Who Knew?!

So there's me every day trying to avoid the crackheads on the streets of a capital city, and after being here nearly 18 months, I have finally been up Arthur's Seat! Me and my girlfriend Kerry decided to walk up on Sunday, it was decent weather and we'd been saying that we wanted to do it for ages. 

Leavin' tha hood.

We set off round a much nicer route than I thought (I couldn't be arsed walking down the royal mile yet again) and took an absolutely awesome shortcut which brought us out near Scottish Parliament. There was a Rangers game on at the time at the Hibs ground, christ knows how we managed not to get shanked. I'm not the biggest fan of english football, so Scottish football to me is literally the most ridiculous sport anyway. (Did I mention Scotland aren't good at any sports at all?)

Sneaky shortcut.

It took us about twenty minutes to get there, we traversed one side down to the royal mile, then started the climb up. We definitely took the harder route, we ended up walking up a near vertical shale path (which everyone else seemed to be coming down). So I say we went to the top of Arthur's seat- we didn't. Fear of starvation and a brisk wind meant we got about two-thirds of the way up and let me tell you, coming from Yorkshire I'd expect to find a pub which sells Timmy Taylor's Landlord up there, but we didn't. However the view more than made up for this (and I nicked Kerry's chewits to keep me happy). Got a cracking view of the city and I don't think I realised how small it is! Bless Scotland. Anyway I definitely recommend a trip up there if you've never been, and if you have already, you should go again, it's a decent bit of fresh air! Just not as decent as the Yorkshire dales.

I love Apple.

As this is my first post, thought I should talk about something I really love and have an interest in, Apple. Not the fruit, (although they are pretty awesome too, I love a decent Granny Smith) but the shinier one, the one and only Apple Inc! 

I now own three Apple products, an iPod, an iPhone, and a MacBook Pro. They have literally become part of me, I carry two of them around with me everywhere, and the third as much as I can. The reason I love this company so much is just because of how absolutely perfectly they executed their whole business. A share in AAPL now costs over $500. Apple as a company is now worth nearly $460 BILLION. Some interesting facts- Apple is now worth more than...

All the gold in the Federal Reserve, and then some ($350 billion)

All the illegal drugs in the world, and then some ($321 billion)

Six and a half years of global coffee consumption ($70 billion / year)

More than six years of U.S. beef consumption ($74 billion / year)*

More than five U.S. Civil Wars ($74-$84 billion each)

More than 2.5 Apollo space programs ($145-$170 billion apiece)

Three times the entire U.S. clothing industry ($150 billion)

* Although I probably still consume more beef.

They are almost worth nearly as much as Google and Microsoft combined! Why? Because everything they do is pretty much perfect, aesthetics, functionality, performance, compatibility... need I go on?! They have revolutionised the music industry, they invented 'Apps'. I'm reading Steve Jobs biography at the moment, and he is definitely edging his way into my list of idols. What an absolute lad, basically he treated people like sh*t until he got what he wanted, then told them they were amazing, it's a great read if you're a fan of biographies and books like that. It actually saddens me thinking of his death, I've never really been bothered about celebrity deaths, but I honestly think he made the world a better place. 

Anyway the question is, what's to be my next Apple product? Probably the iPad 3. Or maybe Apple TV. Or the new iTV. Or maybe all of them!

Apple.