Theo Moore

We went to see Alice In Wonderland today. We both like Tim Burton a lot (the stranger the better) and like Johnny Depp very well also. After seeing all the previews and such, we were fired up to see this film.

Honestly, I thought it was good but not great. I was prepared to be wow-ed, but I wasn't. Perhaps I expected too much. I did like it, but I'll not own it nor would I expect to see it again...unless someone I know decides they want to see it.

I was about to say something to reassure you that I wasn't going to provide any spoilers but two things occurred to me: one, I never give spoilers and two, why worry about spoilers for a film that so closely follows a book?

My comments about the film are hard to describe, but the basic gist is that it doesn't really feel like it..."works" to me. I can't get any more specific than that, much as I'd like to do so. Something about it seems sort of disjointed and not in that Alice way you'd expect.

My only specific comment is that I didn't like the actor who plays Alice very well. She was very flat and just didn't sell he character to me. She seemed a bit, well, plastic.

Depp was as good as you'd expect him to be, I am happy to say. Obviously Lewis Carroll couldn't have imagined this made into film, but I can't help thinking that he'd see this and say that Depp was the perfect Mad Hatter.

So, I'd definitely recommend seeing it (we saw it in 3D which was cool, but not really necessary) at least once, but don't be surprised if you're kinda meh afterwards.

On recommendation from a buddy, I have submitted a session for Codestock. I've never been to it, but I've heard great things about it. I sure hope mine gets selected.

I am thinking I'd like to do a session on using Windows Powershell as a testing platform for web-based applications. It's a much overlooked part of your Windows 7 install. I have built a few very lightweight test harnesses out of it, and I like it a lot. If you structure it right, it becomes far more manageable than you'd think, encourages resuability, and best of all...it's free!!

I recently built a test harness for a small company with which I am associated (www.carbonatedcomics.com) to do some testing with the same, basic structure I use. My intent is to adapt this structure further and make it even more simple to use but at present, all you have to do is install PS, unzip the files and run them. It is one of the most portable testing platforms I've ever used.

At Codestock, should my session be accepted, I intend to show up with a fully-functional test harness that can be adapted with ease to just about any web-based testing. This harness will be available for anyone who is interested for free and with a request that if someone creates something "really cool" for it or comes up and a great idea how to improve it, they share it with me. :-)

I may attend anyway if the session is not approved, although I prefer to speak. I like to try and get in a couple of speaking engaqements a year so I don't get too rusty.

So, cross yer fingers for me. :-)

I checked back at the blog written by the poor guy being sued and he's removed many of the detail surrounding being sued. It is a rather to the point, bland and not confrontational post at this point. No way of knowing, of course, but I suspect he was threatend and edited his post to make him clam up.

That's a damn shame. :-(

I am a powershell user. I use it in testing apps, mostly to either actually work with IE (automated testing) or to configure environments for testing (this can save tons of time and is very repeatable). Powershell is incredibly handy.

 

I was nodding my head very excitedly when I heard Windows 7 would ship with it standard on some versions. “Perfect!” thought I.

 

I got my Windows 7 and installed it at work (I actually paid for this) b/c it seems to me that XP 64 isn't supported very well and Windows 7 should add lots of features while using fewer resources than Vista (I had Vista installed on one of my boxes, but really didn't like it). I fired it up after install and was very excited to see Powershell installed. I started up PS and wrote my first script for grins. Powershell informed me that it couldn't run scripts as the Execution Policy was set to restricted.

 

First off, it's a small thing, but if the software is installed, I think it should be able to run out of the box. Again, a small thing since it is so easily fixed...or so I thought.

 

I was logged in as th Admin on the box (as an aside, I've learned that Admin doesn't mean much on a Windows 7 box) and attempted:

 

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

 

However, I am told I don't have access to change the Execution Policy. WTF??

 

So, I fired up RegEdit to check the registry key and guess what? It wasn't there!

 

I thought this was a little strange. Why would the key be missing? I added the key and figured I'd be good for running the Set-ExecutionPolicy cmdlet. However, it didn't work! Still didn't have access. I could edit the registry by hand, but couldn't change the setting in Powershell.

