he is, I want you to know that you will be missed by every person that knew you on this planet. You were amazing to me. You were my daddy. I will be here to carry on your memory.

And when I’m gone, someone else will carry on both of our memories.

Anyhow, this shall not stop a very determined me from wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving! As for what I’m thankful for…well, I’ve been thinking about that. I can’t really decide. I guess I’m just thankful I’m alive and happy. Happiness is a very important thing, you know. Without it, you feel like you’re missing a part of you, a little something that you want but feel so lost you don’t know how to get. You feel empty.

Yeah, it feels good to be happy.

Enjoy your turkey! (And if you’re a vegetarian, enjoy whatever you’re eating today!)

Happy Thanksgiving again, America. Be careful tomorrow. Don’t be crushed or anything in the crowds. Call me crazy, but I’m not going shopping this year. I’ve already ordered most Christmas presents off Amazon, because I’m a very lazy person and I don’t have time to go out.

Hm. On second thought, a new pair of headphones and a new iPhone charger won’t hurt… ;)

By the way, if you’re big on alternative rock, give New Born by Muse a try. It’s been roaming around in my head for days and I just can’t seem to get it out. Bellamy does one sweet riff.

And yes, I’m working on fixing my sidebar. I have absolutely no idea what’s happened to it. Last I checked, the HTML was good. Maybe I’ll have to rewrite the code. Check back later, it will probably be fine in a few hours.

Oh, and I might be doing some tech-related posts here, but that does not give the technophobes an excuse to shy away. Stick around. You might like what you see.

Actually, it wasn’t a while ago, it was more than a few months ago. I was simply browsing through my read-later archives on Instapaper and found it. I re-read it, and for the second time began to imagine what dealing with something as important as this would be like.

It may seem like any ordinary report on top, but when you actually get down to reading it, it sounds as good as a suspense story.

Believe me, this article is more than an eye-opener. Go through it. Click here.

It’s been written by Bill Keller, who himself dealt with the massive trove of the WikiLeaks documents.

Side note – I don’t post very often on this blog anymore, because I’m extremely busy in life with college and other stuff at the moment. However, if you would like proof I am still alive, you can follow me on Twitter at @EverydayMuser. Or, if you’re interested in tech, I have another blog here. For not-regular-readers, this blog is actually where I post well thought out stuff, and write more than decently. I think.

How many of you pay attention to the About pages on your blog/site/webpage?

For me…well, let’s just say I’m absolutely horrible at telling others about myself in print in more than two lines. Absolutely horrible. I mean, if you looked at my “About Ashley” page now, and if you looked at it like, a few months ago, the difference would be apparent. I think I’ve gotten better at introducing myself, but I still ramble way too much.

As a blogger/web designer, a crucial piece of advice I can give you is to keep the aforementioned page updated as you go through life. An About page exists for a reason: to tell the world what you are right now. People (or at least I) go through that page expecting to find up-to-date information. I’ve been through blogs where the About page has spelling errors akin to those a ten-year old would make, but the recent writing and posts are actually much, much better than the page.

On one hand, your writing is of superb quality. On the other, your About page looks like it was written during the more immature periods of your life. You can imagine the kind of impression people/world would get from that.

Do yourself a favor, save yourself the embarrassment, and go through your About page changing whatever you feel needs changing or updating. Don’t forget to change that “I’m 16” to “I’m 19”. It makes a difference, believe me.

Written on an extremely long, torturous, boring, plane journey with no WiFi. Forgive the almost broken chain of thought. Also, this is my shortest post on this blog.

Your life is your life,
Don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
Be on the watch.
There are ways out,
There is a light somewhere,
It may not be much light,
But it beats the darkness.
Be on the watch.
The Gods will offer you chances,
Know them,
Take them.
You can’t beat death,
But you can beat death in life, sometimes,
And the more often you learn to do it,
The more light there will be.
Your life is your life,
Know it while you have it,
You are marvelous,
The Gods wait to delight…
…in you.

