Dave Mancuso dot Com

I’ve been using WinXP on our Wintel PCs since July, and I’ve been using Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) for a week or so now. I’m very happy with both.

I always liked Windows NT, ever since NT 3.1, and this new version is smooth and functional. I had to change the color scheme right away, though–the green and blue was awful. I really like Win2K, and XP is a nice incremental upgrade. It’s so close to being a really nice OS–they just need to focus on better usability and consistent aesthetics. It’s jarring to see WinXP windows blink into Win2K-style windows as things happen–even with Microsoft apps. It’s amazing how little Internet Explorer has changed from 2.0 and 3.0 in Windows. Mozilla is a huge improvement over IE on the Windows platform.

Jaguar is another story. XP is functional–Mac OS X is inspiring. Talk about aesthetics–this OS is all about it. Form and function are awesome. IE on the Mac is miles ahead of the Windows version, too. In fact, the Mac versions of Microsoft products continue to outshine their namesakes on Windows. This platform is exciting, and shows that Apple continues to define the computer field. The company may only have 5% market penetration, but their concepts drive 100% of the market. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

I guess you can tell which one I prefer, but actually, I do enjoy working with both. I’m just thankful that Win95 is fading, and new technology is helping me stretch my resources at work farther. I hope that .NET and OS X 10.3 continue to be technology focused and not marketing or revenue driven.

We tried out a Tandoori Chicken recipe from one of the Atkins books tonight (the one with Fran Gare). It confirmed something I’ve kind of known all along–I hate Indian food. Not to be blunt, but this stuff looked like a 3 month old’s mustard-colored diaper. Parents, you know what I mean. It didn’t actually taste that bad, but it wasn’t very inspiring, either.

It did give me an idea for an orange chicken, though. More to come.

You should probably note at this point that most of my recipes are going to be low carb Atkins recipes, as I move down to 200 lbs. again.

I want the Camper version. The new Microbus comes out in 2005, and the Camper would likely come out at the same time or one year later. I guess I have two to three years to save my shekels…..

It’s been a long time, and things at work are hectic as, well, heck, but I have a lot of things to post! More to come….

Since I live less than ten miles from Three Mile Island, I got free thyroid radiation pills for the family at school last Friday. We would use thes in case of an attack on TMI that would cause a release of radiation (e.g., if a plane would crash into the reactor). The pills only cover one kind of radiation sickness, so I think it’s more of a PR thing than anything else, but what the heck–the pills were free. I doubt if TMI would be a real terrorist target, but my plan is to motorvate out of here immediately if something ever happened. Simple and (hopefully) effective.

I’ll post a few pics in a day or so. Guess I have to figure out how to use the Pics folder in my Radio weblog now.

On the first week of our vacation we camped at Otter Lake up in the Poconos. On Wednesday of that week we had a terrible thunderstorm. We all stayed in the tent, but after a while I wondered why we hadn’t taken shelter in the car. We had two very close lightning strikes, one just two campsites away. We smelled the ozone after we saw the blue flash and sparks. In the end we were all OK, though.

But, the next week at Resica Falls Scout Reservation (next door to Otter Lake), a poor 16 year old kid died when lightning struck a tent ten feet away. Freaky. I used to camp at Resica all the time when I was a kid, too. I was at the quartermaster’s store buying a mug and a patch on week to the day before the poor kid was killed. Makes you appreciate that you and yours are happy and healthy.