Apples on the Road: There and back again
We have started yet another phase of our continuing personal and business ad-venture! While adding to our Expanding Possibility site, we decided to put on the service of live chat/help for our clients. We are really excited at being able to answer wuestions and communicate "real time" with people visiting our site.
As we looked into all of the benefits this offered, we then realized that between all of us working together in the US and UK, there was at LEAST one person on line at all times of the day and night, if not more! In line with our philosophy of sharing what we find tha twe like, we now can offer the same support for other web sites.
The new service is available via "www.watchmyshop.com". We are on line to chat and offer clients assistance in answering questions, finding their way around a site...and supporting the company in a myriad of customer-supporting ways!
We have been getting wonderful response from everyone and have several clients on it already! Please come visit and if you know of any sites or companies that you think would benefit from it, please email us! THANK YOU!
We'll be back soon....(smile)
We are the Apples on the Road!
We are two 50 odd year old women who own, love and use Apple Mac computers. We have met over the Internet, via Apple's IChat. This is the blog of our adventures in virtual and actual reality!!
To follow our adventures, please start at the bottom of this page, where the 1st posts are. Last posts are at the top!
Positive enforcement- YES I CAN!
YES, WE CAN! We have been very inspired by the positive message communicated by the new President of the US.
“Yes we can” is the message that has permeated his speeches. When I watched his speech defining his goals and intentions as President, I felt my heart resonate to his words. As the crowd roared ‘yes we can’, I found myself hypnotized along with them, passionately stirred as much by the crowd’s optimistic energy as by his words. As I watched the tears of so many people in the listening crowd, I resonated along with his intention for the rebirth of and for each of us. Thankfully, I could gently visualize each of us successfully overcoming the obstacles we currently face.
We are proud to hear it stated just that way. That phrase, almost a mantra, definitely supports our personal beliefs that any of us can dream our personal dream, be who we want to be, achieve the goals we set for ourselves, and most importantly, join together to support and encourage each other. One of the most exciting reasons for the existence and formation of Apples on the Road and Expanding Possibility is this belief .
Yes We Can... It is our personal mission here at Expanding Possibility, and we look forward to meeting you one day and sharing it.
I have missed blogging a lot! It feels like an old friend who I just haven't been able to catch up with.
I certainly have been writing a great deal...web page copy, proposals, more web copy..marketing materials....but no blogging! I've decided to give myself time to blog as a treat now, since it feels as though I can bring all of you along with me in a much more visual way than my phone calls and emails do. So very much has happened, and is unfolding! To fill in the blogging- time gaps: we have been working on our Expanding Possibility web site most of the time that Alix has been back in the US. The time flies by as we brainstorm, design, record and troubleshoot the recording of our audios and network to everyone we think would be interested in personal development! We have our computers set to announce each hour, and I can't believe how fast the hours and days are zooming past us! The feedback we are getting on our web site, and hypnotherapy recordings is wonderful and very gratifying. Some of the honest input we heard as we asked for help critiquing the web site has been useful....even when we didn't want to listen to it! (smile) Our beloved moving butterflies finally flew away a few days ago, since so many people agreed that they covered up too much of the copy on the front/home page.We were glad that the copy was important enough for them to complain about it being interrupted by the graphic! 
As we work, we dream. Our dream is shown on our vision board. It is to have a home base on a beautiful rural piece of property, and be able to travel (in a very comfortable RV) all around the country, coaching and doing our motivational NLP training seminars!
That way we have enough room for our dear friends to join us and work with us as they are able. We see ourselves being able to provide jobs working together so that we all feel fulfilled in our purpose of making our own lives, and the lives of new and old friend happier.
After all, we believe we are here to have fun, and part of the fun is being with people we love, doing useful spiritual and intentional work that builds community and enhances our lives and the lives of those with whom we connect.Yes, That's us!
Expanding Possibility - Our Work
We have been very quiet with Apples on the Road because we have been working no-stop on our website - Expanding Possibility.
Please go over to there to see what we have been doing.
Alix :)
SO... how does time fly past so fast? It feels like just a few moments ago I was dancing around excitedly at JFK airport in New York, waiting for the plane carrying Alix, Julia and Pam to land....and now I am not so eagerly dancing towards this coming Friday, when they will be returning to Scotland.
