twothirds

Probably not the smartest consumer out there, but yet another example of how craptastic apple can be at times. When I talked to the “genius” about getting my mouse button fixed, he denied my claim at first as “it was within spec.” Yeah–your sausage fingers might like the way it clicks, but it was visibly sunken, gave no more feedback and there was no more audible “click”.

As a side note, my case actually has a slight crack in the sidewall, which is a pretty common problem. When will that void my warranty?

UPDATE: Hmm.  After reading this, I should be able to warranty this.

This pretty much sums up my lemon flavored macbook experience.

Fantasygoat is a great picture blog (plog?), by the way. Checkout some of the older posts for a good laugh.

I just played a game of Donkey Kong on my MacBook in a browser window that was emulating [Free] DOS through a JVM. Hu? Give it a try yourself.

I also enjoyed the FAQ section. There has been a myth for sometime now that Java is slow. Well, from the authors (Emphasis added by me.):

How fast is JPC?
…Moreover, we have seen that in some circumstances a HotSpot JVM can outperform gcc-compiled C, so we believe a lot more is possible.

Why Java?
Basically, Java turns out to be ideal for this kind of project: it’s robust, it works across many platforms, it’s built with security in mind and, with HotSpot, it can run about as efficiently as natively compiled code…

Take that C and C++!

Don’t you love it when people talk shit on a blog yet you have know idea who the hell they are? Well, below is my subtle attempt to describe who I am and why I have an opinion or insight into something:

Note: This will be continuously updated–in theory.

Work:
I am currently an Engineering Lead and Release Manager at Sun Microsystems in the Content Management Engineering group. We build, support and maintain the code, applications and infrastructure that enable content authoring, management, distribution and delivery for Sun’s high volume websites such as Sun.com and Java.com. Oh yeah, and we also make sure a consistent brand is maintained across multiple locales and venues utilizing content reuse and repurposing. In short, my friends and family have no idea what I do.

I even have an abandoned blog at Sun!

Previously, I worked at Interwoven Inc as a Senior Consultant for web content management doing some of the same things, but limited to just the CMS side of the house. Hmm, I wonder who one of my clients could have been.

Glory Days
I am a former swimmer. Some might say a great swimmer. I would say I was good enough since it got me through college. After my “retirement” from swimming, I hit the triathlon circuit and quickly learned my soft tissue was not meant for running. The name “twothirds” comes from my typical effort during a triathlon. I would lead for the first two-thirds of the race and quickly falter during the run. Good times! (For the record, I did win one race.) As I have slipped further away from my glory days as a swimmer, I have become a glorified rec-cyclist that likes to bike commute to work as a way of staying sane.

Education
I hold a BS from Providence College in Computer Science and Management. I graduated Cum Laude and number one in my major. For the record, I was the only person in my major–I worked the liberal arts charter of my school and followed the “individualized” major option. I rock! For me, this was a cross country trip from California to Rhode Island. I strongly recommend this for anyone going to college. Run away from home and find out what life is like somewhere else out of your comfort zone. If not for my Providence experience, I would have no idea you drink from a bublah’, griders are subs, and the mafia really does exist.

Home
I have lived in California, Rhode Island and Connecticut, but most of my time has been in Santa Clara, CA. I fled the state for College, yet ended all of two miles from my parents house. I have owned a house since 2000, and have been on a home improvement binge over the past year. Once something starts to look nice, all the old crap starts to look really bad. Recently I have:

• installed new windows
• replaced the blinds
• installed composite wood *cough*, err, laminate floors
• refreshed a bathroom
• painted 1/2 the house
• torn out shower doors

Well, while I may not have done some of these things first hand, I have paid for everything.

Food and Drink
At one point in my life I would have been content with a Natty Light and some Pasta Roni. Things have changed a bit and I know the difference between a Hanger and Skirt Steak, enjoy bloody ass expensive beer from Belgium and abhor cheap wine. I can also cook some mean protein dishes (steak, fish, etc), so I am highly critical of bad expensive cuisine. If I can cook it better, I overpaid.

