It’s been about six months now since I made the switch over to a Mac. The honeymoon period is over and I’m happy to say that I’m still very, very pleased with my purchase.
One of the things I really like about it is that it’s so well-designed. I’ve really gotten on board with the integration that Apple has provided between the Apple-developed apps. In fact, some of the other apps have hooks into OSX for various functionality. I even switched over to Safari about a month ago. The switch from Firefox to Safari wasn’t because I didn’t like Firefox; it was mainly to capitalize on the integration with OSX and also with the iPhone I plan to buy soon. Safari is good; I really didn’t feel any pain from the switch.
Another aspect of the design that I really appreciate is the all-in-one nature of the iMac. There are really not any user-serviceable parts (aside from memory) with the iMac but the compact design means that my office is free and clear of clutter. I have a single machine sitting on a small desk in a small room. Nothing on the floor and minimal wires and cords snaking down the back of the desk. What’s even better is that this machine is powerful enough to run both Windows and Linux in as virtual machines. In the past I had multiple boxes sitting on the floor of my office taking up space and making an awful racket. Now I have a single, silent machine running OSX for my day-to-day work and running Windows and Linux as if they were just applications. Zero physical footprint in my office for both of these operating systems. I’m smitten with the concept. Read more…
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Mallory & Irvine at the North Col, June 6, 1924. It is the last photo taken of the pair alive.
About a month or so ago I finished a really great book about the British Everest expeditions of 1921, 1922, and 1924 called “Last Climb”, written by David Breashears and Audrey Salkeld. As you might already know, the 1924 expedition took the lives of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine when they were lost on Everest and presumed dead. This first portion of this book focuses primarily on the life of George Leigh Mallory and while the later portion focuses primarily on the expeditions to Everest he was a part of. A small portion of the book details the discovery of Mallory’s body in 1999 as well. It’s well-written and and entertaining, with lots and lots of pictures from the expeditions and Mallory’s life.
What I really liked about the book is that it provided just enough detail about the expeditions to give me a good idea of what it was like but not so much that the book dragged. I’m not really that interested in mountain climbing, believer it or not, but Mallory’s story is what’s so fascinating. For me the story is his drive to reach the top and his tragic death (along with climbing partner Irvine) and how his life and death affected his friends and family. Read more…
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A valentine from Orson to me.
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- Valentine
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The Kimball Group recently went live with their new discussion forum. For those of you who don’t know, the Kimball Group are the authorities on data warehousing. I actually attended a Kimball training class in Chicago back in October of 2007; it was very good.
After that class I threw together a data warehousing forum since the Kimball group didn’t have one yet. Warren Thornthwaite joined up and we had a few discussions on forums in general. Looks like Warren has successfully spearheaded the effort to get the Kimball forum online. Now that the Kimball forum has launched I’ve completely discontinued my old DSSForum. Thanks to all those who posted there; now it’s time to move to the big leagues. 
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