Thank you... I'll try these. What do you do about the sharp edges on the macbook? It's killing my wrists and lower thumb area. I would have never imaged this to be a problem.
I can't help on that one, I haven't used a laptop since iPad came along.
We each carry our own baggage. I started in the days of MS-DOS, so I know what it is to manage a file system. But filing physical documents into their proper drawers and Penda-Flex folders has never been one of my favorite office tasks. Therefore, computing's filing cabinet metaphor doesn't do a thing for me. Finder is an incredibly useful and important tool; I visit it frequently. I just don't want to live there (and I don't need to).
I've seen countless people post, "I want to/like to know where my photos are." I do know where mine are, if and when I need to access them. If you want a metaphor, iPhoto/Photos becomes your file clerk or photographer's assistant. It follows strict, consistent rules as to how and where the images are stored, and you can check your assistant's work anytime you want. Right-click/Command-click on the iPhoto/Photos library icon in Finder and select 'Show Package Contents' from the context menu. Inside you'll find, among other things, a Masters folder, and inside that, nested folders organized by date that contain the master images. Once you're satisfied that your assistant is doing his/her job, how often do you really need to check his/her work? That's why a competent assistant is so valuable.
As I noted just the other day, in another thread, backing up "only what's important" is a great way to lose a lot of "little" things that can cost a lot of time and trouble to reconstruct (including all the options and preferences you've set for your system and apps). Time Machine is a great tool. You buy a backup drive (they're cheap), connect it for the first time, and OS X asks if you want to use it for Time Machine. Say yes, and in a few more clicks you're set. From then on, it's constantly backing up on a regular schedule, and as the name implies (well, more than implies), you can go back in time to recover from things like accidental deletions (or simply previous versions) as well as recover from larger disasters.