Dinah is now white. Like… really white.

Let’s back up a bit. I ended up getting a normal MacBook as opposed to the MacBook Pro– Best Buy did not carry the 13″ model I wanted (well, they did, but one with a more expensive hard drive option), and the only real difference was pretty much a firewire port that I would never use. THUS!

This is so trippy. I’m not a newbie to the whole Apple platform– I’d used Macs at various points during school, but I’ve never had one to call my own. I can dig around through the settings and such, where I wasn’t able to before because they were school/college-owned. This is a little more complex than, say, jumping from Windows XP to Vista/7… I see these apps and I’m all “WTF is this?!” and then a google/wikipedia later “…oh, Mac version of (Windows program I use).” Like… Front Row, for instance– Mac version of Windows Media Center. Cute, subversive names that make your head tilt sideways and think somewhat perpendicularly (is that even a word?!).

And, you know what? MacBooks are freaking CUTE. They kinda look like toys… for all of five minutes, but even after you get over that detail, they’re just so adorable. It’s like a white kitten. They look tiny, but they’re actually adequate, you don’t feel like you’re cramped for hand space. This one is roughly the same size as Dinah’s old body… which only seemed bigger because she had that double-capacity battery that made her butt look bigger. :P

Dinah’s packing a lid-embedded webcam, so she’s Skype/Facetime-ready out of the box. The camera quality isn’t as good as the Logitech eyeball of doom on Blastoise, but it’ll do in a pinch.

As far as punting over my other programs… so far so good. Seems the only permanent casualty is Hamachi– I was pretty sure that the new version had a Mac client, but no dice. (LogMeIn is just now rolling out a Linux beta… here’s hoping they’ll someday get around to an OS X version!) I thought I had a workaround in gBridge but that’s Windows only. Hm. I would really like to avoid having to change my VPN setup if I can help it, but as a last resort… >_>; Maybe I should just get a freaking Dropbox account as a temporary measure…

And that’s just when I’m out and about. I need to figure out how to browse the local network so I can go tapping into Blastoise and Yggdrasil to loot files. Ah, when I first turned Dinah on I was all “oh shit I have to change her name” since it was all “lol i am a MacBook” and, uh, I can’t QUITE go around broadcasting at home that I got a new machine just yet. XD

Painter may be the other tough one to migrate over. Just because it has a Mac version… well… let me put it this way: my usual shady sources tend to favor Windows. *cough* I’m not going to worry too much since 90% of my artwork is done on Blastoise, but it’s prudent to have Dinah properly equipped in case I find I need to draw while I’m out. (Also, does Painter 11 suck on the Mac? It sucks really bad on Windows, I don’t know if the layers crap is across the board or just Windows-only.)

I’m sure I’ll have this all figured out in a few days… all the same, with apologies to Mac users on my LJ/Twitter lists, please indulge my stupid questions from… well, I don’t want to say “Windows defector” since I still have and like my Windows boxes. >_>; Maybe I’m more of a double agent. Actually, I really could do the whole double agent thing via BootCamp if I wanted to… *arrow points to Dinah’s Windows 7 installer*

Finally? LOL @ Apple’s idea of right-click on this multitouch pad. CLICK WITH TWO FINGERS. Fancy that. Also, if you care, Dinah’s crappy starter wallpaper that I threw together 10 minutes before I left today. :P Clearly I will need to update her design to give her white Avatar armor since she’s a white MacBook.

tl;dr version:
- Dinah is freaking cute (white ninja!)
- not new to Mac, but this is the first that is truly mine
- Boo @ no Hamachi (for now)

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We were going to hit up Panera (hot chocolate and white shells & cheese, OMNOMFREAKINGNOM) but I got a bit bogged down setting up Dinah and looking over Filia (who, happily, did not require a total purge! woohoo). Thus, tomorrow will be a continuation… and hopefully we can steal away to the market so I can loot backup munchies.

And by that I mean candy.
What?
It’s the holidays, it’s improper to not have candy on hand. >_>;

(Gah, this is, like, the third attempt at this post. Hand-wringing is for winners!)

Dinah is old. Doubtful she’d last until Spring ’11 (read: Yoshi Day Ep. 27). All signs point to replacing her ASAP. She has a mess of small issues that are seriously threatening to snowball up into a disaster, and quickly… so I really should just move up her transmigration/upgrade.

I’m bored with Windows, and to get everything I want I’d have to shell out some hardcore coin… so her next form will be a MacBook Pro. I know, I know, “BOO, HISS, APPLE,” but given what I’m looking for, they actually fit the bill this time. All my stuff (Painter, WoW, Slingbox) will either transfer or can be easily replaced, and I know my tablet will work on it… I can do the $1200 price tag (before taxes) and still be okay as far as keeping up with other things (of course, you can always buy Gourmet Ramen… you get art, I stay productive and fiscally prudent, everybody wins *WINK!*).

