Sunday, February 26, 2006

Wedding bells again

I was hoping that the next post here would include pictures depicting the 'unboxing' of a certain MacBook Pro. Alas here I am, still without my new baby while reports are coming in from people all over America receiving their deliveries. *Sigh* Australia being shafted once more.

On a more jovial note, another couple of friends (Steph and Andrew) just got married yesteday. Always nice to have an excuse to dress up with friends.



Things got a little warm in the afternoon but thankfully the weather didn't completely misbehave this time. Alison and I both agree that indoor weddings in winter are definitely the way to go when it comes to comfort and ease of mind.

At the reception the wedding singer played some real nice standards so the two of us were taking notes on what we'd like to see at our own reception. Good thing all our friends are leading the way with this marriage business so we can get some ideas on what to do. Andrew also gave a hilarious yet sweet speech during dinner which does not bode well for me as the bar has just been raised in Alison's mind.



Then there was much dancing after dinner and both the bride and groom looked lovely cutting up the floor. We made a rather less than graceful effort to find the beat without stepping on each other's toes but still had a fun time. Might be time to get back to those Latin dancing sessions to brush up before we have to open the floor next year. :)

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Lucky!

Apple recently announced that they've upgraded their entire MacBook Pro line! The previous 1.67Ghz laptops will be replaced with 1.83Ghz chips and the 1.83Ghz laptops with 2.0Ghz chips. I thought this was devastating news but thankfully it's been confirmed that all previous orders will be upgraded to reflect the new system specs. Of course this only throws more oil on the raging inferno of impatience I have been tending since I asked Albert to order my MacBook ages ago.

No one can say for sure when I'll get my MacBook Pro but the store is at least estimating arrival of the new machines sometime next week. Somewhat believable as Apple have officially started shipping the lovelies.

On the downside a week of helping mum download software updates for her iBook and unrestrained torrent clicking has caused my internet connection to be shaped to 72k for download bandwidth. This means it's going to take absolutely forever for me to set up all the cool stuff for my new baby. :(

Ah well, slow internet or no I say bring on the fruit! I'm ready to switch.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

A busy week goodbye

Phew, pretty busy week for mum before she flies back to Malaysia later on tonight. Alison and I were in for a little surprise last Tuesday when mum casually informed us that she had decided to take up a five day TESOL (Teaching English as a second language) course down at the Gold Coast to become an accredited trainer. Here she is receiving her certificate.



The decision seemed a little sudden but she's really excited about the whole prospect of teaching English to people in China and Tibet so power to her.

On Saturday we picked up the Courier Mail and scoured the engagement notices for two inches of fame. Pretty chuffed seeing my name in print like that. I've been told that in some circles the announcement itself is considered a binding commitment so I guess there's no turning back now.



Over the past three odd years I've been trying intermittently to get mum to buy an Apple computer on the promise that she'll find them considerably more intuitive that their Windows counterparts. When she first landed in Australia I brought it up once again and offered to help her adjust to the differences over her long stay with us in Australia but my proposal was promptly ignored. How typically 'parent-ish' of her to suggest getting an iBook just TWO DAYS before returning home after a TWO MONTH stay with us... *sigh*



Ah well, at least she's seems happy with the purchase. After two solid days of remedial computing instruction from yours truly I certainly hope she's absorbed enough to justify the buy. We've covered quite a bit of new ground for mum so I'm proud of her. If all of it's sunk in she should be able to

· Use bits of the iLife suite including iPhoto, iDVD and iTunes
· Import pictures from her digital camera
· Tab browsing in Safari and using BOOKMARKS
· Searching with Spotlight
· Smart folders/albums/playlists
· Burning CDs with burn folders
· Using Mail to access her Gmail account
· Use Skype and iChat for VOIP calls and IMs
· Upload pictures to Flickr and post them to her blogger account
· Tonnes of other little things I'm sure



Mum, you can use this as a study list if you like. ;)



This is actually the first time I've spent an extended period working with OSX so it was a great preview of things to come with my Mac Book Pro. I hear rumblings that there might be a three to four week delay with some orders so here's hoping that our corporate customer status lends enough weight to get mine on the short list.

As a bonus I actually received a replacement packet of green train bits too for Railroad Tycoon. Hurray for good customer service.