Move along, kids... nothing to see here anymore. The business is thriving, yes, but the blogging has subsided here due to the many demands placed on my time. If you can't get enough of my ramblings, I can still be caught blogging at The Unofficial Apple Weblog on an (almost) daily basis.

~ posted by Laurie@ 4:19 PM ET | permalink

This blog is not active right now

For more current updates, please visit my active site: CubeOwner.com.

~ posted by Laurie@ 7:53 PM ET | permalink

For more current updates, please visit my active site: CubeOwner.com

~ posted by Laurie@ 7:59 PM ET | permalink

Cube stuff from DealExpress

Clear Enclosure & Chassis - $299
Clear Enclosure only - $129
Apple 6x DVD ROM Drive (Slot Loading) - $69

The thing that bothers me about these listings, is that the item status is listed as "NOB" - which is a code that has no explanation on their status code page. I would assume it stands for NO BOX - but i would advise you to email them for and explanation.

FWIW, I purchased an enclosure & chasis from them on ebay a while back. It was described as "like-new". I got it for around $200. The enclosure itself was in pretty bad shape, in that one corner was totally smashed in - not scratched, but actually smashed. I had other good enclosures so I didn't bitch about it. All vendors have their good days and their bad. I must have caught them on a bad day.

~ posted by Laurie@ 3:43 PM ET | permalink

MacResQ - nVidia Apple GeForce2 MX AGP Video Card, 32mb ADC / SVGA for the G4 Cube MacResQ has nVidia cards for the Cube again for $149.99 and they WILL go fast. Type "P008078" (without the quotes) into the search box to find the cards.

~ posted by Laurie@ 12:17 PM ET | permalink

Major News Alert !!!
PowerLogix POWERLOGIX INTRODUCES 1GHz UPGRADE CARDS

PowerForce G4 from 750MHz to 1GHz
Turbocharge your PowerMac G4 or G4 Cube!

~ posted by Laurie@ 9:28 AM ET | permalink

Flat Out COOL! -- you heard it here first, folks.

~ posted by Laurie@ 12:49 AM ET | permalink

~ posted by Laurie@ 2:22 PM ET | permalink

Still 3 days 'till MacWorld SF

~ posted by Laurie@ 2:18 PM ET | permalink

3 days 'till MacWorld SF

~ posted by Laurie@ 2:17 PM ET | permalink

i bet you are all wondering how my christmas was, right? well, it was pretty good! i got a cool new ipod to groove with while i'm on the subway every day, and i got my "hubby" a cool new toy of his own: a tascam 4-track portastudio, which he is still spending hours marvelling at, as he discovers a cool new knob or feature every night. but the highlight was definately spending the day with my brother david, sister lisa, and my almost-3-month-old niece, stefanie (daughter of lisa).

poor stefanie is so spoiled by her aunt laurie :) she made out with a full wardrobe which she'll probably outgrow before i'm done typing this, because she's growing like some sort of magic beanstalk.

what's that? you want pictures? oh...ok...
http://homepage.mac.com/macsamurai/PhotoAlbum4.html

cutie, isn't she? yeah, she's a beauty. i may be biased, but i think she's the protype for the perfect baby.

~ posted by Laurie@ 7:22 PM ET | permalink

MacWorld Expo is coming up. What's the big announcement going to be???

~The iHype~

'Nuff said.

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:44 PM ET | permalink

I've been very bad about updating this thing, haven't I? I feel a New Year's resolution coming on...

In case you were wondering, I did get that iPod for Christmas :)

~ posted by Laurie@ 9:28 AM ET | permalink

His guitar is now silent, but the world gently weeps...

~ posted by Laurie@ 7:22 PM ET | permalink

Wondering what to get me for Christmas?

~ posted by Laurie@ 12:20 AM ET | permalink

My kid brother, David, turns 20 tomorrow, and in 20 years, I have never been so proud of him as I was last night, when I went to see him in his first real acting gig, as Clifford (the lead), in Warren Leight's Side Man. And he was good. Not just good, but spectacular.

David's always been a good kid. Smart, good looking enough that if he wasn't my brother I'd have a crush on him, funny, easy-going, athletic. Despite all that, I've always been a bit worried about him. He comes up wih these crazy ideas sometimes, and his attention span is too similar to mine, in that he gets really excited about something at first, in short-lived bursts that fizzle out soon after. After last night, I am no longer worried. The kid seems to have found his niche.

And I couldn't be more proud.

~ posted by Laurie@ 6:41 PM ET | permalink

In case you live in a cave and haven't heard the news, there was a plane crash at 9:18 this morning in Far Rockaway, Queens NY. The plane went down only 3 minutes after it took off from JFK, en route to the Domincan Republic.

