I love our dev machines at work. Mine is called “Alice” as in Alice in Wonderland. Five out of Seven devs have a 20″ Intel Duo iMacs; these things kicks ass. I’m usually a little weary of all in one solutions for the desk other than a laptop. I like my seperate box and 21″ crt monitor especially for graphics work. However the iMac experience has been truly exhilarating.

The set came with a keyboard and mouse but not just any ordinary mouse - it was the Mighty Mouse. I was skeptical at first. It’s light. It felt weird. I was use to the clear one-click mouse from my previous purchased system (Mac mini). It took a little bit of getting use to; so many freaking features. Changing the default mouse behavior was key for me. I like using the keyboard for shortcut functions so the only functionalities I need from Mr. Ms. Mighty is the scroll wheel and expose all on that cute little ball.

Cons? When I get home to my loyal mini, I find myself grotesquely fondling her mouse.

It’s a beautiful day in Ballston!

Or maybe interbreeding in Blairsville, Pa. Or maybe it’s the inferior cable internet carrier Adelphia. Who knows.

Hooman was right about Marc. It is something to experience “Jammin” with such a figure in the internet community. He’s approachable. He’s open to suggestions. He’ll give it to you straight, and he knows when you’re bullshiting. And maybe to some degree he is the epitome of intimidation. Or maybe it’s b/c he swears as much as our team does.

Wow, it feels surreal being around this man. But I do feel like an ant. But why? I’m not sure really b/c inherently I admire him, no, seemingly workship him. He co-founded MacroMind which eventually became Macromedia. I love Macromedia not necessarily the company but for it’s tools, and Flash. But why feel small? Well maybe b/c he’s the poo and everyone needs to take a big wiff.

First time - LAST TIME. It took fifteen minutes for a server of four to realize I was a new customer with only a handful of people in the place then I finally got coffee. It was ten after six in the morning, but the place is open 24/7. Another fifteen minutes later my food comes but wow does it look horrible. Taste? Equally as horrifying. Ten minutes later I’m walking out to pay and learn from my lesson. Unfortunately, I wasn’t asked how the food tasted. I would have been brutally honest.

ALONE IN KYOTO

AIR

My laptop of three years is showing lots of wear. The Inspiron 8200 has served me well and I wasn’t anticipating of getting another laptop for at least another year until the screen went dead. I’ve managed to coax her back to life but it’s not looking good. She’s been through a lot. Lots of drops, lots of banging, lots of spills/stains, multiple OS testing, and one hard drive failure/replacement. She’s never been the same after the HD failure.

So now that Apple has transitioned to Intel it’s even looking better now to get one. I still feel the G4/G5 for some reason are a lot snappier. My G4 mini seems like it initially responds a little better compared to the Duo(s) but then lacks in processing speed in the long run. Maybe it’s just perception? In some parrallel universe, it would have been interesting to see the Cell in those beautiful silver boxes. Oooo, CELL.

Now that I’m really thinking hard about getting a MacBook Pro I’ve also started losing my hair over which version to get. 15″ or 17″ MacBook Pro ranging from $1999.00 to $2799.00. It’s so hard to decide. Then thinking to myself, all power software I use won’t be available until the end of summer the latest even not until next year. Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, Lightwave, Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver - I have all of these for the PPC. Rosetta does amazingly well just for the fact it uses brute processing force to get the job done but I do see a performance hit at times.

Then when I think of all the PPC software I already have the PowerBooks from 12″ to 17″ look pretty tempting albeit in the “refurbished” condition ranging in price from $1199 to $1999.00. I don’t really care about “refurbished” especially when it comes from Apple - add Apple Care and you’re set for three more years of great customer service. But be an architecture behind? Will that suffice in three years? I say no. Oh man, the decisions - the cash!!!. Ahhh. The 12″ PowerBook has been calling to me even more now because of the tiny form factor. Plus I can buy that now and save for the either 15″ or 17″ for later in the next few months. Once I’m ready again Jess will inherit the 12″ if I go for that option.