At least they won't be gone long....and we do have our trusty Apple Macs to keep us connected in the month until everyone comes "home" to the US. I am already looking so forward to sharing our next round of traveling and adventures together.
We have spent much of our time exploring...parts of New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Delaware. The heat of this area has been a delight for my British friends, more used to damp and cold than our humid and hot New Jersey days. It gave me greater appreciation for my local weather than I had had before. We bought a great grill, and a screen house to spend as much time outside as possible, and everyone but me has quite a tan! I still find the shadiest spots that I can!
We have met wonderful new people, and I have delighted in introducing these dear people to more of my dear people... yet so many more are left who we just haven't had the time to connect with. We have been spending so much time working on our company as we form it. It's wonderful work, and very gratifying to hear the positive responses we are getting from everyone we share it with.
We are trying to not come up with a new business idea a day... but to put the newest ones on the slow burner while we expand our Expanding Possibility training and coaching business into fruition!
We will be posting more pictures and diary bits later.... just had to get this out as a break in the middle of working on a Keynote presentation..(that looks GREAT, I may add....Alix is a wiz with that program! smile)
Crossing the Pond..... !
Well today is the day...... Julia, Pam and I are all ready to leave for New Jersey. We are driving to London Heathrow today and flying first thing tomorrow morning.
We are all SO excited (and a bit apprehensive). Julia has never flown before, Pam has flown twice and me just a few more times.... but never so far as the States!
The next time I write in here will be from the other side of the pond!
It really is interesting, before connecting with Johanna through iChat I would never have considered flying to the States, let alone staying for a holiday of 2 months!
What is the difference? The difference is that with iChat I have seen where I'm going to go, I have met many people who I will now see in "real life" And it all now feels so familiar. It will be so interesting to actually be there and see how well I really know where I'm going to go!!
Ohoowoohoowor!! We are off!!
See you State Side!
The pond could have felt SO big!!
I am so lucky to have just gotten the Mobile broadband card from Sprint when I did!!
Our intention is to share this experience and show as many people as we can the huge possibilities this medium offers.
In the past preparing to leave for a trip of 2 months would have entailed making sure you had organised everything at home so that you could be away for several weeks. You might be busily writing lists of who you need to speak to before you go, organising your finances so that you had money for the trip and pay the bills at home, making sure you pet-care is adequate etc etc.
Not so in this New World..........
It began to dawn on me as I have been preparing to leave for New York in 4 days time...... oh this is different. I don't have to sort finance anymore than to have a linked PayPal account, I don't need to say my last good-byes to the lodgers as I will see them on iChat not long after I land in the States, I don't have to worry about what might come in the post because, Vic and David - the lodgers will just scan our post in everyday and upload it to my .Mac Account!! Superb!!
But most of all... I have never really contemplated an extended trip anywhere because I have dogs!! And I would find it very difficult to be away from my dogs for so long. (Don't worry - they are awaiting their Pets Passport!!) However, this time of course I will still be able to see them and hear them. I can check out in real time how their health is and actually see them as they go about their lives.
So for this trip, rather than put "this life" on hold for 2 months I just need to press a couple of links and it's all organised - here and there!!
And of course, there is also the people that are left at home. Now, instead of worrying if you are ok or not having any idea of where you are or what you are doing... there is iChat. Via iChat or Skype, our loved ones can share the trip with you and know what you are doing and that you are safe. You can send back data and information in real time as it happens.
Ummm... did I say that I think this technology is changing the world.
Well it has certainly changed my world. I have a completely different perspective about this planet now compared to even 2 years ago. Going to the USA would have seemed like something other people did - not me! The whole world now seems close and accessible, first through a video cam and then in reality! And the absolute wonder of this is that all you need is a computer a microphone, speakers, a web cam and a broadband connection....... the rest is free. The calls/connection over iChat is free!!
Who and where will be next after the US? Is it you and your home - where did you say it was in the world?
Well here we go on trip No 2!!
Leaving Johanna's house, going down her drive and out onto the road, really was an amazing experience for both Julia and I. We were literally seeing in real-time where we would be staying in just 4 days time.
I really could wax lyrical on the amazing-ness of this technology all day and just for a little while I will, because this technology is world revolutionary.
For me the implications and ramifications are completely staggering. Doing this type of thing will completely change how we as humans view this planet!
