Mac Tutorials

Apple has put up a nice video tutorial sub site - impressive.

Trusty OS X

The hard drive installation went smoothly, but I realized this morning that Super Duper isn't quite Leopard ready yet. It's not clear if my previously mentioned transfer process would be safe. So I considered trying Time Machine, which should work as well. But it turns out my solution was tucked right in to the Leopard Disk Utility application. There's a Restore option which allows the duplication of bootable drive. That appears to have worked perfectly. I've run Aperture, Photoshop, Safari, Mail, and iTunes with no trouble.

If I knew adding drives were so easy, I would've upgraded months ago!

At Capacity

I'm in the process of adding a 750 gb hard drive to my Mac Pro. My photo library had recently pushed my current 250 gb drive to the limit. Hopefully this will hold me over for awhile.

Thanks to this article and the published guide from Apple, installing a new drive on a Mac Pro is insanely easy. Think of it like changing out memory cards in your camera, but with 4 simple screws. That's it. The drive was in and was instantly recognized. I then formated it and I'm waiting for the transfer process to finish thanks to SuperDuper.

I remember when a drive upgrade used to be a weekend project. Instead, I can spend the weekend out taking photos!

MacBook Air

If you haven't checked out this new machine, you're missing out on some incredible innovation. In typical Apple fashion, the product gets smaller and more elegant with each iteration. What's unique about this notebook though is that the specs aren't faster. While the clock speed, ram, and drive space are conservative it's clear that the target selling point is simply size (or lack of it). I've listened to a few reviews and I can't believe these guys continue to complain about what it doesn't have. One would think they understand how Apple thinks, but I guess not.

I don't take my 12" PowerBook out much. The most travel it sees is typically from the living room to the family room. It's seen a few airplane rides and enjoys a taste of the free WiFi at Panera, but generally it stays inside. In the last year, I've probably used the optical drive no more than 3 times - once to install Leopard. Apple solved that obstacle with the optical drive sharing software (it even works on a PC). The Ethernet jack has seen even less action. My point is that if my trusty PowerBook wasn't still cranking away, a MacBook Air would be perfect. The 13" screen and backlit keyboard seals the deal. For the serious horsepower and photo work, my Mac Pro picks up where the smaller machine leaves off. And with the screen sharing in Leopard I can control my Mac Pro from the couch.

Why these guys don't get the bigger picture is beyond me. They'll probably all buy one anyway - because that's what they do (buy stuff and complain about it). Otherwise, they'd have no show.

Old Photos in a New Format

The Library of Congress is now using Flickr to display its photo collections. I just took a quick look, there's a lot of history in these images!

Funny French Lakes

It's back to the office tomorrow for me. Bonnie gets the day off. Why my line of work doesn't observe MLK day is beyond me. After the new year the holiday drought lasts until Memorial Day.

My trip out west was good but cold. Mid week, we started out at about 4 degrees. My travels took me through 3 states in a week - Washington, Idaho, and a slice of Montana. Here's a few photos. Probably the most interesting sights were the two major lakes along my route. Lake Pand Oreille, which we saw from Sandpoint, Idaho, was beautiful. What amazed me was the fact that this lake is over 1100 feet deep in some places! The great depths make this lake a unique area suitable for military submarine testing. Not much was happening on the lake now, but it looks like a hip place in the summer. Also of interest was Lake Coeur D'Alene, home to an impressive resort with golf (with a floating green), boating, and skiing.

Heading North

Northwest actually. This evening, I'm traveling to Spokane, Washington for work. What better time of the year to connect through Minneapolis than mid January? The weather doesn't look too bad today though, so hopefully the flights will be on time.

I'll also see a bit of northern Idaho - specifically Coeur D'Alene and Lewiston. The sights should be stunning as I'm looking for some good photo ops.

Who's The Boss?

If you're someone's boss, here's a guide to see how you measure up. And if you're not lucky enough to have someone to do your work, this guide tells you what you probably already know about the person in charge of your raise.

Affording Those Toys

Here's a great essay on affording those expensive hobbies. Ken Rockwell can be a little long winded, but his advice is usually pretty solid. I keep meaning to do a bit of personal finance on this blog, this is some great inspiration.