Macbook Revisited

Just a quick note to update you about my thoughts of the Macbook... My decision to save money by not spending $300 for a backlit keyboard, slight boost in CPU speed and HD space was a good move. This computer is extremely quick in responding to commands and completing tasks. Plus, I am pretty good at typing by feel and it is requiring me to get better at it... Earlier, I had encountered an issue with the glass trackpad. I began to notice that it was inconsistent when clikcing or tapping the the left side of the trackpad. Fortunately, this issue was resolved within a few weeks with a software update and has not been an issue since.

I am coming to realize that the missing firewire port is posing a problem that I had not anticipated. Initially, I never thought that it would be an issue because I did not plug anything into the firewire port, but I realize that in order to transfer our miniDV tapes from our camcorder to my computer I am going to need it. Looks like I am going to have to buy a firewire hub or pay someone to do it for me. Jen and I are looking into getting a camcorder with a hard drive, so it looks like it may be in my best interest to let someone take care of it for me. Otherwise I have an extra box laying around for one-time need... Not sure what I will do at this point. Otherwise, no complaints whatsoever!

Great Day In Sports!

"I've been waiting for this moment all my life, oh Lord..." 

-Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight"

That lyric sums of my sports life today. The Football Gods have given me all I could ever hope for in Week 17  of the NFL. Let me break this down for you:

1. The NY Jest traded to get Brett Favre from Green Bay in order to take them into the playoffs. The Jets immediately cut their returning starter, Chad Pennington. 

2. The Miami Dolphins immediately sign Chad Pennington to to be the starting QB for a struggling team.

3. Tom Brady is injured and out for the season for the New England Patriots. The AFC East division is now up for grabs!

4. At Week 17, the Jets have been eliminated from playoff contention. The Dolphins will win the division and the Patriots will be eliminated if the Dolphins can beat the Jets. 

Before the games started, it was shaping up to be a wonderful day. The sun was shining and it was clear, but cold outside. A perfect day to stay indoors, where it is warn and cozy. I sat back, relaxed and watched a miserable Detroit Lions team attempt to avoid going 0-16 for the season. They came close, but ultimately lost to become the only team in NFL history to lose every game in a 16 game season. Sure, the 1976 Buccaneers went 0-14, but they were an expansion team so they get some slack. Plus- they only went 0-14. The Lions have been miserable for years and almost pulled of this feat once before (see the 2001 season). What makes it better is that they were 4-0 in the preseason- how crazy is that? Win all the games that didn't matter and none of the games that did matter... That is truly a sign of a tremendous feat that will NEVER be seen again. A part of history and sports folklore forever. 

On to the second set of games, where I see Chad Pennington have the opportunity to beat the team that released him for an over-the-hill QB that should have retired a year ago in Brett Favre. Pennington does what he does- precisely cuts through the Jets defense to lead them down the field and take the lead into the 4th quarter. Favre gives me everything I could hope for- 3 INTs (1 returned for TD), completed 50% of his passes and ends his season with a QB rating less than 50! A fitting way for his career to end- playing as horribly as ever. A vintage bad Favre game... He is the model for inconsistency. He's either goes 35-43/385/4 TDs or 20-40/3 INTs. Today he was the latter and I am eternally grateful! FOr once in my life, I can say I love Favre!

Seriously- who would have ever thought that a team that was 1-15 last year (which challenged for the right to be called "worst team ever") could turn around and win their division and go 11-5 on the season? I did not think they had it in them. I figured it was a year or so away.... So the Dolphins are in the playoffs, which means that the Patriots are out! Made my freaking day. Could it really get any better? Surely not... Yet- it did.

I then turn the channel to the Eagles/Cowboys game and see that the Eagles are obliterating the Cowboys 44-6! So, with a wild card bid hanging in the balance, the Cowboys completely melt down and mail it in against a division rival? That is so great! NOW- it cannot get any better in the NFL...

So there you have it- one of the best days for me as an NFL fan. 

Choice of Words...

My Dad sent me an email which stated that he was thinking of starting to use curse words because he is at an age where no one can tell him what to do anymore (except Mom, of course). Obviously he was joking, but I decided to write him a response rife with foul language to get a good laugh from him. Here is a excerpt:

"You can learn to do something new! Hell- I think you could get pretty f$cking good at cursing. It takes a lot to practice all of that bull$hit to cruse like a bast@rd sailor, but damn it- I think you can pull that $hit off!"