 

I've since read that in order to make this go in Powershell in Windows 7, you have use Run As Administrator when starting PS so that can edit the registry.

 

I realize that the idea is to secure Windows and make it “safer” but good grief, it seems like I have to fight it everyday to make it do my job.

My boss pointed me to a blogpost relating how an independent developer is being sued by Cequint:

http://www.threadabort.com/archive/2010/02/20/city-caller-id-has-been-sued-by-cequint.aspx

He had the audacity to write an appplication for free that Cequint wants to charge a monthly fee to provide. I pretend to be a master of (or novice for that matter) Patent law, but this seems to be a little ridonkulous. He's trying to find support to contact a lawyer to prevent him from being sued into oblivion. It appears that Cequnit didn't even give him the option of pulling his app.

I'll be watching this closely.

We had something odd happen in our office the other day. We finally installed Office 2007. Most of us had no issues at all. However, one of our co-workers installed it on her machine and then applied the patches/service packs as recommended.

Initially, her Outlook would crash every time she tried to use it, so she fully installed and then reinstalled….which took care of the crashing but....

Every time she got a text email, it was blank. She could highlight the text in the email, then copy/paste it in another app (notepad), and it would appear, so the text was there but not visible. Why could this be??

We checked all kinds of settings, including some thought from my boss that since she installed it from a different location on the network that there was some odd group policy in action or something.

We found the solution eventually: under the Fonts in the Mail Format section of the Settings, we found the combobox which showed the selected color for plain text was empty. The default setting is Automatic, of course, so not sure why the combobox would have, in effect, set the colour choice to null, but it sure did. We selected automatic, and it was fixed right up.

I love the Bioshock series (guess it's a series now that there are two of them), I really do. I've completed them both, and am tempted to start the first one over and do through them to get the other ending (won't tell you which one I got the first time).

After I'd completed the second one, I began to analyze why I like them so much. Is it the first-person shooter? Nah, I like FPS but that's not really a big deal. They made some updates to the game play for Bioshock 2 (some pretty cool ones, too), but nothing that is a real game changer to the degrees I'd like or dislike it.

No, there's something else.

It's the story. I LOVE the story. I know there's been tons of things written about how the games we play today are all about the story and blah blah, but here's my post on it. I figure I'm entitled.

As I thought about how much I liked the story, how it is told, how it progresses without actually interrupting gameplay (few cutscenes), I realized that all through this great, compelling, interesting game was a rich, detailed story revealed to us as we moved along. The game is less like a pure game and more like a movie with interesting activities associated with it. More than ever, it seems to me that a video game is more than just a game and is an alternative form of cinema.

I began to think of some of the other games that have impressed me lately (COD: MW4 or Gears of War, for example), and realized again, it's the story that moves me to play and keep me interested. Even L4D2 has an interesting premise, although it's remarkably light on story. But, then again, I realized I was never as deeply entrenched in the L4D2 story as I play it mostly online while talking with my team. Brutal Legend is an odd game, but it's the story there that kept me playing.

I began to think back to all of the games I've played in my life and realized that it has always been the story that drives me play…for example, I liked the Ultima series much more than the old D&D gold box games. The gold box games were great for their time, but there was little story, really. The Legend of Zelda series had great stories for their time, too.

I think it's excellent that over all this time, as the technology has advanced it is still the story that drives me to play.

 

Figured what the heck, I'd share my two cents. I know someone is prolly interested in yet another view of the new device by Apple. I've read tons of views and being the lemming I am (as my boss calls me for owning an iPhone and using Ubuntu alongside my MS products), I figured a post was in order. After all, why not?

 

For the record, I am a “fanboi” of no one's technology. I both love and hate their technology equally and often for the same reasons. The only thing I fanboi about is The Batman, as many who know me can attest....and maybe Left 4 Dead 2 for the Xbox (it rocks...keep meaning to blog that). I did watch the live blog/twitter feeds on the announcement day, but more out of an overall interest in technology rather than to cheer Jobs and Apple.

