May 2008
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4/10/08 05:19 pm
OMG! Ponies!
As you know, Bob, I've been attending the RSA conference this week. Amongst other components of the conference is the attendant exhibition hall where various security vendors attempt to sway those with purchasing power to buy five to seven figure enterprise software packages. I am wholly unable to recommend anything this year, due to the current financial market downtick.
Part of this sales process is to entice people to enter raffles for goods. Year to year this changes, typically following the latest tech fads. When I first attended RSA, it was this new piece of kit called TiVo. This year it was iPhones, iMacs and Macbook Air's. So being a techie on a major budget crunch after the refi and tax season, I signed up for a raffle that you had attend to win. The skeptic in me had always assumed that they chose these things by finding the entry that was most likely to be a major purchaser.
Much to my surprise...out of several hundred entrants, I won a 20" iMac Core 2 Duo!!
It was totally surreal, I took pictures with the iMac and Sophos sales staff, grinned like an idiot. Then I wandered out to get some fresh air, and about fifteen minutes later the adrenaline backlash hit and I started shaking. I got something sugary to drink, met up with my boss, where we both blinked and gibbered.
One mild inconvenience... hauling a iMac in its box the 1/3rd mile to the BART , then through the BART system and from BART to the office parking structure was a bit painful. I've rediscovered some new and interesting muscles in my shoulders and upper back. A nice plastic handle does not make a 1'x3'x2.5' box easy to maneuver (more of a gesture, really).
Clearly I should have swung by the local 7-11 or liquor store today for some Lotto tickets.
This is totally cool, because I've been thinking about checking out OS X, as a security geek and as a writer. Now I get to potter around in the guts, without having to lay out the cash. Of course I will need to pick folk's brains on tools and software.
2008-04-11 01:11 am (UTC)
2008-04-11 01:38 am (UTC)
OMGWTFBBQ!!!!11!! I am made of envy! That's fantastic, what a lucky man you are. You really should go buy some Lotto tickets.
2008-04-11 02:28 am (UTC)
Will have to pick your brain at opportune times about Mac stuff now. Whee! Ummm. shoot me know, but I'll be missing today's writing to revel in the strangeness.
Yay. And I love that lj avatar. What is it from?
2008-04-11 06:51 pm (UTC)
Thanks! It's from the amazing Italian illustrator Nicoletta Ceccoli.
2008-04-11 01:43 am (UTC)
Very cool! Andy once won a laptop at a trade show, so I've seen this glow of surprise and happiness before :)
2008-04-11 02:23 am (UTC)
I still feel rather gobsmacked and giddy. I've never won something of this caliber before. I think I won a carnival game *once* as a kid, and that's about it.
*boggle*
2008-04-11 03:14 am (UTC)
Look at you!! That's awesome. Congrats. Enjoy that thing! (It's a computer, right?--ha! Just kidding...but it is, right?)/g/
2008-04-11 03:52 am (UTC)
yuppers... my gateway drug if all my Mac friends are to be believed.
2008-04-14 05:14 am (UTC)
Gateway drug, chuckle, chuckle.
No, for me the iPod was the gateway drug. Then, the Airport router. Then I got into the hard stuff -- the MacBook and now the iPhone.
One day I shall be telling this with a sigh, to a room of bored high school students.
2008-04-14 03:10 pm (UTC)
"Now children I want you to give Mr. Patton your undivided attention... He is here today to tell us about CARE, and what you can do to avoid his fate."
Hullo Kids.
"Hi Mr. Patton!"
Today, I want to tell you all about the true cost of gadget-loving. It's part of why I became a founding member of CARE. Computers Are Really Expensive. How I started out just wanting a music player and took the long road to proprietary hardware purchases...
2008-04-11 05:20 am (UTC)
Oh man, that is awesome.
My home machine is a bit older, the first iMac model to switch to Intel (it's white plastic, not shiny aluminum like yours). I've had a lot of computers in my day, and before I had this machine I had been using all laptops for several years.
The iMac is the best machine I've ever used in all my decades of computing, hands down -- quiet, fast, and runs continuously with zero problems. I don't consider myself to be a Mac cultist, I'm fine using Windows and Linux -- and I have certainly had my share of problems with previous Macs. But not the 3rd/4th-gen iMac. This machine is a winner.
Anyway, you can feel free to pick my brains. As a geek you're going to want to install:
- XCode -- the native Mac devtools environment
- MacPorts -- UNIX pkg management and installation. Do NOT install Fink, that was MacPorts's predecessor, but it's dead now.
- Quicksilver -- keyboard based app launching and manipulation
That's the bare minimum, but there are lots more shiny toys to play with, let me know if you want to hear more.
2008-04-11 08:54 am (UTC)
Dude!!
Congratulations! That's awesome!
2008-04-11 10:01 am (UTC)
Cor. Well played. The X11 bits and the SDK should be on one of the discs in the box.
OS X is a bit tiresome for swervers, but I am seriously digging it as a workstation.
2008-04-11 02:12 pm (UTC)
Cool! Enjoy your iMac. As far as I'm concerned, OS X is the best workstation OS out there right now. (I plan on holding on to my dual-core PowerMac G5 until it is utterly obsolete.)
Congrats.
2008-04-11 03:37 pm (UTC)
If you want Office:Mac Student and Teacher edition, email me your address.
Oh, Congrats!! : D
2008-04-12 07:33 am (UTC)
W00T!
Wow! This is great! Congrats - big time!
I highly recommend SuperDuper and a big, honkin' disc for backups via FireWire.
If Evan's brains aren't yielding what you're after, feel free to pick mine - or the hubs. ;-)
What a fantastic way to end the week!
^_^
2008-04-13 03:18 am (UTC)
Belated congratulations! Buy lottery tickets, the luck may still be spilling off you.
-Barbara
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athenais :: subject redacted [+2]