Many like me, who were listening to the radio, perhaps getting ready to go to work, immediately thought the crash was caused by either a terrorist hijacking or a bomb on board the plane. And we froze. And we thought... "oh, no...not again..." Some of us (ok, maybe it was just me) started crying because that thought terrified us and reminded us of what we went through a morning just like this one only 2 months ago. Some of us turned off the radio because we couldn't take hearing that there was nothing new to report after 30 minutes. Some of us decided to be brave and go to work. Some of us stood at the entrance to the subway, right next to the newsstand, where the newsstand man had his radio on, listening intently for an update of some sort, hoping to hear that everything was fine and that we had nothing to worry about. That news never came, so some of us took a deep breath and got onto the subway anyway, bent on carrying out our day as if nothing had happened.

It's 12 hours later, and so far we have no idea what really happened. We can only speculate. The NTSB says that the crash is likely to be the result of "catastrophic mechanical failure." And somehow, now, after having lived through Sept 11, I find that 255 people losing their lives in a crash caused by "catastrophic mechanical failure" is a relief!

You mean that's it? It was merely mechanical failure that caused that plane's engine to drop to the ground after an explosion, with the plane nose diving into the earth within seconds after, taking down 12 apartment houses with it? Whew... that's a relief. I was afraid it was something more serious...

Two months ago, "catastrophic mechanical failure" would have scared the hell out of me. Today it's a relief.

Funny how things change, isn't it? It's still extremely sad that 255 people have died (probably more, as there are still people missing on the ground), but the circumstances aren't as terrifying as they could be. At least not as long as we're still speculating on what actually happened.

~ posted by Laurie@ 9:07 PM ET | permalink

Someone has finally put a name to the debilitating disease that I, and others like me, suffer from:
Apple Tourette's Syndrome is no joke!

"If you’re reading this more than likely you’re what I call a “MacHead”. A MacHead is someone that has a higher interest level in Apple than the average Joe or Jane. Someone that really likes his or her Macintosh…a lot.

Generally speaking we are more intelligent than the average person, more creative and more intense. MacHeads cannot be divided politically. You have your Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Don Imus that love their Macs and you also have your Liberals like Tom Cruise and Susan Sarandon that also love their Macs.

We cannot be defined by any other ideal other than our love for Apple and the Mac. So, while on the Internet we seek out Mac-centric web sites to get any Apple news, rumors, or interesting opinion columns by other MacHeads. Face it; some part of every day is dedicated to your Mac." [ read more...]

~ posted by Laurie@ 7:19 PM ET | permalink

It's amazing how much cleaner an apartment can get when someone else is doing the cleaning.

We have engaged the services of a new cleaning person. He's an actor, looking to make a few extra bucks every couple of weeks. He seemed pleasant enough over the phone and provided stellar references, so we gave him a shot. He started today and the place is parkling clean, so I think well keep him around for a while :)

My man's band, The Cavemen, ROCKED the Parkside Lounge last night. Despite their drummer falling ill and needing to skip the gig and stay in bed (get well soon Don!), they still gave it their all and kicked ass for a room full people. Special thanks to Kenji (Trancesenders drummer) for filling in with no notice. He was so good, he sounded like he'd actually rehearsed with them :) El Jezel and The Trancesenders (both good friends of the Cavemen) rounded out the triple bill and also kicked major ass. A good time was had by all, and the Parkside sold lots of drinks, which means they'll keep letting us come back to play!

~ posted by Laurie@ 5:53 PM ET | permalink

yes, i am alive and well and still living in brooklyn. i'll start posting daily entries again soon and i'll even turn the cam back on for a few hours at a time. i've just been busy, between work and freelance web work and becoming an aunt and microwaving my mail before opening it to avoid anthrax, and trying to remember to make an appointment for a flu shot and casting wasted ballots for a democratic mayor wanna-be who blew what should have been a sure thing and trying not to break down into tears every time I cross the brooklyn bridge and look over my shoulder to where those two tall towers used to be. yeah... i've been a little preoccupied. forgive me?

~ posted by Laurie@ 10:44 PM ET | permalink

Support freedom

~ posted by Laurie@ 5:10 PM ET | permalink

~ posted by Laurie@ 11:22 AM ET | permalink

The barbarians will learn what America's all about

By Leonard Pitts Jr.
Syndicated columnist

They pay me to tease shades of meaning from social and cultural issues, to provide words that help make sense of that which
troubles the American soul.

* But in this
moment of airless shock when hot tears
sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing
I can find to say, the only words that
seem to fit, must be addressed to the
unknown author of this suffering.

You monster. You beast.
You unspeakable bastard.

What lesson did you hope to teach us by
your coward's attack on our World
Trade Center, our Pentagon? What was it
you hoped we would learn?
Whatever it was, please know that you failed.

Did you want us to respect your cause?
You just damned your cause.