I think… really, my biggest roadblock would be the Drama Monster. But, you know what? She doesn’t have to know. Save for the Yoshi Car (which was a special case anyway), it’s not like I ever had to ask her permission to buy crap, why should this time be different? I’ve been in this huge funk for awhile, and I’m tired of this guilt and hand-wringing bullpucky and if this is enough to yank me out of my awful state of mind for a good while… DO WANT. So, I’ll just bypass her. If, down the line, she sees Apple!Dinah… well, by then it’d be too late for mother’s drama queenery to do much anyway.

But I would rather get it in person, so I’ll need brendala‘s help as far as transportation goes. (Um… hi. Really sorry I made you wait so long. :( The mega-bug’s cleared, and all my stuff has stabilized enough for me to shower and go out, so I can do the purge as soon as tomorrow if you’d have me.) Looks like it’s either Best Buy or the Apple Store in Rancho… Hmm.

I open this with a trivial yet recurring gripe about Amazon– I click “group into as few shipments as possible” and… “HELLO WE ARE GIVING YOU THIS NOW WITH THAT FOLLOWING WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE” which is Amazon-speak for “both of these items are not in stock at the same warehouse so we’re splitting your order up anyway, lol.” Argh. Why even give me that option in the first place if they never listen? Seriously, it’s only actually consolidated properly ONCE that I can recall. I shouldn’t bitch because it’s still free shipping, but… packaging waste is boo.

That said, the Logitech Speaker Lapdesk N700 arrived first, with the wireless N card (a D-Link) to follow shortly. (FYI, the lapdesk came from the Amazon Arizona warehouse… the next closest station is in Nevada?) I held off unboxing it until it was time for bed, and here we are.

It’s, uh… quite big. Definitely not something I can shove in my messenger bag or easily haul around with me. Its size, however, is inconsequential to how freaking AWESOME it is– the underside has this padded fabric that’s similar to what you’d find on nice textured furniture and does not heat up at all. You can’t really hear the fan but it IS on (mine shipped with the fan switched to on). It’ll be a few hours to see if it’s able to drop Dinah’s peak temperature, but it HAS slowed the uptake quite a bit– it previously took Dinah about 40 minutes to cap out at around 136F (based on Speedfan). About an hour in and she’s at around 120F. If it doesn’t really put a dent in her final temp, that’s fine… as far as heat control goes, as long as this enables me to put her on my bed without clogging her vents (and thus trigger an overheat), it’s a success. :P Old laptop is old after all…

The ultimate awesomesauce, for me, is the speakers. They override the existing speakers with nary a fuss– just a few minutes pulling some drivers over Windows Update or what-have-you and you’re good to go. And woooow, I never knew how crappy Dinah’s speakers were until now. OMG. This lapdesk won’t give you freaking 7 channel surround but it’s stupidly better than what passes for laptop audio (short of putting on headphones). They are also much more sensibly placed than Dinah’s onboard speakers, which are often blocked off by pillows. You can toggle the volume either through the side buttons or Windows’ volume slider; there’s no OSD if you use the buttons and you’ll have to keep tapping to get where you want.

If you have a laptop, get one of these, even if you don’t have heating issues. The underpadding is comfy and the speakers rock! Not cheap at $80 (softened by about 20 for me due to spawning Amazon eCerts through my bank’s reward program) but sooo worth it. I’ve used laptop coolers and they were flimsy and not very lap-friendly…. Logitech just hit laptop coolers out of the park with this one. :D

Only one little snag and it’s not really related to the lapdesk– I can’t use my mouse with it. No room on the card table that Dinah normally sits on, since the lapdesk is so big. I’ll need to go dig up a firm mousepad or something. I can live with Dinah’s touchpad for now, though.

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Meowch: All four cats are getting their vaccinations next week. Who gets to pay for them (but doesn’t get to go because HURR DURR EVIL STEPFATHER and his wanting to go just so he can look at the other pets even though every time I go to Dr. Berg’s office it’s usually pretty empty)? Me. :P

Poor Kestine, though… dude HATES to be in a carrier. Pile that on top of someone taking his temp by sticking a thermometer up his butt, and having to listen to Daisy hiss and swear at the newbies in Cat Demon… and probably someone wanting to give him eardrops since he always has some kind of ear wax. Not fun. :|

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Post-It Notes’ LAN version is Not Hamachi: yet mother is pushing for its usage as a Hamachi replacement as she can’t be arsed to reinstall it and log back into the house VPN. *FACEPALM* I don’t care how cute the deletion sound is, the Post-it notes app is clunky as hell and I have to go through all these menus to send a note over the LAN. If this was about not wanting to reinstall Hamachi, fine…. but we could have used GBridge instead since that runs off Google. o_O;

Awesome kitty Kestine likes to rub his face on freaking EVERYTHING. Doorways, table legs, MY legs, box corners, and ninja laptop Dinah’s wifi parts.

