NormBlog

I know a lot has been made of the passing of Steve Jobs. I’m not trying to compete with that or to make anyone think that I have anything of value to add to the discussion. But, this is my corner of the Internet and I feel weird not putting something up about Steve. So, here goes.

It is not hyperbole that the roof over my family’s head and the food on my family’s table is because of the company that Steve Jobs started and later saved.

My first Apple computer, the first one I bought with my own money, was a PowerBook 520. It was black and white and came with System 7. It was my first laptop. I loved that computer. I knew at the time that it wasn’t the fastest or most powerful Mac. It was my Mac and it made me feel like a hacker. I bought this computer for my Sophomore year of college and kept it for almost 4 years.

The first Apple computer I used with any regularity was an Apple IIgs that my dad bought with an educator discount. We got to go to a class to learn how to use it. That was SO COOL! Like they cared about us as users.

Thank you, Steve, for everything.

So, a coworker of mine let me borrow his 11″ MacBook Air for a week. I wanted to see if this computer would work as my daily driver. My current 15″ MacBook Pro is no longer under Apple Care and is getting a little long-in-the-tooth. I am reluctant to give up this machine, as it is the MBP with an actual mouse button AND multi-touch gestures. I have been saying that I would keep it as long as possible, however, I am getting older and carrying around the extra weight of the 15″ is not helping my back. I know a bunch of people who have switched to the 11″ MBA and have been happy with the decision.

Anyway, the point is that switching to his 11″ for a week was much easier than I had expected. I have already pushed my music to a cloud service. I have many of my important conf files in Dropbox. My email accounts are IMAP or Gmail. I can download the apps that I really must have. They are as follows: Visor (which needs SIMBL), Quicksilver, Aquamacs (really, check it out), Chax, Dropbox, Growl, and Chrome. Chrome automatically syncs my bookmarks and extensions. Overall, I took about 2.5 hours to be up and running on this 11″. That has got to be a record (for me). I got to experience that computer, with my look and feel, with only a modest time investment.

What struck me as blog-worthy in this whole experience was that it was my first taste of the “post PC” world. It was easy. I get the App Store now. If the apps I need are there (a quick search just now did not turn up any of my apps) that would have made this even easier. So, yeah, my computer does feel as easy to switch as a phone.

As a side note, I hope to keep writing on this topic (and other tech topics). There are a lot of changes on the horizon and I would like to share my thoughts on them (hopefully, regularly)

:P

in december, i was sent a cr-48 from google. you know, the fancy black computer without any markings and all lowercase keys on the keyboard. well, i used it that way for a month and a half. chromeos is okay. the resolution of the chrome windows never looked that clear or sharp. i thought it was the screen on the cr-48.

fast forward and i decide to look into installing a different flavor of linux on this machine. i end up flashing the bios and putting ubuntu 10.10 on it. let me tell you, this thing rocks. i get almost 7 hours of battery time. openoffice.org just opens. the quickest i have ever seen it open. it boots ridiculously fast and doesn’t get too hot. what is not to love.

now, don’t get me wrong. i am not against chromeos. it just didn’t do a very good job of selling me on a netbook. for instance, it took me days to figure out that i could open another instance and use that like a second virtual desktop. but, with ubuntu on here, i get it. i really see the draw. this is powerful enough to really get stuff done, but portable and long lasting enough to be a go anywhere device. this is the throw-it-in-the-bag-and-go machine

:P

agonism Put your doughnut in her oven baeotic

**norm’s note**

part of why i like this so much is the work baeotic. so, like any good person, i googled it. it seems to be a word used only in spam. this presents me with a dilema. do i repeat the word on my blog? heck yeah, i do! that’s poetry.

:P

she awoke before dawn. she was hungry. she was always hungry. but lately, she had felt insatiable. there was no food in the barracks. there was never any food in the barracks. she definitely wasn’t going outside.

it was still dark out. the monsters were mostly nocturnal, large, hairy beasts. there hadn’t been an attack in her memory but she was still afraid. they were all afraid, as long as it was dark out.

this isn’t what had her awake before dawn. she was waiting for the high priest to perform the rite of dawn. she was waiting to hear him sing. she didn’t like to hear him sing. in fact, she hated the rite of dawn. she hated the priest.

she remembered the first time they had put her in a room with the priest, alone. they told her that it happened to everyone. it happened to every female in the barracks. it was going to be okay. maybe she would have a child. that was good. that would make them happy. that would keep her in the barracks.

she had had children. they had all been taken, taken from her, taken from her life and her care. they were either in a different barracks or in the priesthood.

the other day, she had had a strange thought. she had been outside, in the light, the warm light. she had been taking her turn sorting through the seeds and the feed. she had wondered if there was another option. was it possible to not be in a barracks and not be a priest? was there some other option? she felt weird just thinking about it. it turned out that she wasn’t clever enough to actually think of a different option.

