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Several Days Ganging Up On Me At Once
Jan. 31st, 2011 01:00 pmFriday I took my Geek High Holy Day vacation day to go to the MacWorld expo. Last year I grumbled that if the expo continued to be so thin on the ground I'd probably reconsider going. But it's hard to figure out whether it was a bit better this year or whether my starting expectations are now lower. At any event, it was enjoyable enough that I'm not ready to swear it off -- although I didn't end up buying anything at all.
The Big Thing this year was accessories for iPads (which, since I'm still waiting for rev. 2, I was only window-shopping for). I find it amusing that the biggest theme for these ultra-portable computing devices is accessories designed to fasten them in place. The stand-out single category was the case-plus-hand-strap so that you can walk around gesticulating violently with your iPad without sending it flying across the room. But there were also plenty of multi-valent fixtures to help you stand it up, strap it to the back of your car seat, fasten it to your refrigerator, sucker it to a wall, or attach it to your music/microphone stand. I went around taking note for future reference of various potentially useful iPad attachment devices, and even more so of truly elegant leather cases.
The big software vendors were still absent, but there was lot of opportunity to chat with small start-ups and purveyors of nifty apps. (Many of which need more training in how to pitch their products.) Other than external batteries and storage drives, there wasn't much in the way of hardware on display. I'd gone in thinking about shopping for a new desktop keyboard with a lighter action and nobody was even selling keyboards.
Saturday was the Crosston Dance Ball which is one of my two designated "haul out the harp and play medieval music" events these days. In addition to which, some unexpected attrition meant I was (I think) the only official Mists Courtier present to look after her highness (although there was plenty of unofficial help, so I pretty much just need to keep an eye out that everything got taken care of).
When I got home, I found a note stuck in the door from my tree-trimming guy who had been in the neighborhood and gone ahead and done the estimate for my job, so that was off the schedule for Sunday. The realtor came out Sunday morning and took a quick look through the other two units (which he hadn't seen on the first visit). I was a bit concerned at the briefness of his visit, but I think I'm at the paranoid stage where I'm expecting everything to go wrong.
After he left, I returned to bed for the rest of the day because the cold from earlier in the week had come back for the sinus portion of the festivities. (I sort of knew it was going to, but the in-between period was nowhere near debilitating enough to justify taking more time off work.)
The Big Thing this year was accessories for iPads (which, since I'm still waiting for rev. 2, I was only window-shopping for). I find it amusing that the biggest theme for these ultra-portable computing devices is accessories designed to fasten them in place. The stand-out single category was the case-plus-hand-strap so that you can walk around gesticulating violently with your iPad without sending it flying across the room. But there were also plenty of multi-valent fixtures to help you stand it up, strap it to the back of your car seat, fasten it to your refrigerator, sucker it to a wall, or attach it to your music/microphone stand. I went around taking note for future reference of various potentially useful iPad attachment devices, and even more so of truly elegant leather cases.
The big software vendors were still absent, but there was lot of opportunity to chat with small start-ups and purveyors of nifty apps. (Many of which need more training in how to pitch their products.) Other than external batteries and storage drives, there wasn't much in the way of hardware on display. I'd gone in thinking about shopping for a new desktop keyboard with a lighter action and nobody was even selling keyboards.
Saturday was the Crosston Dance Ball which is one of my two designated "haul out the harp and play medieval music" events these days. In addition to which, some unexpected attrition meant I was (I think) the only official Mists Courtier present to look after her highness (although there was plenty of unofficial help, so I pretty much just need to keep an eye out that everything got taken care of).
When I got home, I found a note stuck in the door from my tree-trimming guy who had been in the neighborhood and gone ahead and done the estimate for my job, so that was off the schedule for Sunday. The realtor came out Sunday morning and took a quick look through the other two units (which he hadn't seen on the first visit). I was a bit concerned at the briefness of his visit, but I think I'm at the paranoid stage where I'm expecting everything to go wrong.
After he left, I returned to bed for the rest of the day because the cold from earlier in the week had come back for the sinus portion of the festivities. (I sort of knew it was going to, but the in-between period was nowhere near debilitating enough to justify taking more time off work.)
