macworld expo 2008

Gather round children, for a tale of social anxiety and rampant commercialism...

So, I went to Macworld Expo 2008 today and the best thing about it that I can say is that I survived. There must have been something like 5,000 people there. I did ok at first, talking to a few people at booths and picking up some demo cd's and whatnot. Then I realized how these people at the booths weren't techies like me, they were just salespeople. They said things like "robust" and "intuitive" as though I would actually be impressed.

Additionally, There must have been something like 40 booths all based around customization of you ipod/iphone/iwhatever. Either I didn't realize that Mac users were this crazy or most of these companies are running on profit margins smaller than a quark.

Now, I know that it was just the sheer amount of sensory stimulation that was paralyzing. The people there weren't really the problem, I just can't handle that much "stuff" at one time.

Why is it that every salesperson thinks that their product is going to solve all your problems and completely change your life for the better?

oh, about computer games

I deleted every single trace of computer games from all my computers (except for the little games like solitaire and chess). No more hours wasted playing Civilization 4 or Neverwinter Nights 2. I did this on 1/5/08 so I have 12 days "computer-game-free" if anyone's counting.

good bye windows hello ubuntu

So here's a tip:
When you hibernate windows, don't change the ram. Or more generally, completely shut down your computer whenever changing hardware. Just like any good contractor, I sometimes mess with my own gear so much that I break it. But I suppose that's good for my customers because I learn a lot in the process. Anyway, here's what happened
1. Received a 2gb Pc2-5300 kit for my birthday (DDR2 SoDIMM's for laptops/macminis)
2. Installed the 2gb in the laptop after shutting down, realized there wasn't much performance increase
3. Painstakingly (seriously, I cut my finger) took apart my macmini (*do not try this at home*) and installed the 2gb in it. Put it back together.
4. Put the 1gb RAM back in the laptop, turned it on and it froze at the "Resuming Windows" screen.
5. Tried booting into Ubuntu 7.10 and it worked great

I have all my user data backed up on the windows partition so there's nothing I really need. However, it's good to have windows on the laptop when I'm on-site somewhere and need a working windows computer. So, I guess I could take apart the macmini again and switch the RAM.

That is all for now. See you next time.