It is changing how we do business in the world..., how and who we connect with and when.., who we have a relationship with..., how often we connect with someone many miles away..., how we have meetings... and how we hold them... and of course - where. Where - virtually of course!!
Imaging you are going out on a blind date and with you you have your buddy in a box to make sure you are safe. Imaging meeting someone 2000 miles away and you both want to be in business together - no problem.... you can be buddies in the box! And imagine your child is off for her/his 1st trip without you...... no problem..... you can be their "mom" (buddy) in the box. And imagine you are an elderly person living alone and you could connect up with other people and have as many buddies in the box as you would want! In fact talking about "dating" you can even meet up with each other well before you reveal to the other person where in the world you are!!
Now that's a revolution!!
What an amazing new world it is!!
Our individual roads are going to converge very quickly. The two apples, Alix and I, are soon to meet in the USA!
Here is a picture of me on my first mobile trip for Apples on the Road!
The trip was from the store where Johanna bought the USB modem until we lost connection.
I videoed the trip and the video below is what I saw through my MacBook screen in Scotland.
This is amazing technology! It really is both mind blowing and revolutionary!
I mean....... think about it........ here I am in Scotland, driving down roads on the east coast of America...... - in real time - 3333 miles away.
So ok....... not so amazing for CNN or the BBC to achieve with all their resources........ but this is us.... two 50 odd year old woman each with a personal computer achieving connection and communication that 10 years ago was pretty impossible for anyone or any organisation, and only 5 or 6 years ago had been achieved only by the major TV stations...... and now...... in June 2008..... with just a couple of Apple MacBooks we have done this!
Now that is revolutionary!!
Well, Johanna has been here in Scotland for 3 weeks and the time has flown. We have no where near done the things that we intended to do.... but no worries.... even after we are separated by thousands of miles communication and collaboration is so possible with all this new technology.
Yesterday was a powerful day. We went to Belfast, Northern Ireland to the US Embassy. I have wanted to go back to Ireland several times since my first trip 5 years ago, and this was a wonderful excuse for us all to have an adventure together. I had no idea what an intense day it would be.
As a prelude, I will share that I have a love affair with hands. I love mine, those of other adults, artists, performers. old people, babies, certainly those of children. They evoke a myriad of emotion in me, from laughter to wonder. I have spent many hours watching dancers, musicians, and sculptors perform their art. As a child, I spent countless hours at my kitchen table, doing homework and watching my grandmother's hands as she kneaded homemade bread. It is a fascination that is almost subconscious now. I always watch hands, as much as I watch people's eyes. I love the creative energy so often expressed to greater and lesser amounts, by the way someone moves their hands.
We started off with a wakeup at 2:30 AM to catch the earliest ferry from a lovely little town at the southern tip of Scotland, called Stranraer.(pronounced strahn-rhah) The sound of the word has been mesmerizing my ear since the first time I heard it said.... it felt entrancing somehow. It was my first time on a large ferry, and I was as excited as a child going to a circus. We were lucky enough to have many hands together to help us get ready.... to make coffees, iron clothes, wash the car, and hug us on to a good day.
The ferry crossing was an adventure. Alix, who does all of the driving at this point, did her usual marvelous job of getting us there in record time. Driving with her has been a grand adventure since my first time in the car with her. She delights in mischievously telling the story of how much I was affected by driving on the opposite side of the road while first here. It was most obvious with a truck in Edinburgh coming up the road, and me thinking it was going to hit us. Alix still laughs about how I almost ended up in her lap, trying to jump away from it!
One cup of tea later, we were snoozing for a catch-up on the sleep we had not gotten. Alix curled up with her legs across my lap and had a good snooze after we all chatted about the ferry and where we should explore. While I was in the shop, I was struck by the young woman stocking one of the shelves with some of the savory baked goods... She used her hands very gently and gracefully, arranging the pastries in a pretty pattern to show them off. She caught me looking at her and shared a shy smile at my recognition of her artistry.
We found our way to the sections where the barbed wire was, and saw several badly gutted areas with lots of leftover rubble, getting grown over with weeds. The most poignant sight to me was seeing the now permanently open gates... walls really, that had been enclosing people at night when there was more strife. I was glad to see them propped open and rusty, but the images of them closing off streets was claustrophobic and all too real for me. Here too, hands had been raised in anger and hatred against each other and it still could be felt as a part of this area's history and present life.
