Evolution: A Weblog by Third North Creative

Yesterday Apple introduced their latest addition to the Mac Pro family- a ridiculously fast 3.0GHz, 8-core Intel Xeon-based machine. Of course, like any self-respecting designer would do, I had to cruise on over to the Apple site and customize one for myself.

Apple boasts of 33 million configurations- but I was curious to see how much the new offering would cost with all the bells and whistles. (not that any web designer could ever actually use this configuration to its full potential)

Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeons, 16GB of RAM, four 750GB hard drives, one NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics card, two 30 inch Apple Cinema HD Displays, two 16x SuperDrives, one Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and one AirPort Extreme card later my subtotal stood at an incredible $15,717.00!

Wow. That’s a lot of cake for a computer.

I shared my “research” with my wife, Amanda. A look of pure horror ran across her face… and I spent the rest of the evening assuring her that I am completely happy with my current setup and I am definitely not crazy enough to drop that kind of cash on any computer… (but wow, would it be sweet!)

Without getting too deep into the debacle/anomaly that is YouTube, I wanted to post this video. YouTube and Turbo Tax are holding a $25,000 challenge for best tax rap. This video, done by a friend of a friend is worth checking out.

Keep Your Refund FATTER

Its hard to believe that the snow is already gone. Writing this, I can hear the pounding rain drops, completely eliminating any last minute hope for a final lunch time session. More frustrating is the snow hitting Colorado and Utah right now while I’ve simply run out off time to make another trip.

While the season was below average by most accounts, good snow was still had. More importantly, fishing season is only weeks away! A little photo memorial to the 06/07 season:

Never let your wife or significant other convince you that there is no harm in going to “take a look” at a litter of Golden Retriever Puppies. The moment we arrived at the Henderson, MN farm, I knew that the chances we were getting out of there without a pup were ZERO. My optimism that this was still a choice we had, went directly out the window when the first little furball to saunter our way fell asleep in Jill’s arms. Done for. We were absolutely done for.

While I was a little disappointed in our will power (or lack thereof), I was ecstatic about our red-hued biting machine. After spending the last 4 years working 70-100 hour weeks, you would have had a hard time convincing me that I would ever have time for a pooch. I came to find out that there is always a way to be a little more efficient. When Jill is on the road, Gabbi comes into work, and when I am late at the office Jill makes sales calls from home. It recently occurred to me that this dog really is the best of both worlds…by the time I leave for work in the morning, I can’t wait to get to the relative peacefulness of my desk and by the time the work day ends, I’ve completely forgotten about the fact that the little brat ate my sandwich when I wasn’t looking last night.