Apple

Apple, Now With Extra Dark Side

Bastards. How could they do it? After the toasted bunnies and all. Apple has announced they are switching to Intel processors. It is truly a confusing and troubling time for us all. I could go on about my theories of how this could outright kill Apple, or kill their hardware business, or their software business, or how its an evil plan to get rid of the Mac and become iPod only. But no, I won’t, because you probably don’t care.

There is also this long story about statistics that I keep wanting to tell, but you probably again don’t care. Besides, it is hot as hell and I don’t care if you care or not anyway, and just don’t feel like giving the effort.

Speaking of which, what the hell! It’s Michigan, were the crazy guys up north that are like Canadians, but don’t say “eh” as much. Why the hell is it 90 F-ing degrees out? Arlene is coming, maybe she will cool us down.

OK, I go sit in front of the fan.

See you Wednesday.

nick

“The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right”
– Mark Twain

I’m Baaack

Sorry about my week long absence. It wasn’t really my absence though, it was my computers. There is a bug in a video chip on some iBooks that causes them to fail, and mine was one of those. Thankfully, Apple recognized it as an issue, and the repair was thusly free, though it did take a week to request, send, and receive. I lost video Monday morning, and received iBook back this morning. Hopefully it will be good to me for some time now.

I am reading an update stream from Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference right now. There have been (in my opinion) false rumors going around that Apple may be switching to Intel chips. I think reality is that they are, but not as the main CPU, but as they already did a year ago for RAID controllers in some of their rack-mount equipment. Anyway, I will probably know the truth by the end of this blog.

So, the back entrance is gone, the patio is too, and we have a 6 ft deep hole in our backyard. Thats most of what I have been doing. The forms for the footings are in, and could be poured as soon as tomorrow, maybe Tuesday. After that, we build up block walls, lay a concrete slab, stick walls, stairs, and a roof. Then just re-level land, put up fence, seed lawn, plant some trees and shrubs and such, and we will be done. Yeah, easy.

We lost power for most of yesterday. Was a nasty storm. South end was one of worst hit areas in the state. Power went out during the second storm, was out about 3 or 4, and didn’t come back till 4 or 4:30. Woke us up cause all the lights and TVs and stuff that had been on, suddenly came back on. So we watched the news for a bit, then went to Rudy J’s, then back to sleep. Was almost unbearable trying to sleep without a fan or anything on.

Tim and my Grandma went to Pennsylvania for the weekend. They took Molly there (new one, not mine) because of a long story I don’t want to get into. I just hope the dog gets a good home.

Jenn and I are going camping tomorrow, for 3 days (Tuesday evening, Wednesday, Thursday morning) at RRRA. I will post on that Thursday night.

OK, I think that’s enough for now. Will add anything else I remember next time, along with a new poll.

nick

“What are you doing here?”
“You know.”
“I don’t think I do.”
“Oh, I think you think you don’t know, but I know you do.”
Blank stare.

It's New, and You'll Like It Too!

Well, at least I hope you’ll like it. After 2 other attempts I decided whatever and just put up the new template. If you don’t like it, leave a comment about whatever problem it is that you have.

New poll is up too, so vote. I set it for 1 vote/user/year. So there shouldn’t be an multi-voting, not that you could multi-vote on this poll really anyway.

I finished my book. It ended rather grimly, but I still very much enjoyed the series. The last book was a bit confusing until you figured it out, but eventually made sense. Or, maybe I am just slow.

So Tiger is out, and I don’t have it. And I see that now 10.4.1 update is beginning development already. Also, Apple released faster iMacs that I would love to get, but can’t afford. Oh well.

Jenn and I went to Alpena this morning, and got back about midnight. Nothing extremely eventful. Saw her niece and nephew, made dinner for her parents, went in the hot tub for a while.

Ok, see you all Saturday, and let me know what you think.

Nick

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, unless it’s copyrighted.

Cat Envy

Tiger is officially available tomorrow, and I will not have it. No, even at $69 with my student discount I can’t justify buying it, especially since if I ever get a job I plan to buy a new computer that would come with it within the next 6 – 12 months. Ah well.

I threw out the old template. I decided I didn’t like it. I don’t know why, just didn’t.

I am now on book 4 of HHGG. Movie opens tomorrow. I doubt I will be done with all 5 before I see the movie, just don’t have the will to do much right now for whatever reason. (On a side note I just butchered the word “what”, but you can’t tell cause I fixed it. Was going along the lines of “wahahet”.)

I downloaded my 21 free iTunes songs yesterday. I decided I should get them downloaded before I forget about them and loose the freebies. I will still gladly accept codes though.

The chair I am sitting on is dieing (It says that isn’t the correct spelling, but I don’t think dyeing it right either, hmmm…). I had 2 chairs like it, but one died, then the other, so now I am on a frankenstein of what’s left.

The poll seems to have gone over well. Sarah informs me I forgot root beer. Really though, of all the Faygos, why root beer? Why cola for that matter? More to the point though, I happen to know for a fact I have AT LEAST 1 double and 1 triple voter. I don’t mind though, cause it makes it look like I have 11 readers, rather than the 3 – 5 that I actually have.

