The End Of The World As I Know It
At long last, I now own the latest PowerBook. I wish I could say I'm blogging from it presently, on a backlit keyboard with the lights turned off, but my local Apple Store isn't stocking them yet. Trust me, I was there -- before the doors opened this morning. The salesman mumbled something about not getting a pre-emptive shipment before the announcement because then Apple employees would have known the secret. OK, but I've been reaching false summits since June, and I really don't think the world is that incredibly shocked by the announcement. Relieved perhaps, if only because I'll finally shut up about wanting one, but not surprised. So in this case, I think making them available everywhere on the day they are spoken into existence, and when the buzz is at its zenith, trumps a potential leak of long overdue news.
Nevertheless, my order shipped out today and it's due to land on my doorstep in the next day or two. The UPS driver has absolutely no chance of bringing the vehicle to a full and complete stop before I pounce. I'm already prepping my current laptop for a lobotomy. Since I obsessively store everything of value in CVS, it should be a fairly short and painless procedure.
Of course the real fun, and part of the reason for the switch, will be learning a new environment and set of tools. Between that switch and my explorations into XQuery and other languages (more on that later), it's the end of the world as I know it. A new world awaits.