Leopard

Like 2 million of my closest friends, I bought a copy of OS X 10.5 over the weekend (actually, I pre-ordered it so it was waiting for me when I came home from work last Friday). I'm not going to go into a product review since there are plenty already out there, including some that explore the finer details of the new OS. There is a lot to be happy about. Yes, I've found a few bugs already, but they are nothing compared to what most people would probably expect from an initial release of an operating system (ever heard of Vista?). The improvements to the already excellent OS X 10.4 are substantial. The screenshot above is an example of one of the new features. It's a fairly old feature by UNIX standards (multiple desktops), but as usual Apple pulled it off with extra style. The transition between spaces is extremely smooth and you can view all of them quite easily with this all-in-one perspective. You'll notice than I'm running Safari in my first space, then iTunes in another, Windows XP full screen in yet another space, and finally Ubuntu 7.10 full screen in the final space. This is all running simultaneously in case it isn't obvious from the picture. I have to give credit to VMWare Fusion for making it possible to run both Windows and Linux, but on top of OS X everything feels as fast and responsive as if nothing else was happening on the system.

I'm more pleased with my iMac purchase with each passing day.

The Fog Rolled In

The fog rolled into the office this morning. It is a foreboding sign of the Halloween terror to come.

The eerie mist permeates every crypt.

The Target

I think this makes for a nice Halloween-themed picture.

This is a Styrofoam cup that we have hanging in our office. It is a great target for rubber band shooting practice. As you can see, it has been nearly torn in half by the fury of the projectiles. Today will be the day that we complete the evisceration.

A Morning Visitor

I had a little visitor peek in this morning. Dad likes to throw acorns out in the backyard. Evidently this squirrel likes to pick them up. I was very pleased that it posed for this picture. In the background you can see one of the bird houses that Dad made. Right now my yard is a haven for birds, squirrels, chipmunks, lizards, and the occasional cat that likes to visit with the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and lizards.

Gold Rush Days

Yesterday I took Mom, Dad and Simon to the Gold Rush Days festival in Dahlonega. This was actually an accident. I meant to take them to Helen, but I had a slight mix-up in my brain as to where I was driving. It worked out okay, though, since the festival was going on. This was a type of nice surprise. Even late in the day it was packed with people browsing the booths, enjoying the food and otherwise having a good time. I don't particularly care for buying stuff at events like this, but I enjoy taking pictures and watching the people.

Mom seemed to really like these wire sculptures. They were made to look like a band and swayed with the music that was playing (due to their spring-like nature). I really don't know where one would display something like this, and I don't think anyone else did either since I never saw anyone buy anything from this guy, but they do make for an interesting booth.

Rowan's Is Closing!

I suppose the sign says it all; my favorite, used music store is closing up shop. I'll have to find a new place to find a bargain. It's tough to beat 5 discs for $21.20 including tax. Anyone have any suggestions?

A Gift Of Fine Art

I received this finely wrapped gift this morning for my birthday. My little friend, M., did an excellent job with the decoration of the paper. You may find this piece prominently displayed on my desk at work. Within it was a framed photograph of an Anartica iceberg by the renowned polar researcher, Charles R. Stearns. This was a very cool gift indeed.

Fermented Tea?

There's no telling what one might find in the office kitchen in the morning. Today, Rich and I discovered a jug of fermenting tea. It's a little difficult to see in the picture, but the jug looked like it was ready to pop. There was a nice hissing sound as I unscrewed the cap to pour it down the drain. It apparently was left sitting on the counter since last Thursday. We didn't try any of it, but I doubt it would be as good as Kombucha is supposed to be.

Start Of The Fall Season

The familiar, golden light of sunset greeted me on my first evening trip of the season to Kennesaw Mountain. I generally like to park along Burnt Hickory Road and then walk north up the trail that crosses over Pigeon Hill, Little Kennesaw Mountain and then Kennesaw Mountain. I think I am most at peace when walking the trails and sitting on the top of the mountain.

 
With a few squirrels, chipmunks, birds and crickets, I watched the sun retire for the day and welcomed the evening. There was one particularly sassy chipmunk that gave me a stern "chirping" as I tried to get a good look at it. I don't think it appreciated my attention. I would have taken a picture if I could, but the light was far, far too dim for any sort of shot.

This is the crescent moon as seen from the top of Pigeon Hill. By this point it was really dark, but I had to stop and sit for a while to appreciate this view. I look forward to many more sunsets on the mountain over the coming months.

Jailbreak

I just spent the evening performing the iPhone 1.1.1 jailbreak. I followed a combination of steps from the guide found at iPhone Alley and the one from the iPhone Dev Team. I ran into a few bumps along the way, and this certainly isn't a task that I could imagine a casual computer user performing, but it was worth it. I actually can't believe I didn't hack my iPhone earlier. There is something very cool about being able to SSH into a phone. Now I just have to figure out why my chat client isn't logging in.

Bowling

Today we all left work a bit early to go bowling. It was a company event to celebrate the departure of one of our most beloved coworkers. She is on to bigger and better opportunities closer to her home in our office in Switzerland. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to have a party, although it really doesn't take much for us to find a reason to have a party. 

Fun was had by all in attendance. We were split up into four lanes, so it was a bit difficult to keep up with all of the action. We had a similar bowling outing a couple of years ago and I think that the skill level in our office has definitely been kicked up a notch or two. It was a particularly notable event for me; I think 152 may be my highest score ever. It was a COMPLETE fluke as I normally am happy to break 100. The picture below shows the scores from our final set. It was a good game for the elusive "C" as well (initial covered here by screen instructions). She suddenly came on strong in the second half of the game to score a very respectable 136.