The Brad Hole

As a lot of you may have heard, Apple announced their new iMacs last night at the Apple Expo in Paris.

I've made some spectacularly bad predictions about Apple in the past. I wasn't all that impressed with the initial iMac - I'm not a fan of all-in-one designs, I prefer flexiblity. I also thought the iPod would be a spectacular failure because it had a similar feature set to the then Archos Jukebox while having a significantly higher price. Apple quickly lowered the initial price of the iPod and the rest is history.

So here I find myself looking at the new iMac and being impressed with an Apple computer for the first time in a long time. Sure, it's an all-in-one design, but it's the very definition of svelte and stylish. I could easily see myself buying one of these. I've been harping on the fact that I need a cheap headless Mac for a long time now. This iMac is certainly not that, but neither is it a massive space hog like the eMac. In fact, if it were possible to plug my tower into the iMac and use it as a dummy DVI display (pseudo-headless, as it were), I'd plunk down my cash right now. The 20" iMac is only $600 more than Apple's new 20" Cinema Display, so the value is there. I'd love to see Apple innovate in that direction for the next rev of the iMac, but I suspect the number of people who'd want such a power feature is pretty small.

There's really only one thing wrong with the new iMac as far as I can see. It ships with the woefully underpowered nVidia FX 5200. The thought of Mac gamers being saddled with this GPU for X more years is pretty depressing from a game developer's standpoint. I've started a nightly ritual of prayer and sacrifice to Apple, with the hope that they'll ditch this card for something - anything - else in the next rev. One of the guys here at Aspyr, Michael Marks, did point out that they're using the 5200 Ultra now, instead of the regular 5200. That translates into faster core and memory clock speeds (325MHz vs 250MHz and 325 vs 200, respectively). I'm going to hope that this, combined with the power of the G5, will make things turn out OK.

Interestingly, if you click on the "sizzling graphics" link on Apple's iMac page, you're taken to a new page that features a doctored screenshot of KOTOR running on the iMac, next to the caption "Widescreen wonder." It's ironic, because KOTOR doesn't support true widescreen resolutions (the GUI layout is hardcoded in these KOTOR-specific .lyt files, and we have no tools to generate new ones for the Mac). It does support stretched modes though, so no black bars on the side if you don't want them. :-)

Posted by bradman at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Are you a geek with a strong urge to make a complete fool out of yourself? If so, Inside Mac Games is sponsoring a contest where you can do just that.

If I were entering (which I'm not), I'd send in a picture of myself wearing nothing but my Darth Maul boxers while rolling around on the floor in a pile of action figures with an orgasmic look on my face. I suppose I might be sporting a lightsaber if I really wanted to clinch it. (And no, I don't mean that in a euphemistic sense.)

I don't know who the unlucky person will be who has to judge the entries, but it should prove interesting and disturbing at the same time.

Posted by bradman at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This past weekend, we went up to Flagstaff to enjoy the "Made in the Shade" beer festival with Paul, Maureen, his sister Lise and her SO Erwin. Since we've moved back to Arizona, we've attended two culinary festivals in Scottsdale (both with beer gardens) as well as a beer festival in Tucson last year. Each time, it's been a lot of fun and so we look forward to each upcoming event.

We didn't go to the Flagstaff festival last year for whatever reason, but we all felt that it would be a good venue, since it's up in the mountains at 7000 feet and the temperatures there are much cooler than here in Phoenix in August. In our enthusiasm for heading to the cool mountain air, we didn't really think about the monsoon season. And so it was that we found ourselves driving up to Flagstaff this past weekend with a forecast of rain for both Saturday and Sunday. As it turns out, we got lucky and it was only overcast during the festival, with the sun peeking out at the end.

Last year's Tucson festival took place on a baseball field in the evening, so it was in a large, nice venue. I think we all had similar visions for the Flagstaff festival, and we knew it was going to be in a campground which did nothing to dissuade us from that opinion. As it turns out, the festival is in a campground, but in an area that is essentially a large, paved "utility" area surrounded by a barn and some weird 50's-style farm buildings labelled "Sheep", "Pigs", "Goats", "Rabbits", etc. In effect, it was one big parking lot and the area was a bit smaller than in Tucson, so it felt cramped and not as "green" as I was expecting. The lines to the various vendors were also fairly long most of the 4 hours we were there, so even if each vendor had taken one of the 20 or so tickets they give you for admission, there's no way we could have used them all in that time. But that's OK - the goal isn't to get totally drunk, it's to have a good time with your friends and try out a lot of different types of beer in the process. In that regard, we succeeded wildly. The only real disappointment for the trip was our rooms at the Radisson - they were in dire need of a remodeling. If we go next year, we're going to shoot for either the Embassy Suites, the Hampton Inn, The Hilton Garden Inn or possibly the Comfort Inn - those seemed, at least from the outside, to be nice properties.

Coming back on Sunday, we made like Mrs. Butterworth's and took our sweet time. Our first stop was the Arboretum in Flagstaff. I'll admit looking at flowers and trees wasn't something I was looking forward to, but it was actually well worth the price - $4 admission. The grounds and gift shop are very nice, and I really recommend the "children's maze", even to adults.

