Twenty-Something For The Last Time

Mario Kart Birthday Cake,
originally uploaded by Jedi Macster.

I'm going to borrow the following verse from the movie adaptation of the musical Rent:

"525,600 minutes. How do you measure... measure a year?"

Well, for me, those minutes renewed yesterday at exactly 1:45 PM, the time I was born 29 years ago.

My birthday perks included a day off from work, a humongous Mario Kart-themed birthday cake, some much needed clothes as gifts, and kicking back with my wife and family in front of the tube watching my favorite TV show Lost.

Now the countdown begins to my third decade on this planet. More as it develops...

Racing A La Kart

I'm a pretty avid gamer, be it a Nintendo game or an online one. This time the best of both worlds collide in the recent MarioKart DS for the Nintendo DS! It's another incarnation of the 10 year old series dating back to the Super Nintendo. The game is all about the company's mascots racing on little go-karts around different themed tracks.

The latest entry is addictive as it's predecessors, but, as Steve would say, it has "one more thing..." You can play online! The best part of the game, which is multiplayer, got even better as you try your skills against millions of players around the globe.

Unfortunately, Nintendo wasn't ready for the horde of players waiting to connect and challenge each other. Their servers are currently down with no immediate fix in sight. I'll have to stick with the offline content the game provides, which is not that shabby. What am I saying? It's extremely fun and addictive!

With luck their servers will be up and running in the next few days, enough time for me to hone my karting abilities!

Driving With 3720 to 1 Odds

As Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn said in The Phantom Menace: "Don't worry. The Force will guide us."

For me, it did today as I managed to find an alternate way to get to my job. A horrible traffic jam awaited me as soon as I left my apartment. Not knowing where to turn and fearing my lousy sense of direction would get me lost, I initially decided to follow the slow flow of cars.

But then, out of nowhere, I had a change of mind. Could there be another route to the office? Today was the day I would try. So I swerved away from the gridlock and drived onward trying to locate a road parallel to the expressway. Lo and behold I did and successfully steered my car through the unknown streets ending up at the shopping center close to where I work.

Needless to say, I'm very proud of myself, but also wary of next time if I'll be so lucky as to find my way...

iThoughts Live: Test Episode 2

Here's another sporadic edition of iThoughts Live for your iPod video-viewing pleasure. In a minute or so I talk about what happened yesterday evening, with more pizzazz thanks to a bit of pre- and postproduction. Enjoy!

iThoughts Live: Pilot Episode

A bored man gets the bright idea to show his face on the Internet with the help of his PowerBook and iSight camera.

Apple Employee For A Day

Since my wife is busy at her seminars, I've been spending my time hitting a local Apple Store per day. So far I've seen the Oakbrook store and today I was over at Woodfield's. As I entered I browsed around to see if there were any accessories worth picking up. Looking at the time, one of the Business day presentations was about to start, so I pulled out my laptop and iChatted until the event started.

As soon as the employee started his FileMaker Pro 8 demonstration, I asked if this was going to be an in-depth look at the application, but he replied it was only an overview of the software. A little disappointed I was about to turn away when another gentleman asked about FileMaker. Long story short, I ended up answering most of the questions!

"You should work here. You're awesome!" the store employee exclaimed, to which I replied: "I'd love to, but I don't live in the States." So I was pretty flattered that I was recognized as having what it takes to work at an Apple Store. Who knows? Maybe if we move someday I can moonlight as a Genius for the local retailer!

Oakbrook Oddyssey

Right now I'm writing this post on one of the new high-resolution PowerBooks at the Apple Store in Oakbrook, IL. Accoring to MapQuest, getting here was only a 34 minute drive. Apparently they didn't take into consideration people with a lousy sense of direction, which increases the travel time to about an hour and a half.

Anyway, after traversing the winding roads of the Windy City, I finally arrive at the Apple Store and I'm greeted not only by the impressive new iPod with video, but with a puertorrican Apple Genius! It definitely is a small world.

Now to browse around the store, play around with the new Macs, and resist the temptation of getting a new iPod before heading back to the hotel.