dorks in love

[dragonlady7]

We are sitting on the back porch (which is an enclosed sunporch with windows all around, on the western side of the house, in case I haven't explained; the entrance to it is through Dave's bedroom). Dave has his laptop on his lap and is watching an IRC channel of realtime updates of the Apple Developer's Conference Keynote speech by Steve Jobs, posetd by some dude who's sitting there listening to it. I have my iMac set up on a coffee table out here and have got quite a nest going in the papasan, and Dave is reading out updates to me as they come along. Oh hey, the next release of OS X (after the latest, 10.4, Tiger) will be called Leopard.

It's exceedingly dorky.

It's hot out-- probably nearly eighty, and a bit humid, with an unforgiving bright sun in a hazy but cloudless sky. I was gardening, SPF'd 30 (seems to be the highest I got), but it was too hot and I can't concentrate. I did spend nearly an hour in the hammock before the sun came up this morning, so I've gotten lots of fresh air.
But it is hella windy. My glass keeps threatening to blow off the coffee table.

I'm trying to write smut, but it sort of doesn't mesh with Dave's reading me notes from the developer conference in realtime. Quicktime 7.0 for Windows will be available this afternoon. And there's a Wikipedia widget for Tiger. Mmmmm, talk dirty to me, baby. Yes! Yes! Oh! Oh yes!

edited two seconds later to add:
Shit! They're really doing it! They're switching from PowerPC to Intel processors because IBM can't keep up with the demand!

Well, shit. Now OS X will run on Intel-based PCs. Huh.

Comments

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

Shit! They're really doing it! They're switching from PowerPC to Intel processors because IBM can't keep up with the demand!

Gaahh! Really? Really truly? You're not kidding me, are you?

I'm grinning like an idiot.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

We don't know what that means yet, though. They won't complete the transition until 2007. They haven't said whether that will mean that OS X will run on the same computers as Windows.

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

I can't explain it, but the thought of having an apple OS on a machine that I didn't buy from apple tickles me. Whether it'll run alongside windows or not.

It must have something to do with the fact that I bought my first Mac in 1988, but then was forced into Microsoft Land because of work stuff. (I still have my Mac SE in the attic. I couldn't bear to part with it.)

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

The issue is not whether it will run alongside. The issue is whether it will run at all on a machine you didn't buy from Apple. That has still not been resolved. The rest of the platform's architecture may remain incompatible. Or, it may not.

We have an SE-30 in the basement. We used her for a while to do Hypercard stacks. I made a Hypercard version of my resume.

Dave's old boss has an old computer whose motherboard was signed by Steve Wozniak. (It says, "Woz.")

OS X is much different than the old Classic OS but it's so damn easy to use and awesome...

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

It's pathetic how attached I get to my gadgets. I was heartbroken when, after four years, my Palm III died. It had the "3 Com" logo on it, before Palm was it's own company. But life goes on, I guess.

Mr Lenine and I (it makes me feel like Grandma Walton when I call him that) test drove a Prius. I was drooling all over the high-tech stuff. Who cares if they stall on the interstate? It has built-in Toys!

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

what the heck you talkin' bout, Willis? Stallin' on the Interstate? No they don't!
Well, sometimes the gas engine shuts down, but the car still keeps going. 68 miles per hour gets you a little over fifty miles to the gallon, at anything over fifty degrees Fahrenheit, given equal amounts of uphill and downhill, and the factory tires. (Though, the newer models are supposed to be even better than that; this one's a 2003.)
Dave's had no real problems with it in two and a half years now, and the Toys that are built in never get old, so we really can't complain. I've been entertaining myself this week on my way to and from work by seeing how many miles to the gallon I can get without anyone actually running me off the road. I've been trying to come up with phrases that would fit nicely on a bumper sticker, something to the effect that angry driving lowers your gas mileage, but I can't come up with anything pithy.

I have to go get in bed with Mr. Dragonlady. (No, that doesn't really work in my case.) I love my dork. See you later!

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

Zowee - you HAVE ONE? Oh my gosh, I worship you and your high-tech superiority! I have a friend who was going to get one, did all this research, and came up with "they stall on the Interstate when they go above 65 MPH and have to be towed." She got the Honda hybrid instead, and I can't stand riding in it. It's almost embarrasing. And it's only a two-seater.

So what color is it, how do you like it, do you use the dashboard computer, GPS, bluetooth, etc. etc. Gush gush gush.

You are my new High Tech Idol.