 

Anyway, here are some thoughts we've discussed at work, many of which were mine or refined through discussion. They are in no particular order.

 

1. Jobs was wrong when he said the netbook wasn't great anything. I disagree. I am sitting here in a Starbucks at a table the size of postage stamp, running a Twitter client, OpenOffice, and a couple of other “hotel” services on my netbook. I can switch between the apps fast and efficiently. I have a real keyboard, complete with number key row and full-size keys (one of the main reasons I selected my netbook). It has capability to connect to USB devices, I can add temporary storage (I have 2GB SD card in the slot as I type this), and I don't need another machine to get at media (via some service like iTunes) . I can save files directly to my drive; the file system is completely open. And so on.... The point here is this: iPad does NOT replace a netbook and a netbook does not suck, no matter what Jobs says.

2. Why, oh why would they couple the iPad, a device intended to replace the netbook, to a phone operating system? Especially one that doesn't multi-task! All that screen real estate, and I can't have more than one app open on the “desktop” at the same time?? I understand they get the instant market of iPhone apps, (which is why I think Apple is selling the iPad so cheaply, btw) but this makes no sense if really want to market this thing as a productivity device. My co-worker and I think the iPhone OS 4 will be announced just before shipping and will be available for iPad only initially. This will give the independent developers time to test their iPhone OS 3 apps against it and make any necessary changes w/o breaking their revenue streams.

3. There is no camera. WTF? This thing has what appear to be great photo editing tools, yet it doesn't have a camera? There aren't external ports other than the connection for the USB cable, so we can prolly assume there won't be an external camera. My cheap netbook has a camera. I can livechat with no problem. Interestingly, the iPad SDK emulator seems to think there is a camera (if you add a pic to a contact, it prompts you to either use an existing picture or take a new one) although the hardware doesn't support one.

4. It priced to try and defeat the Kindle (and its ilk) and it just might do it....except the Kindle has one seriously superior feature: free 3G for getting books. I don't know how big a deal this is, given that I don't own an e-reader, but it does seem like it would be handy. In order to complete with the Kindle in this respect, the device price goes up $130...and suddenly the price isn't so good. This all said, however, I know several people personally who will likely wait on the iPad for their reader rather than get the Kindle or the Nook.

5. Jobs made a big deal about how the keyboard works well on-screen, yet one of the periperals already shown is a cradle/keyboard arrangement. I am thinking this suggests that if you really want to do any real work on it, the on-screen keyboard will not do it for you. Again, the price doesn't now seem so reasonable.

6. I am excited about the games it might support. We might seem some pretty cool stuff on it. Sounds as if Gameloft is on-board already to do iPad specific game development (I personally love Gameloft products for the iPhone...Dungeon Hunter rocks!!). The iPad device could be a siginificant player in the gaming space.

7. The battery life sounds great. Ye gods, 10 hrs?? My netbook only lasts for a couple of hours.

 

So, I hear you asking: Are you, Theo, getting one? My answer is I dunno. I really can't see a place for it in my arsenal of devices. I tend to like to get the right device for me in any particular sphere, regardless of who makes it. I have an iPhone cause I like it better than WinMobile these days, yet I use PC for most of my work and play, etc. For me, my netbook does everything the iPad doesn't that I would want it to do.

 

Now, I confess I am a hardware junkie, a gadget guy. So, there's some possibility I might get one, but I can't see it replacing anything.

 

Of course, one can't discount the effectiveness of Apple's marketing. When the original iPod came out, I was using an MP3 player made by iRiver. It was superior in every way to the iPod, yet the iPod became the dominant player in the space. As such, it is entirely possible that the iPad will replace the netbook simply because Apple made it. Sometimes, the inferior device wins 'cause it's flashly, trendy, and well-marketed.

Update: Was reading around and remembered the other thing that sort of annoys me about the iPad: lack of Flash support. Given that Flash is almost everywhere, it seems to me that claiming that iPad is the "ultimate browsing experience" might be a little bit of an exaggeration. Perhaps "pretty darn good browing experience" might be more appropriate.