On the drive back, we stopped at Montezuma's Castle and learned a few things about the Sinagua Indians. Notably, if you're old and/or blind, count on being stuck at the top of the castle. Also, if you're an Indian mom, you have lots to look forward to, including hyperactive kids and a life of grinding corn on stones. If things were going well, count on an Indian hunter to bring back some fresh meat for the tribe - but pray it won't be a beaver from nearby beaver creek. Next year if we go, there's talk of visiting the nearby Tuzigoot ruins.

So how do you follow up a visit to a fascinating, yet mysterious Indian village built into the cliff face 600-800 years ago? Why, go to the Cliff Castle Indian Casino of course, where luck was a lady for everyone but Paul and his sister. Beth made out really well with video poker, and since this was her first time actually winning a non-trivial amount of money in a casino, she's developed a bit of an urge to visit Vegas. This casino was actually very nice, and being not-quite halfway from Flagstaff to Phoenix, makes a good rest spot if that 2 hour drive overwhelms you. ;-)

Posted by bradman at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This past weekend was pretty interesting. Things started off mildly, with Beth's mom coming into town to stay with us for a week. The backstory is a bit convoluted - originally my brother was going to get married this past Saturday, then he wasn't, and then he was. It was no sure guarantee that things were going to go ahead up until they actually transpired, which made things pretty exciting.

We trekked up to Sedona on Friday afternoon for the wedding. Along the way, we passed the "Jack Ass Bar" and the "Bad Ass BBQ" restaurant. Immediately after crossing Dry Beaver Creek, we saw a sign for "Granny's Closet" (a restaurant, apparently). I think Granny might have better luck if she didn't advertise so close to the dry beavers - it didn't do much for my appetite.

The wedding was outdoors at Oak Creek Canyon on Saturday morning around 10am. I'd like to state for the record that I have never sweated so much in my life as I did that morning. In addition to the rainstorm the night before which jacked up the humidity, it was close to 90 degrees and I was wearing a dark suit. When we got back to the hotel room after the ceremony, my shirt was absolutely sopping wet, with close to 50% coverage of sweat. It was concentrated funk.

We drove back to Phoenix in the afternoon, and the reception was Saturday evening at the Embassy Suites near Paradise Valley Mall. They had some really fantastic appetizers - much better than I was expecting. I could have gorged myself on the shrimp skewers and crab cakes for hours. The best man toast was a bit nerve wracking, but I think it came out OK all things considered. Beth gave a nice, somewhat emotional toast for the bride, welcoming her to the family. I'm very happy with how it all turned out. It was poised to be a disaster for various reasons I don't need to detail here. We had joked that the theme should be "Staying One Step Ahead of Sheer Chaos" because time and time again it appeared as if something was going to go horribly wrong, only to have all the pieces fall into place at the last possible second.

Since Beth's mom's visit was originally planned to coincide with the "wedding is delayed" timeline, we had also made plans to visit Beth's aunt in Tucson on Sunday. Having the wedding back on meant that we didn't get a whole lot of rest time this weekend. We motored down to Tucson on Sunday for brunch at some resort that I sadly don't remember. It was an excellent cap to an otherwise hectic weekend.

Posted by bradman at 01:47 AM | Permalink

A while back, I converted over to using Adium for all my IM needs.

However, over the weekend, I was the unlucky recipient of over a dozen "spam" messages on my account offering me low mortgage rates or free online mortgage quotes. Sadly, Adium doesn't allow you to block messages from random subscribers, so I've switched back to iChat. This means that if you now try to contact me and aren't already in my buddy list, you're instantly banned. It's a pretty strong-armed tactic, but I can't be bothered with a new message indicator only to find out it's yet another free mortgage quote. What's more, most people that contact me out of the blue usually do so with questions I can just as easily answer via e-mail.

If anyone knows of a way to block AIM spam a little more effectively than a blanket ban, I'm interested in hearing about it. I really like Adium, and I think the upcoming update with customizable buddy list views is going to rock.

Posted by bradman at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

As you can see by clicking on the FedEx link from yesterday's post, the liquid-cooled 2.5 GHz dual G5 arrived yesterday. So far so good, although I haven't yet had a chance to really push it. It runs KOTOR smooth as butter, but then again so did the 2.0 GHz G5 that preceded it.

I think the fan management is slightly better. The 2.0 G5 was really freakin' loud when the CPU was being stressed. In those situations, the fan would come on and stay on, and it reminded me of the "Juice Loosener" from the Simpsons ("IT'S WHISPER QUIET!!!"). For this new Mac, the fan does come on at full blast when the CPU is being pushed, but it seems to throttle down quite a bit immediately afterwards. It's still significantly louder than my older DP 800MHz G4, but I suppose that's to be expected when the entire front surface of the computer is a big ventilation grill.

My only other beef with the G5 is its weight. It's a hefty 44 pounds. It doesn't help that the handle edges are squared-off metal. On the plus side, the case will stop a bullet. It's also running a new variant of 10.3.4 - build 7L32. The only change in the OS I can see is that it generates prettier stack crawls in the crash reporter. :)

Other than that, it's running great so far. It goes to sleep - something my existing Quicksilver Mac doesn't do well at all (it either doesn't wake up or more commonly, jerks back awake after a minute or two).

