Random Thoughts

So, the other day, Jake tells me that he found the beta release of FireFox 3. He sends me a link and I try it out. While I’m a big Apple fan most of the time, I really like FireFox better than Safari (even 3.1). I have to say, FireFox 3 is a hit. It’s wicked fast (much faster than 2.x), and has a great new look. Sure, there are some bugs (like the double “Back” buttons), but so far it’s been rock-solid and has some great new features.

I like new new bookmark feature; to bookmark a site, just click the star in the URL bar. It adds it to an “Un-filed” bookmark list, and allows you to sort it later. Or you can pull down a menu and drop it right where you want it. It also has better password memory features. Instead of popping up a dialog that has to be dismissed before the next page will load, it loads the page, and puts a bar at the top asking if you want it to remember the password. Much faster.

It also has a more “Mac-like” look to it. It looks like a Cocoa app now (because it is), and feels more polished overall. I’ve also been playing with a new blog-entry tool called ScribeFire. It’s a simple add on that lets me post to my blog without opening my blog. Just click the icon in the bottom bar and start writing. Very quick. I’m not sure I’ll use ScribeFire for my ChurchTechArts blog because I do so many custom things with each post, but it’s still handy for posts like this.

In other news, it was 60 on Saturday. It seemed a fine time to go buy a new grill. We needed a new grill because we sold our old one to Don in Canandaigua before we left (hope you’re enjoying it, Don!), and because I was ready to go back to charcoal anyway. This may seem odd, as everyone is going gas. However, there’s something about a charcoal fire, and I missed cooking on it. So I bought a shiny new Weber Silver One Touch 22, a chimney starter and some charcoal. I also swung by the grocery and bought some steaks. Boy was that good.

Sadly, today it’s back to around 40 and it was snowing when I went for my walk this morning. Nothing stuck, though, it’s all good. I bought Miami Vice today on DVD and watched it (it’s my day off). I got the unrated extended version because it was on sale, and it may have been a mistake because I felt it was too long and plodding. I expected more from Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral). By the end it was a good thriller, it just took too long to get there. The good news is that because I had some Best Buy reward certificates I got that film, Memento, and The Good Shepherd for all of $3.50. I can take Miami Vice to FYE and probably get $4.00 for it. I’ve seen Memento before and loved it, and am looking forward to The Good Shepherd.

So that’s it. My first post from ScribeFire. Thanks for reading!

Yesterday, Apple announced the new 8-core MacPro. Yup, two quad core processors on board, for a total of 8 discreet processors. Makes me wish I could have waited…

Check them out here…

While I am a member of the Facebook group, “Men Diametrically Opposed to Giggling,” I have to admit I giggled with joy today. The friendly FedEx man brought me a little present today, my new MacBook Pro from Upper Room. Don’t get me wrong, I like the MacBook, but adding the Pro to the end is a big deal. And it comes with Leopard, the new OS (which as of this writing is 4 minutes from being fully installed). Today is a good day. It’s November, 60 degrees and I have a new MacBook Pro. Sweeeeet!

In other news, I re-organized the basement yesterday. I condensed about 12 boxes into 5, and got things in order. I feel so much better about the move now, I think we’ll have no trouble getting things to fit.

Actually, yesterday was an interesting day. I spent the morning trying to establish internet service and satellite service to the new house. That took 3 hours. It was not fun. I’ll post about that when I can do so without swearing. So I was pretty frustrated when I went to work at 12:30. I made a sandwich because I was running so late. When I got there, Dave and Jason said, “You eat yet?” Not yet. “Good, cause we’re taking you to lunch!” That was cool. When we got back, they surprised me again with cake and ice cream. A few hours later, I went out to dinner with Chad and Jon from church. That too, was fun.  Then I organized the basement. I slept last night. It was good.

Now today, my new Mac arrives. And as I’m writing, the install process has finished up, and we’re off and running. Time to go play! More later…

At long last, Apple has set a release date for the next (and last) version of OS X. On October 26 (which is, incidentally, the day we fly to Minneapolis to look for a house) Leopard  will be shipping. This of course means that when I go to Upper Room my new laptop will have Leopard. Sweeeet!

There are a few really cool new features in Leopard that I’m really looking forward to. Time Machine, Spaces, Core Animation and a few others.

What is totally ironic about this is that when I talked Crosswinds into getting me a MacBook last spring, it was just before the scheduled release date of 10.5. I thought of waiting until it was released, but went ahead with 10.4. Now that I’m moving up to Upper Room, my new MacBook (Pro?) will finally have 10.5. So we’ve come full circle. Just one more confirmation we’re doing the right thing.

Yeah, OK, basing major life decisions on the basis of a computer company may be a stretch for some, but I am a hardcore Mac guy. So there you go.

I just wrote a post about my CS3 Web Premium Install Nightmare on Church Tech Arts.