The week off was pretty low-key. We stayed home, and relaxed. I got the laptop up and running - after fighting with Gentoo, trying to get WPA working for the wireless connection, I decided to try Ubuntu (as recommended by Jason) The install went smooth, but WPA was still elusive. I decided to cut my losses and switch back to WEP until I can get some time to get WPA working properly. The result of running Linux for nearly a week now is that I realize that there is life after windows. There are still a handful of apps that we can’t run, but not so many that it’s going to make me go back to Microsoft.

What does this mean for the new computer that I’ve been shopping for? Well, not much, except I’ve decided to go Mac. When the Mac Mini x86’s are announced, I’ll be getting one of those. It’ll be an interesting switchover, but something that I think is long overdue. This is where Erin’s mom wonders why she bought a Dell ;) Primarily, the Mac Mini is the machine that’s making me switch - it’s powerful enough for me, and relatively inexpensive. I could build a PC clone for about the same money, but then what have I gained? This way I get the OS X goodness that I’ve been wanting to try ever since they announced it’s Unix roots, and a much more common platform to work with.

So, other than that earth-shaking decision, nothing much was accomplished during my week off. William is a year older, Julia can stand on her own, and I have a new-found respect for the work that Erin does every day to keep us all sane. (Not that I didn’t respect Erin’s hard work before, but now I respect it even more.)

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Whoa, it’s Santa all right. And he is kicking ass!” ~ Bart