FAQs: Everything You Want To Know About Bambi

Here’s my Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions, or Everything You Wanted To Know About Bambi, But Were Afraid To Ask.

I knew Mac360’s founder, Tera Patricks, for many years before we started Mac360. Tera was wiser, more experienced (another way of saying, older), and had more technical experience. Our common grounds were basic; good BS detector skills, experience in media, food, love of Macs. While Tera exercised regularly, ate right, slept well, and kept up on current events, I dine a little too much, get facials and manicures, and feel better after retail therapy.

From the beginning, Mac360 has been a collaboration—Tera, me, Jack and Carol Miller from St. Louis, Alexis Kayhill from San Diego, and Ron McElfresh who lives in Honolulu. We do what we can on the site and we’re willing to share what we know, and get our readers involved.

Since Tera’s death, we’ve received some editorial assistance from my friend Kate MacKenzie of New York, and one of our Forums Moderators, Natalia Nowak from Chicago,  Jeffrey Mincey in Atlanta, and Wil Gomez in New York.

Bambi’s Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions

If the Divine Missy T could have a Top 10 FAQ List, so can I. 10 questions. More than 10 answers. A photo chronology. But no dumb blonde jokes. Please. I’ve heard them all. Really.

#10 - Are you really a blonde? Are ‘those’ really, uh, you know, ‘you?’
OK, that’s more than one question. Consider it a tie for #10 and we get it out of the way quickly.

Most of my hair is original color. There. Satisfied? The other parts are all mine. Eat your heart out, Tera. I see you staring down at me from… wherever you are.

#9 - Where do you live?
San Francisco. Not by choice (my husband is from here), so I travel plenty.

I lived for awhile in southern California, which is where Tera and I met. I also lived in Las Vegas but I don’t know anyone from there. Nobody does. I once lived for a few months in New York, which is where I met Kate MacKenzie.

#8 - Are you single?
This really should be higher up on the list of questions (I’m doing this in reverse order) since it gets asked so often.

However, it’s usually a ‘first time’ question, and I only hear it once per new person. So, to answer—I’m involved with my husband. I’m blonde. I’m always involved. Sorry.

#7 - What makes you think you can run a Mac site?
Why? Because I’m blonde and my name is ‘Bambi?’ Running the site is easy. It’s a labor of love. I love it, and everyone else does the labor. In the early days, Tera and Ron did all the heavy lifting. I would write, smile, pose, and snack. And write.

Historically, I have a ton of experience in media; advertising, PR, media development, broadcasting. Macs make it happen.

#6 - What Mac do you own?
Make that plural. Macs. MacPro. iMac. MacBook Pro.

#5 - What technical experience do you have?
Not as technical as Kate or Ron, or perhaps others. Tera started computer life doing dBase II on a computer using CP/M. Kate’s more of a technical wiz, too.

My technical life started with Macs before there was a real Windows. I strategize and delegate. Others do the labor.

SIDEBAR
Sharp eyed readers may notice a few differences in my online photos from time to time. Don’t fret. They’re all me and all blonde. To make you feel like you’re in the know, here’s something Tera absolutely, positively never did. Ever. A brief chronological, photographic history. There’s about 10 years separating each of the photos. Need a calculator?

See? Blonde all the way from infancy to adult. The photos left to right are: middle school, college, adult, recently mature. Satisfied?

#4 - What’s wrong with Windows? Why is Mac better?
Sigh. Most of the world is Windows. That doesn’t make it better. There are more General Motors cars than Toyotas. Or, there used to be. Regardless, Macs work well in certain industries. Mine, in particular. The overhead of running Windows these days makes it cost prohibitive for the average user.

#3 - What experience do you have?
I’ll assume we’re talking Macs, right?

Plenty. Back to the 80s. What does that tell you about my age and background? Remember, our techies Ron and Kate are the mature ones.

#2 - What Mac applications do you prefer?
This question comes up more often since launching Mac360. Mac users tend to want to know what you use.

My list is extensive, though probably less than some power users, more in certain applications. All of us at Mac360 love apps like DragThing, Transmit, OmniGraffle, all major Adobe apps, iLife, and the Apple Pro series of FinalCut, SoundTrack, et al.

My favorite day-to-day application is Microsoft Entourage, which I use for business. It’s hard to beat. Microsoft plans to discontinue Entourage and I vow not to use a Mac version of Outlook. So, I’m look for something else.

Read the site. We have favorites and we’re willing to tell people about them.

#1 - Is that your real name?
Who would name their child Bambi? Only woodland animals with white tails and antlers. Certainly no loving parent would give that name to a blonde baby girl.

However, Bambi came early, often, and stuck. It won’t go away. It’s simply a shortened version of Barbara Marie. Brannan is my married name. There. 10 FAQs. And 10 answers. Anything else?

All materials on the Mac360 site and the Mac360 Macintosh User Forums are Copyrighted © 2002 - 2009 by Ron McElfresh, Honolulu, HI. or used with permission.