A Few Hours With a Mac

I'm actually quite accustomed to using a Mac. My new PowerBook was certainly no challenge to operate. I know that most PC notebook users are very likely fumble with the trackpad on an Apple notebook because it operates very differently. It took me about 10 minutes to learn how to use the trackpad originally. However, that was long before I bought my PowerBook. The fact that the computer came with 512MB standard was a huge relief. I didn't have to worry so much about a laggy computer during normal tasks. 512MB is enough for the average home user, but I'd probably need to upgrade that to 1GB for my more interesting and heavier RAM usage during my multimedia editing which I like to do as a hobby. I certainly wasn't expecting my measly G4 processor to handle 720p trailers, but it seemed to handle 480p HD trailers just fine. As for the 720p performance, let's say it was slightly better than my old 1.7GHz Williamette processor.

As I anticipated, the PowerBook releasing heat without mercy when it is being used while charging. It certainly only dissipates slightly less heat than charging and notebook usage would create, since the notebook grows hot over time. Of course, you have nothing to worry about if you're not charging. It does get slightly hotter running of AC, but I'll live with it if it means my battery will live longer.

Of course, using it for too long can give terrible side effects. I started pressing the Command/Apple key on my PC keyboard. Since it's a Logitech MX Duo, the keyboard supports Macs, and therefore has the previously named key. This resulted in some chaos as I attempted to use Alt+W to close windows in Windows XP, and Alt+H to make them go away.

You also have this strange tendency to miss the dock in Mac OS X, and miss the Start Menu in Windows, so I decided to have the best of both worlds and put a Start menu on in my dock. :D

Cliché

We live in a world defined by clichés. Our speech is full of clichés. Our radio is full of clichés. Heck, even our movies have become ridden with clichés. What is a cliché? In my opinion, a cliché is something you've seen, heard and come to expect at every corner of your life. For example, let's take movie where a series of deaths will occur. Most of the time, the hero and the most undeserving person will come out alive and solve the mystery. Then again, it's also considered a cliché nowadays if everyone dies, and it's a bad ending. In my opinion, Desperate Housewives makes the best use of clichés to make the show funny. You find that you can probably expect how things will turn out in the show after a while of watching it, and the best way to be predicting the script is probably applying Murphy's Law to every nook and cranny. Murphy's Law being interpreted as being: What can go wrong, will go wrong.

Of course, video games aren't spared. Among the games that often make stuff become cliché, Prince of Persia is probably a huge culprit. For one, the Sands of Time are getting boring. The Prince's massive capability to walk on impossible lengths of walls to get across from one play to another is also becoming an overused obstacle in PoP games. In The Two Thrones, I'm finding massive amounts of repeated forms of puzzles which I couldn't care less to elaborate about.

Well, after that, I think you should ponder the following I took from Wikipedia. They're interesting, to say the least (my comments just point you in the right direction):

Buses take ages to arrive, but when they do they always arrive in sets of three. (think Intrakota) When graphing the graph paper is always one square too small for the perfect scale. (think A4 stupidity) When caught in a traffic jam, the lane that you are in will always be the slowest to move. (think about multiple people cutting lanes!) Nothing is as easy as it looks. (if they were, humans would already have ruled the universe) Everything takes longer than you think. (probably human perception) Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. (think about electronics around chewxy) If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. (think about electronics around chewxy again) If something simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway. (think about electronics around chewxy another time!) If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop. (ever seen The Apprentice? documented proof is in the last task of every season) Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse. (bread is a good example, maybe) If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. (like the toilet paper you need in the toilet) Nature always sides with the hidden flaw. (it's natural to have a hidden flaw *sweats*) It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious. (make a more idiotproof device, and you'll find a better idiot) Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first. (holds true everywhere, especially games) Every solution breeds new problems. (woo... now... obviously... more games...) Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine. (astounding how this is true)

I could do this with everything but the kitchen sink, but then again I need to abandon ship and hide a few more skeletons in my closet. Until then, ask me no questions, and I shall tell you no lies.

;)

The Best Booster Pack I've Opened in Ravnica

Yes, it's another Magic post. So what? I just love posting about Magic. It's fun, stupid and crazy and the posts are usually boring. But I'm pretty sure all of us have probably played and purchased a collectible card game before. I'm pretty sure everyone has had that moment of hope when you are opening a new booster pack. Some people immediately look at the rare, some people like to delay the joy or agony by looking through your common and uncommon cards. I am the latter. Of course, after going through what must have been many many cards, I've lost interest at looking in commons - especially since I have seen every common card in Ravnica before. Within the past few weeks, I believe I opened the best booster pack among the good packs I've opened so far. As usual, I went through the uncommons that I got in the booster pack first.

At first, I sort of fanned out the cards, and I saw that the last card was a Golgari guild land card. Since it was a foil, it was probably a Golgari Rot Farm. I had gotten loads of foils like that. I was unhappy, to say the least, seeing as I got a useless foil card. Sad. Then, I looked through the whole booster. Nothing good in the commons.

Then, I followed up to look at my uncommons. My favourite Enchantment-Aura card showed up: Pollenbright Wings. I was pretty happy. It was followed by a Twisted Justice, of which I must have about 6-8 copies already. Bleh. Then, I got a pleasant surprise. Putrefy! I was already over my worthless foil Golgari Rot Farm by now.

Now, every booster pack has 11 commons, 3 uncommons and 1 rare card. It is usually in that order in all booster packs, with the exception of the foil/premium/shiny cards which are usually at the end of the pack. When I looked through the pack, I realised something was off. After that Pollenbright Wings, Twisted Justice and Putrefy was my foil land. No cards after that foil land. I thought to myself - I had played Magic for a long time - never seen a screwed up Magic pack missing the rare players coveted.

All of this, obviously prompted me to look through the entire pack. I fanned out the cards and looked at their rarities. I was laughing like a maniac when I saw that my "Golgari Rot Farm" was actually a rare land. That, of course, prompted me to jump in joy.

The rare land is, obviously, Overgrown Tomb. It is a land card which has a value that will never cease to puzzle me. I believe this foil land is worth around USD35. That would obviously make it impossible to sell. Then again, who wants to sell the foil version of what must be one of the most coveted lands in Standard format history? ^-^