Speaking at the 27th tactics symposium of the Advanced Aircraft Tactics Training Center
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 2:59AM NOTE: Tom penned this on Tuesday, the 22nd of Jan
Got up, worked the kids and then worked out. Then finish off a column from yesterday, do the Bowflex, set out the trash, pack quick and shower for the trip.
I mention all that because yesterday morning I just slept in after a marathon of books on Monday ended with a big, well-deserved martini and a showing of "Sunshine" (I love all Danny Boyle flicks) in the theater, after all the kids were put to bed.
But today I had to get my act together and out the door to the airport.
Flew SWA to Midway and then KC. Plenty of weather and bumps, but I read a ton of mags, one WSJ and a good World Bank report, so I noticed nothing.
Picked up by a USAF officer (and blog reader) and driven to St. Joseph, historic frontier launching point for westward expansion and where Jesse James met his end.
My host is the 139th Airlift Wing and my job is to give the after-banquet address to cap off their 4-day tactics symposium.
So here I am on the raised dais, just left of Sen. Kit Bond doing his before-banquet remarks and I'm grinning through some of his comments, grimacing through a couple others, and wondering how it was I ended up at the head table.
Turns out my young officer driver pulled it off through Jenn when he was fortunate enough to find out I'd be in the vicinity. So here I am on the dais, signing books and waiting to speak at 2020, which is late for my preference (I think the perfect talk is 0900), but I guess it's no weirder to suddenly finding myself in that helo in Afghanistan or standing in front of the Great Pyramids with my Italian model girlfriend ...
No, wait a tick, that's Sarkozy!
Then panic!
I look over to my laptop, set up for the show, and spot that damn Mac message about an OS crash!
Almost new Mac, working off Leopard.
Then I remember: two days ago I download one of those cursed MS Office updates, which seem to cause this with me now every time!
I go with the local AV person's Gateway. Have to cut some of the trickier transitions down to size, but I simply cannot start a talk worrying about that crash message appearing.
This truly depresses me. I am almost ready to get a Dell for speaking gigs only. I would go only keynote, but the questions I have then are: Can you run PPT files on Keynote and vice versa? Because that's always what has scared me off from switching, given all the PCs I am forced to run on in various mil locations.
I remember the first step to take in repairing permissions when this happens (before reinstalling OS). Can anyone tell me how to do that? Where you find the function?
Reader Comments (7)
It's not a bad thing to run "Repair Disk Permissions" after installing new software.
The OS crash message (called a kernel panic) is not normal. It may be caused by MS Office, but if it's a new machine, it may be a hardware problem (often times bad memory can cause these crashes). Make sure all the Apple updates are installed. If it keeps happening, take it to an Apple store. I would recommend getting the newest version of MS Office (2008), just out last week. Powerpoint is much better.
As far as going all-Keynote, there are a few problems. Keynote reads basic PPT files fairly well, but the transitions and animations tend to get screwed up on more complicated presentations (like yours, I would guess). Powerpoint can't read Keynote files at all. So if you could always live in Keynote, and always use your laptop, Keynote is a fantastic choice, better than Powerpoint IMHO. But if you have to use Powerpoint sometimes, it's really a non-starter. The good news is that the newest Powerpoint is much closer to Keynote.
You may want to look at VMware's Fusion, which allows you to run a windows OS inside of a MAC. You can then run all of the Windows apps inside your windows OS. I run a bunch of enterprise VMware products and love 'em, have not tried Fusion but I think its worth consideration.
First, Keynote will read PPT files natively. It's about 90-95% accurate in doing so. While PowerPoint can't natively read the Keynote format, there is an option in Keynote to export your work to a PPT (again with about 90-95% compatibility - some of the fancier animation / transition things that Keynote can do don't necessarily translate all that well, but its pretty good).
As for the Kernel Panics (grey screen with a multi-language message to restart your computer) - generally these are either 1) bizarre software issues, or 2) Bad RAM. I would run the hardware test that came with your computer (put in the number 1 DVD, reboot the computer, and hold down "D" as it is starting) to try to figure out which it is. If this shows a failure, then its probably going to be RAM. Apple stores can replace that for you pretty quickly usually, or there's a mail-in option that takes about a week. If the hardware test does show a failure, you might also try taking the RAM out and re-seating it. Sometimes that will solve the problem too.
Of course, if the hardware test shows that everything is OK, then it is a software problem. Make sure you're up-to-date with Software Update, and if it is still causing problems, I would try the Archive and Install option. Instructions are here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120 - Generally, this is a good option as it will replace the operating system while leaving your "stuff" alone.
If the problem is being caused (as you suspect) by Office though, a re-install of that is probably easier to try first - I would particularly expect it to be an Office problem if you ONLY see the kernel panic when Office is open and it NEVER happens with Office closed.
If all else fails, there's always going to an Apple store, or 1-800-275-2273. Good luck.