Photos update!
The pix from the last trip to the US are now up! Clicky here ~> http://photos.sodhis.net, which should lead you to my .Mac gallery.
I am simply put, AMAZED by the ease and the speed of iPhoto when it comes to publishing to my .Mac gallery. I would REALLY recommend viewing the images in Carousel mode, if in case your connection is fast enough for that! The more I discover, the more I am convinced ~ my Mac and I are made for each other.
Current uptime – 8 days.
1.1.3 Finally
Yes, I have finally upgraded to 1.1.3 after having waited forever to take the step. I wasn’t quite sure whether the upgrade was worth losing my favorite apps over. But in the end, it came down to the technical side of me, wanting explore the new firmware upgrade and see how indeed it does its Cell tower triangulation, and play around with the shimmering icons.
I am very pleased to report that ALL has gone according to plan and I am finally on 1.1.3 with everything working! Google maps have received a facelift, no doubt due to the new API they made available a few months(?) back. The hybrid feature and "Locate Me" works flawlessly, and it indeed pinpointed me to a few meters of my actual location. I am indeed very impressed. I am looking forward to trying out the latest features, however the next big thing will be the SDK release come February.
Speaking of upgrades and updates, rumors are floating around of a MBP upgrade to Peryn based processors come Tuesday. I would indeed be quite surprised if Tuesday passes by without a major overhaul or update release, since I recently read that Sony is releasing its Peryn based laptops mid-February. Apple has prided itself in being at the forefront when it comes to tauting its successful partnership (read new found love) with Intel. I would be quite surprised if Sony were to release a Peryn based laptop ahead of Apple.
Well, we wait and watch.
Federer ejected from the Aussie Open!
Finally, the day I have been looking forward to, since forever, and have been denied time and time again - Federer lost in a Grand Slam tournament other than the French open. That bit of news gives me rather great amount of satisfaction, and for the first time ever, I will break my moratorium, and watch a Men’s final live on TV come Sunday. A number of observations not directly related to the match:-
Undoubtedly, his single-handed dominance of every tournament, speaks to the class of the man. He has been routing out opponents in the worst way, just utterly destroying them, making the outcome of the match a foregone conclusion. I habitually never watch a final when Roger’s playing, knowing there can be no other result. And yet people act as if surprised when he wins. Oh please. I wonder why people don’t seem to get tired of his winning everything. I always was in disbelief – more so at the Australian crowd this time that kept chanting "Let’s go Roger, Let’s go!". I would be cheering Djokovic who played an amazing match, clearly outclassing Federer at his prime.
It brings me to the crowd support: So many players feed off it – Agassi is one prime example, as well as Ivanisevic. However not all countries and crowds are uniform. Aussie crowds are given to mass media mentality, their favoritism being showered vociferously on whoever the media tells them is a hero – may it be a local player (I refer you to Phillipousis vs. Sampras) or someone who has been utterly and fully dominating the world of men’s tennis making it singularly the most boring sport to watch (vis-a-vis Federer).
Crowds in France are just so much more independent in that way, they root for the one after their heart (I refer you to Graf vs. Hingis final). At Wimbledon, the queen of tournaments, the English crowds have always singularly cheered for the underdog, whoever that may be (Graf vs. Novotna, Rafter vs. Sampras, Ivanisevic vs. Rafter). The American audience can be categorized as the most mature in this regard. They root for the best player (as long as he is not playing against a hometown favorite). As a result, it is always a delight to watch the US Open at Flushing Meadows, NY.
Anyway, for the first time we shall have a new Grand Slam champion (after nearly 2.5 years) other than Nadal and Federer. I shall be tipping my hat in Djokovic’s direction – if he can maintain his form, he is unstoppable. Tsonga could conceivably pull a card from his hat and win the tournament, but chances of that are in my opinion – slight.
One week and all is well
Just two weeks till I meet the love of my life for our first anniversary, in the city of dreams, a city that meant just so much to me, and has come to meet so much more, since Rissa and I fell in love there. How fitting then, to celebrate our first anniversary in that city. Providence provides and we found a way to make it work, to find our way to Paris. Everything is set, the guests are met, mayst hear the merry din (ok, Hyperbole). How much I am looking forward to this, can hardly be overstated… It has hardly been a month since we were together, and I find myself just reminiscent of the times we had, thinking back to what we were doing on this specific day a month ago… Oh the day I leave for Paris could not come soon enough.
It has been a week since I upgraded to OS X 10.5.1 and separated the two machines, each dedicated to its specific purpose. And I must report all is well. I did have to reinstall OSX last night due to some glitches, as I tried to experiment with Expression Web. I’d do well to stick with dotMac iWeb for my galleries. Speaking of which, I do plan to upload my galleries this weekend to my .dotMac site (links updated later).
The bike being broken, I have had time to walk to and from work each day, a task made easier for I have the entire lecture series on "Ancient Egypt" by Prof. Dr. Bob Brier on my iPhone. An extremely enthusiastic Egyptologist, he has stoked my passions for discovering and exploring the land of the Pharaohs since I was a kid. His documentaries and his insightful explanations and descriptions hold such sway and keep me coming back for more. He is simply a genius. Yep I am a fanboi. That in addition to the amazing book I got from Rissa for Christmas, has made these past couple of weeks, an Egypt centric time for me. I find myself immersed in funerary rites of the Old, Middle and New kingdoms, discovering architectural and symbolic changes to the tombs through the history. Political intrigues, the life of the common man, the exploits of the greatest (Sneferu, Mantuhoteps, Amenhemet, et al) have kept me well occupied during any free time I manage to salvage.
Oh well, back to work…
Tim@11:28 AM
PS: Mac desktop of the day
Farewell Macbook Pro
Farewell Macbook Pro
Well, as most of you know and are protesting, I have made up my mind to say fare-thee-well to my MBP. I decided, it was more important to have food on my table than to have an MBP on my lap. So well, the baby is up for adoption. The other Mac Pro continues undaunted. I shall retain this web-space, not to mention the email address, but the rest goes back after my trip to Innsbruck! I was on the phone with Applecare Netherlands, and they have graciously agreed to take it back, no questions asked. Such class I must say!
Oddly enough I feel little to none.
In other news, had to reinstall Tiger, after having messed up my Partition table (too much fstab’bing). Luckily saved the Domain.sites file. So I can continue editing on this Mac Pro.
Fare-thee-well o MBP!
11:26:34 PM
