The Emperor has been expecting you…
December 31, 2006 by Angelo     4 Comments »


Yes, I have joined the dark side!

Being a diehard PC user for so many years I never saw myself owning a Mac. I never liked the old OS9 interface (finder’s a bit annoying still) and I didn’t like the processors they ran (always felt slow). However, when OSX launched it really sparked my Unix interests but they were still running the crappy old PowerPC processors. A year and a half ago when they announced the switch to Intel processors and the x86 version of OSX I became very excited, but I told myself I’d wait at least 1 or 2 processor jumps to see how it goes.

My old laptop wasn’t cutting it anymore and annoying me so much (it’s almost 3 and a half years old) so I decided it was time to replace it. I’ve been unimpressed with most newer PC laptops (and the glossy nature of all their LCDs!) and I don’t care much for running Vista (I feel microsoft has not innovated much since windows 2000) so I started to look at the mac lineup again. The current macbooks are now running Intel Core 2 Duo processors (which I love) and they have nice LCDs and a few features many PC laptops are missing. I began regularly checking the apple refurb site hoping one of these newer laptops would show up. Finally last week while I was on vacation I happened to check the site in the morning and the mac book pro I wanted was up! I logged in as Lori to leverage the apple educator discount and ordered myself a 15” Mac Book Pro with the 2.16 Core 2 Duo processor. To my surprise a few days later the laptop had arrived (nice free shipping!) and I had a new toy to tweak.

So far I am really impressed with this laptop, it’s fast and very functional (though the touch pad lacks a RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON). I have Windows XP running through parallels so I can still use a few applications and I plan on eventually using bootcamp so I can still use 3DSMax (though it does work ok through Parallels via software video mode). Oh, they give you a white apple logo sticker so you can stick it on your car… but I don’t plan on doing that! I’ll post more later.

Back From Vacation
December 31, 2006 by Angelo     No Comments »

We’re back from vacation (well it’s been a week). We had a good time relaxing in the colder/snowier climate of North Idaho. Here are a few pics from our trip (we really didn’t take that many this time).

If you ever wonder what cats do during the winter/snow time check this video out of Ren, he sure knows how to have a good time


Christmas Vacation
December 17, 2006 by Angelo     No Comments »

Thanks to all of you who came to our party, it was filled with good times…
Well Lori and I are off (early flight) to North Idaho (by way of Spokane, WA)to spend the week in some actual winter weather and possibly get to play in the snow. We plan on flying back here afternoon on Christmas Eve. So have a good week to everyone and if I don’t see you before then (probably not) have a Merry Christo-maso.

All Your Bass…
December 15, 2006 by Angelo     2 Comments »


In case you don’t understand this classic (Engrish) Internet reference, see here and here

RIP Grimace 1.0, Introducing Grimace 2.0!
December 9, 2006 by Angelo     2 Comments »


left;” hspace=”8”>Well I’m sorry to say that Grimace 1.0 (see previous post is no longer with us. The tree was with us exactly 2 weeks (and was probably alive for about 1 whole week) so we either bought a diseased tree or one which was cut about 2 months ago. Lori and I were both sad to see our Christmas (grimace) tree dry up and become all crispy needled. I called up All American and told them of my bum tree and the manager told me to bring it back and they’d take a look at it.
When we got there they were busy (I think the old no sales tax sale was going on at the time) the manager on duty told me to wheel the tree in and leave it in a cart in the entrance and then to go pick a similar tree and bring it back to him. We picked a new tree and wheeled out this one (even exchange!) and brought it home to decorate.
Grimace 2.0 doesn’t look much like Grimace at all. This tree is much greener and very moist (and heavy, did I mention we live on the 3rd floor) so hopefully this one will last until the new year! I think Lori did a fantastic job decorating this tree and it does look a bit nicer than Grimace 1.0.
So while we mourn the loss of Grimace 1.0 (Just as Maggie had finally made peace with It and was playing, hiding and jumping hidden from the inside of it) we are happy to have this new tree and I urge you all to shop at All American (lets not get into why I hate calling it that now) and save your receipt!