That said, his email did cause me to reflect on the use of language in our society today. I have always subscribed to the notion that cursing looses its effectiveness if used too often. If they are used in the proper manner (that doesn't sound right...), the words can instill anger, fear, and motivation. All too often a person intending to inspire others use the words so frequently that the words loose their "punching power." The best example I can give you is my father. He is a man that rarely uses foul language and would rather not hear it at all. There have only been a couple of times where I have heard the words he despises spewed from his mouth. Once uttered, everyone within earshot knew- now is not the time to mess with him. As a matter of fact- the president contacts the military to issue DEFCON-1. A two-hour hiatus occurs before returning to DEFCON-5.

Furthermore, I believe that curse words are used by less-educated people that lack the cognitive ability to articulate themselves in a more dignified manner. (How eloquent was that?) How often do you hear someone describe an object with f$cking (insert adjective here)? What about the world-famous simile, "like $hit?" You know- "their new album sounds like $hit," or "that lasagna tasted like $hit." There are numerous ways to formulate thoughts. Those that continue to use such language on a continuous basis are telling others, "My vocabulary is severely limited and I cannot carry an intelligent conversation with others. Can't talk now- Maury is on and I want to see if any of the 5 guys on stage is this kid's father!"

When my 5-year-old son gets older (much older in fact), I am going to give him the 2 Rules of Cursing:

1. Never use curse words in normal conversation. It is uncalled for at all times.

2. Only use curse words for emphasis or to show that your intensity has been raised to the highest level.

Actually- these rules are a lot like my rules for fighting, but that is for another post...

We Live in Filthy Times...

I know that most of us were told to wash our hands after using the restroom. Unfortunately, there are people who have not heard this sanitary message.

On my break last week, I went to the restroom to take care of things when I noticed a guy already in a stall and another at the urinal. I pulled up to the other urinal and did my thing as the other guy finished his business. He then proceeded to the sink, only to look at himself, turned to the door, and pressed his disgusting hands on the door to exit the room. Are you kidding me? Now I am pressed with the task of washing my hands and figuring out a way out of this place without touching the door...

There is nothing worse than people not washing their hands after using the restroom in a public facility. If you don't want to do that in your own house, that's fine- I don't ever have to use the restroom in your house. I wouldn't want anyone to look at me in disgust as they walk out of a restroom. Moreover- I could not imagine walking around knowing that other people know I did not wash my hands in the restroom...

Along these same lines- there should be few laws that should be enacted from a national level:

1. Every restroom should have hot water. I can't stand turning on the faucet and not having hot water in the restroom. It helps to kill germs and cleanse the hands while using soap.

2. Bathrooms must have paper towels. There is nothing I hate more than the jet-powered air machine that "dries" hands by simply blowing the water off of the skin. Sure it may not be better for the environment, but at least I don't have to finish drying my hands on my pants.

3. Build every restroom door "pull in/push out." Seriously, does it take a genius to realize that no one wants to touch a filthy door handle that has probably never cleaned to get our of a facility just after you cleaned up? I hate having to use that paper napkin as a barrier to the filth on that door handle.

There you have it. From now on, I wash my hands of this issue.

Don't Vote- Please!

Everywhere I look, there are people telling me to vote. Celebrities, athletes, musicians and news anchors all telling everyone to "go out and vote" tomorrow. MTV running the "Rock the Vote" campaigns makes my skin crawl. Sure- they are not necessarily telling you who to vote for, but the majority of these people are devout liberal democrats. That's not so hard to decipher in inference there... What scares me the most is that many of the citizens in this country will go out and do just that: vote! The worst thing that can happen is if everyone actually DOES go out and vote tomorrow. Don't believe me? Read on...

Everyone has the right to vote, but not everyone should vote. The last thing America needs is to have an uninformed electorate determine the next person to lead our nation in this crucial time. In a time of financial, social and military turmoil, the last thing we need is to have a mass of uniformed yokels determine our next president. The same people that will listen to the idiots they see on TV are the same idiots that will vote for a person because Oprah did. In essence, Oprah herself may actually have millions of votes in this election all over the country.

