Finally, just a few quick iMac-related observations we noticed while we were out running errands this weekend. First of all, we must say we're impressed with Apple's marketing presence in our home town of Boston; while we rarely see iMac ads on TV anymore, it seems like we can't go anywhere in this city without catching sight of an iMac or an Apple logo somewhere. This weekend we noticed one "Think Different" billboard while approaching Central Square from the river, one "High-Technicolor" iMac billboard while entering Porter Square from the south, and one "Yum" wrapped bus passing one more "Think Different" ad on a big cylindrical structure right in the center of Harvard Square. While we were on the train, we noticed an Apple ad on the back of what we believe was a copy of Newsweek being read by another passenger, and when we stopped in at the local Microcenter to pick up some supplies, we were surprised and delighted to find that they had at least sixty 333 MHz iMacs, available in every flavor, stacked up right in the middle of the Mac area-- and one the way out a very happy looking kid was wheeling his new blue-and-white G3 to his dad's car. Whew.

But that's not all-- when we were in Newbury Comics picking up some tunes, we spotted the infamous iMac cover of the latest issue of High Times magazine. For the uninitiated, High Times is a magazine devoted entirely to the coverage of marijuana culture; it may not be the kind of image Apple's looking for, but like it or not, a Lime iMac sporting a giant marijuana leaf on its desktop graces the cover of the (we think) June issue, whose cover story is "Cyber-Pot: How Stoners Wired The World," and which investigates "the cultural crossover between hippies, nerds and computers." Apparently excerpts from a Steve Wozniak interview about his use of recreational pharmaceuticals figure heavily. Imagine that.

So there you have it-- when we're at AtAT Central, we're staring at Macs all the time, but these days we can hardly set foot outside without spotting the distinctive curves of an iMac or the immediately recognizable shape of the Apple logo. If there's a better indication that Apple is truly "back," we don't know what it is. So, how long before we actually get sick of seeing so many Macs? We'll let you know when it happens.