sheeshoo’s Friends and Family

Apparently, the answer was "yes."

nobody@vox.com(Dan Budiac) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:02:30 -0500

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Should I buy a Mac Pro?

nobody@vox.com(Dan Budiac) — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:41:04 -0500

My addiction to the latest, greatest, fastest and shiniest is well-documented. Most of the time, the urge to hop the Queens-bound N/R/W to Mecca is driven by pure technolust. However, I rationalize my decisions based on the fact that, working from home, my computer is my connection to the world, both personally and professionally. A faster computer might run Aperture faster, sure, but my virtual machine will run Windows faster, too. Viewed through the lens of professional productivity, it's usually financially irresponsible for me not to buy a new computer.

It was for this reason that I did not follow through with my initial impulse to buy a MacBook Air in January. It's an undeniably sexy laptop, but it's underpowered for my purposes. And so, my credit card stayed neatly tucked away in my wallet... until SXSW.

After attending one of the Core Conversation panels, Kathryn casually mentioned a tip she picked up from someone else who worked out of a home office. When asked how he kept disciplined when transitioning between work mode and play, he replied, "two laptops. No personal stuff on my work laptop, and no work stuff on my personal laptop. Ever."

Brilliant! I'm a world-class procrastinator who's easily distracted. A firewall between my personal and professional computers seemed like a perfect solution. Even better, it was a perfect rationale for buying a certain impossibly thin, 3 pound ultraportable notebook computer!

After living a two-laptop life for a few months, I can now say that I really should have done this sooner. Since cleansing my MacBook Pro of all non-work-related applications, it's so much easier to keep the distractions at bay. However, I've now come to realize that my work laptop isn't a laptop at all, it's a thin, underpowered desktop. Now that I have a MacBook Air, I almost never disconnect my MacBook Pro from its Cinema Display.

I give you all of this backstory so that you don't think I'm crazy when I say that, less than a year after buying a perfectly good MacBook Pro, I'm seriously considering replacing it with a desktop. But, before I go forward, I want to make sure that I'm making the right decision.

I depend heavily on VMware Fusion to run Windows XP. I haven't upgraded to Vista for a number of reasons, chief among them my concern that all the extra bloat will render my guest OS unusably slow. However, using Windows XP for remote administration of Vista computers is a pain in the ass. Backward compatibility in Remote Assistance is broken, and you can't install VNC. There are supposedly workarounds, but I haven't had the time or patience to implement them.

This may be a stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway: Can anyone tell me whether I'll see a substantial performance increase between running the (relatively) leaner Windows XP on a 2.4GHz MacBook Pro, or the more bloated Windows Vista on a (much faster) Mac Pro?

A followup question: should I deviate from the stock configuration, apart from more RAM? Is it worth the extra $800 for the extra .2GHz processor? Should I stick with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, or shell out another $150 for the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT?

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Fitness Update

nobody@vox.com(Dan Budiac) — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:17:46 -0500

Last November, I took a reading from my personal trainer's body fat monitor. At the time, I weighed 160 lbs, 27.68 (17.3%) of which were fat. After a year of regular exercise and watching my diet, I was now officially "fit."

In the last five months, I've successfully maintained my healthy weight. However, after taking another reading this morning (this time with an HBF-306 of my very own), my body fat is now at 13.6%. In five months–months that include Thanksgiving and Christmas–I've lost 6.33 lbs of fat, and put on roughly the same amount of muscle. I now have, technically speaking, the body of an "athlete."

Ultimately, I'd like to get down to around 10%, which means I have about 5.5 lbs of body fat left to lose. Training for a marathon ought to do it, don't you think?

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QotD: You'd Better Recognize!

nobody@vox.com(That awesome sandwich Wendy's makes personified.) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:43:29 -0500

What talent do you have that you wish more people would recognize?
I have talents?

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QotD: You'd Better Recognize!

nobody@vox.com(That awesome sandwich Wendy's makes personified.) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:43:27 -0500

What talent do you have that you wish more people would recognize?

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QotD: But Everyone Likes Me!

nobody@vox.com(That awesome sandwich Wendy's makes personified.) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:06:46 -0500

Why do you think it is some people don't get along with you?

Likely due to my boisterous and more blunt nature.

That or the sheer volume of awesome I exude.

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QotD: Product Management

nobody@vox.com(That awesome sandwich Wendy's makes personified.) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:56:13 -0500

What products can't you live without?
Submitted by galindafied.

The obvious ones (food, water, etc). Everything else is optional at some point for me.

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QotD: Time for Change

nobody@vox.com(That awesome sandwich Wendy's makes personified.) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:24:08 -0500

If you could go back and change one thing you've done in your life, what would it be?
Submitted by Devinoid.

I'd have hugged more, and said less.

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QotD: The Roof is on Fire

nobody@vox.com(That awesome sandwich Wendy's makes personified.) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:22:16 -0500

What one object/thing would you take if your house were on fire?

My ass. Yes, with both hands.

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QotD: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

nobody@vox.com(That awesome sandwich Wendy's makes personified.) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:05:54 -0500

How are you celebrating St. Patrick's Day?

With dishes, laundry, and photographs for a friend.

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