sugarcrook

For a number of years, I have been bashing Mac users with abandon. Not that they didn’t deserve it, with their unrelenting twaddle about how stable their systems were and how they were somehow enlightened through their choice of operating system and hardware. Let’s face it: death is too good for those people.

Now things are different. I’m entering this blog entry on my new 15″ Powerbook, which I bought from a cute, yet militant Mac user at the Chicago Apple Store. I’m kinda digging it, but there has been a learning curve. After all, I spend most of my time writing software and the remainder of it writing about writing software, so I expect things to be a certain way.

Another huge issue I have is the shear cost of the hardware. This machine ran $3k. With tax and necessary software and accessories, I walked out for just under $4k. I had better get a very productive 3 years out of this laptop.

If you’re a recent convert either to or from Mac platforms, what has your experience been?

Hair metal isn’t dead. Don’t believe the hype. It’s alive and kicking and doing its hair. My neighbor is “rocking out” to 80’s hair metal with some of his friends. He’s generally a pretty good guy. I don’t know him that well, but I just get the feeling he’s a pretty regular geezer. He probably doesn’t watch NASCAR.

I can’t tell what they’re listening to, but I know it’s hair metal from the astronomic vocals and guitars. Over the music, I can hear comments, including “This is just brilliant!”. And “Listen to that bass line!” Brilliant? They’re probably listening to Whitesnake. Or Dokken.

I can only guess what they’re drinking. I wasn’t able to drink in ye olde days, so I have little frame of reference. I imagine it’s Busch or Bud Lite. Could be Zima.

Now one of them (of a possible 3) is singing. Been going for a while now. The others can’t be encouraging him. I’m really debating closing my windows.

I’ve been churning out oodles of writing lately. On a great day, I can finish four pages of my book and two blog entries. (Four pages seems light, but it’s a technical book. I can’t just invent dialogue to fill space.) As a result, I’ve become more interested in grammar and the niceties of English. Here’s a list of books that I’ve picked up that I’ve found helpful:

Woe Is I
Just got this one and I regret not having bought it earlier. An excellent book.

Sin And Syntax
This book is bound to become a classic. Well written and easy to read. This has a place on my shelf next to Elements of Style.

The Deluxe Transitive Vampire
Not as good as the previous two. In fact, none of KEG’s books are that good, but she covers some interesting corner cases that most books miss.

And of course: The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition.
You shouldn’t be allowed to write anything unless you have this book.

I’d also like to read Eats, Shoots & Leaves. It’s on my list.

If you can suggest additional books on grammar and punctuation, I would be interested in hearing about them.

Watching the women’s gynastics tonight, I was amazed at the number of women that fell or missed landings. Maybe I’m mistaken, but don’t they train for competition? And don’t they train for most of their young lives? Chalking it up to nerves doesn’t wash: they compete every day.

I’m a bit bored by the Olympics this year. The press leaps on every appearance of conflict as if global war depended on it, and NBC’s coverage is as bad as can be remembered.

But wait! After the Olympics are over, we get to watch the debacle that is the 2004 presidential election. Life was better when I didn’t own a TV.

Tired of my coffee burning while sitting in the coffee maker, I bought a carafe. It’s pretty nice: stainless and made by Thermos. Now I always have a hot carafe of coffee sitting next to me while working at my desk.

That’s right. I don’t even have to get off my ass to get coffee now.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this. I’m guilty because I don’t need to get up, but I’m also really digging it. When I want a fresh cup of coffee, I don’t have to break my train of thought to get it. And when you’re working on a book, maintaining a thread is vital.

The book will probably be crap anyway. I’m just trying to justify my laziness.

Just got back from the second day of Retro on Roscoe, the annual village festival. It’s mostly kitsch and food, but there are a few interesting things going on, like cooking demonstrations from the chef at Cafe Torquoise (something with lamb - I got there late) and Kitsch’n (Twinkie tiramisu). The festival is going on until 10pm tonight, so try to stop by. It’s $5 at the gate, and make sure to bring something to drink. Map

I know I’m late in getting to this, but I want to post it because I ended up visiting a number of places last weekend.

After my hellish trip into DC, I fully expected the rest of the trip to be just as difficult. Luckily, it wasn’t. Two days of meetings followed a weekend-long birthday party for my friend Jessica turned out quite well.

We hit Alexandria’s Old Town area Friday night, starting with dinner at Il Porto, a popular Italian restaurant. The food was excellent but the service was the worst I’ve ever experienced. The woman waiting on us shouldn’t be allowed to enter a restaurant again, let alone work at one. On the rare occassion that she stopped by, you had to demand drinks and bread. Even the excellent food can’t save this place: 3 out of 10.

Needing more drinks after the dinner situation, we ventured to The Bayou Room. Loud 80’s music and difficult service, The Bayou Room is still one of my favorite places in Old Town. Quiet during the week and packed on the weekends, make sure to stop by. 7 out of 10.

Bullfeathers, a DC staple, was closed by authorities. Apparently they were serving underage drinkers, which is believable. After all, I drank there when I was underage.

The last bar we hit was Ireland’s Own. You guessed it - an Irish bar. I remember the old Ireland’s Own, with rich wood interior, class and character. Their new location looks like a restaurant converted into a bar. However, the bar staff are still stellar and the Guinness is just as good as before. 5 out of 10.

On Saturday we went to Baltimore. If you go there, avoid ESPNZone. The service is horrible and the bar food doesn’t make up for it. 2 out of 10.

Dinner was at a place called Phillip’s, a pretty famous seafood restaurant. I had the crab cakes, which were excellent. If you decide to try them, make sure to get them broiled, not fried. The flavor is much better. We were a party of six people, and everyone enjoyed their food. After the nightmare service I’d had all weekend, Jay, our waiter, impressed everyone at the table with his prompt and efficient service. The 90-minute wait for a table was the only drawback, but it’s a popular place and we were there on a Saturday after a home baseball game. 8 out of 10.

Does it really surprise anyone that a major update to a poor piece of software causes problems?

Concerns over key Windows update

First, we sat on the tarmac for an hour because of a ground stoppage in DCA. After finally taking off, it was apparently necessary to circle National Airport for an hour and twenty minutes - which is just enough time to run out of fuel. After a quick (ninety minute) stop in Pittsburgh to refuel, we were informed that since DCA has a 10pm curfew, we would need to land in Dulles. With me so far?

Hitting Dulles, I promptly started looking for my luggage. After 40 minutes of hunting, I discovered the my luggage made an earlier flight and was happily sitting in DCA. Wait - it gets better.

Resigned to get my luggage the next day, a friend took me to my hotel. It turns out that a group extended for a day, so I didn’t have a room. However, the hotel staff was great and got me a room at a nice hotel a few blocks away.

I hate DC.

Having spent the last two Sundays attempting to drive back into Chicago from southwest Michigan, I’ve found an alternative route that avoids the traffic congestion of 90/94: Route 12.

Route 12 takes you through some of the “still up and coming” areas of Gary, Indiana. That said, you probably don’t want to take this route if you’re a female and it’s late. Other than the dodgy areas, it’s a great route because you never have to stop for traffic. Of course, there are traffic lights, but they really don’t bother me as much as being stopped for no reason on the Skyway.

Taking Route 12 probably doesn’t save you any time and certainly won’t save you any gas, but, in my opinion, it beats being stuck in traffic.