Apples and Alfas
I had planned to take a day or two off from scribblin', but it turned into three. Or four or something. Today was a nice relaxing Saturday BBQ with friends and their new baby, eight days old. I got to hold her, and it was a good thing. To have such a tiny creature just sleeping contentedly on your shoulder is one of the better things in life. If you can't get one of your own, borrow a friend's. It's even better sometimes because you don't have to clean up the poop and you can go home and blog about it, and get more than four hours sleep to boot.
It was also a day off from Grandma, which was needed for the stress level. She's not playing ball, not for the most part, and I can't really blame her, but it's not healthy seven days a week for those on the receiving end. I'll be fine tomorrow, because on Monday...
I have another Me day when I get to take the MR2 to the mechanic to get the brakes and A/C fixed for the big trip. Yup, checked her out today, drove her around the block and declared her road worthy. Also, got word from friend and fellow Blogger Pieter K that we're up to about a 90% chance that he's coming along for the drive. My big idea is the 'dual-road-blog' (um, imagine that TM thingy over there because I'm too lazy to remember how to do it). This is where we both drive the same route (duh, in the same car), see the same things, and upload at night to see how different our experiences are. Isn't that exciting? No? Well, up yours buddy, it's a great idea and I'm even going to tell Glenn about it. We might even crash in on that Lane guy in Reno. Who knows, maybe we'll even have an adult beverage in Tennessee. The world is my oyster you pinko commie.
Anyhoo, that's my exciting news for the day. Other than that I had a relatively lengthy discussion today about the outlook for Apple post the new OS X. I've started digging into the Unix end of it recently, and as I'm doing so thinking about all the possibilities for software writers, and therefore the potential for current PC users being further tempted to switch sides in the war. I'm no expert, but writing for an extremely well known platform such as Unix has got to be much easier, and therefore less expensive, with less lead time, than the old Mac OS, and even for Windows (record five commas in that last sentence). The new powerful G5 models should incite the makers of RAM hungry 3D programs to write for the Mac (Maya already has a carbonized a version for the old Mac OS, so tweaking the SGI version for OSX should be a cakewalk). The Plug-and-Play Airport wireless networking and seamless integration with Windows powered LANS could even attract skittish IT gurus and not make them sigh so loud when the creative department gets a new shipment of Macs.
This, combined with strong sales of the iPod, and the new downloadable music section could finally give Apple the underpinnings it has always lacked to launch new products without needing to look over the edge of the cliff, and maybe be able to deliver enough new units consistently to cover initial orders. Or have they already fixed that part.
Is it so weird that Apple users tend to sound like Apple salesmen? Is this something that they have built into the operating systems for years that creeps in through your fingertips when you point and click? I've only ever experienced this elsewhere with Alfa Romeo owners. Talk about a sick bunch.