I have a Acer AspireOne 751h that was originally shipped with Windows XP Home. It worked fine, and the price was good (got it at CostCo). For what it is, it worked beautifully. It does what a netbook does very well. However, it troubled me that with the "hotel loads" (what we called the minimum systems required to keep the ship operating in the Navy), almost 80% of the system resources were used. Sort of makes it hard to do much with that.

When Windows 7 came out, I installed Home Premium per MS recommendations. I confess that I am shocked MS has not released a Netbook specific version of the OS...but I digress...perhaps a topic for another post. My Win7 install was painless, and it runs great. It does use less than the XP Home did, 75% on average rather than 80%. However, this is a lot. BTW, I actually like WIn7...except for the UAC and the Virtual PC changes...more on that in another post... I also have WindowBlinds (WindowBling?) by Stardock installed and I have my machine looking remarkably like M's computer from Casino Royale...another post/review...seems perhaps I have to get busy with some posts.

I used ReadyBoost (very cool tech, btw) via the SD card slot on my machine (I have a 2GB card in the slot dedicated to RB). This improves the "visible performance" (another post I am overdue in making) of Win7 drastically, although it doesn't actually improve performance. Honestly, it actually costs you a *little* performance overall as the processor has to manage the RB.

For grins, I d/l the netbook remix of Ubuntu. I'd read about it and was curious how my machine would run it. It's a pretty slick netbook specific version of Ubuntu that gives you a terribly minimalistic interface with which to work, but in a good way. However, on my specific hardware, it performed horribly. I checked on the Ubuntu community site and found that this is pretty standard for my machine and the full install is recommended.

So....

I installed the full version of Ubuntu 9.10 on yet another partition...and I LOVE it!! It runs incredibly fast and uses a *quarter* of the RAM that Win7 uses. Yes, you read that right: less than a quarter *and* it has the increased security of Linux. That's just crazy!! Now, I am not doing incredibly detailed work on it, but it's a Netbook...I want to browse the web and maybe...*maybe* edit a document. Why in the world should this take almost 80% or 75% of the system? It uses decent video settings, had drivers for my network card, etc....right out of the box. Painless setup..even to the point of moving my Windows partition so it could continue to exist. Super, just super.

Don't get me wrong; I am not ready to leave Windows. Windows rocks in its way. I am just now as much a fan of Ubuntu and will prolly consider using alongside Windows from now on.

My buddy at work is trying to get me to checkout Jolicloud, too, but I think maybe that's too much too soon....three partitions on my poor netbook is prolly enough. :-)

First off, lemme say that as a huge fan of the animated series Avatar, I was most confused when the trailers for James Cameron's Avatar starting showing up on TV. Took me a little while to get used to the idea that the animated Avatar from TV was going to be called "The Last Airbender" and would be live action, while the name Avatar would be applied to combination live action and animated movie.

Ok, got that straight. Check.

Avatar was breathtaking. I saw it in IMAX 3D and I was thrilled with it. It was beautiful to see. The colours were vibrant. The scenery had depth I couldn't have imagined. The views of the landscapes were simply staggering. My wife gasped several times and I found myself uttering a quiet "wow" on a number of occassions. It could easily be the most visually stimulating film I have ever seen. I was very entertained, and I was not sad I paid the extra cash for the IMAX 3D as it made the absolute best out of the movie. Seems to me that it was made with this format in mind.

That said, as I left the theatre, I realized that I wouldn't go see it again. Given my level of excitement, I was confused. Why wouldn't I want to see it again?

Simple reason: I've seen before...many times, and I will again.

It is Dancing With Wolves, it is The Last Samurai, it is A Man Called Horse. It has a plot that has been reused in some form or another about a million times in the last 15-20 years.  Cameron says he's had this written for 15 years or so but he waited until the technology was up to truly expressing his vision (in a pure joke I told someone that Lucas would have just created the technology on the fly). After seeing the movie, it is apparent that we wouldn't have had anywhere near the wonderful visual experience had he made it years ago. Pity is that so many other filmmakers had similar ideas and didn't particulalry care about the technology. As such, the story is pretty much a re-tread rather than the amazing one it could have been.

