My Weekend so Far

With everyone over at Gencon, camping, or visiting with friends I've had a lot of time to myself in the last couple of days. I'm really not looking forward to everyone leaving for college, but I've managed to have a pretty good time amusing myself this weekend. Yesterday I went up to Downer's Grove again. There's an Apple Store there and I figured I'd talk to a salesman about potentially purchasing my first Mac.

First off let me say the guys who work at the Apple Store are just about as clueless as the guys who work with me. In fact it works just about the same. Anyone who knows anything works behind the tech bench, while the clueless sales monkeys try to sell you a 'hip' iPod. I wasn't impressed, especially after it took 10 minutes to finally harpoon a salesman who was amazingly rude to me until he realized I'd actually intended to drop almost a grand right there on the spot. After some conversations though I found out that the Mac I'm interested in, the Mac Mini, just isn't going to be able to do what I want. As a home media hub the thing is simply amazing. If that's what you're going to use it for, buy it right this instant. Unfortunatly because of the shared memory its simply not capable of doing anything but the most basic video editing. I'm kind of glad they didn't push a machine on me that wasn't going to do what I wanted.

After the Apple Store I headed over to Fry's Electronics. I picked up a few things. Star Trek V to finish off my Star Trek movie collection. Full Metal Alchemist 11 because, well, its Full Metal. An octopus power strip for in the house since I've got so many clunky AC adapters in there, and finally an online Cam for Nicky. The Salespeople at Fry's unlike the guys at the Apple store did try to push me into a Mac I already knew wasn't going to do what I wanted by constantly stressing how 'cool' it was. I ended up telling the guy to buzz off and took what I had to the cash register.

Once finished with Fry's I spent the rest of my afternoon and evening hanging out at the Battle Bunker painting. I didn't get much accomplished, I never do, but its nice to socialize with folks there even if many of them are GW fanboys. Also I got to hear a fat kid sing the Gummi Bear's theme song, which I haven't honestly heard since the show was first on when I was a kid. Its given me a strange urge to download old Disney cartoons.

I finally got back home around 9:30 and had just sat down in front of the computer to watch Full Metal Alchemist when Todd walked in the door. We talked for a few minutes but no sooner had we begun then who should show up but Val, Mel, and Mel's roomate Ruth. Everyone headed for the pool while I stayed up stairs and tormented Ruth's little dog. Friday was a lot busier then I'd expected it to be.

Saturday on the other hand was pretty laid back. I started the day off by winning an Ebay auction for a G4 mac. I payed a decent price for it but no sooner had I paid the guy off then I spotted a better deal. I'm kicking myself now, but I figure if the other Mac stays at a low enough price I'll just end up buying it too and reEbaying the suckier of the two.

Other then the Ebay purchase, and the Sam Jackson call though, its been a very uneventful day. I cleaned the entire house, mowed the lawn and did some general repair. I may or may not be going out for coffee later.