Axodys

[Wired News][] has been providing a lot of [coverage](http://blog.wired.com/apple_30/) of Apple leading up to the company’s 30th Anniversary on April 1st. I particularly liked the [Apple Heroes and Villains](http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/herosandvillains/) gallery they put together. Fittingly enough, Steve Jobs actually gets three different entries because he went from hero to villain to hero for founding, leaving and then saving the company.

I should also mention the [Apple OS](http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/apple_os/) gallery they put together covering the evolution from DOS 3.3 all the way to MacOS X because it’s pretty interesting as well. The original MacOS screenshot reminds me of the first time I got to look at a Macintosh up close in the computer section of a defunct downtown Spokane department store called the Crescent. I didn’t end up getting my first Mac for another 6 or 7 years, but I’ve had one ever sense.

[Wired News]:http://wired.com

I’ve been using my new [MacBook Pro][] for a couple days now and it’s definitely pretty sweet. It’s really nice to have plenty of screen real estate and it’s really not significantly heavier than my old 12″ PowerBook. It does tend to get pretty hot at times and I have heard the processor whine occasionally, but I’m pretty tolerant when it comes to that kind of thing and haven’t found it very bothersome, although apparently [some people have](http://joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/801.html).

On a software note I was pleasantly surprised to learn that [Comic Life][] was included for free. I’ve always wanted to try it out, but had forgotten about it. [Omni Outliner][] also came installed as did the entire [iLIfe][] suite. I’m looking forward to playing with iMovie HD and Garage Band soon because they should really demonstrate the power of this laptop and the Core Duo processor.

I wasn’t the only one impressed by my new computer. When I showed the MacBook to Mary’s Windows using dad last night he said he was jealous and really liked the screen and overall thin design. It wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up getting a Mac within a couple years; the biggest obstacle is his existing PC software collection. Well, that and the fact that he’s a pretty big fps gamer ;).

[MacBook Pro]:http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/
[Comic Life]:http://plasq.com/comiclife
[Omni Outliner]:http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/
[iLife]:http://www.apple.com/ilife/

It was tough going for Adam Morrison, but the [Zags did it](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/basketball/ncaa/specials/ncaa_tourney/2006/03/18/indiana.gonzaga.ap/index.html) and beat Indiana 90-80 thanks to great play from the supporting cast. Sean Mallon came up huge and played the kind of game that those who followed his Ferris high school career knew he was always capable of. 15 points and 10 rebounds couldn’t have come at a better time and made a lot of people in Spokane proud. And of course Erroll Knight was simply sensational around the basket with his dunks and tip-ins, especially considering how sick he had been earlier in the day.

Next up: UCLA!

My mind has a funny way of working at times. I’ll be reading something innocuous on the web and I’ll follow a couple links and stumble upon an interesting idea and start reading more about it and then BOOM! Suddenly I’m obsessed with it. I’ll spend all my free time reading up on the new subject until I’ve amassed a reasonable working knowledge of the topic at hand. That’s how my kayaking interest started a year and a half ago (still have some finishing work to do on my Sea Raider btw, but it’s definitely a functional kayak). This week’s obsession started when I stumbled across a mention of electric cars at [43 things](http://43things.com/).

It turns out that converting an internal combustion engine car (ICE to the electrical vehicle community) into an electrical vehicle is a pretty doable project if you’re mechanically inclined. It’s somewhat expensive, but far less than buying say a new Toyota Prius. You’re looking at probably 200 hours of labor all told, but for a guy like me that just adds to the appeal of the project.

From a weekly driving habits perspective, there’s no question I’m a good candidate for an electric vehicle. I rarely drive more than 20 miles a day during the week. Most low end EV conversions can easily accommodate twice my average daily driving requirements. The rising cost of gas irritates me, especially since a tank of gas for my Element runs $30 these days, but at most I need two trips to the pump a month. A year’s worth of gas for my Element is probably only one tenth the cost of a basic EV conversion. I haven’t crunched the numbers, but intuitively it doesn’t make a whole lot of economic sense at this point unless I were to sell my Element and that’s not even on the table because I’m planning to keep my Element for a long time (I could actually see converting it to an EV in 10 to 15 years though) and definitely need its cargo flexibility.

