* Growing up a MacGeek, and the changes that you have seen since becoming a Mac geek good and bad.

- This is a great time to be an Apple fan because Apple is at an all time high with popularity and pop culture

- The "dark years" of 90s was the low point when many people turned to "the dark side"

* Educate us all on Mac Users Groups , we have never discussed this and I'll bet my audience knows very little about this. This includes me. So talk about the what , why , where and how of getting into and participating in a Mac User group.

-Apple's User Group Page: http://www.apple.com/usergroups/ (find a group in your area or get help starting one)

- Great way to network and learn, some groups have a library of materials you can check out, etc.

- Many groups offer special deals for members

How many in the audience grew up as MacGeeks vs being switcher and what were your experiences?

* How do you use your Mac today, talk about your favorite Mac applications and how they are used in "real world" situations, specially as a person trained in Law. We can go with Mac's aren't just for geeks here

- SpamSieve - without a doubt the best anti-spam program out there. (http://c-command.com/spamsieve/)

- 1Passwd - secure password manager, not sure how I lived without this for so long (http://1passwd.com/)

- MacLinkPlus Deluxe - ultimate utility for file conversion (http://www.dataviz.com/products/maclinkplus/)

- Parallels and Boot Camp of course

- Super Duper for Backups, also stared using Mozy recently

(I'm very big into backups after seeing many drive disasters and surviving one myself so can talk about this subject at length.)

WHAT QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS DO ALL OF YOU IN THE LIVE AUDIENCE HAVE ON THIS PART OF KATIE'S EXPERIENCE

* Talk about being a woman MacGeek. What are the stereo types, what is the reality,

- It's intersting becuase you catch a lot of people off guard

- Sometimes it's fun to play "the clueless girl" then pounce on unsuspecting sales people who are being jerks. :)

- I think it offers a unique perspective, changes the way you relate to people about technology, perhaps less intimidating?

- I spent several years in education so I enjoy being more of a "teacher"

* I'm a big "deals shopper" I don't know maybe that's woman thing as well, but I very rarely buy my technology unless I can get a really good deal on it. Examples include generic ink cartridges, surfing the deals sites, finding coupon codes, etc.

OUR  LIVE AUDIENCE IS PRETY REPRESENTATIVE OF MOST PODCAST IN BEING MORE THAN 95% MALE.

WHAT ARE THE LISTENERS EXPERIENCE WITH BEING IN A COMMUNITY THAT IS SO BIAS TO MALE LISTENERS? AND WHY IS IT THAT MORE WOMEN AREN'T PARTICIPATING.

* I'm also interested in talking about the iPhone (if that hasn't been talked out) I don't have one yet but am really debating about getting one. I've been doing a lot of research on the phone, and especially on some of the negatives in determining whether it's a practical decision for me to get one. I think I can play a pretty good "devils advocate"

* I have a MacBook as well (Black, first generation) so I can talk a little bit about that. Thankfully aside from having to replace the battery I've managed to avoid some of the other bugs that seem to have plagued early editions