I did a check on Amazon today and found that the Canon MiniDV camera I wanted is no longer available, has received a price jump, and I presume is discontinued. Oh well, I knew it was happening anyway, new models came out in January and thats why it was so cheap in the first place. I can’t afford it anyway.

All right, that’s all for now.
See you all again on Sunday.

nick

The trick to flying is to jump, and miss the ground.

251

I am now up to 21 free songs, thanks to mostly Jenn, but also Scott and my Mom. I have all the songs picked out, and have till May 23rd or something to buy them.

Jenn and I were bored Sunday, so we bought a pair of kites at a dollar store and flew them in a field behind her building. It was much fun, though mine wouldn’t stay up.

I have rode my bike quite a bit in last two days. I would be sad that its rainy tomorrow, but my ass is starting to get sore.

We went to ABC Warehouse today and got her a new TV. Err, she got it, I just stood there, then drove it home in the truck. She got cable hooked up today too, so she can now go online, and watch more than just WNEM/CBS.

And now for the techie part of the entry…

I’m sure most of you know who Adobe and Macromedia are (Photoshop and Acrobat/PDF for Adobe, Dreamweaver and Flash/Shockwave for Macromedia). Well, apparently they are merging. This is big news, especially since I can’t remember hearing a peep about this. There are 2 possible outcomes.

The first is the fear that Adobe will improperly utilize this new acquisition and end up killing Macromedia’s great products, much like it wound up doing with GoLive and others. It really isn’t Adobe’s fault, it is just that they began as a print media company, and that’s where many of their customers still are. So, web media, though still a focus, can not be their primary focus without alienating loyal customers. Hence, though Adobe knows there is money to be made in the web, and they have tapped into it on several occasions, they tend to end up with alot of misses for every hit, and this record may prove bad for Macromedia.

The second possibility is that Adobe leave’s well enough alone, and lets Macromedia continue on much as they have, but as a sort of web division. Let the current Adobe work on print media, and Macromedia work on web media, with collaboration between as needed. Drop Adobe GoLive, but keep Macromedia Dreamweaver. Drop Macromedia Freehand, but keep Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Keep the best of each, drop the weaknesses, and let each group do what they do best. It seems like common sense, but in the business world it is far harder to achieve, and easier to loose, than you can imagine.

But, I digress. Nobody knows what will happen, and the shareholders and SEC haven’t even approved it yet, so all we can do is wait.

And as a last note, Apple claims “Over 200 new features” in OS X 10.4 Tiger, that ships later this month. Well, they finally released a list with them all. Check it out here.

OK folks,
Friday,

nick

If you find handcuffs in the girls night stand, be mildly concerned.
If you find saw marks in the handcuffs, be very concerned.

April Fools

Well, since this is April Fools Day, I wanted to fool you all with a crazy update. However, I am not creative enough to come up with anything, so screw it.

Thinkgeek had some cool April Fools sales though. Like $799 wireless pong paddles, and a sleeping pill with time release caffeine to wake you back up.

I went to my Grandpa Jack’s service today. He wasn’t really my grandpa, but was closer to me than my real grandpa for many years. He passed away on Wednesday, and funeral will be tomorrow. People really look different in a casket. I guess I am lucky though, I have only been to 2 funerals in my life, and both were 90+ years old. You may remember my Grandpa from about a year ago when I posted a link of him receiving an award for his involvement in the Battle of Normandy. I will post a link to that entry next time, too tired to look it up now. I feel bad that we didn’t go see him in Grand Rapids, but we did see him in Munger at his family reunions. His daughter said he was coherent to the end, and knew all of what was going on. He enjoyed life, and even pinched a nurses butt now and then at the nursing home. I will miss him.

April 1st means Pepsi/iTunes is over. I am sure there are still bottles out there though. If you find codes, I still want them. Can turn in throught May.

I took my bike in for spring tune up today. It needs it, hasn’t been serviced in like 3 years.

I downloaded the FireFox browser for testing the new templates, and it’s sweet. Compared to Safari that I use, it is a bit advanced. Compared to IE, it kicks serious ass. I really like the RSS feed subscription, and the built in search. Safari should have RSS in 2.0, and has search, but only for google. FireFox you can set the search to anything. And it had tabs, pop-up blocking, and all the other things I expect from a browser, but the “leader” still doesn’t have. If you use IE, quit it, and get FireFox.

OK, thats all. See you Monday.

nick

Dude, what part of the term “Magic Oven” do you not get?

New Colors (again)

First up is obvious, the new colors. Let me know what you think, this or the blue and white.

I have been looking at iMacs, and realized something odd. The disk in an iMac is either 80GB or 160GB, depending on model, with a 250GB option available. I currently have a 30GB, which is a nice upgrade from the 18GB, and before that 2GB drive in my 7600 (may it rust in pieces). So, saying I get a 20″ iMac that has a 160GB drive standard, thats 130GB I pick up. Woohoo, right? Not quite. See, I only use 6GB, less than 4% of my future drive. Thats ridiculous! Here’s a break down:

1.16GB Applications
1.26GB System files
2.22GB Music
304MB Movies
204MB Pictures
46MB General Documents

Now yes, that only adds up to 5.18GB, but there is 6.06GB used on my disk, I presume for the swap file, but that just makes it worse. All you with your multi-TB RAID arrays and such are laughing at me right now. Ohh well.