I have family in Israel and hear stories of the strife there. I am unhappy at much of what the Israeli government does to and with the Palestinians. Alix, Julia and Pam were indignant at what was done by their British government, purportedly representing and reflecting them, to the people of this island. Yet what the Palestinians and the Catholic Irish did in return was no less reprehensible or justifiable.
This felt the same to me... people hurting each other with no real solution to be seen.
We all only hope for a compromise and peace that lasts.
We left to find a very late lunch, and some gentler energy. I was very glad to have seen what I had, and now especially glad to go to a more relaxed state of being. We found a lovely cafe, and sat outside to enjoy watching such a very different panorama. Lots of people, with happily relaxed energy were shopping in Belfast's vigorously growing downtown section. It felt so familiar, like being 'in town' in Philadelphia, PA.
We went shopping after our coffee and tea and were thrilled to find pyjamas.... after all, they are our favourite work clothes and at this point our mascot outfit for ourselves as well! I had tried to find some new ones in the States as well as a few shops in Scotland, and they weren't displayed anymore, so finding these was a delight. They are warm flannel in very happy and cheerful prints and colors, and each came wrapped in a lovely long ribbon. I am SO happy with us all having them!
As the day wore on, we tiredly and thankfully explored the area of the city that used to house several potteries. Although we were disappointed not to find the soba noodle bar that Alix's GPS system said was close, and the Apple iPhone corroborated as being there, we ended up in a lovely restaurant with Turkish style alcoves that we could nest in. It was the perfect space for us to relax in for awhile.
We drove back to the ferry station early, hoping to rest a bit in the car until it left. We knew we would be arriving home very late, and cuddling in a bit sounded wonderful. We got to the station very quickly and snuggled in, laughing and playing and looking at what we had purchased. We took the pyjamas out of their bag, and played with the ribbons they came wrapped in. It was fun giggling as we were tying them around our heads like girls from the 1950's in the US or hippies from the 1960's.
As I saw my hands tying a playful ribbon hippie-style bow around my head, I had a flash of them tying yet another ...many years ago, around the tree in the front yard of my house. That time it was to signify a prayer for peace and the safe return of soldiers during another conflagration in the Middle East.
With a bit of reverence, I finished tying this day's bow.I tied it slowly, holding today's memories close to me, with a blessing that peace prevailed on Earth.
Everywhere on Earth, no matter who, no matter where...and somehow, hoping for the gift of how.........
Maybe, just maybe, as more people connect as the four of us have, via this electronic magic of the internet and Apple videochats, we can gather around tables all over, laughing at our differences and enjoying learning just how similar we really are.
We are off!!! After meeting me outside of the baggage pickup, we went for the car. It was wonderful to be together, laughing and hugging and falling back into our silliness from my last visit a few weeks ago!! I had missed them so much, even though Alix and I spent so many hours on line, it isn't the same as being able to reach over and hug in person.
I was on a magical mystery tour... these amazing women had planned the way home to include a sightseeing tour of places that they thought I would love... and they were so right!
Our first stop was Hebden Bridge. It is a lovely little town about 45 minutes from Manchester Airport. It reminded me of New Hope, Pennsylvania USA. Alix drove us through a few neighborhoods that she knew from the past, and then parked the car so that we could enjoy strolling around in the lovely air. The town is very hilly and had quaint, (to me), brick and stone walkways. ... and lots of beautiful homes tucked away among the steep alleyways. Stone is used for homes and walkways so very much more here than it is at home in the States. I love the feeling it generates in me... somehow deeply rooted, like an old and proud tree among the saplings that surround it.
We ate lunch outside of a sweet little coffee shop at the edge of a stream that runs through this section of town. It was so lovely catching up with each other, feeling the breeze, and sharing different foods. The parade of people going by was eclectically varied, and great fun to watch. It is a town I could easily see myself living in.
After we explored a few more streets, we went back to the car and on to my next surprise... we were heading for Blackpool, UK. It's a well known seaside resort in Britain and a must-see destination for this American!! I love my friends. The care and thought that had been put into planning the day's events was so touching. I always know I am blessed with amazing people in my life and days like this fill me with gratitude and appreciation.
When we arrived, I had to laugh again at how similarly places have evolved on both sides of the Atlantic. Blackpool reminded me so much of Ocean City, NJ USA!!! There were definitely more signs advertising fish and chips, for sure, but if I transposed them with the Pizza signs in Ocean City, I could feel as though I was back at 'the shore' as we call it, in New Jersey!