The fact is that most of the people in our country are more disappointed that their favorite show is going to be bumped to cover the results of the election. Most of these people also are not truly aware of the positions of the candidates. Instead, they believe one or more of the items below:

1. The miscommunication of what one candidate says about the other.

2. The rumors spread around on the internet

3. The unchecked facts they hear from their friends and associates.

The fact is that the majority of the voting public is not truly prepared to make an educated decision. I have heard some of the most ridiculous comments I have ever heard about these candidates. Among them are these:

1. If Obama wins, it is a sign of the Apocalypse. In short, a man from the Middle East will rise to power.... yadda yadda yadda...

2. McCain wants rich people to keep their money and spend it as they see fit (spewed by a newspaper "journalist")

3. My personal favorite: Authorities cannot validate that Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States. Meaning, there is no proof that he was born... well- American.

The best part about the third one is that when the statement was made, everyone bought it without thought and commented that there is a conspiracy to elect a "foreigner." I actually heard a person say that "no one has been able to produce his birth certificate and there is no proof that he was born in the US." Immediately, those hearing this started to vent about it swearing a conspiracy was in the midst.

Really? Are you kidding me? From a completely unbiased point of view, let me take you through US Government 101. There are only 3 general requirements to run for the office of President:

1. You must be age 35 or over.

2. You must be an American born citizen.

3. You must have lived in the US for a minimum of 14 years.

Knowing this, do you think that the Democratic Party would invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a man to become President without asking these 3 questions? Seriously? No way. The Democrats could have easily find another stiff that could beat the Republican's stiff...

My point is that instead of researching the candidates and reviewing the issues at hand, many Americans will vote based on who received a donation from their favorite celebrity. There is some good news in all of this...

The fact is that most people do NOT vote. Young people will either forget, not care enough, or may not have even registered to vote. Others will be so immersed in their own life that they will forget to stop by the polls on the way home from work. There will even be some that will forget to bring the required documentation to vote. Either way- the fewer people that vote the better.

I am voting tomorrow, but I always keep my original blog in mind when making my selection: Pick your poison- which tastes better going down because neither are good for the country.

First Thoughts of My New Macbook

Well- it is now time to discuss my thoughts on the new Macbook. Initially, I was going to purchase the $1599 Macbook, but ended up ordering the $1299 Macbook. The main reason I wanted the high-end Macbook was for the backlit keyboard. The only other benefits were the 2.4MHz processor (mine has 2.0MHz) and a 250GB hard drive (mine is 160GB). I figured that I am not going to push the computer to its fullest capacity terribly often (if ever) and I can always upgrade the hard drive for $100 anytime and save the money for now. It came down to paying an additional $300 for a backlit keyboard.

After a lot of deliberation I realized that I have never had a backlit keyboard on a laptop before. I figured it's like a keyless entry system on a car. Before I had ever had a car with a keyless entry system, I had no idea how wonderful it was. Honestly, I never thought about constantly having to insert the key, turn, and remove before opening the door. I didn't bother me all that much and I was content going about my merry way. Then I bought my first car with the remote and was immediately amazed by it. In fact, I eventually forgot the days where I had to use the key at all. Now that I have it, I will never buy another car without it.

I rationalized that since I have never used the backlit keys, I really didn't know what I was missing and therefore, could still enjoy a new laptop without it. Next time may be different, but in this case, I can touch-type for the most part and ignorance is bliss, right?

Anyway, lets get back to another key point. The idea of ordering the Macbook. Ordered? Yes, ordered. You see, Tennessee has a 9.75% sales tax, so if I were to buy it at the Apple Store, it would have cost an additional $130. Always looking for a bargain, I was able to order it from Amazon.com (which also gave me a $5 rebate!).

Opening the box, my excitement was at an all-time high. After lifting the lid, I pulled the tab to lift it out of the box. It was quite cold from shipping, but looked amazing. With the machine closed, it is virtually seamless. Once opened, I have to admit to thinking it was beautiful. The LED screen is gorgeous and immensely brighter than that of our old G4. It took about 5 minutes and the operating system had initialized and the Mac was ready for use.

I must admit- all of the new gestures are awesome and really time-saving! It is really easy to get back to any program I wish to use, back a page while surfing the web, etc. The flat keys are going to take a little time to get used to for me. All in all- a fantastic piece of equipment.

Transferring some of my old files from my Windows computer has been a hassle. I have decided to reformat my iPod in order to allow iTunes to automatically sync it, but that causes some major problems. I have more than 80GB of music, video and photos. My iPod only has an 80GB capacity. I also do not wish to load all of the music onto my Macbook an bog it down and not have enough space to do anything else. So what do I do? I haven't answered that question just yet. I am trying to look at it as a good problem to have!

