I remembered way back to my years when I was introduced to the wonderful world of computers. As I was growing, I was using word processors on my good ol' Apple II (yes this predates the Apple IIe). Geez that brought back fond memories. Some of the things I remembered include:
- Having a dot matrix printer which printed mainly text. The ink was mainly a purpley grey colour and geez it was a such a big step up from 1) typewriters due to the correct one's work and 2) handwritten assignments.
- The monitor was isolated to a monochrome colour of green or orange.
- Games were very sparse and limited to what could fit onto a single 5.25" floppy disk. These included the likes of Load Runner, Frogger, Hard Hat Mack and Chess (and I found it hard to beat until many years later).
It wasn't until a few years later that we decided to go the PC route, with the whole line of 286, 386, 486, Pentiums....many, those were interesting times while playing in colour (VGA anyone?). At that point I had never really thought about buying another Apple computer, even after being introduced to them at school. Funnily enough, I believe that this coincided with the change in the helm at Apple...
Well, I never though that it would happen so soon, but I am back in the realms of Apple-dom, as I have gone out and got myself a MacBook. The main driver here is that I don't get given a laptop as part of work any more, so I thought it would be more handy and convenient to have a laptop (especially with travel and so forth). I can safely say that I am really enjoying this laptop, even though I am not entirely familiar with the Mac Operating system, but I'm sure that I will pick it up soon enough.
So far, things I do like about the MacBook:
- Decent specs and build quality for comparably spec'ed laptops and reasonable size. (e.g. built in wireless, bluetooth, camera, firewire)
- Small enough to travel with, without being too bulky (esp. for planes). Luggage space is definitely a premium!
- Wireless N - although I don't have a wireless N router...yet.
- Magnetic power cord - no more tripping over wires and watching in dismay as one's laptop goes sailing across the room.
- Not bad looking in white
- Boot Camp option allowing the user to run Windows if required (this is great for work based computers, since most companies run Windows based PCs)
- Swish OS (OS 10 and 10.5 - Leopard)
Main downsides to current MacBook:
- Attachments/add-ons are expensive ($69 for a white wired mouse, anyone?)
- Too many attachments are optional (no VGA/DVI cable). I guess the plan is minimalist...
- White gets dirty and scratched easily.
- Less applications support Mac OS...which is a shame really.
I guess there is always room for a change - another Mac convert here! I guess it's still early days though, so hopefully all goes well!
Monday, 10 December 2007
Monday, 26 November 2007
Travel again
Gee, it seems like it has been a while since I last posted. Actually, it has been a while since I last posted.
Recently, I went on a trip for work. I had almost forgotten what it was like to travel intensely - being in three different cities in one day, trying to stay awake for the next presentation while resting as much as possible in between. It was definitely harder than I remembered, but once I was got back into it, it was like second nature.
Unfortunately, my trip was cut from being a two week trip back to one week, due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, meaning I didn't get a chance to head over to Chicago and New York. I'm not sure whether such short trips are good or bad - by the time I was over most of the jetlag, I was back on a plane for more jetlag the followng week!
The best part was the fact that I managed to visit another city I had not been to: Las Vegas. It is definitely a city which is very different to any other I had ever visited. With a culture of gambling embedded the whole city seems to revolve around vices. The Bellagio was a nice place - and it brought back memories of watching Ocean's Eleven. I wasn't sure whether I could stand the idea of having such an open gaming floor right next to reception - as though every moment spent outside of the gaming section was a wasted opportunity to make money. Unfortunately, the conference was jam packed full of meetings and the occasional meal, which made it difficult to get some other time in to take in the city. In my mind, I had anticipated that the hotel would exude class, which for the most part, it did. However, I was a little disappointed to find that there was a chapel near the back of the hotel. Surely, this was a slice of market share which could have been excluded from achieving underlying profits? However, all in all, it was a very comfortable place to stay. I have to admit that the rooms are poorly lit - although the conspiracy theory says that it was a ploy to get guests out of their rooms and onto the gaming floors.
There were definitely a bevy of well dressed individuals around the place. As much as others I knew there seemed to spot the "workers" in the lobby, I didn't exactly see any - perhaps my attention was always caught somewhere else.
Surveying the surroundings, there were a whole lot of busy cranes and incomplete properties around the main strip. With such a myriad of hotels and casinos to choose from, I would have thought that there would be glut of supply on the market, making it a tourist market. However, I was surprised to find that occupancy levels are running quite high as well as the fact that every new supply seems to be more than absorbed by the new demand to come and see what the new kids on the block had to offer.
I was lucky enough to be able to fly to LA and spend a night there and catch up with my good friend J. Since she has move to LA, I admit I have been quite poor when it comes to keeping in touch. However, being the truly hospitable type, she took me around and we chatted like old friends which was really refreshing. I guess it is during these times that I feel happy that I managed to tag a bit of personal time on top of a long work trip.
It's good to be back home - I can sleep in, and fall back into the comfort of routine for a while.
Previously, I had traveled with a laptop which allowed me to check emails and do some work while on the road. Unfortunately, a Blackberry just doesn't seem to be that rich in functionality (or, I am not used to operating on such a small device). It did seem a bit weird not being able to check my emails and having to resort to communal terminals. Furthermore, a lot of time is wasted while commuting. (The waiting can be horrendous - especially when I got delayed for around two hours in Las Vegas, and when we taxied out of the gate, there was a queue of around ten planes trying to take off. The person next to me fell asleep and asked, "Are we there already?" Much to his dismay, we hadn't even left the terminal!)