[(Anonymous)]

I've had mine for 2 1/2 years and 55000 miles, and so far it's only ever stalled when it's supposed to [or, when it's run out of gas, but that's to be expected]. We have ripped through the Catskills at well over 90mph in my Electric Green Dorkmobile stuffed with two people, a weekend's worth of luggage, and three weeks' worth of groceries, against a formidable uphill grade - all with a meager 110hp. The dashboard computer keeps one's mind occupied when you're cruising down the featureless landscape of the New York State Thruway, but not much else. No GPS. Bluetooth was only available in the next model year, and only in their superdeluxe package, so negatory on that, too, but I spent a weekend installing an aftermarket kit that does the same thing, and that's pretty boss.

The best features of the car, however, have nothing to do with the hybrid electric powertrain or its high-tech gagetry - it's the ridiculously short wheelbase and the improbably tight turning radius, which combine to let you parallel-park your sorry ass anywhere you Goddamn want. Sadly, these features are missing from the larger 2004-2005 Prius, because people complained it was too dang small. Jerks.

- Z

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! I will bombard my husband with these comments, but in a discrete way. He didn't try to influence me when I got my new car, so I don't want to seem pushy.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I have seriously honestly truly never before encountered that rumor that it stalls on the Interstate, so I really can't address it because I've no idea where that idea would come from.

Oh, yes, we bought a 2003 one in... 2003, in fact. It's little and green and we didn't get the GPS option. But it did come with a maintenance plan for free, so that helped. Today we have to drop it off to get the battery compartment resealed-- it's some sort of recall, although they're pretty sure our model doesn't have the problem this is meant to fix. I dunno. They recall stuff on cars all the time. (I never did get that recall on my 1994 Voyager's liftgate latch seen to...)

We've put nearly 50,000 miles on it in under 2 years. It gets a hell of a lot of usage. For a year we lived in Westchester County and made regular pilgrimages to Buffalo, 400 miles away. It's logged tens of thousands of miles on the Thruway alone.

The top speed I've ever gotten out of it was about 98, to pass a semi-truck on the highway. Up a hill. It's not zippy, but it is powerful.

It handles awesome in the snow-- its performance under 10 mph cannot be beat. That's when the electric engine is at its most powerful.

The continuously-variable transmission is pretty sweet-- it never has to hiccup to change gears, so you can accelerate very smoothly.

I love the dashboard display-- it has a really neato little animation that shows you your mileage right at the moment, and I have a nasty habit of keeping an eye on it when I'm driving and always trying to get the mileage to be better. last summer we got it up to 54 mpg for the 4,000-mile-average (it keeps a running tally and we just never reset it), and when it went over 50 we stopped the car and ran around it because we were being silly and excited.

I don't think the 2003 model came with Bluetooth-- Dave just installed a hands-free wireless phone thingy that's hooked into the stereo, so that's bluetoothed now, but I dunno other than that.

I will say, he hasn't stopped being pleased with his "dorky little car"-- he loves it to bits.

My only little tiny quibble with it is that I really can't afford the payments on it now that dave isn't working. It's not a cheap car. But we hope he gets a degree very soon and can make his own damn car payments.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

corrections and notes:

Not a degree, a job. He got the degree. duh.

Z is Mr. Dragonlady, better known as Dave. (He's not technically Mr. Dragonlady-- he hasn't taken my name. ;D)

Is it over 55,000 now? I thought it was just under 50,000! haven't been paying attention. *sniff* they grow up so fast.

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

Many thanks to you and Mr. Dragonlady. I passed your comments on to Mr. Lenine (smirk), who still wants to testdrive an Audi. But the price on one might make him decide on the Prius.

The one we saw was the top-of-the-line model, and I think it was around $27k. The sales guy told us there were two lesser expensive models but the wait was about two months. Which doesn't sound unreasonable to me.

Mr. Lenine's poor Corolla has 240,000 miles on it. It's getting time to find some college kid to turn it over to. I expect the nephews to get in a bidding war over it.

[ethangilchrist.livejournal.com]

Given the fact that OSX is based strongly on FreeBSD it only figures that it would run on Intel-Based PCs. Saw this little event coming down the pike a long time ago. heh So much for the MAC supremecy. lol

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I really don't know what you mean by any of it (I've never heard of any kind of supremacy, given that according to Apple Inc. itself users of the Mac OS account for something under 3% of all computer users), but we still don't know what that means for the hardware platform. Their rationale is that IBM can't or won't keep up with their demand. But they haven't said whether their software will ever run on the same computers as can run Windows.

[ethangilchrist.livejournal.com]

What I was talking about is the annoying tirades I get from people who use macs whenever I mention liking PC's better. The real vehemant ones remind me of christian fundamentalists and I want to kill them all. Grrrrr...

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Yeah, kinda like the people who when I say I have a Mac go off on a diatribe about PCs and real computers and the like, and treat every change of policy by Apple Inc. as some sort of personal victory. I wish we could all just shut up and use our computers.

[ethangilchrist.livejournal.com]

Touche

*shrug* Whatever