The Laughing Heart – Charles Bukowski

Hurricane Irene stirred up a flurry of tweets as it made its way to New York. Every few minutes, my stream would refresh, and I’d see more and more tweets pertaining to the hurricane. Most of them were extremely comedic, poking fun at the hurricane and the situations it caused. In fact, I dare say it didn’t seem like the New Yorkers were scared at all.

For those who haven’t been keeping up with the news, those who aren’t on Twitter, and those who simply want to have a nice laugh, here are my selections of the best Hurricane Irene tweets. Be warned: ‘Tis a lot.

RT @carlquintanilla Our 2-yr-old just put her hand to her head and said, "Ugh, I got a hurricane." #irene—
Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 28, 2011

Cute.

All the trees moving because of the wind remind me of Whomping Willows. #irene—
Luis Mendoza (@mightymendoza) August 28, 2011

I highly doubt you’ll find flying cars in them.

I'm going to have to unfollow a lot of emergency twitter feeds after this storm.—
dave epstein (@epstein) August 27, 2011

The only person (if you can call the account that) I’ll have to unfollow is @Hurricane_Irene.

Flooding and power outages will be my legacy. #Hurricane #Irene—
Hurricane Irene (@Hurricane_Irene) August 28, 2011

“Historic”, indeed.

Poured out a hurricane pancake as a shout-out to @megnut and @dens. #irene instagr.am/p/LgSBc/—
Tim Shey (@moth) August 28, 2011

Yum!

You just unlocked the Super Boring badge! Thanks Irene! #Irene—
Christian (@xtianbovine) August 28, 2011

(Foursquare has badges you can unlock as you check-in to different places. Thus, this is a #foursquarereference)

Just lost power in Brooklyn…. on my ipad. It's ok recharging now. #irene—
Michael Milberger (@tweetberger) August 28, 2011

AKC. Always Keep Charged. Cause you never know.

Just passed a closed starbucks with someone sitting in the doorway working on laptop using the wifi #irene—
Barnaby at DWNY (@DoctorWhoNY) August 28, 2011

Guess nobody volunteered to share their password with this poor guy.

Oh, and #Irene's storm surge bisected Cape Hatteras, NC into 5 new, separate islands. Thousands trapped. Yeah, it was all hype.—
Marta Evry (@venice4change) August 29, 2011

…

Left bath water in just in case. Cat took impromptu swim then freaked out and ran all over house. Does this count as legit #irene damage?—
Nick Sullivan (@NickSullivanESQ) August 28, 2011

Maybe it does. Wet cat paw prints around the house.

Hey, look! It's that large, fiery ball of gas at the center of our solar system! #airplane2 #irene—
Moe Lane (@moelane) August 28, 2011

i.e., the SUN.

Best thing to come out of #irene: @ElBloombito.—
April Underwood (@aunder) August 28, 2011

Una parodia en Español. Que es un accidente!

PEOPLE OF THE NORTHEAST: GET OUT OF THE FLOOD WATER. IT'S MADE OF POO & ELECTROCUTION. #Irene—
  (@WeeLaura) August 28, 2011

Ohhhkkaaayyyy…

Me too. RT @mikeodea still waiting to see a car flip end over. and them maybe smash into a fuel truck. and then maybe blow up.—
Philip Kaplan (@pud) August 28, 2011

BOOM!

How many high school kids are just now realizing "ummm, I think I forgot to put the top of my jeep"—
Jonathan Crowley (@JonathanCrowley) August 28, 2011

Flooding in the jeeps…get it?

Where in Hades did Apple get designer sandbags for their NY store? eetheridge.posterous.com/window-dressin… (via @stevesilberman @alexheard)—
Aaron Stewart-Ahn (@somebadideas) August 28, 2011

It’s always the best for Apple, they’ll never take anything lesser.

@ElBloombito help. el cato stuck in los trees para hurricano.—
MG Siegler (@parislemon) August 28, 2011

No elevatorador serviso en el high rises por que no electrico para movo y no rescue. el sucko para you. #NYC #Irene—
Miguel Bloombito (@ElBloombito) August 28, 2011

The meat of the storm is still 7 hrs away and my apartment is already giving up on me. It's basically raining inside two of my windowsills.—
Dennis Crowley (@dens) August 28, 2011

The leak in my apt has been upgraded to THREAT LEVEL ORANGE flic.kr/p/agVBKp—
Dennis Crowley (@dens) August 28, 2011

OMG. Threat level ORANGE. Imagine that.

