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I’ve posted some pics around - I’ll try to get some links up soon.

Thanks, everyone, for a memorable time with some great friends!

With all of the problems we’re facing with our economy these days, coupled with our extended military commitments, the United States needs strong leadership. And we aren’t getting it anytime soon.

The polls all show that our next President will be Senator Obama - and that’s the scary part.  He seems to be a likable guy - he has found several friends, in fact:  Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and a few select others.  But with all of his talk about wealth redistribution and a need for higher taxes, well, I’m just not sure how things are going to go in the short term.

Hopefully the American people can hold Obama at bay so that we don’t end up with more socialism than our current REPUBLICAN president has given us with the bail-out plans.

Even if there is some miracle for Senator McCain, I’m not too thrilled about that prospect either.  He was right there voting for the bail-outs and he doesn’t seem to want the job enough to even point out the facts about his opponent.  Quite frankly, I’m shocked that he isn’t bold enough to do so given his courageous background.

We have a week to go until this all-too-important election comes to a head.  Unfortunately, the handwriting has already appeared on the wall and there is no eraser in sight.  Let’s just pray that God will guide us through these difficult times and hope that I am proven wrong.

The new site is called Closet Mac Fan and will center on my new-found obsession with Apple products.  I’m going to discuss my thoughts on a variety of topics - tips and tricks, opinions on products, cool web sites, handy utilities, etc.

So, check out my new site, Closet Mac Fan!

Interestingly, this has presented a fairly ironic solution:  open source.  Ironic because my switch to Mac - a traditionally closed world - has “opened” my eyes to all of the great free software available today.  I have found a great wealth of apps to solve nearly every problem I’ve run across with my Mac.

Who needs to spend hundreds to write a few letters?  Instead of shelling out a bunch of bucks on Microsoft Office for the Mac, I found NeoOffice.  It’s basically a front-end for OpenOffice, the free office suite champ.  It worked okay, but was a bit rough around the edges.

Well, OpenOffice itself has been upgraded to version 3.0 and now is native to OS X.  I tried it out for about eight minutes this afternoon and immediately threw out NeoOffice.  OpenOffice is faster, has more features (and programs), and just plain-out looks nicer.

If you’re a NeoOffice user, I strongly encourage you to download OpenOffice today.  It’s well worth the price!  =)

I would have liked to have seen a bump in processor speed and maybe 4GB standard.  The quad-core Penryn would have been extra sweet.  The memory thing is just a rip-off:  I bought 4GB of memory for my MBP last month for $80.  Yes, $80!  Apple wanted to charge me $180 to go from 2GB to 4GB.  And they charge $400 for that same 4GB kit!

I guess I think that the “Pro” line should push things a bit more.  Get a super-fast CPU and tons of memory to pair up with the admittedly ingenius video subsystem.  Charge a butt-load because you’re Apple.  But make it COOL!

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining!  The value of my month-old laptop is still very high and it makes the sweet price I got all that much better.

I just woke up about an hour ago and had to use the bathroom.  That was ten after two.  Everything was fine - I was sufficiently groggy when I stumbled back to bed.  But as soon as I realized that it was hot in our bedroom (and I don’t mean in a good way!), I could not get back to sleep for the life of me.

Now, I’ve spent hours lying in bed trying to find sleep many times in the past.  As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to not waste time doing that.  Instead, I get up and try to do something with that time.  I’m not much of a television-watcher so I usually end up on my computer.

I’m hoping that this morning I’m put gently back to sleep by the tip-tapping of the keyboard as I write this post.  But I’ll probably end up on YouTube until 5:30!

‘Night!

A few thoughts…  First off, I really like it.  The build quality is great and it runs OS X lickety-split!  But there are a couple of things that I’m not thrilled with.  For example, the keyboard is a bit odd.  The RETURN key is a little smaller than I’m used to so I continuously hit the ‘ key.  Also, the keys seem to have just a tiny bit more travel than my previous Windows-based notebooks (from various manufacturers).  That will cause a few missing characters until I get used to hit the keys harder.

The other items are things that I knew about - only 2 USB ports, a display that doesn’t open very far, and the lack of a hard drive LED (yes, I know, that’s a “Mac thing” - but it would still be nice!).

That said, I’m falling in love quickly.  The sleep mode is awesome because, well, it works.  I’ve never had a Windows-based PC that actually does what I think it should when I close the lid.  This thing sleeps right away and pops back on the moment I open it up.  VERY USEFUL!

A couple other things I love:  the illuminated keyboard is much more useful than I expected, the battery life is fantastic, and the LED-backed display is the brightest and most vivid I’ve ever seen on a laptop computer.

But perhaps the best thing about it is the main reason I bought it….  It runs OS X!  It’s fun to use.  I think I’m just bored with Windows, to be honest.

With all of the horsepower in today’s PCs, is it any wonder that virtualization is finally becoming mainstream?  Many of us have an old PC with Windows XP lying around with a product key on the side of the case.  Why not use that product key to run some finicky software?  Even better, set up a virtual machine to use as a sandbox to ensure that beta software doesn’t destroy your machine.

Most of us don’t use even a fraction of the power that’s available in our PCs.  And servers tend to be even worse!  A recent study shows that CPU utilization is around 6% on the typical small business server.  Six percent!  That means that you have 94% of your hardware sitting around waiting to be used.  (Not really, as CPU utilization is only one component in your machine’s performance, but you get the point.)

Servers can easily be virtualized to increase hardware utilization, decrease energy costs, decrease server closet temperatures, and decrease hardware costs.  WAIT A SECOND!!!  I SELL HARDWARE!!!  Nevermind.  Virtualization is a waste!

Seriously, depending upon the network environment and usage of the servers, you can put many software-based virtual servers on one physical box.  Having three or four servers running at a time is certainly not out of the question.  Pop in some new hardware and you could double that.

And that brings me to another great reason for my recent Mac obsession….  I can easily run Windows and Linux on my Apple machine but I can’t do the reverse.  Oh, sure, there are ways to get OS X to run on traditional PC hardware.  Unfortunately, it’s not easy or time efficient to do so.  If you want to spend a lot of time and energy, you could build a fast computer for cheap that will work fine.  But when you get a Mac, you get the ability to dual boot Windows and OS X out of the box.  Throw 80 bucks at a software company and you’ll add the flexibility of running virtual machines.  That’s a great deal in my book.  Or should I say “in my MacBook”?   =)

I predict that the uptick in the sales of Mac hardware will continue for the foreseeable future.  The machines are generally well-built with high quality components.  The lines aren’t refreshed as often as I’d like, so when the computers reach end-of-life, they aren’t necessarily a great deal.  But the perception that Mac is so high-priced is largely incorrect.  And with the advent of good, cheap, useable virtualization, the lines are blurred and the barriers are destroyed.

It will be a very long time before Windows isn’t the leading OS.  That has to do with tradition more than anything.  OS X is better in almost every measurable way and, since it’s based on a Unix core, is very scaleable.  But it may not hurt to take a look at the Mac and learn a little AppleScript….   =)