Mostly True Tales

After another quick couple days in St. Louis I drove back to the lake this afternoon. I was quite sore and tired when I arrived. I stayed up late babysitting my data last night and got up about 5:30 this morning.

Marcia and the kids will come down tomorrow evening. I don’t really feel up to this weekend, but I’m stuck with it, so here we go. Our rental condos are, of course, 100% occupied this last holiday weekend, most arriving tomorrow, so I have some chores to do in the morning.

The good news is, everyone (my Friends) will be here, it’s the last her-rah. Many years we throw a party this weekend, but we did that earlier this year.

For some, this weekend will be good-bye, until next season. The poor souls don’t get to enjoy the post season which is my favorite. Starting Tuesday, the lake will be beautiful and quite.

Then, there are those, like me, that enjoy the lake year round, and a great many have become my closest friends. I look forward to seeing them this weekend.

I feel like a TV evangelist. It’s a miracle, an absolute miracle. Using a super secret technique taught to me by the infamous Eskimo-Ninja, Nanuk of the North, I was able to recover the data from my old Powerbook.

I can hardly believe it myself. I was just getting used to the grim reality of entering a years worth of data into Quicken manually and getting along without all the other stuff I lost, but that reality is no more. Armed only with a 12 pack of Bud-Light, a soldering gun, and a tuna-fish sandwich, I was able to get the drive spinning long enough to completely image it to another drive, thereby preserving my flawless record of 100% data integrity.

I feel good.

Now, armed with my data and new laptop, I’ll head back to the lake today for the last big weekend of the year. Marcia and the girls will follow tomorrow.

This morning, just days after my PowerBook died, I received the following email from Apple.

Got an old computer, printer, or monitor lying around? Recycle your hardware free right now with the Apple Recycling Program.* Equipment received through this program is recycled domestically in an environmentally friendly manner. Plus it’s so easy, why wouldn’t you?

1. Print this email
2. Package your old hardware
3. Bring up to two boxes to a FedEx location
4. Give this email to FedEx
5. FedEx can scan the barcode or input the FedEx RMA number
6. Ship your hardware free
7. Think of your next Earth-friendly move

Kinda nice, but I’m not sending them my PowerBook. I’ll probably fix it and use it for some dedicated task, like running a camera.

Looks like all that Greenpeace pressure has paid off.

Well, I didn’t make the eclipse this morning. I got up in time. I always do, but the moon was already too low in the west to see from the condo. I guess I’m getting lazy, but if I couldn’t see it from the front balcony with coffee in my hand, I wasn’t going to see it. The moon was beautiful from the lakeside back balcony last night and I was hoping it would be a little higher at 5 am this morning.

After I couple of cups of coffee I hit the road to St. Louis, dragging along my only hope for connectivity, a Mac mini I used at the lake.

I got in town, found an old monitor and keyboard, then setup the Mac mini on my desk. Now, I use this computer as a desktop at the lake, but I have a much nicer monitor there. I didn’t want to have to drag the everything back and forth , so I just took the Mac mini.

After I got the mini, my dusty old 15 inch monitor, and a keyboard setup on my desk, I decided this was going to be unpractical. The mini works at the lake, it doesn’t work here. I needed a new laptop.

I guess I’m sort of an impatient person, but I did take the time to call a friend of mine, a Super Friend of 20+ years, Mike B. I wanted to ask him about the screens on the new MacBook Pro’s. Glossy or anti-glare, that was the question.

I decided on the glossy, which I was more than a little nervous about, but Mike thought the glossy would be a little higher contrast and thus a little better for photography.

I called the Apple Store to see if they had what I wanted, drove there, and bought it. I’m the proud new owner of a MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Do, with 2GB of memory (4 times what I had before), and 160GB hard drive (twice what I had before, but still not enough, there is never enough).

I guess I’m not a total geek, because I didn’t (or forgot) photograph it as I unboxed it. Sorry about that. Apple packaging is always worth taking note of.

I must say I am very impressed. I love the screen. It is bright and crystal clear, perhaps the clearest I’ve ever seen on a laptop. The speakers are improved. The mag-safe power adapter is awesome. The built-in iSight is great, no more carrying around my external iSight, cable, and mount. The speed and responsiveness of the laptop is fantastic. What an improvement 4 years can make!

There was at least one let down. I got all excited when I saw Aperture loaded on the machine, unfortunately, it was a demo. What a drag. More bad news, I just bought iLife 08 a few days ago, of course it came preloaded on the new machine. Good news? So did iWork 08. The battery life seems improved, but that could be just a new battery.

So I’m a happy camper. I am enjoying the fun, trials, excitement and disappointment of setting up a new laptop.

Tonight I’m migrating.

There is a total lunar eclipse in the morning. I’m going to try to make it. It’s been a while, before Kids (remember that Marcia? Mark Twain Lake, 1990, I think).

Anyway, according to my calculations, which could be wrong, I should be able to sleep as late as, 4:42, that’s when the total eclipse begins. I’ll miss the partial unless I want to get up about an hour earlier. I doubt it.

Driving to STL tomorrow.