MY APT IS LEAKING! (should we evacuate??!!) ps: dish towel + painting tape FTW! flic.kr/p/agV4eB—
Dennis Crowley (@dens) August 28, 2011

(Dennis Crowley is the only New Yorker I follow on Twitter. So sorry.)

I always wanted an in-ground swimming pool. I just never thought it would be but a basement staircase away. #irene—
Kat Kinsman (@kittenwithawhip) August 28, 2011

Hopefully you won’t find sharks swimming down there…look below.

"A shark swimming in the street in Puerto Rico after #HurricaneIrene hit." http://t.co/J7yDR4f—
Salma Khan (@salma_khan) August 26, 2011

Would be nice if this was the last -pocalypse I checked in to this week. Kthanx. (@ Hurricanepocalypse 2011) 4sq.com/ps08Zn—
  (@editorlisa) August 28, 2011

No. First there was Earthquakepocalypse, then there was Hurricanepocalypse, now there’s Tornadopocalypse (there’s a tornado watch or warning in effect for NY, can’t remember which one).

Just walked by a wedding party on Smith st. They were playing "rock me like a hurricane." Amazing.—
Jeremy Goldstein (@jgoldstein2000) August 28, 2011

Anyone else hear / feel that rumbling in the Alphabet City? Is it thunder? Wind? It's freaking us out (and it's NOT my upstair neighbor)—
Dennis Crowley (@dens) August 28, 2011

OH: "Why would I fill up the tub?? I'm not drinking that water!"—
Dennis Crowley (@dens) August 28, 2011

That’s like saying, “Why do we have to change the water in fishbowls? They haven’t finished drinking it!”

My brother Ivan + his wife Katherine are on the water in Brooklyn. THEY ARE NOT EVACUATING !! We Brewsters love us some nature drama !—
paget brewster (@pagetpaget) August 27, 2011

This is how booksellers tape up their windows twitpic.com/6c7bb5—
  (@bookavore) August 27, 2011

I wouldn’t mind doing that.

For those trapped inside during the rain: a conversation is basically a series of status updates strung together. #irene—
Andy Borowitz (@BorowitzReport) August 28, 2011

#Irene knocks down controversial 80 year-old Brooklyn Heights tree. Storm able to do what the co-op board could not. nym.ag/qaSnfe—
New York magazine (@NYMag) August 28, 2011

Well. It looks like #irene circled NYC for parking, gave up and left.—
Joanne Lessner (@joannelessner) August 28, 2011

Other #irene- related hazards are strictly digital: watch out for poisoned links with malware. Or scams- they're already starting up.—
Lorie Johnson (@Sunfell) August 28, 2011

That is an insanely good bit of advice. I got spammed a lot after sending out my Hurricane Irene tweets.

So #Irene arrived at Wall Street and promptly got downgraded. Figures.—
Radhika Jones (@radhikajones) August 28, 2011

And we were expecting Category Four.

I will not be flooding up my blog with Hurricane Irene related tweets, though if you’re interested in reading more, you can click here for the whole Twitter stream on #irene, and here for the stream on #HurricaneIrene. I hoped you had a laugh from the tweets I did post here.

On a personal note, my aunt Maggie lives in New York City. I still don’t fully know the extent of the damage there, although she did report a potted plant falling from a windowsill above her. I don’t think she would have noticed anything else; the time I called her, she was sitting on the floor watching Independence Day with friends and yelling, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings!”

How did I help during Hurricane Irene? Well, I sent out forecast maps and satellite images of it, and emailed them to my aunt in NYC, who passed them on. They’re retrievable from the NOAA site, http://www.noaa.gov.

Despite the light-hearted attitude of most people during the hurricane, it still inflicted quite a lot of damage and people were killed because of it. The current count is 21. I ask you to keep them and their families in your prayers.

