Hello all,

I am having trouble deciding what to talk about — Mountain Lion or the Olympics. (Full disclosure: I am a rabid Olympics fan. I have been since I was a kid. it seemed like such a magical thing back then, and isn’t much different now, especially since I have a much deeper understanding of what people and nations do to get competitors ready for the games. The Olympics have endured war, terrorism, boycotts, and economic duress. The spirit of competition still lives strong in the games and the triumphs and heartbreaks are epic in scale.)

But I digress…Mountain Lion is certainly gathering very positive reviews. It seems to be to Lion what Snow Leopard was to Leopard. There are lots of upgrades and new features, many of them working in the background where you feel them rather than see them. For example, if you have a machine with an solid state drive, Mail, Messages, and others now update while the machine is asleep, so it’s ready to go as soon as you open the lid.

When I upgraded to Snow Leopard I found little changes that were definitely improvements. I didn’t use Lion much, but I expect to find the same here. I really hope they bring back “Save As” too. I won’t be using Mountain Lion for a couple weeks, though, as I soak myself in Olympic coverage as much as I possibly can. Thankfully the weather is still dreadfully hot so I don’t feel too guilty.

One thing I take from the games is that they mirror our daily lives—we all experience triumph and defeat, and the challenges of our daily journeys are just as heartfelt and powerful as any we see Olympic athletes go through. Those experiences shape us and give us lessons to learn from. If we are lucky, we learn and grow from our own personal Olympic moments.

Thanks for reading,

Liam
liam@smalldog.com