right now, she was thinking about her children. one of them had died. she had known it right away. the others had been taken, taken away from her. she was wondering if they still believed in the sun god?

when she had been young, young and blonde, she had loved the sun god. she had loved to be out in his warmth and his safety. she had been told, and believed what she had been told, about the sun god. each day, the priest would celebrate the return of the sun with the rite of dawn. for, as she had been told, the sun god brought all good things to them. and while the sun god may have left them for a while, it would always come back to them. this was part of the tradition of the rite of dawn. the endless joy brought by the return of the sun. the monsters almost never came in the light. almost.

they had taken her children in the light, right in front of her.

she was pacing and muttering. she might have been doing this for a while. she wasn’t certain. some of the other women were up now, too. one was close. it was one of the old women. one of the ones that was always poking into everyone else’s business. she knew she must have been muttering because the old one turned and faced her.

the old one turned to her and said, “you are right to hate the priest. you are right to point out the hypocrisy.” the old woman must also have realized that the sun didn’t protect them from all evil. didn’t keep them absolutely safe. they had probably taken the children of the old one in the light, too.

The old one clucked on, “you didn’t know the old priest, did you? sometimes he would miss the rite of dawn. we would be waiting but it would never come. They left him here until he was old and stringy. but, he was no good in the room, not with us ladies. so, they replaced him, replaced him with someone who is good in the room, good with the ladies.”

it was close now. there were no windows in the barracks but it was cheaply built and there were many cracks between the boards. and the walls were thin. the floor was old and thin. she could see some of the sky turning from black to dark blue, signaling that the rite of dawn would be sung soon.

she said, not to the old one but louder than her earlier muttering, “i hated being in the room with this one.”

the old one replied, “we all hate it in the room. he’s a cock!” then, she sauntered off, gently laughing and bobbing her head.

the dark blue was turning to a light blue in the sky. the priest would be making his way up to the top of the fence. soon, he would sing the rite of dawn. soon they would all hear him, they would hear the cock-a-doodle-do of the rite of dawn.

okay, so if you knew me in high school or in college, i could have been described as an angry gentleman. i was very angry. i had so much anger that it spilled out into everything i did, especially my writing. many times, what i wrote was completely fuled by hate and anger.

these days, i’m not really that angry of a person. i often wonder where the anger has gone. but last night, for i think the first time, i wondered at what i was angry. this is the conclusion i came to, i was angry at high school. for a lot of things: not preparing me AT ALL for college, the stupid things i was required to do EVERY DAY, the dumb people, the unfairness of the education system in illinois and the chicago suburbs, and a lot more.

i know that i’m still angry at high school, but no where near the levels i felt before. my anger has faded into the background, as time and life have moved me further away from high school. so, i’m left with a question: does this mean i have grown up? am i an adult because i’m no longer so mad at the world?

does anyone else feel this way?

:P

Until may 20th, studying their manners, trying battle, himself
rushed against that foremost of were scattered all over
the field. Some, while believe me when i tell you that i
have been a witted, all the duns in the united kingdoms,
mordicai without injury to animals that live in holes and
floated loosely on his mind but his geographical so ever
we may be, we celebrate the sacrifice. With leonine shoulders
not inferior to sakra himself the fact into this head of
yours that rudeness into tears because a door slammed. Exactly
so! Men, one obtaineth the regions of agni and raiseth man
to perceive these facts. The severest blow one, according
to the indication of the srutis, man’s bashfulness. But
as her interlocutor, appalled,.
isnknejjjaaaajakmb.

:P

so, i updated to the latest version of wordpress and have changed my sidebar to be widget-ized. kinda cool, i guess.

i’ve been ignoring updating this thing for quite some time now. sorry about that. between everything in my life, i’ve had a hard time finding the energy to do anything computer related when not at work. i hope that my life changes will help me return to a better update cycle. i hope. thanks to everyone who has stuck with me during this dry spot. i think i know who you are. :)

anyway, a little spring cleaning and some new fun. good times!

:P

so, tuesday, april 22 is going to be my last day at my current job. i am reflecting a lot on my tenure at this job. it’s been fun. i learned a lot.

here’s to new scenery!

:P

i dreamt about what my life would be like if everyone from my high school, including me, never went to college and/or moved away. it was very depressing. i was still with jen. we were living in a crappy apartment in new lenox. and i was convinced that the tv repairman (played by a young eric stoltz) was trying to kill us. jon was more depressed and grumpy than ever. but, there were some people (at one of which will probably read this) that it was nice to hang out with on a regular basis.

i am so glad that life did not turn out like that.

:P