Cam sets up our new test machine
That thar is a brand new, dual-processor, 2 GHz, 64-bit Power Mac G5.
Friday, as an impromptu load test, we launched (and finished launching) all the bundled apps on the computer — 24 applications — in about three seconds.
Honestly, now, after having used one, the ad really doesn’t seem that far off.
Have I mentioned this thing is fast?

An ultralight (?) gets ready to take off beside me at Siesta Beach. Looks like a ton of fun! The guy on the ground has a walkie-talkie to speak with the guy in the air.
Anyway, here’s some pics from the beach ultimate game! If this many people show up again next week we may have the beginnings of something great!

Angi (white shirt) and Karen. Karen zips a backhand down the field past Angi. Angi’s first game!

Rusty (red shorts) attempts to block Eric. Eric has just thrown a “swing” pass to Shawn. A swing pass is when you throw the disc sideways, instead of down the field toward the end zone. Useful when you’re running out of time to throw (you have ten seconds, which your defender calls out as he starts guarding you).

A big ‘ol clusterfcuk near the endzone!! I’ve superimposed lines on the pic to help make the endzone a little clearer. The sideline is the black line; the large red line is the front of the endzone, the smaller red line is the back. The teams are shirts vs. non-shirted (and Karen). Eric (center of the short, white shirt) has the disc. The idea here is that he’s trying to throw it to to a teammate in the end-zone. Well, there’s Angi, who you can see just between Eric and Rusty’s head. But she’s not very open! Shortly after this shot was taken, however, Shawn (yellow visor) faked running right and zipped over to Eric’s left at the last moment to receive the pass. Point!!

We ended up playing until sunset! Good times were had by all! Well, all, unless my upper lip gets a say, in which case, good times were had by all except for my upper lip, which I’m certain didn’t appreciate getting busted a second time in as many days. Ack!

Well I’m back from Ultimate. I now have in my possession one more fat lip than before I left.
A blocked pass bounced out of a defender’s hand and *bam* smacked right into my upper lip. I don’t really like reading about this sort of thing, so I shall not subject you to it, but suffice to say while it’s still fat, it looks a whole lot better now than it did when it happened 3 hours ago. Hooray for the amazing self-repairing human body!
Today picture is actually from yesterday’s trip. It’s a little blurry, but it tells a story. It was windy at the time, and because it was starting to rain, I was trying to take the picture very quickly so as not to get my lens wet, so my hands weren’t quite as steady as they could have been. Either that — or excessive amounts of caffeine I was consuming — are to blame. Your pick. 🙂

Woke up this morning thinking it was Monday. Really! Working late has really thrown off my body clock. Either that, or I haven’t become used to the fact that I’m not working on Saturday…. heh.
Yesterday was good fun, starting off with a video conference with Sarah using the public beta-test of iChatAV. On our first try some sort of glitch caused choppy, compression-laden video without audio (guess that’s why it’s still beta). But on our second attempt, the video was crystal clear and so was the audio. It was a total thrill to be able to talk to my screen and see it respond. Straight out of sci-fi! We maintained a solid 15 frames-per-second for about a 1/2 hour or so, especially great considering we were both only on some sort of residential broadband, and she was all the way over in California. I need a longer Firewire cable between my iSight and my computer though. Three and a half feet just doesn’t cut it!
Of course, the technology isn’t without flaw. When Sarah rang I had just rolled out of bed — I called her back after I’d showered and dressed. 😉
After picking up a monitor from Jeff and paying the registration fee for the fall season of my favorite sport:

…Cam and I headed down to Starbucks, where we whiled away the afternoon people watching and discussing life, technology and people-watched. Hypothesis: Starbucks chairs were designed to show off thong underwear.
My drink:

Later on that night, we met up with Ron and Kemp at the Paddywagon.

Not such a great place if you like personal space — the joint was rammed — but full of good looking people looking to have some fun. Danny was tending bar.

Danny at the bar. Can you see the Labatt Blue beer tap?
Ran into Scotty too! Both he and Danny are fellow disc enthusiasts. On a side note — I just found “The beautiful game” — an article in Scotland’s weekly paper which has nice overview of Ultimate from an outsider’s perspective and talks about what it’s like to attend an international beach tournament in Italy. Check it out!
Anyways, I’m off to chase around a few frisbees — have an excellent evening! 🙂