iMac: Running VMware Fusion...

I've been playing around with my iMac a lot lately. I just got VMware Fusion running on it and a copy of Windows Vista. I have to say that I am amazed! I've got Windows Vista running inside OS X! Of course, running two operating system really slows down the system because I only have 1 GB of memory, but it's really amazing that I can run 2 operating systems at the same time like this. I just went out to Fry's and bought a 2 Gig memory module to install into my iMac. Now I have 3 Gigs in my iMac!

It's really a sight to see how I can run an entire operating system within another one. So far, I'm really happy with this purchase. The Mac seems much more stable, and faster than Windows. Now that I can run Windows within a Mac, I have the best of both worlds! There are some limitations like Aero, Windows Movie Maker don't work. Also, playing back MPG's and other video is a bit jerky and not smooth.

I've been having some trouble playing back some mpg files that I've downloaded. They play fine in Windows Media Player, but they don't play in Quicktime. Strange...

iMac: I got one!

I finally got a Mac! I've been wanting one to try for a while now. I got the 24" iMac with 2.4Gz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. I've only been playing with it for a couple hours and I have to say I'm impressed! Everything works right out of the box! No spyware or junk ware like so many Windows PC's. The screen is beautiful. First thing I ran was the system update, Safari, iTunes, iChat, and played a few DVD's. So far, I have a really good first impression! The first thing I noticed is how fast the boot up times are. Also, the sleep and wake up functions are immediate. It's not like in Windows where it takes 10-20 seconds for the computer to go to sleep or wake up from a lower power state.

With Windows, so many things go wrong like searching for the correct drivers, strange error messages, viruses, spyware, and system performance gradually degrading over time. But I have to learn the keyboard shortcuts because they are quite different.

Movie: 3:10 to Yuma

This is an excellent film! It's Western about a struggling rancher, Dan Evans, in Arizona who can't pay his bills because of the drought and his neighbors cutting off his supplies of water. His creditors come and harass and threaten him to try to force off his land, so that they can sell to the railroad. He runs into an outlaw, Ben Wade and is offered $200 to bring him to Yuma, so that they can bring him to a Federal court and try him. Of course, Ben Wade's gang isn't going to let that happen. It's well written, acted, and beautifully shot, especially in high definition Blu-ray. Highly recommended. It's one of the better films that I've seen in a while.

Austin RV Show

This weekend, the Austin RV Show is going on at the convention center downtown. The lifestyle has some appeal to me. The idea of staying in one place for several days or weeks then driving off to another location with all your stuff sounds like a great way to travel. It's like having a moving home. However, the economics of it doesn't make sense. The cost of an RV far outweighs the cost of staying in hotels. Where it does make sense is in remote locations where there aren't any facilities or being able to stay in a location where it is very hard to access. An example are race car drivers. They just park their RV on the inside track and can stay close to the track. Another example are remote national parks where there aren't any facilities. But there are still so many places I can go that have facilities that it doesn't really make sense to buy an RV yet. I think people buy these to live a certain lifestyle. Still, I enjoy looking at these things.

What Happened to Ringers?

What happened to Ringers Sports Lounge? I heard from the grapevine that it has been such down because they didn’t pay their alcohol tax. This is one of my favorite hot spots in downtown Austin. I go there to play poker on Wendsdays and Fridays. I’ve met a lot of cool people there. It’s a friendly, laid back crowd, beautiful waitresses (I had a really bad crush on 2 of them), and a well run tournament run by Lone Star Free Poker. Now, it’s gone. :( The poker has moved to One-2-One, but that place is not nearly as nice as Ringers. I may have to start going to Third Base more often, but that’s on the west side of downtown.

Ringers is one of the more popular sports bars in downtown Austin. There was always a large crowd there whenever there was a big game of any kind going on. But many nights were pretty slow especially if there wasn't poker going on. Oh well, I hope they get to reopen. I'll be bummed if they are really gone for good.

Final Days at Dell?

I could be approaching my final days working at Dell. I just heard from my manager today that my contract can not be renewed. There is going to be meeting with everyone to discuss my fate. Either way, I'm ok with it. They pay me well and I get along with everyone that I work with. On the other hand, I'm itching for some time off to pursue personal goals like traveling around the country.

I don't really mind either way. I've saved up a bunch of money working here, so I can take the next year off without touching my existing investments. I can start thinking about where I want to go for my next vacation.

I will know more tomorrow...

What's the deal with MySpace?

What the heck is with MySpace? It seems like every person under the age of 30 has setup a MySpace page. I remember 10 years ago when I set up my own website, leonfu.com, everyone thought I was crazy or super geeky. Now everyone has one, even those that don't know anything about computers. I'll have to do some research on this and set one up, even if just to point to this blog and my own website.

Music: OneRepublic Apologize

I've been listening to this song over and over again. It took me a while to realize that he's singing about the pain and sadness someone goes through after trying to hang himself. It's beautifully written and a top 20 hit. Who would have ever known this song was about a suicide attempt? It sounds like a break up song and perhaps you could interpret it as a suicide attempt after a breakup. But what I don't get about the video is why are they showing a New Year's Eve party?

I'm holding on your rope,
Got me ten feet off the ground
I'm hearin' what you say but I just can't make a sound.
You tell me that you need me
Then you go and cut me down, but wait
You tell me that you're sorry
Didn't think I'd turn around, and say...

That it's too late to 'pologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to 'pologize, it's too late

I'd take another chance, take a fall
Take a shot for you.
I need you like a heart needs a beat
But it's nothin' new (yeeaah)
I loved you with a fire-red
Now it's turning blue, and you say...
"Sorry" like the angel heaven let me think was you
But I'm afraid...

It's too late to 'pologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to 'pologize, it's too late
Whhooooooaaa.....

Bridge (guitar/piano)

It's too late to 'pologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to 'pologize, it's too late
It's too late to 'pologize, yeah
I said it's too late to 'pologize, yeah
I'm holdin on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground

BlueAnt Z9 Bluetooth Headset

I've been looking for a Bluetooth headset for my cell phone. The first headset I bought was a Logitech with my cell phone almost 2 years ago from Sprint. It didn't work so well and was quite flimsy. The voice had a lot of static. I decided to give it another try with to see if there has been any improvement over the last 2 years. I decided on a BlueAnt Z9 and purchased this off eBay for $52. It's very small and light, and also features noise cancellation that suppose to make it work better in noisy enviornments. My cell phone is with Sprint and I paired this headset with an LG LX350 cell phone. I've also paired it with my Dell Inspiron Laptop with built in Bluetooth adapter running Windows Vista.

With my cell phone, it seems to work pretty well. It's about the same as a corded headset and sounds pretty close to being on the phone. However, when using Skype or Yahoo Messanger, I get much better voice quality with a wired headset plugged directly into the laptop's input jacks. It will also pair with a PlayStation 3, but I haven't been able to chat with anyone on it yet.

One of the things I've noticed is that people think you are talking to them or talking to yourself when using one of these wireless headsets.

Moving to a blogging platform...

I hope to start blogging more regularly now. A lot of my posts have been going to message boards. Also updating my website requires me to be at my computer with Frontpage installed. That's not always possible or convienent. Plus blogging software seems to make many things easier to do such as inserting pictures or adding video. I'm trying to decide on a platform, however. Blogger seems to be the most popular and it's free, so let's give this a try.