We walked and prowled along the boardwalk, with Alix, Julia and Pam telling me stories from their past visits to Blackpool. As we rambled, Alix saw the Louis Tussaud wax museum, and bought us all tickets. I haven't ever been in a wax museum...and was amazed at how lifelike a lot of the figures were.... I had to run back to get a disposable camera so that we could have a photo of Pam with "Harry Potter"! Goodness knows I missed my digital camera where I could have just downloaded the photos into my trusty MacBook and printed a copy off for her. Now we have to wait to develop film, which I haven't done in such a long time!
My next cultural experience was after seeing a figure of an older woman outside of what looked like a bar entrance. I was about to enter the world of Coronation Street...a soap opera that has been running in the UK for a very long time! The figure was one of the characters, and the bar a main set where a good deal of the show takes place. I loved the very lifelike wax figure of the bartender and a few other characters. The museum had cleverly set it up so that their snack bar was part of the set, and we had tea in what was set up as one of the booths in the TV show.
Okay, I'm about to make the mouths of a LOT of people water...I had my very first authentic fish and chips!!! We ate it walking along the street, smelling the sea air and laughing and chatting.
I was and still am feeling quite delighted to have this uniquely British experience. Sharing friends, life, caring...and of course, telling you all about it on this blog.
More later...we are off to Scotland again!
I'm back in Scotland!! I actually only was home (in NJ ) for 2 weeks,yet it felt as though I was away for much longer.
I learned a new phrase while I was here..to get something "sorted"....It is pronounced more like "sawrt-ed" and is used to convey getting something fixed, or arranged.and that was what I did when I was home. It felt wonderful to see my friends and my dogs, and to plan my return...and I could hardly wait to come back again.
While I was home, Alix set up both of her computers as as well as both of mine so that we could not only keep in touch with my friends in the US but also so that I could see into my house. Though it specifically watches the room with my desktop iMac computer, it allows me to hear my dogs.
It was so much fun watching her via my laptop, as she spent the day figuring out how to have my computer automatically open its video at our invitation from the UK. I went out shopping for gifts to bring back as well as some neccessary items for home. I left my laptop on my kitchen counter, facing my door. It was delightful to check in and say hi as I walked back and forth doing my fussing (scottish term is fettling) as well as having her there to say hello and welcome me home as I came in the door! It was like she was sitting in my kitchen with me, working alongside me to help me get ready to visit her.
Again, we delighted and were awed all over again, knowing that she was 3.333 miles away, setting up a computer in NJ, so that when I was in Scotland I could feel at home!
We are consistently amazed at the incredible capabilities these Apple Macs have and give us! By the time I was up in the air, Alix had created the links so that we also could activate our sharing and video to home as well as laptops, wherever we were! EXCELLENT!
The trip was fun. I was flying into Manchester UK this time, so did not have the change of flights to deal with in Edinburgh.
I love people-watching, and had ample opportunity during my 3 hour time period of waiting for my flight...I am chronically early when I fly!
I enjoy trying to figure out where everyone is from. There was one classic, elderly couple who I really enjoyed observing.
They were of the era when one dressed to travel. She was head to toe in bright red, with matching little red shoes. He had a waistcoat, starched collar and softly wrapped - over shoes, built for the comfort of a man of his age. She had accessorised with gold jewelry galore, and was very perfectly coiffed and made up. He carried a little bag that had books and snacks for both of them, and the polished air and accent of someone who was accustomed to traveling and being in control.
They were in delightful contrast to the tall, pony-tailed man dressed totally in Harley Davidson motorcycle regalia. His leather vest declared his home state as North Carolina. He had his own unique poise... not so much unlike the elderly couple's as one would imagine by the difference in their presentation of themselves.
He too was perfectly accessorised for his world. Some of his leather was polished, other bits were artfully worn-looking. His hair was perfectly twisted in a leather tie, and he had boots that declared him loudly as an American.
The flight itself was made more delightful because of my travel-mates. I had filled my iPod and was prepared to snuggle down for a bit of sleep as I had on my previous flight. This plane was much fuller than the prior one had been so there was no extra room to stretch out in. I am short so I tucked myself in and dozed all curled up in a ball. When I smelled coffee, I cracked open one eye and my lovely seat-mate asked if I was all right. She was somewhat amazed at how I had contorted to get comfortable!