Did you want to make us fear?
You just steeled our resolve.

Did you want to tear us apart?
You just brought us together.

Let me tell you about my people. We are a
vast and quarrelsome family, a family
rent by racial, cultural, political and class
division, but a family nonetheless.
We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending
tremendous emotional energy on a
pop cultural minutiae, a singer's revealing
dress, a ball team's
misfortune, a cartoon mouse.

We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready
availability of trinkets and material
goods, and maybe because of that, we
walk through life with a certain sense
of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally
decent, though - peace-loving and
compassionate. We struggle to know the
right thing and to do it.* And we are,
the overwhelming majority of us,
people of faith, believers in a just
and loving God.

Some people - you, perhaps - think that
any or all of this makes us weak.* You're
mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we
are strong in ways that cannot
be measured by arsenals.

Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning
and we are in shock. We're still grappling
with the unreality of the awful thing you did,
still working to make ourselves understand
that this isn't a special effect from some
Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot
development from a Tom Clancy novel.

Both in terms of the awful scope of its
ambition and the probable final
death toll, your attacks are likely to go
down as the worst acts of
terrorism in the history of the United States
and, indeed, the history of
the world. You've bloodied us as we have
never been bloodied before.

But there's a gulf of difference between
making us bloody and making us
fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to
its bitter sorrow the last time
anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone
brought us such abrupt and
monumental pain. When roused, we are
righteous in our outrage, terrible in
our force. When provoked by this level of
barbarism, we will bear any
suffering, pay any cost, go to any length,
in the pursuit of justice.

I tell you this without fear of contradiction.
I know my people, as you, I think, do not.
What I know reassures me. It also causes
me to tremble with dread of the future.

In days to come, there will be recrimination
and accusation, fingers pointing
to determine whose failure allowed this
to happen and what can be
done to prevent it from happening again.
There will be heightened security,
misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms.
We'll go forward from this moment
sobered, chastened, sad. But determined,
too. Unimaginably determined.

You see, there is steel beneath this velvet.
That aspect of our character is
seldom understood by people who
don't know us well. On this day, the
family's bickering is put on hold. As
Americans we will weep, as Americans
we will mourn, and as Americans, we
will rise in defense of all that we
cherish.

Still, I keep wondering what it was you
hoped to teach us. It occurs to me
that maybe you just wanted us to know
the depths of your hatred.

If that's the case, consider the message
received. And take this message in
exchange: You don't know my people.
You don't know what we're about. You
don't know what you just started.

But you're about to learn.


Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.'s column usually appears Thursday on editorial pages of The Times.
His e-mail address is:
leonardpitts@mindspring.com.

~ posted by Laurie@ 2:11 PM ET | permalink

The MacSamurai Cube Cam is back up, since so many of you asked for it. I am not keeping it on 24 hours a day because we do like do enjoy some privacy, but if you really want to stare at me lounging on the couch watching TiVo and sitting in front of this damn computer, you can do that for at least a few hours a day and most evenings.

~ posted by Laurie@ 8:29 PM ET | permalink

Buy some MacSamurai Stuff | Powered by CafePress.com

~ posted by Laurie@ 9:29 PM ET | permalink

The Tech Commandments

~ posted by Laurie@ 12:34 AM ET | permalink

today rocked. 'nuff said.

~ posted by Laurie@ 9:17 PM ET | permalink

While Ron went to the gym to bake on the sundeck and go for a rooftop swim, I spent a gorgeous afternoon in the park at Greenwich and Duane St today with my friend and her almost 4yr old son, and lots of other parents and their kids, all of whom asked me at one point or another: "So, which one is yours?" None of them are mine. I am childless. I just borrow other people's children for a few hours at a time so I can see what I am missing out on. It's a good system that works for me. It's not that I don't want kid. I do want kids. Well, one kid. I don't think I could handle 2 kids, and I don't see either one of us being able to afford more than one kid, so one kid is enough. We even have names picked out (I'd tell you what they are, but you'd just steal the names). We just aren't ready to make the ultimate sacrifice that means giving up our free and easy childless lifestyle. Yet.

Anyway, while at the park, one of the kids I was playing with (I make a great pretty good monkey bar substitute) happened to run over to a man I assumed was his father, to rest. The father-type looked familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place who he was. Then it hit me! It was none other than Josh Charles, best known for his role as Dan Rydel on the brilliant show Sports Night, which can currently be seen in re-runs on Comedy Central. I loved this show when it first aired, and thanks to TiVo, I've been able to enjoy it all over again in cable syndication. Josh was there with a woman who may or may not be his wife, Jennifer Connelly. From what I have read, it appears that the child in question is actually HER son, and that she is Josh's "companion". Not that it's any of my business, but they're an awfully cute couple and the kid is pretty damn cute too :)

Now Ron and I are going to take a stroll over to Montague Street and have a nice dinner, al fresco, at one of our favorite dining establishments in the 'hood.