But then let’s look at the professional side shall we. I do graphics. I like graphics. If I go with the 17″ with the upgraded 100 gig 7200 rpm drive and 2 gig ram - it’s now to $3099.00 - with friends and family it’s now down to $2635.00. The 17″ MacBookPro is one baddassss laptop but it’s HUGE - I’m talking behemoth. Do I want to lug around a workstation or a laptop? EhhhhhhhAhhh.

I know what Jess would say - more money for our wedding less on my toys. But then she could be getting a laptop out of the deal? Hmmm, sweetie?

I like dressing up especially when it means looking good and feeling good in my clothes but when it’s necessary. I really don’t care one way or the other what others think. I am me, and why would I let anyone else change that? Well maybe a suggestion here or there from the future wife, but in the end you gotta be you - screw everyone else. However, the first time in a long time when I walked over to the grand mall behind our apt complex, which connects to NSF building(ode to NSF), I felt odd. I was amongst suits and well dressed folk. It wasn’t the first time. Oh hell no. But I felt “uncomfortable”. It was weird. It wasn’t like I wasn’t decent. I was comfortable - cargos, poloshirt, old navy hat, and sandals - and I was color coordinated to boot. Yet somehow, these “suits” had an air of sophistication but also naivety. It was an aberrant mix of emotions.

When I got back to the “office”, I described the experience to Austin like being in the Matrix when Neo is walking through a crowd of suits. He commented with the same feeling about this corporate culture in DC (ok ok, DC Metro - Ballston). It didn’t have the same cinematic effect however it was analogous to this particular example. He then commented, “It feels like these people look at you and think to themselves - Do these people have jobs? They’re not wearing suits or office attire?” or something in that nature.

Happy not to be in the corporate culture…….at least not yet. When going through those crowds, I sensed them but only their shells and a hint of their former selves.

This morning — I started work in my pajamas.

I’m ending these parts. I’ve just been away at this for a while and I have so much other things to talk about. However here is a synopsis of everything that has happened so far.

Part II: 4 days
Visited Washington DC to scope our new office space and apartments. Technically not in D.C. but in Arlington, Va. in the Ballston area. We also visited Phil Bronner our new Venture Capitalist from Novak Biddle in Bethesda. In Bethesda, where we met Alex (Austin’s best friend from Duke) and girlfriend Julie, we scoped out the local eateries and bars. It was fun. Damn this place is expensive, but it should be okay soon. Jess and I ate lunch at a very cute Italian shop about three blocks from Phil’s office - it was also the first time I had real Italian ice cream. Wow - freaking amazing. Jess and I have hunted and hunted - we’re getting tired of apartment hunting. It’s getting stressful as well trying to manage all the upcoming apartments we want to see.

Part III: 3 days
More visits with Phil and more apartment hunting. We’re staying in the Hyatt, and it’s very nice. Austin and I took the metro from Bethesda to Ballston to review our final ideas of where to get an apartment. The apartments are The Lincoln Towers, The Ballston Place, and Avalon at Ballston (which is literally five seconds behind one of the prospective office spaces). In the end we settled for Lincoln. The location is great; only a block from the metro and ten minute walk to the office. Also a hiccup has occured - we have to get back to the Pittsburgh office asap - our trip is cut short by a full day.

Part IV:
Back in Pittsburgh, we have to get going on more work - lots of it. For better or for worse, this is the last leg of our journey - we just have to bust some heads. Letting family and friends know the upcoming situations and what we’re doing.

Part V:
Deal signed with Novak Biddle. Yeaaaaaay. Austin and me are signing up for our aparment and closing any accounts we have here in Pittsburgh. Hooman went to Ireland with his girlfriend Amanda. Austin will be taking a few days off while I’ll be taking about a week. These are probably the last vacations we will be having for the next year. And for me, it is badly needed. I need to see home instead of the office and the apartment, day in and day out.

I’m now in Ballston. We have a great team coming up. It’s not going to be any easier but bring it on. It’s going to be fun.