In the case of the wireless-N card, it was just one facerub too many, because the fat purple end of the card snapped off and the card shut down. Thankfully Dinah didn’t freak and go all Blue Screen of Death, but her wireless-N card is now officially dead.

Oops.
I don’t blame Kestine enirely, though… old card is quite old (I think I got it a few months after I originally got Dinah) and it was starting to flake out. I’ve ordered a D-Link* Wireless-N card off Amazon (yay having enough rewards points to slash off half the price!) and also a Logitech lapdesk (combo cooler fan/speakers) because ninja laptop has been running VERY hot as of late.

For now I’ve fallen back on using the original onboard wireless-G… and remembered WHY I boosted Dinah to N in the first place. Wireless-G sucks! :P Actually, wireless sucks as a whole– mind you, this is coming from someone who loots podcasts left and right and at any given time is either running YouTube, Slingbox, Netflix, South Park or the TWiT Live stream– and I moved as much as my crap as I could over to wired mode earlier this year. Wireless-N is the closest to wired mode as I can get, and is the only form of wifi I’ll stick on a machine on this network ’cause I’m spoiled on my awesome gigabit ethernet that I use to pass things around inside the house network.

As for Kestine… well, he’s a bit frustrated that he can’t rub his face on Dinah for now. XD It’s funny that he goes specifically for her wifi stuff– the card and the corners of her monitor lid, which are supposedly where the wifi receiver bits are. I wonder if they emit some low-level EM wave that cats find interesting enough to facerub?

* = old router and wireless-N card were Linksys (obtained at the same time), new router is D-Link, which has been AWESOME thus far, so may as well go D-Link for the card too.

Bigger is still better: Pizza Wednesday, doods. The weekly tossup between Pizza Hut and Papa Johns is complicated a little more this time around; the former rolled out a new event pizza type (the Big Italy, yet another attempt at an extra large… dude, why can’t they bring back the Big New Yorker? THAT was awesome!), yet with the latter I’ve piled up enough rewards points to get a free pizza. Ordinarily free pizza would trump everything (because seriously, what’s better than free?), but when it comes to new/event rollouts, I gotta try it. It doesn’t help that I’m a wing addict. >_>;;;

Live from Azeroth: Yoshi now has as much of the t10 Mage armor (“Bloodmage’s Regalia”) as she’s going to get, and there’s nothing more I can pile up Frost emblems for… so any future emblems I’ll just convert into Primordial Saronites so I don’t need to kill my gold buying ‘em up to make the ICC craftables for my alts or guildies. :P Any future gear upgrades Yoshi will have to get through ICC, most likely in 25-man mode. (That said… while inferior to the Frozen Bonespike that Yoshi’s packing now, I want Halion, Staff of Forgotten Love since its essentially the WoW version of Planet’s Burden, Yoshi’s signature weapon everywhere else).

I will slug that Lich King in his noobish, ice cream-hoarding face, yes I will. >:D

While old man Phil would be next on the gear supply chain, I need to throw in Rei stat, to unlock the craftable leather/mail pants. I’ve, uh… lots of rogues/druids/hunters/shammies in the guild who could use those things and I’ve kept them waiting for quite awhile (with Robert on break, I’m the only in-house ICC crafter-dood, after all). And, of course, Rei can use ‘em too.

No Kon Do: BOOOOO. :( I liked Paranoia Agent (or, “what happens when Japan turns Law and Order into headmessy anime”) and Paprika (which I definitely need to revisit for the dub, hehehe I’m terrible). If you’ve no idea as to who this awesome dood was, do yourself a favor and watch either of the above. :O

So I couldn’t write off the entire day as being a crock because of lame-o front panel wiring blah, I went and cut higher-res individual pieces of the Avatars from that earlier group shot.

The wonky thumbnails? Blame Gallery2 (the server software for on-site Instant Ramen Sketchbook). >_>

Taking another crack at Yggdrasil’s FP wiring tomorrow. Hopefully it will end in me being hideously bored while waiting for him to patch stuff (also pizza).
For now, I’ll fall asleep to disaster flicks. >_>;