Then I have to come home and get a good night's sleep for a big day tomorrow. Wish me luck!

~ posted by Laurie@ 7:18 PM ET | permalink

these pretzels are making me thirsty!

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:13 AM ET | permalink

BravoTV is airing a 30 hour marathon of thirtysomething this weekend (interrrupted only by overnight infomercial programming). I've had it on in the background for a few hours today and it's really freaking me out. I'm already thirtysomething, and I'm not even close to being as selfish and whiny as those people are, which means I have a lot of catching up to do. Ugh.

~ posted by Laurie@ 8:03 PM ET | permalink

I am watching a program that my TiVo suggested this afternoon on TLC. It's about Air Rage. I thought I was cranky after a delayed flight?? I don't hold a candle to some of these guys.

~ posted by Laurie@ 4:42 PM ET | permalink

why can't I get my hair to look this good again?

~ posted by Laurie@ 11:18 AM ET | permalink

"Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky. One can only assume that this has something to do with not smoking enough." --Fran Lebowitz

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:55 AM ET | permalink

"Smoking is, if not my life, then at least my hobby. I love to smoke. Smoking is fun. Smoking is cool. Smoking is, as far as I am concerned, the entire point of being an adult." -- Fran Lebowitz

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:46 AM ET | permalink

-"The only difference between graffiti and philosophy is the word fuck."

-I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:44 AM ET | permalink

"There are no office hours for leaders."
--Cardinal James Gibbons

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:44 AM ET | permalink

"My life is a simple thing that would interest no one. It is a known fact that I was born and that is all that is necessary."
--Albert Einstein

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:43 AM ET | permalink

This is why three-day weekends should be the norm.

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:42 AM ET | permalink

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt."  —Bertrand Russell

~ posted by Laurie@ 1:40 AM ET | permalink

Since Ron, my significant other, has been on jury duty for the past week and a half, he had to spend today in the office to catch up on some work. This foiled our plans to go to Hartford, CT this weekend for a party his niece and her husband were having at their new house. The weather was perfect today and it would've been nice to be "in the country" - but it's not a big deal. We'll make it up there another weekend.

You'd think with this great weather I would've found something more interesting to do than alternate between sitting at my Mac and sitting in front of my TiVo all day long...but no, that was pretty much it until a friend of Ron's called to see if we wanted to catch a movie with him. Since Ron was still at the office, I declined the couple invite, but it turned out that this friend's "wife" (they are sort of seperated, but still friends and it's too complicated and too much of an invasion of their privacy to tell you more) was interested in seeing the Julia Roberts/John Cusack chick flick, which neither of our "spouses" would be interested in anyway, so I decided to go see the movie with her - just us girls. And her "husband" stayed home with their adorable child, while my man stayed at the office.

Turns out Moviefone.com was just plain wrong about the time the movie actually was playing. Moviefone said there was an 8pm showing, but there was only a 6:45 showing, and an 11pm showing. But we didn't know that until we got there at ten to 8. So instead of a movie we enjoyed a nice evening walking around and talking girl stuff and eating some of the best chinese food I've had in a long time - at a place in Battery Park City called LiLi's. It's right next to the movie theatre. You should check it out. Order the large bowl of hot & sour soup and be prepared to share with the table...it's huge!

It was a nice time though. She and I don't get together too often. We should though. I like her. She's good people :)

~ posted by Laurie@ 12:45 AM ET | permalink

Read this and learn:

Attention Deficit Disorder in the Workplace

This article hits so close to home, it's scary. I've never formally been diagnosed with ADD, but I've always suspected it.

~ posted by Laurie@ 4:04 PM ET | permalink

The phone rang at 8:00 this morning and woke me from a deep sleep. I waited to hear who was calling at such an ungodly hour, since the machine was on. But whoever it was chickened out and hung up. I went back to sleep. Then it rang again at around 10:15am. Another hang up. But that one was enough to wake me up for good, so here I am. What a sucky way to start the day.

~ posted by Laurie@ 10:53 AM ET | permalink

I indulged in a hotdog (mustard and relish) and a 16oz papaya juice from Papaya King today. It was damn good. If only I could get rid of the rather painful heartburn it has caused, this would be a near-perfect day.

~ posted by Laurie@ 8:16 PM ET | permalink

I just returned home from an interview for a job a REALLY want! Fortunately, they seemed to like me and are willing to give me a shot. I start on Sept 4 at 9am! Yippee!

~ posted by Laurie@ 3:54 PM ET | permalink

Since I have so much free time on my hands, I have decided to start publishing my daily diary in blog form - here - for your amusement and entertainment.

~ posted by Laurie@ 12:37 PM ET | permalink