As far as classic plot lines go, this is a pretty good one...and it is one of my faves, really. The only one I prolly like better is the "young, confused person seeks direction and finds older, wise master who teaches them about life and they incidentally learn more about themselves...sometimes with the master learning from the student"...think Karate Kid here...or Star Wars of course. However, it *is* indeed a classic line.

Also, the theme is a little threadbare in my opinion...I won't go into detail as it might be considered a spoiler if I do.

Seeing Sigourney Weaver in it was a welcome surprise. I had no idea she'd show up. Also, Giovanni Ribsi is in it. I like him in films for some reason. He plays the weasel-type character very well. Also, the leading female alien is voiced by the person who plays the new Uhura in Star Trek. She does a great job in this, also.

So, do I recommend it? Absolutely. I'd go see it once in the theater for sure, and in 3D if you can...and pay the extra cash for IMAX if you can get it (believe me, you'll thank me for it). Why? 'Cause if you wait for the DvD yer likely to say "ok, I've seen this before" rather than "WOW! LOOKIT THAT!!!"

Odds are it isn't one I'll buy for the archives, tho'. Might Netflix it next year....

Call it 3.8 outta 5 stars.

Been awhile since I posted. So, what have I been up to lately?

Good question!
Mostly been working a lot with the our most current release. I've been involved with more and more project work these days and less generic single, one-shot tickets at work. Upside is that I am very busy, downside is that I haven't been really able to work on our automation suite very much.
However, I did manage to get some time to work on a .Net testbench application for our new hardware solution. It is a USB device that is driven by a data stream on the machine. I have written an test rig application that can drive the device directly and extract readings from the hardware, logging them in an easily graphable form. The company responsible for manufacturing our device has done tests, but we want our own set run internally as an audit.  My prototype of the testbench was well recieved, although I sort of threw it together as more of a POC rather than a full-flegded app. I've been asked to add some more functionality next week which I am going to use as an opportunity to refactor it.
I also wrote an automated test app that exposed/proved a significant flaw in our system, even though it had be pretty much dismissed by the development team. It was thought to be a "corner case" until I could replicate the behaviou approx. 10% of the time. Score one for automated testing!
 

iPhone Development: Random Thoughts
I've been working on the iPhone for month or so....maybe a bit longer. I was interested in doing some iPhone dev ever since I got mine. I love the device (much more than WinMo, sorry) and wanted to create my own apps for it. I was also asked to work with Carbonated Comics (www.carbonatedcomics.com) on an iPhone version of their software, so I joined the team. Great bunch of folks and I really like their product.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some random thoughts on the whole iPhone dev experience with more to come.
As an aside, I've noticed that now that I twitter (TheoMoore) I don't blog anywhere near as much as I used to do. Not sure why. Not like I can effectively blog via twitter. Heck, most of tweets don't even talk about the same things about which I blog....
On to the thoughts:
- iPhone is a fantastic platform for apps. Love the interface. It is the purest of form meeting function in a device interface I've ever seen. Also, there's no stylus...no words for the hatred I have for WinMo stylus.
- iPhone only single-threads. No multi-threaded apps here. Simlipfies things, but sure does also limit things too.
- iPhone is a pretty pure MVC device. Like that. I don't think I ever really understood this paradigm as well as I do now, thanks to the iPhone and XCode/IB.
- iPhone 3G has only 128MB of memory. Ye gods, that's teeny!
- Memory management is the toughest part of iPhone dev to get under your belt, IMO. Since memory is so limited, even a couple memory leaks can severely affect performance. No garbage collection on iPhone as yet.
- ObjC is a pain the arse. Always. Everytime. Some folks love it, and some folks like to be whipped and spanked.
- I keep being told I'll get used to Obj-C "peculiarities". Yeah? I could get used to getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick too, but I don't think it's likely.
- XCode feels...thin compared to VS
- XCode, Interface Builder, and the iPhone Simulator are very loosely (if at all coupled). While this seems good (and I guess it is), it tends to annoy me when one of them doesn't realize I made changes in the other and I have to close the app down to make it "see". This happens often enough it's worth putting on this post.
-XCode error messages are the most vague I've ever seen. I keep expecting one in Klingon or one that says "So I clearly cannot choose the wine in front of me".
- Getting used to the hotkeys in XCode has been challenging, for some reason.
Anyway, more on this as I work on it.
Wish me luck!