We started to chat. She and her partner were from Liverpool, UK and on their way home after spending 3 weeks in the US, which they had loved!
I told her that Alix, and her (now mine too) friends Julia and Pam were going to be coming over for their first visit at the end of June. She told me to send them her reassurance of how much they would enjoy their visit! Our conversation started to roll all over, collecting topics that ranged from the reputation of Liverpool as the home of the Beatles, to the spiritual connection she had felt in Sedona, AZ. She wasn't at all shy to pull out her photos and I enjoyed a vicarious visit to Joshua Tree. We chatted the whole rest of the trip, which went very quickly. By the time our landing was announced, I was truly delighted at the depth of the connection we had shared. We hugged as we stepped away from the plane and back into our separate realities, acknowledging our time together, and the gift of having been 'well met'.
It was marvelous to race as quickly towards my friends as I could. I saw their faces and grabbed them into the biggest of hugs. I am back in my second home in Scotland......
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Porridge & Pyjamas!!
I am getting ready to go back to Scotland for another few weeks of work .... and play.
I got really excited this morning as I watched Alix making her now-to-me famous Porridge. She is a wonderful macrobiotic cook, and has been concocting delicious recipes since 1984. It made my mouth water remembering the taste as I was packing!
When I am in Scotland, much of our work is done in our pyjamas, and morning has been graced by bowls of hot steaming porridge made of oat groats and assorted added ingredients. The morning's vote was always whether to make that day's breakfast porridge sweet or savoury. Many mornings there was a good bit of debates since both are so good! Sweet means adding sultanas, or currants, raisins, honey, and milk or cream and butter. Savoury is my favorite. Ingredients that can be added can be far more varied... Soya sauce, miso, tahini, peanut or pumpkin butter, sometimes some fish, nutritional yeast flakes, and some vinegar such as umeboshi, rice or balsamic ..... and all put in to taste. It is never the same and always a wonderful start to the often chilly days. I take great delight in it with a cup of hot tea.
I made my version of it when I came home to New Jersey, and while it was good, it didn't hit the spot as much as in Scotland, so I am delightedly anticipating my first mouthful! I will post some of the recipes I watch when I am there!
From 3333 miles away!
I am consistently fascinated by the Apple computer... As Alix and I are working, I rerun my internal mental tape how we got to the place of working together. When we initially made contact, the first thrill was that of SEEING each other through the I-cam....not only visualising using a photo..or the combination of a photo and voice, but to be able to see another person's expressions, eyes, laugh...certainly brings them to life so much more completely.
As we chatted....and chatted....and chatted more and more, we began videoing some of our exchanges. It was (and still is) great fun to replay them. We were intending to use bits of the video as part of this project, and still may, although the time spent in reviewing the by now hours worth of footage to pick out what we feel are the gems, is a bit daunting.
We now have a video archive of ourselves and four of our very dear friends as we got to meet, bond through laughter and stories, and connect on very deeply personal levels.
We know that this intimate passage into friendship happens in 'real life' when like minded people are fortunate enough to meet. To experience this happening through the magic of a computer and over a vast physical distance is still mind boggling to us all.
We found ourselves spending more and more time connecting through the computer. Both Alix and I are people who spend a good deal of time online anyway, and it became our 'normal' to video chat as we did other work. Once I upgraded to the Leopard operating system, more and more was possible to do and share together.
I am out and about a good deal, and often in coffee shops with wireless access. I would invite Alix into whatever space I was in, delighting in showing off bits of my day to day American life. Her world is so lovely yet so different than mine. We love the connecting and marveling over the similarities and comparing what was not the same, as well.
Of course, a highlight to us both was when I would have my class at the Apple Store and was able to invite her to watch and comment. It is a 160 mile trek for her to get to an Apple Store.
I am spoiled.. I have two within 20 minutes of my house. Since she is physically in Scotland, and I am in the USA, in NJ, we connect with a 5 hour time difference, which I often forget about since there is such immediacy in our connection.
One of my favourite memory-moments was when I was taking a class, and invited her to video chat, forgetting about that time difference. She was in her bed! I was introducing her to the fascinated Apple staff and she blithely commented that she had never had so many men in her bedroom at once! Her humour spiraled through the store, and another, very immediate friendship-connection between Alix and the wonderful Apple Creative staff was born!
