I completely blame this on my friends that work at the Mac Superstore. After a lifetime of using Windows, they finally convinced me to get a MacBook Pro.

What it came down to was a combination of curiosity about unknown territory and a realization that if I’m going to explore it, now is probably the best time to do it given that I’m at the age with the highest amount of expendable income. (Also, I have to admit that the musician/writer/web addict/hipster in me would get a little ego boost from all this. Sad, I know.)

I originally intended to wait for the soon-coming announcement of the next line of MacBooks, but Josh and Andy, my friends at the Mac Superstore, told me the other day that they had a couple top-end models of the last line on major sale. So yesterday I went in on my lunch break and picked up the last one they had.

(For the nerds: 17″ hi-def 1920×1200 display, Intel Dual Core 2.6GHz processor, 200GB 7200 rpm hard drive, 4 GB RAM, 256 MB video.)

So far I’m still figuring things out. Though I’ve used Macs before, it’s an adjustment to use one for more than a few minutes because I’m used to being able to zip around in Windows. This is The Great Experiment, after all. I do have to say that it’s a lot easier to figure out from the get-go. I’m not really used to that so it’s a little unsettling for some reason.

I’ve got Firefox running with most of my plugins, I’m running Adium for chat, Twhirl for Twitter. I still need to import all my music and pictures.

Things I love? Multi-touch mouse, the speed improvement, way more screen space, pretty looks and the kind of highly intuitive interface I always aim to create when making websites. I’m also looking forward to using GarageBand.

My two unsolved problems: I can’t get the hot keys working for Spaces and I can’t figure out how to keep the computer from sleeping when I close the lid. Relatively small issues.

Oh, and I miss my Home, End and Delete keys. Fn+Backspace doesn’t quite cut it.

Ryan Catbird of Catbird Records wins the award today:

Q: Are you posing for the cover of Italian Vogue?

If the answer is “no,” then you can probably stop this whole “pursing-your-lips-whenever-someone-takes-your-photo” thing, I think.

The curse of the Myspace/digital camera age. Even I did this occasionally for a while, and I hated myself for it. Somehow I broke the habit. It just goes to show how we are so easily and subliminally influenced by the most trivial of things.

Tim Blair, my former boss’s boss (er… something like that), puts it quite eloquently:

Inexperience in Washington politics is a lot like recruiting a rookie to play on a last place team. They certainly won’t make things worse and might just make things better.

Sample of Radiohead’s Planet Telex? Check.
Catchy glitch-pop melody? Check.
Social/religious commentary? Check.
Cute kid in a dinosaur costume? Check.

I think we’ve got all the bases covered.

I had my first experience with podcasting over the weekend. Dan, Ben and I are starting the Buzzgrinder podcast back up after a couple years of silence. We posted our first attempt yesterday evening. (Yeah, yeah, shameless self-promotion.)

It was a bit rocky at first while we were figuring out how to get three guys to banter with an Internet delay between each of us. After a little while it picked up, though, and I’d say we were fairly successful at what we were trying to do.

I know that “podcast” link up at the top of the page doesn’t go anywhere yet, but now that I have a better idea of how it might work, I think I’m going to get started on a monthly music podcast here, at least as an experiment at first. To keep things simple, it will probably be based off of my monthly playlists. Stay tuned.

You know autumn is on its way when reverb and ambient textures start to float back into the soundscape, especially in the form of Neko Case, Fleet Foxes and This Will Destroy You. This year they’re accentuated with some of those warm, 80s-esque synths that M83 and MGMT bring to the table.

Autumn has finally become a season that I can appreciate. Now that I’m beyond school and life is fairly constant aside from the natural seasons, I’m able to enjoy what each season brings, in both the emotional and natural senses. I look forward to the sense of calm darkness and satisfied sadness that reminds me to take comfort as I sit back and watch a year come to a close.

1. Stars of the Lid – “Apreludes (in C sharp major)” (and Their Refinement of the Decline)
2. Spain – “Our Love is Going to Live Forever” (She Haunts My Dreams)
3. Norma Jean – “Death of the Anti Mother” (The Anti Mother)
4. Ponytail – “Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)” (Ice Cream Spiritual)
5. Santogold – “Creator” (Santogold)
6. The Faint – “The Geeks Were Right” (Fasciinatiion)
7. edIT – “Laundry” (Crying Over Pros For No Reason)
8. The Cool Kids – “A Little Bit Cooler” (The Bake Sale)
9. M83 – “Midnight Souls Still Remain” (Saturdays = Youth)
10. Anathallo – “Dokkoise House (With Face Covered)” (Floating World)
11. MGMT – “Time to Pretend” (Oracular Spectacular)
12. This Will Destroy You – “A Three-Legged Workhorse” (This Will Destroy You)
13. Fleet Foxes – “White Winter Hymnal” (Fleet Foxes)
14. Neko Case – “Maybe Sparrow” (Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)
15. Delta Spirit – “People, Turn Around” (Ode to Sunshine)
16. Lil Wayne – “Got Money” (Tha Carter III)