I have been working in Selenium (see previous posts) building a test suite at my job. I spent quite a bit of time architecting the design and attempting to build bricks with which others could build buildings. I was beginning to instruct the folks on my team (who had not previously written code) on how to use these bricks and understand the mortar. This all in a language (Java) with which I wasn't terribly familiar. The framework design was sound and was beginning to grow on it's own.

Then, the massive changes in the app took place right about the time we were slammed with testing projects that required me to focus on manual testing. By the time the smoke cleared, the testing framework I had written was woefully out of date with the app. Many, many weeks were going to be required to update the component classes and test them all and I was not going to be given the time. Yet, automation was required and expected...right now.

So, what to do??

I have basically started writing tests in Powershell. Why PS? Writing the tests is relatively fast and it is incredibly powerful. I was able to create what I refer to as "QD" tests (Quick and Dirty) that support a happy medium between resusability and speed of development. I've tried to write them with maintainability mind, but not allowed that to override some basic ideas:
    1. Every test should be throwaway
    2. Anything that can't be thrownaway needs to be saved off for resuse
    3. Reusable pieces need to be elegant and very maintainable
    4. It is more important to generate a working test quickly than it is to write elegant code
    5. As quickly as possible, the tests need to be added to our periodic test suite
   

These ideas violate how I would prefer to write tests but in this volatile environment, I cannot invest much time in them. Instead, I write the reusable pieces well and as solid as I can. If the app changes two weeks from now, I am out very little as they can be replaced easily.

The other benefit is that if I have only 2 hours this week to work on automation, I can probably produce something useful rather than try to ramp up from what I was doing last week.

Again, this isn't how I'd like to produce tests but it's the best I can do in this situation.

I just hope the testing gods forgive the blasphemy.....

WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT TECHIE AND IT IS VERY SAPPY!! If you are likely to flame me for writing such a thing, then please do not read it and leave it alone. Thanks.

I am 40 years old.

I mention this to put in context where this discussion comes from (pardon ending on preposition if you would; it's late). I am not your typical 40 yr old in many, many ways...as anyone I knows me can attest. I am very, very fit (last physical shows me at 106/68 BP and a resting heart rate less than 60), and I am very, very geeky. I refer to myself as high level functional geek; I can walk in geek circles yet can also avoid being looked at strangely in "normal" company. I am the geek equivalent of Blade the Daywalker. I like that about me, actually.

For those of you who don't know, I also work at an online pr0n company, arguably the largest in the world. If you looked at VOD pr0n (Video On Demand) today, chances are we hosted it. Not sure why I felt compelled to say that right here and now, but I suppose I am feeling a little like confessing, like opening up.

Anyway, I just had my 40th birthday. It was largely unremarkable except for the time I spent with my son. My wife spent the money to fly him here so we could go to Atlanta for the weekend to see Green Day. There is a *long*, very cool story about why we went to see Green Day, but that's for another time. Suffice it to say we both love the band, and the concert could have been the absolute best I've ever seen next to the first AC/DC show, which is an interesting coincidence given the direction this post should take.

See, I had a friend once. He was the coolest guy I knew. In high school, I think it would be safe to say were thick as thieves and twice as bonded. We were close buds before the term "bromance" ever became popular. We did everything and nothing, and when we were hung out, we felt like we were the kings of all creation. I loved this other guy as a brother, and I'd have killed someone (or so I think now) had they hurt him. I've felt this way about one other person (other than my wife) in all of my 40 yrs.

