Admittedly my review of the X800 Mac Edition wasn't supposed to be Mac article number 2, but between getting sick and the ATI NDA, it just worked out that way. But now, over 10,000 words later, I'm about a page away from finishing up my second look at the Mac platform. I'd expect publication within a week, I'll have an exact date after our weekly staff meeting tomorrow.
Yes it's 6AM, tomorrow I'm going to pull an all-nighter so I can make sure that I'm back on a normal sleep schedule. I do end up getting a lot of quality work done in this strange nocturnal state of mine, but it's one that will have to come to an end for the sake of overall productivity.
After living through the first part of my first Connecticut winter I can say that it is definitely cold up here. I don't head out into the cold much, but the house we're renting isn't the best insulated (despite how expensive the place is) so I do feel some of the cold on the inside. It's at the point now where I can't start up enough test beds to increase the ambient temperature to a North Carolina-like level. CT - 1, Anand - 0.
The house we're renting up here is apparently a nice place by CT standards, but it's beyond overpriced by NC standards. I'd say it's about 6x the price of an equivalent house (in size/build quality) from NC, and if you sprinkle a little bit of reality on that statement you'd still end up with about 3x the price of a similar home in Raleigh. It's absolutely nuts, and it's not even that great of a house. Thankfully we're only renting the place but still.
What's weird is that whenever someone comes over or whenever we get a delivery of (furniture, food, AT packages, etc...) everyone always comments on how nice the place is. Vinney and I usually look at each other in bewilderment and make up something along the lines of "thanks we like it too." It really puts things in perspective, and it makes us appreciate the low cost of real estate in other parts of the country.
At this point we've been married for just over five months and they've been tremendous. I honestly don't even remember what life before marriage was like, because it's just so damn great right now. It's weird, everyone warned me about how it'd be different, and I always thought they were wrong. But it is indeed very different, but extremely wonderful. I don't think the wonderful part is what people were warning me about, and I can see how it could be a very different situation but I'm happy beyond belief. For the first time ever there's actually more to life than my work for AnandTech...a very strange feeling indeed. But don't worry guys 'n gals, I'm still as dedicated to this place as ever.
We had a bit of a meeting in Vegas about some future directives for AT. We're at the stage right now where we need some more writers, mainly in covering the Consumer Electronics (HTPC/convergence), mobile and a handful of other fields. I'm not big on posting job listings online simply because I don't want the type of person that's looking for a job, I'm looking for the type of person that would be doing this type of thing even if it didn't pay as a job. I haven't yet finalized how I'm going to conduct the search for the writers but it'll definitely be something involving asking the AT community directly for interested parties.
I've got a little more writing to do but then I'm going to head to bed for a bit. I'll have more updates later.
Take care.
Yes it's 6AM, tomorrow I'm going to pull an all-nighter so I can make sure that I'm back on a normal sleep schedule. I do end up getting a lot of quality work done in this strange nocturnal state of mine, but it's one that will have to come to an end for the sake of overall productivity.
After living through the first part of my first Connecticut winter I can say that it is definitely cold up here. I don't head out into the cold much, but the house we're renting isn't the best insulated (despite how expensive the place is) so I do feel some of the cold on the inside. It's at the point now where I can't start up enough test beds to increase the ambient temperature to a North Carolina-like level. CT - 1, Anand - 0.
The house we're renting up here is apparently a nice place by CT standards, but it's beyond overpriced by NC standards. I'd say it's about 6x the price of an equivalent house (in size/build quality) from NC, and if you sprinkle a little bit of reality on that statement you'd still end up with about 3x the price of a similar home in Raleigh. It's absolutely nuts, and it's not even that great of a house. Thankfully we're only renting the place but still.
What's weird is that whenever someone comes over or whenever we get a delivery of (furniture, food, AT packages, etc...) everyone always comments on how nice the place is. Vinney and I usually look at each other in bewilderment and make up something along the lines of "thanks we like it too." It really puts things in perspective, and it makes us appreciate the low cost of real estate in other parts of the country.
At this point we've been married for just over five months and they've been tremendous. I honestly don't even remember what life before marriage was like, because it's just so damn great right now. It's weird, everyone warned me about how it'd be different, and I always thought they were wrong. But it is indeed very different, but extremely wonderful. I don't think the wonderful part is what people were warning me about, and I can see how it could be a very different situation but I'm happy beyond belief. For the first time ever there's actually more to life than my work for AnandTech...a very strange feeling indeed. But don't worry guys 'n gals, I'm still as dedicated to this place as ever.
We had a bit of a meeting in Vegas about some future directives for AT. We're at the stage right now where we need some more writers, mainly in covering the Consumer Electronics (HTPC/convergence), mobile and a handful of other fields. I'm not big on posting job listings online simply because I don't want the type of person that's looking for a job, I'm looking for the type of person that would be doing this type of thing even if it didn't pay as a job. I haven't yet finalized how I'm going to conduct the search for the writers but it'll definitely be something involving asking the AT community directly for interested parties.