Alix just reminded me of another silly story. It is often late in the evening in Scotland when we connect. Alix and several friends were sitting in her living room cuddling in around her lovely fireplace, chatting with three of us in my living room in New Jersey. As the light waned in Scotland, The NJ crew commented on them needing a bit more light to let us see them clearly. They scurried around, moving furniture and lamps. Without really realising what I was saying , I offered to hand her friend Julia one extra lamp I had here! Time, space, distance... electrical current...all of it had not even occurred to me as I reacted literally as though they were all in the same room as I was., and was about to hand it to her....that's how real the connection had become. It has heightened since then.
We are truly inhabiting an alternate yet very real reality of our own, and Apple's creation.
We're really excited about the two paths we are traveling.
from which it is all happening.
As we grow personally and professionally, we do the majority of our work using these AMAZING Apple computers ...and all usually in our pyjamas. Well, pyjamas for all of the work but the actual trainings...though stay tuned about that too!!
At least once a day (if not a great deal more frequently) we stop what we are doing and say, over and over, how blessed we are to have discovered Macs, to be able to use them to find each other, start an international company...to connect across 3,333 miles because of the genius of Steve Jobs and Apple! It's the ever-expanding source of our motivation and delight.
And so it began...(smile)
It has been a most amazing journey.... In living in the world, connecting with like minded people is a gift I never take for granted.
Several months ago, I was going through a particularly difficult time in my life, and found myself prowling all over the internet, instead of sleeping.... much more fun, anyway, when you never know what lay behind that next web site. I was reading emails on one of the lists that I particularly enjoy, and found myself connecting with the writing of one member of the group, who posted frequently. I consistently read "something" I liked, and when checking out who was writing, it was again that same person. One of the emails had a link to her website... whew... LOTS of her websites. This person, who like me, was ALL over the internet, was interested in spirituality, photography, connecting with people, personal development... and of course, Apple's Macintosh marvels.... She was not only a good writer but quite creative. As I prowled further into discovering her, via her websites, I found myself really liking her...what fun!
Life took over. Two weeks later, my grandfather was very ill and I found myself in a hotel room in upstate New York State. I couldn't sleep and once again connected with yet another of this woman's sites, where she encouraged contact if the reader liked what they read. It was great fun to send a note as I was still reading, and knowing it was going to the United Kingdom....
Sympatico energies, separated by such a great distance felt wonderful.
I received a response very quickly. She seemed happy to hear the positive response I had had to her writing, and after a few emails,suggested that we connect via Skype or iChat... what fun! I hadn't done much of that before, except with my teenage cousin. That evening, I had time again, and we connected via the webcam in our MacBooks. My life has not been the same since!
There she was.... very real, very much more alive than even a voice, or certainly any email could ever be. There were a few moments of incredulousness on my part.. she seemed very comfortable almost immediately. We started talking, discovering who we each were.... and haven't stopped since...
Weeks later, she has been with me almost everywhere I wander! She, Alix, lives in an amazingly beautiful and rural part of Scotland. I live in a suburban, once rural but sadly becoming increasingly metropolitan space, in Southern New Jersey, in the USA.
Distance and differences have disappeared between us, as we explore each other's realities, friend's homes, Apple Stores, and relationships. We have had space disappear and a deep and incredible friendship take over. As I write, we are writing this together, literally together through the magic of Apple's screen sharing capability, although we are sitting 3,333 miles and 5 hours (in different time zones) apart. We share the time zones as much as humanly possible, me getting up at 4 AM and Alix not getting to sleep until 4 am her time.. so that we can maximize our time and work together.
We are forming a company to promote personal development, a passion we share, and have passionately determined to share our lives with all of the people we can show what a magical vehicle Apple has given us, to transcend time, difference, distance, culture, and energy.
We would like to share our travels and experiences with you and include you in our wanderings.
Watch for us.. we may be in the Apple store as you have your One To One session..... and hear laughter coming out of the computer sitting on the counter next to yours.
We may be giggling in a coffee shop, or I may be carrying the computer, with Alix as my "Buddy in the Box" seeing the people I am having coffee with.
Watch for us... we may be right next to you.... watching and sharing your amazement at the ability to be together despite what once was seen as imposssible distance.
Thank you Apple..the credit goes to you..now let's see who else we can talk to.....