What better way to kill valuable airtime during this stultifying lull in the normally turbulent world of Mac drama than by checking in with Apple's official list of open Mac Genius positions? And lo and behold, there's some good news for Mac fans living on the nation's southeastern peninsula-- there are no fewer than three imminent Florida Apple Stores looking for talent: Tampa, Miami, and Wellington Green. We've gotten enough email from concerned Floridians in the past few months, we figured it was worth noting-- plus, that way it looks a little less like we're just plain gloating when we mention that we've finally received official confirmation that soon there will be a Boston-area Apple Store just minutes away from the AtAT compound. Woo-hoo!!

Yup, that's right; faithful viewer David Nagler noticed that in addition to the Northshore Mall store in Peabody, MA (several miles north of Boston proper), now Apple is looking for a Mac Genius in sunny and wonderful Cambridge. We had heard about this store months ago through various, ahem, "unofficial channels," but now that its existence has been confirmed by none other than Apple itself, we can rejoice openly. And given that AtAT makes its home just one town north of Cambridge, soon we'll have a new place to hang out when we get tired of watching The A-Team on TV Land.

The only question that remains (well, other than "when"; we're guessing by the end of the year) is just where in Cambridge Apple plans to set up shop. Our original assumption was that Harvard Square is a no-brainer; tons of tourist traffic, high visibility, and a hefty population of Harvard and MIT students, several of whom have access to their parents' credit card accounts. We also noticed that Express, which used to enjoy a huge and very prominent space right in Brattle Square, appears to have skeedaddled, leaving that luscious spot wide open. But Apple's job posting lists the location as "Cambridge-Cambridgeside-R021, Massachusetts," which has us wondering if perhaps Apple went with the Cambridgeside Galleria instead. We hope not; we still think Harvard Square has a much more appropriate clientele.

Lest you think we're whining, we should clarify that we'll take whatever we can get and be thankful for it; the last thing we need is for frustrated individuals in Apple Store-deprived areas making road trips to Boston just to smack us upside the head for whining about our local store possibly being twenty minutes away instead of ten. Mostly we're concerned with what's best for Apple on this one-- though we won't deny that we visit Harvard Square a lot more often than the Galleria, which has never exactly been our mall of choice. Either way, though, consider us officially in a Good Mood™ for at least the next half-hour.