Category Archives: Ramblings

Quiet Time

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The only time it’s quiet enough to think is late at night. The only problem is that it is late at night, which proves to be problematic in the morning.

I’ve always been a night person, staying up late in the still quiet since as long as I can remember. I always figured it was exclusively the product of OCD or ADD or some other alphabet soup sort of thing. But tonight I’m left wondering if it is just because the still and quiet makes it easier to breathe, to think uninterrupted, to just be.

The silence is one of my favorite aspects of winter which will soon be here in the valley. After a heavy snowfall, the muffled, enveloping silence deepens to a point where at night it is almost tangible. It holds a sense of warmth and comfort in stark contrast to the frigid conditions just outside.

I love the silence at night. It’s funny how the absence of something, in this case sound and vibration, can be so very fulfilling.

A Matter of Speed

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This is a long geek post.  Just a warning up front for those of you who are busy or just not that into the geekiness!

I’m reaching a point where I’m no longer able to look the other way when it comes to my primary computer’s performance.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my MacBook, in spite of the fact that it no longer functions without being plugged in and the fact that a small part of the wrist rest has chipped off.  I have one of the first generation black MacBooks with a Core Duo processor.  Not Core 2 Duo, the other one.  After three years it seems that even my routine 12-18 month computer colonics, where I just wipe everything clean and start from scratch, aren’t cutting it.

I think this situation has a lot to do with my iPhone 3GS as it so happens.  It’s fast.  Very fast.  It switches and flips between functions amazingly well.  I can go for weeks without rebooting it and the only time I generally run into errors are with early builds of independent applications which I download from the App Store.  I seriously adore my iPhone and it has become in many ways my primary computing device.  However, this speed has caused me to become impatient with my laptop.  It just isn’t quite fast enough.  I must also concede that small part of the problem also has to do with my Internet provider, but even after careful consideration, even Qwest’s hideously lacking service doesn’t quite explain what is going on here.

I need something which just works and moves faster.  But that isn’t my only issue.  I’m now faced with a moment where I have to take a long, hard look at the form factor of the machine I’m using.  I’ve long been a one-machine household.  I’ve had my MacBook and that is it.  I like the simplicity of this concept.  My computer is just that, a computer.  It’s not some fixture or installation which is stuck there at all times.  I’m not on my computer all the time, so it’s nice to be able to tuck it in a drawer when not in use.  That appeals to the minimalist in me.  As much as I love technology, I think that it should be easily tucked away and function seamlessly with the act of living.

That being said, I would love to have a larger, more vibrant, and much more accurate display to work with my photos.  It’s painful to me to be stuck with inconsistent output from my printer when printing photos as a result of the limited color gamut and accuracy of what is presented on-screen.  A nice iMac would be delightful, but at the same time, I think I’m the only one to complain that they are now only available in gargantuan and megamonster sizes.

A new MacBook pro would be nice, but the 13-inch screen is too limiting, though I could just get a larger external display.  I would also love a MacBook Air to be able to have an even more slight and effortless mobile computing experience.  I don’t need a ton of features, but it is lacking in the processor department which is my current beef with my computer now and would seal the need for a more powerful primary computer.

I’ve enjoyed the one-machine simplicity and I find that the concept of having multiple machines brings in the need for a NAS solution and thus far I’m hard-pressed to find one which really moves me, especially now that the Time Capsule from Apple seems to be emo and can die in sort of data-backup roulette at 18 months for unlucky winners.  I’ve been using a very simple machine in my living room for backups as well as Netflix duty, but it’s lone tiny Celeron processor doesn’t like to play nice all the time and is prone to gagging and sputtering.  At the same time, I really don’t want to invest much in that machine as I don’t want it to be more than a simple dummy box.  I don’t like the idea of using some set-top product not it not playing nice with any particular online outlet.

If money were not an issue, I would be able to very simply solve this problem, even if the solution weren’t as elegant as I would prefer.  I would have a MacBook Air for general puttering around the house and writing and stuff, a new 21-inch iMac in the office for heavy lifting and photo editing, and a Mac mini server in the living room for backups and streaming media.  But that seems to make it all much more complex and I’m not a fan of that.  It’s hard to balance the minimalist and the ubergeek inside of me.

Not to mention that as much as I would love to save my pennies and get a new Mac, I would love new furniture as well.  Oh and some new clothes.  Or a new lens for my camera.  Or a million other things I would just love to have.  It’s all so complex and muddled.  Anyhow, that is my awful, long, imposing, over-the-top geek dialog on new computers.  I don’t see why they can’t just magically be fast and amazing forever.  Thats not that much to ask for!

Classics

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Last night I stayed up until an unreasonable hour watching classic Hitchcock films.  I watched “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, “Lifeboat”, and “Strangers on a Train”.   I’ve seen a number of older films throughout my life and have always enjoyed classics from the 1940s and 50s, but something struck me while watching these particular movies.  They are timeless.   With the exception of a few minor period turns of phrase, they would all be perfectly functional films now with virtually no modification.   Hitchcock was a classic storyteller and it is delightful to watch a film made over 60 years ago and connect with the characters and hold my breath with anticipation as the story unfolds.

I think what I enjoy most is the fact that the characters are isolated by the events in which they find themselves.  They are alone or apart from the world and I find myself brought into the microcosm of their life within the larger story.  The story comes down to the basic human drives and motivations which are always running underneath our lives and our choices.  This isn’t a report for Humanities 1010, so I won’t get too carried away but, I’m pretty sure that these are the reasons I have always connected with Hitchcock’s filmmaking.  It’s less about the effects, even though he did push the limits of the techniques available to him at the time, and more about the story, and the people and their drives.  Perfect material for sulking and being moody on brisk autumn nights.

Looks like I’ve found a new hobby for the next little while.

Fortunes

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Well I had wanted to post every single day of this month and managed to botch it a day in. Great. Yesterday was a less than ideal day. I found out that I was not chosen for a position I had really wanted at work. I love my job and I don’t talk about it here for very obvios reasons, one of them being how much I do love my job. As with any setback in life, not getting this position was a bit of a disappointment.

To celebrate/commiserate the event I had dinner and drinks with a friend and went to bed early last night. I woke up feeling refreshed and like I had gained more perspective having slept on it. In the past week I’ve had favorable fortunes from my fortune cookies. I am taking that as a sign that everything will work out. After all, when a small, crunchy pastry tells me, “A pleasant surprise is in store for you.” I take that as a pretty sure sign the universe will deliver. Pastries never lie.