If I were to build an EV right now I’ve already found what could be the perfect vehicle on the [Seattle Craigslist](http://seattle.craigslist.com): an 86 Honda CRX with a dead engine for $350. Assuming the body is in decent condition this would be my dream EV. Before I owned my Element I drove an 88 Honda Accord LX that I loved for several years. The CRX from that era is basically a sportier subcompact version and would make really fun two person commuter vehicle. Unfortunately money is tight, the CRX is on the other side of the state and it would be a pain to transport over here. It’s fun to think about though and fits nicely onto my list of projects to accomplish at some point in the future.

[The MacBook Pros are shipping](http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1529) according to [AppleInsider]. More importantly Apple did a free processor bump as well and the base model will come with a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo instead of the original 1.67 GHz announced. 2GHz and 2.16GHz models are also available. I don’t know if this is good marketing strategy on Apple’s part or just Intel manufacturing power at work, but I like the end result and I’m really looking forward to my new laptop. I wonder how long manufacturing and delivery will take for those of us who ordered a month or so after they were announced?

[AppleInsider]:http://appleinsider.com

I needed to fax some documents recently, so I began looking into various [web based fax alternatives](http://www.savetz.com/fax/). There are actually quite a few web based fax sites out there and most of them are fairly inexpensive. They’re especially valuable if you want to be able to receive faxes and don’t have a dedicated line or fax machine. That was definitely overkill for my situation though so I kept looking around until I had a sudden lightbulb moment.

The built in modem in Apple laptops (which I had never used because I use WiFI or Ethernet 100% or the time) supports printing documents as faxes. In MacOS X Tiger (and possibly earlier versions) it’s also fully integrated with the Address Book application and the Printer Setup Utility in a very elegant fashion. I plugged our Canon usb scanner into the iBook I’m using right now and suddenly faxing signed documents became a very simple task.

At this point faxing still has the advantage of being (somewhat) more secure than email since it goes through the phone system rather than the internet, but it seems fairly archaic by today’s standards and really isn’t the most efficient way to send documents back and forth. It’s really too bad that we haven’t figured out how to make public/private key email encryption and communication simple and ubiquitous yet. The technology has been around for a long time, but it’s still not mainstream and I kind of doubt it ever will be.

I’m a big fan of [Booq][] laptop sleeves. I’ve used a 12″ laptop sleeve for my PowerBook the last couple years and it has served me very well. I definitely prefer using a larger more flexible messenger style bag in conjunction with a sleeve for my computer, but [Booq][] offers a wide variety of very nice laptop bags as well. Most importantly for me, they just realized a really nice [sleeve for the MacBook Pro](http://www.booqbags.com/Detail.bok?no=542) that I’ve got my eye on now. It sounds like the new sleeve won’t be out until April or late March, but I’m going to see if I can get one ordered before then.

[Booq]:http://www.booqbags.com/

Last week I had the misfortune of losing my trusty PowerBook’s hard drive to s.m.a.r.t. error oblivion. I’ve tried a couple different recovery applications, but haven’t succeeded in salvaging anything yet. I have some backups, but I definitely lost more information than I would prefer.

The good news is that the failure of my PowerBook has provided the impetus for me to get one of Apple’s new [MacBook Pros](http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/). I ran the request by my supervisor and she agreed to let me go ahead with the purchase. In the meantime I’m getting by with a 14″ iBook and it should be more than sufficient to carry me through the next several weeks until the new machine arrives. I’m already really appreciating its larger screen and faster G4 processor.

I stumbled across an open source book cataloging application for MacOS X called [Books][] and it seems really cool for being in beta stage. Lots of built in importing and exporting options, data gathering using [Amazon][] and and ISBN and a nice clean interface. My only real complaint is that it let me quit the application without saving my database first. Luckily I had only entered two books so it wasn’t a big deal.

I definitely want to go through my book library when I get home and start entering some more titles.

[Books]:http://books.aetherial.net/
[Amazon]:http://amazon.com

Hats off to the Steelers. They made the plays they needed to and the Seahawks couldn’t quite ever get over the hump. Lots of little things drove me crazy throughout the second half. Stevens scored the only touchdown, but pretty much dropped every other pass thrown his way. The defense uncharacteristically gave up that 75 yard touchdown right out of the gate. Hasselbeck throws the interception on the drive that would have put the Hawks ahead. The defense getting tricked by Pittsburgh’s trademark gadget plays. A great season, but a disappointing finish.