Posted by bradman at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Are you bored? Want to know where my 2.5 GHz G5 currently sits?

Well, wait no more! You can find out by clicking here.

As of right now, it's finally left China and is sitting in Anchorage, Alaska. I especially like the comment for it: "Delay beyond our control." My mind is reeling with possibilities thinking of things could cause FedEx delays beyond their control. Did their plane crash and it's sitting on a desert island with Tom Hanks? Was there a hostage situation that caused a work stoppage? And I wonder - it crossed the international date line, so are the times on the site calibrated to US time or were they originally China time? It seems like the latter, as it left China after it arrived in Alaska. ;-) Would that be considered a speed-up beyond their control?

The smart money seems to be on it arriving Friday. The order has "priority overnight" status, but I don't think they'll do a Saturday delivery which means there's a chance it could arrive on Monday, provided there are no more delays out of their control. ;-)

Posted by bradman at 03:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Yesterday, the handyman I had called the day prior showed up around 10:10 in the morning (and yes, I was awake). First, he looked at the toilets. He pretty much confirmed what I'd discovered via some googling - the toilet in the master bathroom needed some serious work. He said, in a nutshell, that the inside assembly of the tank needed to be replaced or rebuilt. Since it was the older-style, he recommended replacing. The other toilet needed a new valve, but it also had the older-style assembly (which I gather can let backflow from the toilet into the regular water line in low-pressure conditions) so he recommended replacing it as well. $130 combined for both, which I thought was reasonable.

As for the garage door, he wasn't sure what to make of it. What I knew beforehand was that one of the 2 floor sensors had blown out, so the door always thought it was obstructed and wouldn't lower. He called his office, and they didn't have any recommendations other than possibly replacing the whole unit, for $260 in labor. He also recommended I call a garage-door repair place and get a quote from them - good advice, as it turns out.

I called a "fast fix" garage door place, and they had a guy out by noon. He had a spare sensor in his truck, wired it up and we were good to go. The bracket from the old sensor didn't match the new one, so he had to tape it on. Since it was a simple fix and because it was a bit half-assed, he charged us $55, which seemed pretty fair. Googling afterwards, I discovered that a new sensor package for this model costs roughly $39, so the repair seemed reasonable.

The toilets remain a problem, however. The handyman who gave a quote of $130 also said he was booked solid for the next 6 weeks, which honestly does us no good. So I called another plumber, and they sent someone out around 2:30. His estimate for the same work? $260. When I said "that's way too expensive", he offered to do it for less if I paid him in cash. As I didn't have $200 in cash lying around, I showed him the door.

But all was not lost. Our house has a "home warranty" with a deductible of $40 which I had forgotten about since we're renters. We had our landlord call the warranty company, and they hooked us up with a plumber. The plumber called at the absolute crack of ass this morning - 8:00 am - to inform me that they'd stop by today, and that they'd call when they were in the neighborhood. I'm glad they were able to narrow down that timeframe for us. ;)

Beth's mom is arriving this evening for a week's stay, so I'm hoping we'll soon have two fully-functioning toilets. Beth's dad has a rule that he lives by: "Never pass up a working potty." I'm not sure if he has a corollary about non-working toilets.

Posted by bradman at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

AJ sent me this link, and now I'm not sure whether to thank him or not.

Behold the majesty of the "Doom" comic from 1996. It'll make you stupid, and I'm not even joking. You'll lose IQ points and you may never get them back. This is some seriously retarded stuff. If you are strong enough to ward off the moronificating powers of the Doom comic, you may find that it's pretty amusing. The best part, I think, is after like 8 pages of the worst, most cliched deathmatch slogans you've ever heard, there's a one paragraph screed about pollution and the environment, and then the comic interrupts itself and lurches back into stupid mode.

It's so stupid, it's brilliant!

Posted by bradman at 01:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

These past few weeks have not been good for our house. First, the toilet in our guest bathroom has started intermittently running. You probably know the type - it goes off for about 6-7 seconds every 15 minutes or so. Not a big deal, but somewhat annoying if you're trying to concentrate or fall asleep.

Then a lightning storm a few weeks back knocked out a sensor on our garage door, and it no longer closes automatically, so we've had it on manual until we can get it fixed.

Finally, the jenga piece - the toilet in the master bathroom started running non-stop last night. Initially it was just a very slight trickle, but this morning after using it, it became a full-on flush fest. I cracked the top to effect repairs, and promptly got sprayed by water from the valve, shooting out the top of the refill "pipe" because the tank was completely empty and the rubber floater (connected to the top of the refill pipe) was bent well below its normal position due to the lack of water. 10 minutes of screwing around in reclaimed water got me nowhere, so I jammed a screwdriver in it to prop up the floater and called a handyman. With any luck, he'll hit the trifecta.

He's due to show up tomorrow morning at 10:30, which has lately been the "crack of dawn" to me. Beth doesn't think I can get up in time, but I'll show her! *waves fist in the air like an old man*

Posted by bradman at 02:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)