I also want to say that today, August 30th, was the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Please observe a moment of silence in memory of all those that died because of it. Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes in United States history, and we all know how many losses we suffered because of it.

I will leave you with one last laugh.

(PS – Also check out this Business Insider article if you’re not having a stomach ache already and are up for more laughs.)

PPS -

Just finished writing a really long post on the best Hurricane Irene tweets IMO. Publishing it in a second. #irene—
Ashley Hawkins (@EverydayMuser) August 29, 2011

I’ve been on vacation for a little while now. Of course, I haven’t really been on vacation…I mean, I can work from almost everywhere (I’m a web designer and some other stuff), so that doesn’t really give me an excuse not to work, but whatever.

I decided to visit Miami with two of my college friends. I’ve been there before, but it was when I was really, really small (like, around 13), and I went with my family then. This trip was a whole lot more fun, we got a lot of exploring in, and I went surfing too, after some apprehension by the locals. Really, what Long Beach native does not know how to surf? The waves there are brilliant!

But really, being in Miami actually gave me a productivity boost. I’m now back and better than ever.

For those of you that wonder why I don’t do many tech posts on this blog…I don’t do it here. I just don’t. I myself don’t know why. Instead, I have a Tumblr that’s filled with tech posts (mostly. It’s just link blogs I do over there, not actual lengthy blog posts), so if you want to check it out, please click here. Oh, and it’s called Ashley’s Quick Notes because I use the Tumblr bookmarklet and iPhone app to post, so the posts there are more like my thoughts and notes on things I want to share with people. I’m warning you, it’s not a proper blog like this one.

I am utterly fed up with my friends asking me for help in learning HTML. I can only help so many people at once. I’m not an expert, either, it’s just part of my job.

To simplify things, I created a blog called HTML and others for dummies. Over there, I’ll do a new post every week (depending on whether I have the time), taking you through HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. I’ll go through the basics first, and then through the more advanced stuff, so if you’re interested in learning HTML, be sure to check it out. Oh, and it’s free. I wouldn’t dream of making you pay for it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 went beyond my wildest expectations. I was on edge throughout the movie. I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, but I will tell you that if you’re a Harry Potter fan and decide to give this movie a miss or wait for it to hit iTunes or DVD, you’re definitely making a wrong choice. The special effects and 3D throughout the movie are fantastic, and it has a somewhat sinister tone to it, but it’s brilliant all the same.

I’m sad the series is ending, though I’m not moping about my childhood dying with it. It may have been a book series we all loved and admired, but life must go on. I really was annoyed with many of the comments I saw on the trailers about “childhoods dying”. It makes no sense to me. True fans of the series really wouldn’t speak this way.

The magic will never be gone, not as long as those who remain are loyal to the series. I’ll leave you to identify the modified quote.

Thanks to all the readers of my blog for…well, reading, and bearing with my sometimes excruciatingly long absence. Speaking of which, I will be posting here (there are a few things I want to share with the world) but I won’t be doing it very often since my college re-opens Sept 11.

–

I’ve been blogging for some time now. I bet you’ve noticed that. You’re all probably sick of me ranting, rambling, and being inherently random. But admit it, somewhere deep inside, you just want to keep coming back to my blog.

I’m joking. Yeah, you so knew that.

Anyhow, jokes aside, and my freakish obsession with the second Harry Potter movie aside, I have a few reasons (isn’t it weird? I always seem to have lists and reasons for everything!) blogging is important for people who aim to write a lot in their lives, or have already started their writing job, be it in a newspaper or writing a novel.

I did NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month) last year, and a little while before the event took place, I started blogging. I started blogging as a way to get out some of my life, and did it as a creative outlet. I originally hosted my blog on Blogger, and now, I have a few blogs on WordPress, and one on Tumblr. Which just so happens to be my favorite, but whatever.

So, back to topic. When I did NaNoWriMo, I blogged while I did it. I didn’t know, but that blogging really had an impact on my writing during the one November where I was supposed to finish a 50,000 word novella.

