Tag: Apple

iCaved

I’ve been considering buying an mp3 player for months now, but I’ve avoided doing so because the only real option I have is a large capacity iPod. I don’t like iPods for one big reason: once you put music on, you can’t take it back off. Sure, tools like Senuti exist, and work well, but it doesn’t work that way by design, and I don’t like that at all. However, there aren’t many >100GB players, and of what is out there, the iPod is the best for my needs. So I caved, and bought a refurbished 160GB recently.

Moving from my main computer with it’s 60GB internal, I’m really really happy with all the new space. Things I’ve had lying around on DVDs can now be readily accessed, and life is good.

On a side note, I have a set of speakers that I bought at the same time I bought my first computer. It was a bottom-of-the-line Dell, and I paid as much for the speakers as I did for the computer. While that computer is now living out its remaining years as a MythTV box, I still have and love those speakers. They’ve traveled with me to college and back – but upon returning home were never unpacked. I just used the speakers that were already set up. I’ve recently set up these speakers, and I’m shocked at the difference I notice when listening to anything. I’m enjoying listening to music again, a hobby I’d taken a leave from for…well…about as long as it’s been since I’ve heard these speakers. While audiophiles might go overboard sometimes, a good set of speakers really makes a world of difference.

In praise of Apple

I’m writing this post on my PowerBook G4, which I got shortly before freshman year. It is still going strong, and I love it – it is a wonderful computer to use. This school year, it is going to be my main computer, since the beast has issues. So far, it has been absolutely incredible.

There are some small quirks about it that set it apart from the newer Macbook Pros (little things like the behaviour of the laptop and the placement of keys). I really do prefer mine (though I would like a build-in iSight), not just out of habit, but out of functionality. They really thought the PowerBooks through, and the fact that I can still use it for everything I need three years later is really testament to that.

When I got the PowerBook, as part of a promotion I got a iPod mini as well, which was great for a while. Then, one summer, I left it in a car sitting in the sun, and it got fried. For a long time, it didn’t work, and just lay around my room. This weekend, I saw it, and got the notion to give it a try. I managed to reset it, and get it working again – and I found that all the music I had added was still there. All this great classic rock that I haven’t heard in a while.

So now I have my iPod back, and lots of cool tunes. Though, I don’t really have a use for an iPod, its good to have (with our stereo setup downstairs).

Contact

Alright, I figured I’d post a nice big blog entry since I haven’t done that in a while. At least not seriously. I’m also going to intersperse this with randomness. It’ll make sense eventually…maybe.

The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The car is the thing on the road that takes you back to your abode

First things first. My mouth is starting to not hurt like hell anymore. This morning, I got the stitches removed from the spots in my mouth where my wisdom teeth were. I didn’t think getting stitches out would hurt as much as it did. Not so much when he did it, but afterwards. Eh.

The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The car is the thing on the road that takes you back to your abode

At this point, I come home and try to pass out so things stop hurting. This strategy worked for me for most of last week, and it doesn’t let me down at all today. Soon I’m out cold, dreaming about random things…but then something weird happens. I think I had a lucid dream. For those of you who don’t remember, I posted something about this on here back in April. For those of you who didn’t click that link, the general idea is that you can control your dreams while having them.

The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
Bummed is what you are when you go out to your car and it’s been towed

It didn’t happen until later in my dream, and oddly enough I can’t remember anything up until when it happened. I was sitting on the deck behind my house, and I noticed my knee was melting, so my shin was going to be seperated from my thigh. Ya. I came to the “Oh snap, I must be dreaming!” realization they talk about in that link, and did what any person in my situation would do. I grabbed my lower leg and threw it. Trippy. I then ran (apparently someone forgot to tell my leg it had been thrown) around my backyard for a while, just enjoying the fact I could control what was going on. Then I woke up. Not all sudden-like, but I felt it coming. I then drifted in and out of uneventful sleep for a few more hours.

I woke up one morning in November and I realized I love you
It’s not your headlights in front your tailpipe, or the skylight above you
It’s the way you cling to the road when the wind tries to shove you
I’d never go riding away and come back home without you

This time a knock on the front door wakes me up. Some level of my brain remembers that I’m expecting something in the mail, so instead of going with my gut and ignoring it, I ran downstairs to sign for my iPod mini. Woot. Wait, scratch that – this thing was free. w00t!

The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The car is the thing on the road that takes you back to your abode

Ya, free iPod Minis are good. Apple had that deal where if you bought a mac over the summer, you’d get a 4 gig mini for free. Even got a custom engraving in it. Who knew they’d do that for free too? So, on the back of my green iPod Mini is a little inscription that reads:


The greatest danger
may be your stupidity

I’m pretty proud of myself that I didn’t write anything in l33tsp33k.

The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road
The car is the thing on the road that takes you back to your abode

Oh, and I’d like to take this moment to hug Steve Jobs. They really know what they’re doing over there. Both my Powerbook and iPod mini are incredibly awesome. And sexy. Sooo sexy.

I’ve named my iPod mini Scotty. Originally that was the name I was going to give to my Powerbook, but I figure it would be a better plan to have a female laptop. I’m still looking for a good name for her – if you have any good ideas, let me know.

Phish – Contact

I’m done. Hope it wasn’t to weird.