Next up, is the new poll. Vote or be IP banned forever (that wouldn’t really help I guess, would it).

And in closing: Yay! Yes, I have been spelling it wrong all this time. It was tried twice to convince me the correct spelling is yeah, but that’s “ya” like yes. Turns out yay is the correct spelling for an enthusiastic outburst.

OK, thats all.

bye

nick

What’s wrong with your dog?
He’s a narcoleptic.
Your dog is an undercover drug officer?
Uhm, yeah.

Do You Suffer From Memory Loss?

Hey “Me”, you haven’t responded yet.

First up, er, Second up: Wednesday’s update will either be rather early or very late (before 12pm Wed. or after 2pm Thurs.). This is due to me being out of town. Details will come either Thur. or Saturday.

One year ago today Jenn and I first met, at her dorm at SVSU. Yay!

The fun unmentionable is back. Should last about a month, maybe 2. I’m happy that I got it, but sad cause of what is means. You have no clue what I’m talking about though. That makes it more fun though, for me anyway.

I am still unsure of what is happening with the website.

I received payment for my 3rd item on eBay. Is exciting.

I think that’s it.

ttyl

nick

“They call’em fingers, but I never saw’em fing.”
Auto, the Simpsons

Diet Vanilla Cherry Dr. Pepper?!?

Yes, the longest name of any soft drink I know of. And redundant too, since Dr Pepper is cherry anyway, even though nobody knows it. ( I didn’t know till I realized the similarity between Dr. Pepper and Jolt Cherry Bomb).

Ohh no, my Library card is going to expire soon! Well, 2016, but that means I’m, like half through. The website lets you check fines and such, and request books. You can say “I want this book” and it will be at your local library soon, even if the nearest copy is at the UCLA library across the country! It’s cool. (I kinda feel weird, endorsing the library, like a commercial on PBS.)

New poll is up. Kinda sad, only 4 people. Used to have like 6. Ohh well, at least I have my hundreds of googlers.

I mailed my gloves today, back to Dockers. The stitching came apart between the fingers, and Kohl’s doesn’t have them in stock anymore.

iTunes/Pepsi starts back up today. If you find a winner, and aren’t saving them, I want them.

Also today, new PowerBooks came out. Faster processors, 8x DVD burners, drop protection, and scrolling trackpads. And a price drop!

OK, I’m off to do more nothing. Back Thursday.

nick

Police spent several hours attempting to save a fish trapped under the ice. Despite their efforts, it died shortly after.

Saginaw, Part Deux!

So, back to where I left off…

So I was looking for a connection between Apple and Saginaw, and still haven’t found much. I did come up with a few possibilities though. The first is that some Apple employee is from the area. The second is they threw a dart at a map, or some other coincidence. The third (and favorite) is that it could be a sign of the future. There are currently 101 Apple Stores worldwide, 99 in the US. After some looking, I found a list of the 500 largest metro areas in the US, here are Michigan’s part of the top 500:

12 Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI 4,452,557
31 Warren-Farmington Hills-Troy, MI 2,391,395
38 Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI 2,061,162
87 Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI 740,482
127 Lansing-East Lansing, MI 447,728
132 Flint, MI 436,141
169 Ann Arbor, MI 322,895
175 Kalamazoo-Portage, MI 314,866
201 Holland-Grand Haven, MI 238,314
217 Saginaw-Saginaw Township North, MI 210,039
248 Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI 170,200
260 Niles-Benton Harbor, MI 162,453
263 Jackson, MI 158,422
285 Monroe, MI 145,945
305 Battle Creek, MI 137,985
312 Traverse City, MI 131,342
367 Bay City, MI 110,157
385 Allegan, MI 105,665
405 Adrian, MI 98,890
450 Midland, MI 82,874
491 Owosso, MI 71,687

And, if you add up Bay City, Saginaw, and Midland, you get:

140 Bay City – Saginaw – Midland 403,070

thus, we are top 150 nationwide (in theory, there is likely an overlap between Saginaw-Bay City, etc…). Now, consider that in Michigan, we have Apple Stores in Troy and Novi, and the one in Grand Rapids is coming this year (they are currently hiring actually). Between those three, the Detroit and Grand Rapids areas are mostly covered. This leaves Lansing and Flint ahead of us. Granted, there are other considerations other than population, like major colleges and universities (Lansing of course has MSU, Flint has Kettering and Mott, and Saginaw has Delta and SVSU).

OK, so we probably have a while, and Saginaw was probably a coincidence, so what.

Anyway…

Jenn, Scott and I went to Old Great Wall buffet on Friday, was good as always.

Room is still going.

Poll is back, vote or die.

Jenn and I are going to NAIAS Tuesday (and maybe Apple Store), Tim might be coming too. Info Wednesday.

Thats all.

nick

If everybody was weird, then nobody would be.