Returning to the fold

To celebrate the completion of my novel, I am planning to buy myself a brand new iBook. This would be my first Macintosh since I emigrated to Windows in 1996, so I would appreciate some advice. Specifically, I would like recommendations for websites, newsletters, and books about "how to get the most out of your new Macintosh."

I'm a professional software engineer and user interface designer with a couple decades' experience using Windows and UNIX, so I'm not looking for "the gentle introduction to the Mac for newbies." But I will have some newbie questions, like "how do I add a printer?" and "how do I determine my adapter's MAC address?" and "what freeware is must-have?" I am particularly interested in information on integrating the Mac into a Windows-based Wi-Fi network.

What I'm really hoping to find is something like Woody's Office for Mere Mortals... a weekly e-newsletter full of information (and some opinions) that I could use to "trickle charge" my brain. I can't keep up with the volume on Slashdot or most email lists. But I also need a couple of good reference web sites... places to start when I have a question.

Thanks in the proverbial advance.

5/9/05: Posted

Put my novel manuscript in the mail today! Yay! Now I will take at least a week off from writing. After that it's short stories for the rest of the year, though I may also do some research for novel #2, a fantasy set in an alternate WWII.

Also, my short story "At the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting of Uncle Teco's Homebrew Gravitics Club," which originally appeared in the OryCon 25 program book, has been posted at Infinity Plus. You can read it here (for free!): http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/uncleteco.htm

We have started getting a box of organic veggies delivered to our door every week again. Dinner tonight was a pizza with spinach, fresh mozarella, and caramelized onions, made from a recipe that came with the veggies, on pizza dough from Trader Joe's. Simple and very, very good.