It honed my writing. It really, really helped to hone my writing. So did reading blogs, even though it was a tedious chore finding good blogs to read on Blogger. Then, I discovered WordPress, and I was absolutely delighted by Freshly Pressed. I read the Freshly Pressed posts every day now, never missing an update to the homepage where they are displayed. Love it a lot, and the blogs featured there are awesome. It is my ambition, as a WordPresser, to be featured on the Freshly Pressed page. Someday.

Reading a lot is one thing, being a good writer another. People often say that those who are fond of reading are excellent writers. It’s not always true, and I’m the perfect example of the exception. I love to read. I think I’ve probably read Little Women a gazillion times, and it still remains one of my favorite books. I read it when I was ten, and my mom would have a hard time trying to get me to drop it to come eat my dinner. She would take to hiding it, but I would always find it.

I was a voracious reader, but I never did much writing in my childhood. In fact, I never did much writing in high school either, other than those book reports and English essays we all have to do. My writing really started when I began college. We all know how much one has to write when they’re in college.

I found out I was quite good at writing when I first started college, and now, teachers love my writing. At the time I started it, however, I wasn’t the best. There were people much, much more better than me, and that was because they loved writing and had been doing it for quite a while.

That’s proof of the fact that only reading doesn’t make you a good writer. I’ve also heard people say that writers are born with the ability to write. It’s not true. Writing is an art, and like any art, practice makes you perfect. Becoming a good writer is hard, and practice is the best way to become good at it.

Of course, I’m not saying that reading doesn’t help at all, in fact, it plays a very integral part in improving your vocabulary, an important part of writing. However, as I stated numerous times before in this post, only reading is not enough.

After that long ramble, here are some reasons I think blogging is important in writing.

Blogging is practice writing.

The above statement is self-explanatory. When you blog, you write. Essentially, a blog is just a place where you can practice your writing. I think I’d be living proof of the fact that people who blog at least a few times in a month become better at writing. Look at my posts now, and look at my posts on my previous blog. Honestly speaking, I still don’t think I write very well, but hey, I’m getting better at it.

Blogging focuses your writing to a particular subject you’re passionate about.

Assuming your blog is dedicated to a particular subject, of course. Mine isn’t, I just blog about whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like (depends on when I have the time) although I think I’ve covered tech here more than any other subject. If you blog about a subject you’re truly passionate about, say, music, your writing will flow. You will have less pauses to think when you write a post, since you are writing about something you know. As your blog will focus your writing onto music, you’ll become even better at writing about it in general.

Blogging is a creative outlet.

I mentioned earlier in this post that I started blogging as a creative outlet for my feelings and emotions. People like to express themselves in a variety of ways, from writing to composing songs. When J.K. Rowling’s mother passed away, she was writing Harry Potter, and to pour out her anguish, she made Harry an orphan. However, some people aren’t writing a book, and have no intention of doing so, thus the way they use to express themselves is blogging.

Blogging has comments.

Mostly every blogging service gives you a commenting section nowadays. Tumblr didn’t have them for a long time, but they had a good reason – trolls. Commenting sections on popular blogs are always filled with trolls and spam. Trolls are the hard problem, they’re not technically spammers. But one thing I love about WordPress is how spam-detection works, which is why you won’t see any spam on my blog anytime soon. I also love how tight-knit the blogging community here is. Comments really help a person improve, say, when a commenter offers suggestions on how to blog better, s/he’s indirectly offering suggestions on how to write better.

Those are the four reasons I could think of as to why blogging is important if you want to become a better writer.

Do you have a blog? Has it impacted your writing? Do you know of any other ways blogging helps in writing? Comment and let everyone know.

PS – Sorry for the extremely long post. Rambling got the better of me this time around. =D

This was a card with a photograph taken by Dakota of Dakota D Journal, that he sent to thank his commenters personally via email.

I found it very nice of him, as not many people would actually take the trouble to thank commenters in this way. Even though it doesn’t take much effort, there just aren’t many people who’d do even that much today.

So, I thank you, Dakota.