absent.canadian

Snow Leopard-ed, that is.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I bought the second copy of Apple’s new OS X Snow Leopard sold at Crabtree Mall this morning.  I take some small pleasure in the fact that I rarely make a point of being “first in line” for anything … but this time I didn’t want to be the last to know!

The install took just under an hour, and seemed entirely eventless.  My usual desktop came up after the first bootup, and I was left wondering … what changed?

As a software engineer, I appreciate upgrades that work this transparently–and while I’ve never been one to panic when something changes, it’s also nice to see some perceivable value.  The Microsoft Exchange support is nice but largely irrelevant to me.  The new Exposé is nice, but I can’t say that it’ll revolutionize how I do window management.  I was already running Safari 4 …

In fact, the most substantial refinement I can see out-of-the-box is the scrollable stack.  A small thing, but one I’ll appreciate.

Of course, I’m aware that there’s some substantial changes below the surface, and I’m looking forward to testing the performance of Grand Central.

Still – I’m not feeling quite as overwhelmed with awe and excitement as I was when 10.4 and 10.5 came out.

• I started my poetry class at NCSU this week.  This is my first course as a full-fledged degree candidate since 1995, and it feels good to be back.  I have a good feeling about this class, too – it’s small and my peers seem thoughtful and attentive, and the teacher is going to do a great job.
• The really nice weather is here.  Even on “cold” mornings such as this one, the temperature was still into the 50’s – perfect for riding in.  We’ll have this sort of “perfect” weather for about a month before it gets scorching hot.
• I have five Apple computers in my house right now, and it’s a beautiful thing.  My new iMac in my office, my old eMac as the “guest room computer”, a G3 tower and a matching G4 tower, and an old CRT iMac sitting idle in my master bedroom junk room.  What I’m going to do with them is anyone’s guess, but they smile even when they’re not plugged in and I enjoy the good karma they radiate.
• My motorcycle needs a bath and an oil change.  And a valve adjustment.  And a million other little things that Ducatis chronically need.  I’m getting ready to turn 18,000 miles on it, and I can’t believe I’ve had it for almost three years already.  And I had already been blogging for over six months at that point, which means …
• … that this blog is officially 1282 days old.