split personality

Welcome to the darkside, PC users. Fear me, Bill Gates, for I have purchased one of the new MacIntels with the express intent of weaning myself off the Microsoft teat.

About 2 weeks ago I pulled the trigger on a 2ghz MacBook Pro. Let me say that this machine kicks serious butt. Especially now that I've gone and loaded all my PC legacy software on the XP partition with Boot Camp... granted, there's something inherently wrong with watching Windows boot up on a MacIntosh, but it's saved me from having to re-purchase all my spendy digital photography applications, plus most of the cycling / coaching / training software I use has no Mac compatibility.

The best part about this is that I'm able to view and transfer files across platforms from either partition. I won't go off into the geeky details of exactly why this is so awesome, but the primary benefit is that I never, ever have to connect the XP / Windows side of things to the 'net, meaning the neverending plague of scary baddies inherent to Windows' craptacular security can't infest my machine. Coupled with OSX / Tiger's far more friendly and intuitive multimedia interfaces and the ability to Just Get Things Done without having to wave the voodoo chicken round whilst chanting prayers to the Gods Of Software Updates, well... my life just got a whole bunch easier.

Oh and to keep this from being just an eye-roll inducing nerdtastic rave about my new laptop, let me also point you towards the recent Boards of Canada music video for Dayvan Cowboy. BoC is great mood music to begin with, and the video must be seen to be appreciated. Very. Cool. Stuff.

Also, if you get the chance, wind your ears round a few samples of the Grand National album 'Kicking The National Habit'. It's not new, having been released in '04 in the U.K., but it has finally been (re)released in the U.S., which of course means it's now getting some airplay here, plus you'll get a couple worthwhile bonus tracks, too. It's another offering in the neo-retro's 80's revival theme, but it takes its cue more from the New Order / Police end of things than the Clash-invoking bands such as The Strokes or Franz Ferdinand.



ahhh. have I mentioned how much I love my new MacBook Pro? Not only is it powerful, fast, and completely hassle-free, but it's just plain beautiful, too. Check out the backlight feature on this keyboard.


Cheers,

LFR