I've got a little more writing to do but then I'm going to head to bed for a bit. I'll have more updates later.
Take care.
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Rob Speed - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
It's funny, I moved from the New Haven area to Maryland about 18 months ago, and one of the things I miss the most is the winter. There's something so disappointing when people freak out about getting 2 or 3 inches of snow. From what I remember, most people in New England don't start panicking until they run out of places to put the snow.Ah well... yeah, homes are freaking expensive. Try southern New Hampshire some time. They have the worst cost of living to average income ratio in the country.
Anonymous - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
silly desi.guidot - Sunday, January 23, 2005 - link
Anand,You must remember that if one of us moves to NC we hate it and move back (it happened to 3 of our close friends). Also, the cost of living up here is higher, hence the "overpriced" you speak of. CT is not the nicest place in NE, but I'm a m@sshole!!
Also if you sell your 1 story ranch on Cape Cod you can move into a 2 story modern home in a private community, with a pool in FL, with money left over. But again, FL is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there!!
Have fun with the snow, we have 30 inches, and drifts in the backyard over 8 feet!
-J
Derek - Sunday, January 23, 2005 - link
Glad you're feeling better. I'm so looking foward to the cpu scaling results, as I'm just about to do an upgrade(cpu and gfx). I'll wait for your wise words first and ahem, AMD's 14th feb price drop ;-)Take care,
Derek
Anonymous - Friday, January 21, 2005 - link
North Carolina can't handle 1 inch of snow. Explains why you may have issues with living up north.Sometimes, being a met can be worse than being a lawyer ;-)
From the Washington Post:
RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 20 -- An inch of snow crippled North Carolina's capital -- and prompted plenty of finger-pointing -- Thursday as the city thawed from the surprise storm that caused epic gridlock and left 3,000 students stranded overnight.
While a TV weatherman hung his head in shame before a local audience, calling his forecast of a mere dusting "embarrassing," the mayor vented at meteorologists for leaving Raleigh unprepared for Wednesday's freeze-fest.
"A forecast that had given a better indication of the likely problem would have been very helpful," Mayor Charles Meeker said Thursday, as temperatures and tempers rose.
Residents, particularly those from other parts of the country, could not believe that the city was brought to its knees by an inch of snow.
"I just don't think they're equipped to handle it," Lori Jamieson said.
That was not the case Wednesday. When the dry snow hit already frigid streets at midday, it turned to ice just as schools and businesses scrambled to close early. That sent thousands of cars onto the roads before road crews and salt trucks could treat them.
Police handled more than 1,000 accidents, none fatal, and some people were caught in traffic jams that left them on the roads for more than eight hours. Buses were unable to take children home from school, stranding nearly 3,000 in their classrooms with their teachers overnight. Some motorists who could not get home bunked with others in office buildings and even grocery stores.
"This is embarrassing for my profession," a contrite WRAL-TV chief meteorologist Greg Fishel told viewers during the height of the chaos. "In the 24 years I've lived here, I have never encountered the traffic situation I saw today."
But none of the television meteorologists made the right call, evoking memories of December 2002, when they failed to predict an ice storm that plunged much of the Carolinas into darkness for more than a week.
Meeker said city workers could have been ready, he said -- if forecasts had given a hint that icy roads could be a problem.
Punko - Friday, January 21, 2005 - link
Ha!Anand, come to the Great White North and see what real winter is like.
Not to mention that cost of living and property are a lot more reasonable up here.
Learn to embrace the beauty of winter, it makes getting though the worst of it easier. When you start looking forward to getting out in the snow, spring comes much earlier.
Punko
Jigga - Friday, January 21, 2005 - link
Anand,I know EXACTLY how you feel! I just moved up from Charlotte to Rochester this past September to start business school. While our winter here started off relatively mild and dry, the cold was something I hadn't experienced in a long time. I went home during Christmas break and it was sunny and near 70 degrees for a few days--I miss that! This past week its been nothing but snow, snow and more snow and we've had temps below 0F.
Speaking of business school, I should let you know that my ideal position post-MBA would be a marketing position (product development or brand management) with a PC or consumer electronics manufacturer in the digital convergence market--i.e. Dell, Apple, HP or Sony. I would be happy to assist with any articles on HTPC/convergence products (on an unpaid, part-time basis because I am a student first.) I will keep my eye out for any further details about these new jobs.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, January 21, 2005 - link
The X800 Mac Edition article went up on 1/5/05 as promised, take a look at the Mac section :)Take care,
Anand
hopejr - Thursday, January 20, 2005 - link
#12, you got that right. I'm thinking the exact same thing (including waiting for Tiger :P)Live - Thursday, January 20, 2005 - link
# Its coming after the giant nforce 4 roundup and the enourmous sonoma coverage. At least I hope so ;)