Once I get everything worked out, this will be awesome. For now, I am still enjoying this much more than that slow PC I have been using for over a year!

Will catch up with you later once I get it personalized.

-OUT-

New Macbooks Launch Tomorrow- Feeling Blissful

Ever since Jen and I bought our Macbook G4 back in 2005, I have waited for the day to rid myself of the duldrum that is a Windows-based PC. We have an E-Machines tower we bought a couple of years ago because my other Windows laptop died and I needed something to get by for a while. Slowly but surely, the computer has been getting bogged down and after a few hours of use must be turned off to let the circuitry refresh and respond to commands properly. How crazy is that? 

As perviously stated, we bought our little Macbook G4 (1.33MHz/512MB RAM/40GB Drive) and it has completely out-performed this Windows machine (2.2MHz/512MB RAM/180GB Drive). In the past three and a half years, we have rebooted the Mac three times because it would not respond! I have to it more than that each week on the desktop... It is constantly unable to close programs, takes 20 seconds to open any internet browser, and freezes up constantly. Alas, my time has finally come. 

I was close to buying a new Macbook in July, but decided to wait after hearing rumors that new Macbooks were to be released in September. It was only a 6 week wait- the Windows machine could hold up 'til then, right? I wish I could say it was easy. Little by litte, the Windows machine continued to falter and sputter and September came and went without a Macbook event. Then rumors of an October launch started. Great- another 4 week wait... Last week almost past without a Macbook event invite and I truly started to grip about my decision. All of the rumors flying around talked of a complete renovation of the Macbook line. I decided to hedge my bets on October, knowing that if the Macbook event was not going to be official by October 14, I would just by a lower-line Macbook and wait until next year to buy a new generation Mac. 

Last week was as much a relief as it was filled with excitement. Tomorrow, we will see if my gamble has paid off. I am sure it will pay great dividends, but how much is the true question. Either way- I win: I get to toss this Windows machine out on the street by week's end. Some things in life are truly worth the wait, and this is one of them. 

An upcomming blog soon giving my review of my new Macbook!

Voting = Picking Poison

I have always maintained the position that having to choose between Republicans and Democrats is like having to choose between hemlock and arsenic: both will ensure death, but at least you get to choose your flavor. 

I consider myself fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and ethically libertarian. I believe that I know the best way to spend my money and do not wish to give the government any more than I must. There is enough government waste that should be addressed before asking me for more. Wouldn't you get pissed if you gave your child $20 for the week and he comes back 3 days later saying that he had spent it all and needs another $10 to get through the week? Of course, you ask him, "What did you do with the $20 I gave you?" His response: "That is neither here nor there- the fact remains that I am broke and need lunch money for school." Properly allocate funds before you ask for more...

 I also believe that people should have the right to live the way they choose as long as their lives do not infringe on the rights of others. While my views on various topics are always the correct view everyone should have, everyone has the right to their own opinions and beliefs. They would be WRONG, but people have the right to be wrong .

That said, I am in a serious dilemma this election. The past 8 years under the Bush regime has been rough to put it mildly. GWB has had to pick up the pieces of the destruction of a inept Clinton Administration that allowed Osama bin Ladin slip through his hands when Sudan advised him of his location for capture. GWB has spent the last 7 years trying to redeem America and punish the terrorists who attempted to destroy our freedoms. Now we have numerous laws that violate our right to privacy and cloak them under heroic name such as the "Patriot Act." Meanwhile, the economy is in such turmoil, I am having to feel great that I have a crappy dead-end job that I loathe.

Now we have a choice between an old man that represents "the establishment" and a young, charismatic man that hasn't even immersed his head under water in the political ocean- not even enough to call him "wet behind the ears." It looks a lot like 1992 all over again. Think back- an old incumbent, tired and lethargic versus a young, vibrant fellow that played a sax on MTV to play the "hip card." 

I have not decided my vote at this time. I have always voted "wallet" (Republican) in the past, I am not so sure this time. I have seen a few debates in hopes that Obama would give me a reason to vote for him, but nothing thus far. Just a bunch of generic solutions to specific problems that face our country. McCain's thought to "clean up government waste" sounds great, but it sounds more like "Pot? Yes, it's me- kettle. You, my friend are as black as they come. Gotta run!"

Like I said- pick your poison. I remember hearing this once before: if you don't vote, you can't complain. Therefore, I may just vote so I CAN complain...