4.28.2006

Shipping Status

The MacBook Pro entered the US officially yesterday around 2:30PM in Anchorage, AK. This morning it was in Indianapolis, IN and was in transit by about 4:00 AM. According to Google Maps it's a 6.5 hr drive putting it in Madison, WI by 10:30 AM, likely too late to be delivered today. We'll see.

4.26.2006

MacBook Pro Ordered

Monday evening I ordered a 17" MacBook Pro.

I've been thinking about getting a Mac for a while and was swayed to replace my Sony Vaio laptop with a MacBook Pro by the ability to natively boot into OS X or Windows. I won't be the first (, second, or third) person I know with a MacBook Pro but, I don't know anyone with a 17".

Do I really need a 17" laptop? At a pound more than the hefty feeling 15.4" MacBook Pro if weight were a leading concern I doubt I would have gone with the 17". To be honest though weight isn't a factor. My need for portability isn't running down to the coffeeshop twice a day. It's taking my computer on vacation or occassionally to work. Once it gets setup, it is there for approximately 8 hours or more.

The Dual Layer SuperDrive 8x is pretty cool. Do I have such little free time or such a great need to burn CDs/DVDs that I couldn't wait for a 4x? Nope.

What it comes down to is the 17" is priced so close to the 15.4" that for my needs it didn't make sense to not get the extra screen real estate and enhanced features offered.

Jen got a new bike

Saturday we went and picked out a bike for Jen. The purpose being twofold fitness and transportation in and around De Forest.

http://www.electrabike.com/04/bikes/06bikes/townie/06_twn_25.html

The selected bike is an Electra Townie 8. It's built mostly for comfort and has a couple unique features. Flatfoot tehcnology TM, the Townie series incorporates standard bike design with a hint of a recumbent. The result is a forward pedal position that is very comfortable and when you adjust the seat to you height you can stand flat-footed on the ground and not have to tiptoe.

The other unique feature is an enclosed rear hub. There is no exposed derailer just a maintenance free hub that makes changing gears a simple twist of the wrist.

I'll probably be picking up a Townie in the near future for myself.

4.23.2006

Civic Duty

Monday morning I get another shot at serving the people of Dane County as a juror.

Last time was nearly 10 years ago and I was unlikely to be considered for a jury being just weeks past turning eighteen years old. Now, as a twenty-eight year old with a stable job and average values I suspect the chances of making it onto a jury are greater.

Stay tuned for, well, not details but generalities about the process etc.

4.10.2006

[Florida Round-Up] Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs was described to me as:

* A Greek Community
* The place with the Sponge Docks
* A good daytrip from Ocala, FL

It certainly fulfilled each of those. Like you think of chinatown so is Tarpon Springs a greek town and not just at the touristy areas. We went to Costa's for lunch which is... a greek restaurant. I had a gyro while Jen had chicken souvlaki (chicken breast gyro).

We went through most of the shops, it has a very Wisconsin Dells strip feel to it. Only instead of dells they have docks and some of the richest sponge beds in the world. We went on a sponge harvesting exhibition cruise. They showed us how the divers used to dive for sponges. Our diver Travis noted my Packers' shirt and asked where we were from, he had come down a couple years ago from Stevens Point, WI to make a living as a diver.

With a two hour drive down and back and a couple hours worth of shopping and cruising it filled out the day pretty well.

Inside the Ponce Inlet lighthouse

The spiral 212 step staircase to the top of Ponce Inlet lighthouse. Ponce Inlet was recently renamed from Mosquito Cove. Reportedly tourism is up 2000%.

I got a few quick shots posted. See more at my flickr page.

4.05.2006

Weather Update

We've been having terrible weather. It's the worst they've seen this time of the year from what I hear from the locals.

It's been between 85 and 95 degrees everyday and barely a cloud in the sky. The locals are worried because it usually doesn't get that warm until May and will stay that warm or hotter through November.

A death in the family ...

I called up and talked to my brother Matt (aka Version0) just to check in on things back home. Everything was fine and he was driving so we ended our call quickly.

A few moments later he called back with shocking news. The Mirage had died. He was on the Beltline and the poor little thing gave out. Trying to think of how to get it home from a couple thousand miles from home we set up roadside assistance on our cell phone plans ($2.95/mo), that takes effect immediately. He was able to call and get the little guy towed to my parents' house.

Oh well, she had a good run, there is some chance we'll be able to bring her back from the dead, again. We'll see.

Other than that we've been cruising around the state visiting a bunch of little attactions. Here's a non-exhaustive list of what we've done:

* Sat in the pool here at my parent's park.
* Went to the Market of Marion Flea Maket.
* Visited the Volusia County Beaches (Daytona, Ormond, Ponce Inlet)
* Climbed to the top of the Ponce (de Leon) Inlet Lighthouse. The tallest lighthouse in all of Florida.
* Enjoyed Silver Springs Park.
* And of course shopped until I wanted to drop...

That's all for now. We're on our way to Tarpon Springs a large greek community and sponge harvesting docks.