As much as I may have not given much thought to it in the past, I have to say that I am quite happy with my new toy, so I guess that means that I have less of an excuse to not check emails while I am away!
Recently, I went on a trip for work. I had almost forgotten what it was like to travel intensely - being in three different cities in one day, trying to stay awake for the next presentation while resting as much as possible in between. It was definitely harder than I remembered, but once I was got back into it, it was like second nature.
Unfortunately, my trip was cut from being a two week trip back to one week, due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, meaning I didn't get a chance to head over to Chicago and New York. I'm not sure whether such short trips are good or bad - by the time I was over most of the jetlag, I was back on a plane for more jetlag the followng week!
The best part was the fact that I managed to visit another city I had not been to: Las Vegas. It is definitely a city which is very different to any other I had ever visited. With a culture of gambling embedded the whole city seems to revolve around vices. The Bellagio was a nice place - and it brought back memories of watching Ocean's Eleven. I wasn't sure whether I could stand the idea of having such an open gaming floor right next to reception - as though every moment spent outside of the gaming section was a wasted opportunity to make money. Unfortunately, the conference was jam packed full of meetings and the occasional meal, which made it difficult to get some other time in to take in the city. In my mind, I had anticipated that the hotel would exude class, which for the most part, it did. However, I was a little disappointed to find that there was a chapel near the back of the hotel. Surely, this was a slice of market share which could have been excluded from achieving underlying profits? However, all in all, it was a very comfortable place to stay. I have to admit that the rooms are poorly lit - although the conspiracy theory says that it was a ploy to get guests out of their rooms and onto the gaming floors.
There were definitely a bevy of well dressed individuals around the place. As much as others I knew there seemed to spot the "workers" in the lobby, I didn't exactly see any - perhaps my attention was always caught somewhere else.
Surveying the surroundings, there were a whole lot of busy cranes and incomplete properties around the main strip. With such a myriad of hotels and casinos to choose from, I would have thought that there would be glut of supply on the market, making it a tourist market. However, I was surprised to find that occupancy levels are running quite high as well as the fact that every new supply seems to be more than absorbed by the new demand to come and see what the new kids on the block had to offer.
I was lucky enough to be able to fly to LA and spend a night there and catch up with my good friend J. Since she has move to LA, I admit I have been quite poor when it comes to keeping in touch. However, being the truly hospitable type, she took me around and we chatted like old friends which was really refreshing. I guess it is during these times that I feel happy that I managed to tag a bit of personal time on top of a long work trip.
It's good to be back home - I can sleep in, and fall back into the comfort of routine for a while.
Previously, I had traveled with a laptop which allowed me to check emails and do some work while on the road. Unfortunately, a Blackberry just doesn't seem to be that rich in functionality (or, I am not used to operating on such a small device). It did seem a bit weird not being able to check my emails and having to resort to communal terminals. Furthermore, a lot of time is wasted while commuting. (The waiting can be horrendous - especially when I got delayed for around two hours in Las Vegas, and when we taxied out of the gate, there was a queue of around ten planes trying to take off. The person next to me fell asleep and asked, "Are we there already?" Much to his dismay, we hadn't even left the terminal!)
As much as I may have not given much thought to it in the past, I have to say that I am quite happy with my new toy, so I guess that means that I have less of an excuse to not check emails while I am away!
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Man, I can't believe September has rolled around. Where has the time gone! I guess so much has happened this year and still happening it is rather strange to see it through my eyes.
I caught up with some friends recently, after taking a bit of a breather from what appeared to be one of the busiest times in the year for me. Checking my calendar multiple times in a day was mandatory as I ran around town trying to make all my appointments. It was definitely a very hectic period. As the slowdown approached the first meeting seemed like such a long time ago. I almost felt lost like, "whoa, what just happened?".
Over the past few weeks, I have learnt much more about myself and started analysing myself in a different way. Sometimes, it is scary how history can repeat itself. Even if you think that it can't possible be, but there is a small section in the brain which questions that. Someone once said to me, "if one thinks that history doesn't repeat itself, then they just have not been around long enough!"
I wonder if it is very difficult for someone to change - or what does it take for someone to change? I wish I could have taken a snapshots in points in my life so that I could run a compare on myself over different stages and see the differential between two points in my life. That would be cool. I wonder if that's why people write diaries so that they one day can look back on that and remember what they were thinking or feeling at a particular day or point in my life. Alas, that can't be done, and my writing habits are pretty loose (just take a look at the number of posts!). Doesn't help given that I am such a grandpa and sleep before 12am....
I caught up with some friends recently, after taking a bit of a breather from what appeared to be one of the busiest times in the year for me. Checking my calendar multiple times in a day was mandatory as I ran around town trying to make all my appointments. It was definitely a very hectic period. As the slowdown approached the first meeting seemed like such a long time ago. I almost felt lost like, "whoa, what just happened?".
Over the past few weeks, I have learnt much more about myself and started analysing myself in a different way. Sometimes, it is scary how history can repeat itself. Even if you think that it can't possible be, but there is a small section in the brain which questions that. Someone once said to me, "if one thinks that history doesn't repeat itself, then they just have not been around long enough!"
I wonder if it is very difficult for someone to change - or what does it take for someone to change? I wish I could have taken a snapshots in points in my life so that I could run a compare on myself over different stages and see the differential between two points in my life. That would be cool. I wonder if that's why people write diaries so that they one day can look back on that and remember what they were thinking or feeling at a particular day or point in my life. Alas, that can't be done, and my writing habits are pretty loose (just take a look at the number of posts!). Doesn't help given that I am such a grandpa and sleep before 12am....
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