in

In case you're trying to get a hold of me, my phone is dead and I won't have access to a charger to juice it back up until I'm back in the office tomorrow.

Oh, and I'm the proud new owner of the old-model Macbook Pro. It arrives Tuesday!

in

I have a crush on the new MacBooks.

This is a problem for the usual Apple reasons:

  1. It's too expensive.
  2. It's too expensive.
  3. It's too expensive.

$1,600 is a lot for the 2.4 GHz, 2 GB RAM (corrected), 250 GB harddrive computer. Don't even get me started on the MacBook Pros that start at $2,000 and climb near $3,000 depending on specs.

Still, I'm tempted. I've been wanting to get rid of the old desktop that is barely keeping up. I've had it for six years, which is like 600 years old in computer years. The problem is that I still have a totally functional, three-year old Dell laptop that I don't have an excuse to dump. Add my work laptop to the mix and that's just a whole lot of computers for one guys to toggle between.

I've never been enough of a fan of an Apple computer to buy the cost, and have actually hated most Apple computers of the last decade, but these new laptops are just plain sexy. The hardware is unprecedented. What's under the hood could satisfy my needs for at least the next four years. The only drawback I can see is the reflective, glass screen. But shouldn't I judge on brains over beauty anyway?

The reviews are positive and tempting. People are raving about them on Twitter. As Gizmodo points out, I should also consider a last-generation MacBook Pro because of the price drop.

Oh Macbook, you siren, why must you tease me so! I know I don't need you, but must have you!

in

7:55 PM Here we go with a live blog in class. I think this is a good way to keep my mind occupied and let everyone feel my suffering. I kid, I kid... sort of.
7:56 PM Our next homework is due on 10/22. Need to provide term project problem, context, hypothesis and bibliography. Basically, this is a first draft of the term project research proposal. Boo.
7:58 PM FYI, my research topic is to determine how journalist engagement in social media affects journalism ethics.
8:00 PM Now we're talking about group work. Fortunately, by the time you get to grad school, everyone is that type of person who did all the work for groups in high school and undergrad.
8:02 PM Still, group work is lame.
8:05 PM I really wish I was watching the debates tonight. This is like being in class during the World Cup finals or something.
8:07 PM Breaking into groups now. Time for a commercial break.
8:50 PM Biggest challenge with group work: Two people speak broken English.
9:42 PM Scored 90 percent (18/20) on assignment #2. Not bad. Maintaining the A!
9:50 PM OK, heading home now to watch the debates on DVR...or Dexter... Now THAT's the tough desicion in '08.

in

I'm kinda pissed right now because I have class tonight and it's causing me to miss both the Washington State gubernatorial debate (Go Dino!) and the presidential debate.

However, I plan to toggle tonight between:

  1. Paying attention in class (Just as difficult to do now as ever, especially with a laptop in front of me)
  2. Watching the Twitter election feed at http://election.twitter.com/ (For the good, the terrible and the funny)
  3. Watching Hack the Debate (a beautiful mashup of the live debate broadcast and Tweets.)

To keep myself entertained today, I've been spending time at the left-leaning but HILARIOUS site, http://palinaspresident.com/. It mocks everything related to Palin and is highly interactive. I recommend opening and closing the door at left several times. Be sure to click on Bambi. ;)