Mac/Apple
I own a MacBook, but I am not an apple zealot. In fact, I spend most of my time trying to make my desktop look like a Solaris workstation. OS X is nicer than MS Windows–I’ll give it that.

Status
Sorry ladies, I am single but have a girlfriend.

The MacBook is finally healthy for the first time since mid-summer. The top-cover was replaced the other day and my mouse button gives the proper feedback. I am still mulling over the extended warranty plan which is ~$250. Incidentally, the mouse click repair would have set me back about that same amount of money if I was not under warranty still.

I am fed up with my macbook. While I have been in love with the little guy when in working order, I have spent way too much time on the phone and traveling to visit my local Genius. I’m still not sure why I broke my never-buy-one-dot-oh-products rule.

The latest in the LemonBook saga includes

• Defective battery
• Limp Mouse button

This brings the complete list to four warranty items over the past ~7 months with the inclusive list being

• Stained case (cover replaced)
• Random shutdowns (internals replaced)
• Limp mouse button (pending part replacement)
• Defective battery (battery replaced)

While I am not much for extended warranties, I might make an exception and spring for the extended care. The biggest issue with all these repairs is “downgrade” process before requesting repair work. Each repair quest requires me to swap out my RAM and HDD upgrade. Quite the pain in the ass.

I recently went all 1080p and realized how inadequate my 6-year old DVD player was. I could pay money to fix this problem with an upconverting DVD player or commit to one side of the bluray/hd dvd mess, but I decided to cheap out. My MacBook does a good enough job of rendering DVD’s and even output optical audio for Dolby Digital goodness. With “Front Row”, the setup is actually pretty slick. Unfortunately, the mac uses a “mini” optical output.

The good news–I own two of these from previous optical cable purchases. I had always wondered what device used them.

The bad news–I have not quite learned the “put your toys aways when done playing” life lesson. One two separate occasions, I have stepped on the cable and snapped both adapters. Bummer!

A trip to Fry’s and Radio Shack (yes, I felt very dirty after that trip) revealed no one was going to have my desired adapters. I would have even settled for a new cable that included the adapter, but even the new cables lacked the adapter. Thankfully, after a quick amazon search, I have found my adaptor and ordered four more. This should last me for a month or so….

If you have ever sought these out unsuccessfully, read the amazon comments for a good laugh. For example, “You can’t find this anywhere else, I’m serious. Bestbuy and Radioshack dont have them. This took me a while to figure out.”

PS: If you are in the market for an optical cable, go with “GE”. Not only do they include an adapter which you can step on, but they are reasonably priced unlike Monster Crap Cable. A cable should not cost $10/foot!

After a few months with my macbook, I have been hit with a few defects.

1. Moo - Yes, my macbook moos. This is a rather clever hack to resolve the issue
2. Stains - Mine is nice and dirty now, but apple has shipped me a box and once I back up my data, it will be going back for a new case.
3. Random Shut off - Now my macbook is randomly shutting off. Based upon a few internet searches, this seems to be a known issue with some MB’s and apple is fixing it. It looks like I will be making another call to apple support so I can get a 2 for 1 fix when my MB goes back for the new case.

Even with these few issues, I still love the macbook. What do I love?

• Great battery life
• Quiet, except for a little mooing
• Light
• Great form factor which is actually usable on an airplane

WTF???

Ahh…Digg + The Top Ten OS X Screensavers is why I have no more bandwidth…

(An update)

Finally. After weeks of searching, I have successfully stumbled upon a way to hack in “control c” as copy, “control v” as paste and other assorted keys into my mac. Of course, I found this app while looking for something totally unrelated. No more finger gymnastics reaching for that bloody command key. No more undoing ~20 years of muscle memory. No more hesitating as I switch between windows, solaris, OS X and Linux. Of course, I have already mapped the caps lock to control. I wonder if this will fix the home/end problem….

This was all accomplished using the keystroke feature in Butler.

Update: For all the X11 users, if you use this tool, I suggest setting “X11″ an exception app.