December 2005 Posts

I finally got the G5 set up. I think it is just a shame that I have 2 dual-core processors and a measley 256MB og RAM! I ordered the new sticks, so they should be in next week I suppose. Still getting prefs. set up and apps installed. I will nee to get an FTP program and a text editor with syntax highlighting and preferrably FTP save.

I LOVE iCHAT!! It lets me keep my buddies in my contacts, which means I can see their real names!!

I love how everything is sort of integrated into the environment: saved passwords, conacts, calendars, preferences, devices, applications are all just “there”. Documents are simply stored in my home directory with my name on it, not “My Documents”. What is that supposed to mean anyway? Is a photo or a video really a document? Everything is a file, bitches! Still haven’t tried burning CD/DVDs or hooking up the external hard drive, or networking the machines. Setting up the printer was absolutely a no-brainer. Plugging in the iPod was actually more work.

I’m not sure my monitor works with my KVM swtich, which sucks. Still can play around with it, I think.

Apple Mail rocks. iCal kicks ass. Safari certainly performs. I love the Mac rendering engine. These processors help it fly.

The keyboard and mouse are very much up to par. The system is even a little quieter than my old machine.

Still have yet to check out any of my iLife, Final Cut, and iWork stuff, but it is there, I will get to it.

Got Quicktime Pro for the convenience factor.

I need new speakers.

The big (only) annoyance was the password thing. Somehow I typed a password wrong, or something bad happened when I tried to create the sample .Mac account (really, this system comes with SO MUCH standard). I had to reset my ROOT password with an install disk, and I decided to experiment and just delete the Keychain file, which worked exactly as expected. HA HA, Linux!

There’s another one, too. .Mac… I mean, synch contacts and files, sinple web hosting and publishing from the desktop? If only they could sell that shit to everyone, I mean I guess the Intel generation will maybe help bring that around, but that is just a neat service!

The monitor calibration tool was beautiful. I really feel like I am getting my money’s worth with this system.

So the computer is only 2 months and 3 weeks late, but who’s counting? I actually decided NOT to plug it in today, because I know it will consume my life for a while, just gadgeting around. I need to get up in the morning and work for 3 hours before I do this (or as long as it takes to add a new preference to Unity. I also found out the RAM I bought is no longer good for my new machine, so now the decision is re-stock fee vs. eBay. If anybody is looking for 2GB of 184-pin RAM, ask me. I need you to beat $200 to make it worth my while.

I think I need to start keeping a log of every single change I make to my work, just so I feel accomplished. I always say “I need to work” or “I worked really hard”, but I am the only one I can prove that to. I guess if there were another developer working on stuff it would be more practical.

I have a 5.2 MegaPixel Hewlett Packerd digital camera. It does the job, and it’s just what I asked for. I will post some pictures after I get some things set up around here.

Gaming is fun. Last week we went to Sci-Fi City and got some games. 2 games I have not played in years.

1. The Great Dalmuti is Asshole (the party game) with pretty pictures. That’s about it.
2. The Settlers of Catan is the computer game Civilization brought to the table. All I can say is that it is one of the most fun and challenging games you can play. “Stategery” is the operative word here. Nathan doesn’t like competitive games, but in this game you are competing against the evironment (the robber) and yourself as much as the other players. Especially when we added the expansion pack called Cities and Kights of Catan which brings in the pirates and adds extra resources to collect and more goals to acheive. One of my favorite games of all time.

I want to go back and get Robo Rally before the 30% off sale is over, but I have already spent a bunch of cash on this crap.

A very old friend deserted me waylaid my plans to see her this Christmas break. I have to say I’m not entirely surprised. :’( I still haven’t heard back from said friend with the normal “I’m sorry, the spouse and I were busy”, or somewhat.
EDIT: She called me today and bitched at me for writing such things, and explained that her phone was dead. She is forgiven, even though I did not try to make her feel as bad as she felt.

I started reading my favorite books again - the Deverry series (starting with Daggerspell) by Katharine Kerr. I am picking out SO MUCH more detail than my 8th grade self. I am also getting pretty anal about the ancient Welsh words, which is helping me build the picture in my head a bit better. I wish I was more familiar with what a Welsh accent sounded like in comparison to Irish. Most of the voices come out Irish, with a bit of Scottish thrown in.

Katharine Kerr - Daggerspell

There are 11 books total, 4 Deverry books, 4 Westlands books and 3 Dragon Mage books. She is planning 3 more books as well, which are planned to be released in June, but I have been hearing that for the last 3 or 4 years now, so I’m not holding my breath. If it does actually come in June, then hooray for me because I should be done with the 11th book by then, and re-bought Black Raven because it is missing…

Got to clear off my bed so I can actually get in there and sleep at some point. Damn I wanted to get to bed earlier than this. Maybe my new toy will wake me up in the morning. If anybody reads this before 11AM and I have not re-posted, call me. Even if I have re-posted you can call me. We will say Merry Belated Christmas or Happy Hannukah to each other.

After much delay,

End of Line.

So it turns out too many people wanted to upgrade their old single-core Macs to better ones, meaning they ran out before they got around to filling the employee orders. So I got a refund and my Mom was like, “just order the best system you can”, so I pretty much did. Now the “PowerMac G5 Quad” (2×2.5 GHz dual-cores). I opted for the GeForce 7800 GT and Bluetooth/AirPort Extreme (802.11G). iWork for the kickass presentations and sweet document layout, and everyting else I bought 6 weeks 2 months ago for this fucker.

If I was getting it via regular retail channels, it would be here by the beginning of next week, but who knows about the employee thing.

C’est la discount, I guess.