I have trouble trusting people and letting them get close to me. Oh, sure..I like lots of people and I get along with tons more. I am very flexible when dealing with people. It's part of who I am. Typically, however, I just don't trust people and I don't let them get to close so I don't have to worry about getting hurt. As Henry Rollins once said "People only give now so they can take later". Words to consider.

Anyway, we had a falling out, this high school age brother. I was devastated. He was my only friend, really, in my entire High School experience. I won't go into the details of the falling out as it is 1) a long story, and 2) not really important. The important thing to know is that I lost my first real friend in all of my life. It was many (20+) years before I found another.

Many years later, he contacted me out of the blue. Not really sure how he found me, but he did. It was a moment of great joy for me as I always wondered what had happened to him. Despite our falling out, I always hoped he done well and was happy. Turns out he was and that we shared a lot of similar history over the 20+ years it had been since we'd talked. We now enjoy a good resurgence of friendship online out of respect of our previous relationship if for no other reason. However, I confess that now I've talked to him again, I'd love to see him and perhaps get to know him again...just b/c I can't imagine that the great kid he was couldn't have grown into a great man to know.

and here's proof of that;

For my birthday, I got a mysterious package from this old buddy. I opened it was and was shocked. When we were kids, we both collected comics. I remember going to the flea market and talking with this very old guy (who treated his comics like crap, we thought) about comics. We used to walk the mile or so from his dad's place to look for comics at the local Circle K (might have been some other knock off, or perhaps a 7Eleven) and we always ended up buying the same comics. Well, I forget why, but I ended up not collecting anymore. I gave him my entire collection sometime in 1986 (or so his letter reminded me), and we had our falling out shortly thereafter.

The letter accompanying the package I got explained that he had sold/traded some of the comics over the years, but one mini-series he kept, both the set I had and his own set. He felt that it was appropriate to give me the set I'd given him 23 years ago back to me.

I am now the proud owner of Wolverine and Kitty Pride mini-series, issue 1-6.

My friend states that the comics are probably worth about 50-100 dollars, but they are priceless to me. I don't know if I am more moved that he sent them or that he stated that always thought of me when he thought of Wolverine and hated to part with them all these years. Either way, the comics have become a treasured part of my possessions with which I shall not be parted.

Danny, I offer you an earnest and heart-felt thank you; I am beyond word to say more.

I've had my Mac mini for a couple of weeks now, I confess I like it. The Mac mini works well, it's cheap (for a Mac), and pretty fast. I got it to do iPhone development and it's perfect for that.

However, I don't like it more than my PC.

Honestly, I don't understand why ppl care enough to argue. It occurred to me recently that other than gaming or development, 99.9% of what I do is on the web anyway, so I don't really care. I know some people do have some specific needs/purposes that require one or other, of course, but seems to me that most people don't have that need. As such, I can't understand how most people can really dislike one or the other.

Some random thoughts on the Mac:

1) I think it it is way too expensive for what you get. I can get a comparably performing PC for way less.

2) I don't understand the big deal with regards to the low hardware requirements for Mac OS. Given that the machine is more expensive for the same performance, doesn't it seem silly to care that OS X takes less system? I mean, ok, XP, Vista, or Win7 requires more resources to run...got it..however, I can get machine that runs them all pretty well for a fraction of the price of the Mac.

3) Apple is every bit the evil empire that MS is, only with a better marketing campaign. I remember a big deal being made b/c Windows Vista starting being pretty tight on security, or at least that was the perception (remember the commercial about the Mac and PC where the PC guy was having to get permission for everything). Yet, on my Mac, I have to give permission for it install anything. Every time. I don't mind, of course, but my point is why make an issue about the PC requiring permission when the Mac does also??? There is much more to my point about Apple being the evil empire but I'll save that for another blog.

4) My netbook is actually a darn good machine. For web-based performance, it's every bit as good as the standard Macbook or the mini (strictly in my opinion) and it was waaaay cheaper.

So, there's my initial thoughts on the mac vs. pc argument. Perhaps I'll have a different view once I've used the Mac a bit more, but so far, I just don't see the need to fight.