myShoggoth

First MacBook Pro Issue

I want to use Bootcamp to run both XP and MacOS on this new MacBook Pro. Sounds reasonable, right?

Unfortunately, when I click on Bootcamp's "Install Windows" button and it reboots (with the XP install CD in the drive) it spins the drive a bit, then leaves the screen blank with the cursor blinking in the upper left... and nothing else happens. Ever.

Bad CD drive? I don't know, it can actually see it and see the contents while I'm running MacOS, so that much seems to be okay.

So disappointing, isn't this the product that is supposed to Just Work?

New MacBook Pro!

I finally pulled the trigger on getting a new laptop (haven't bought one for myself for about 10 years, all since then have been work provided).  After agonizing and reevaluating and weighing options for about four months I finally decided on one of the new MacBook Pro 15"s.

I'm going to blog stream-of-consciousness on my impressions.  First my background: My parents bought a Mac back when they first came out, and I grew up playing with it.  I got myself a PC as soon as I could afford one (early in high school, I think) and ran a BBS, programmed PASCAL, etc. on it.  I grew to dislike the Mac because it wasn't really something you tinkered with, and all the fun stuff was happening on the PC or the Commodore 64 or my brother's Amiga.

In college I went hardcore into the whole UNIX thing, and played around with Linux pre-1.0 kernel.

My first job out of college was at Quark, working on Quark Publishing System.  I arrived there my first day and was informed I was a Mac programmer.  Although I became quite good at using them, I grew to hate them as only a programmer back in those days could.

Alrighty, so, first the anticipation.  I left work early and was absolutely giddy picking it up.  I haven't looked forward to opening a toy this much in a long time.  The packaging was very well done and solid, pulling it apart was like unwrapping a present.  Very few components, which I think is genius.  A couple cables, a small book, and the laptop.  That's it.  I don't feel like a packaging warehouse threw up in my office.

Booting it took a little longer than I expected, but once it got going... It makes the Windows OOBE experience look like a pile of puke someone has taken a little spritzer can of water to, to make it look shinier.  Holy crap.

I'm at the Welcome screen, and it has: To begin, select the country or region you're in, then click Continue.  And it only shows 6 countries, with a Show All check box.  So much better than the standard Exhaustive List By Default.

The Wireless screen is similarly useful yet minimal.  It just shows you the list of networks it finds (and Other Network), and asks for a Password.  That said it did a horrible job with my very complex WSA2 key, and I had to join a WEP network first.

Can I skip the Apple ID/Registration crap?  I don't see how to avoid it, even though it says on the screen that "The warranty for your Apple product does not require you to register the product."  I can't find a way around this.  Is Apple trying to piss me off?

Everything was incredible with the setup until they started pushing their services and registration and didn't give me a way out.  Now I feel sleezed.

kd lang at the Moore

What can I say, she was... awesome.

The set mixed songs from the new CD with old classics, often one for one.  She was clearly more in tune (ha ha) with the audience than she was outside last year at the winery, and she fed off the love and gave it back in spades.

A few classic songs caused everyone to erupt into applause after just a few notes, and not necessarily the ones you'd expect.  The crowd really knew her work and let it show.  She sang the songs from Hymns of the 49th Parallel that we were really hoping for.  _Hallelujah_ got its own standing ovation.

And she was having fun.  Playing with the songs, making jokes, huge smiles as she felt appreciated.  It was a great concert to be at.

Two encores, both of which added depth to the overall performance and didn't just pander to a greatest hits selection type of thing.

Wow.

The opener did a very good job, he is a solo pianist which makes it a hard sell but he had a definite style and it was very good music.

Holly Cole at the Jazz Alley

First of all: Best. Birthday present. Ever.

And it isn't even done yet.  My wife is, at this point, just hanging in there, hoping to survive until after the kd lang concert.

I was at work this morning early so I could leave early, wanted to get to the Jazz Alley early enough to ensure an excellent seat.  We've seen Holly live many times, but we've always had to drive to Canada to do it.  We half expected them to throw a border crossing in the middle of downtown Seattle just to make it feel like a real Holly Cole concert.

We were there very early, an hour to be exact.  This stunned several of the employees, but never mind that, we were first in line.  They work on a reservation system: you decide whether you're there for dinner or cocktails (the dinner patrons get better tables), and what time your reservation is for (not everyone gets in first thing, in the hopes of not overwhelming the wait staff I assume).  We got a 6pm dinner reservation, and were the first people waiting at the door, so we walked in with the hostess and picked the best table, sitting against the stage right in front of where Holly would be singing.

My wife deserves a medal for putting up with me at that point, and the look on her face made it clear she knew this.  She took a bunch of photos, one of which is in this post.

Everyone in the band was wearing a suit type of a deal, including Holly.  She was also wearing glasses, which I don't remember from the last time.  They got off to a rocky start, not in terms of everyone else on the planet, but them (they're normally a very, very tight band).  I think that it was the first stop on their new tour, which explains it fully.  As the set went on they got better and better.

There were a number of times where it looked like she was going to break down.  I honestly don't if anyone else could see it (maybe the guy right next to me), because she was extremely professional and it was hard to notice the catch in her throat or the tears in her eyes, but they were there.

About halfway through she dedicated Me & My Shadow to her dog of fourteen years (who must have died fairly recently), and at that point I fully understood.  It is a testament to her professionalism that she made it through all those songs and it was that hard to detect.  Right after Me & My Shadow she changed to Moonglow, which I think was also in memory, she just said she really felt like singing that song.

They ended the main set with I Can See Clearly Now, and it was pure awesome.  That was the song that the guy at the Cherry Creek (Colorado) audio store played for us to test the speakers I had that I thought were blown, he put on her CD and said this would tell us for sure.  We loved it so much we bought a copy immediately and were hooked from that point on.

Encore was a new one she said she hadn't recorded yet (You Have A Secret?  I think that was the name) and Ain't It A Kick In The Head, with some great solo work from all the musicians.

It was a wonderful concert, and even better for me because being so close and seeing her like that, I feel like I got a fuller appreciation for her as a person who is performing rather than just a performer.