I’ve played about an hour of it so far earlier. I got my Death Knight made. You must have an available character slot in order to create one. You start off in Eastern Plaguelands at level 55. I’ve done a couple of quests with her already. A mount can be summoned once you complete a chain quest (2).

After messing with that, I changed on to my Paladin toon and did a couple of quests in the new lands. Some of the green gear I saw as rewards will already replace any existing blue gear you have.

So now I’m home and have installed it on my iMac and I come to this…

I captured the image 30 minutes after I logged in… and still waiting. This is worse than when The Burning Crusade expansion came out. Oh well…

Plus I got a free cup of coffee from Starbucks for voting.

1. Nike Air Foamposite One: Originally released back in 1997, I would have loved a pair but $180 was insanely expensive for that time. They re-released this shoe a couple of years ago, but didn’t know until I was too late and they were sold out, again. I’m hearing rumors of another retro release and I hope this time I can get a pair.
2. Adidas Real Deal: This pair is one of the most comfortable basketball shoes I’ve ever worn, next to the Air Pippen II. I had the original white and blue color. I balled in them until they worn out and I “traded” them in. Now I wish I bought 2 pairs at that - even though it won’t fit me now.
3. Nike Air Penny II: I had the original pair back in 1996. Same thing happened as I mentioned above. I balled in them and “traded” them in. I wish I kept them even though they were worn out. Just having the original - sigh. Anyway, they released the retros a few weeks ago and I ran to the nearest store to pick them up. I have yet to wear them coz they look so nice not worn, but they look so nice when I have them on. Now I want the Orlando Magic Penny jersey to match.

You can view the album here http://flickr.com/photos/w1n78/sets/72157607102152840/.

We still haven’t decided on a name.

The MDX has a DVD and rear view camera so according the their website it’s the Tech Package with Rear DVD System. It took some time to get used to the navigation system since unlock my TL it isn’t touch screen. Most of the settings I adjusted using the voice recognition since I couldn’t find the buttons right away and I was feeling lazy to look. The commands are still same so far (compared to the TL).

The steering wheel folds inward when you pull the key out, so that you have plenty of room to get out of the vehicle. Once you insert the key, the steering wheel adjusts towards you to the position of how you set the seat memory. This is fully mechanical. There is a little joystick on the left side to help you position it properly. It moves inwards as soon as the key is removed.

The DVD uses wireless head phones. I also noticed RCA connectors in the back. You can plug in game consoles (Wii, PS3, 360, etc.) here. I used my iPod touch to play some videos off it. You can also listen to XM, AM/FM, and the 6 disc player.

The real-time traffic is pretty cool. I just don’t like how it’s displayed. I guess I got used to using my iPhone and Google maps. I don’t know how accurate or how frequent the updates occur. I’m sure it updates frequently since it’s connected to XM satellite. Uses the following colors: green = no traffic, yellow = some traffic, and red = traffic.

There are plenty of compartments in the center console. There is even one on the passenger side, next to where your left leg would be.

It can sit up to 7 people - 2 in the front, 3 in the 2nd row and the 3rd row can sit 2. The 3rd row can also fold down to give more trunk space. If you need more trunk space, the 2nd row can also fold down. It also has a power tailgate (automatic trunk door) that opens and closes mechanically. There’s even a button on the key fob.

What I also like is it drives just like my TL. It doesn’t feel any bigger and the response is quite similar. Of course, you wouldn’t want to take as fast turns as you would on a sedan. But in normal driving conditions, i felt very comfortable if not more comfortable than in my TL.

I was able to get about 24MPG but most of this is highway travel and with the A/C on.

Here’s a list of likes:

• handles like a sedan
• automatic telescopic steering wheel
• automatic tailgate
• sits 7 people
• rear seats can fold down for more trunk space
• 6 disc changer can play MP3 and WMA audio format
• DVD entertainment system with wireless headphones can also access XM, AM/FM, and 6 disc player
• monitoring of SH-AWD and tire pressure

Dislikes:

• front seats have heat capability but still no cooling capability - would be great during the summer
• beeping sound it makes when the tailgate opens/closes
• slow response with acceleration - not sure if it’s because of the gas used before I got it or something else

I have taken a quick video and some pics before I had to return it. You can view the video below and the pics off my Flickr account. Again, this is just a quick first thoughts and now a full blown review. I only had it for 1 day and most of the time I wasn’t able to drive it since I was at work.

Link to Flickr album.

So I started to use Google calendar a couple of years ago to avoid having to pay for Apple’s service. It works perfect! I can be on any computer with an internet connection and have access to my calendar. I recently found an app that Mozilla created that does calendar management - Sunbird. It’s been out for awhile but an add-on was recently created that “Allows bidirectional access to Google Calendar”. Great! It makes my solution of using Google calendar easier. With this add-on, you can now connect to your Google calendars and have full access. Prior to this, you only had read-only access (which my iCal currently is doing ).

So now I can use Sunbird to fully manage my Google calendars without having to use my browser. Then my iCal will continue to do it’s one-way sync from Google, then syncs with my iPhone.

Now the only thing that’s left is my Address Book.

It’s week 16 and we have another ultrasound. We’re having a baby boy!

Part 2

- first video blog
– new iMac 2.66GHz, 4GB ram, 20″
– using built in iSight
– using quicktime pro
– room is a mess

- abby is nearly 16 weeks
– we have dr appt on wednesday
– show ultra sound - 10weeks, 12 weeks

- aiptek a-hd+ 1080, $150
- flexpod tripod, $20

- it’s labor day 2008

Some things that caught me by surprise after I using it for a couple of days.

• No magnetic remote rest for remote control (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306284) - I was bummed out about not having this. I have this feature on my iMac at work.
• With my G5 (since it uses a separate monitor), I was able to leave the computer on overnight and just turn of the monitor. With the iMac, you have to set up the screen saver timer and the display sleep option. Not a big deal but I have to keep changing it if I plan to leave the iMac on overnight. I change the settings to the lowest minutes possible but can’t have this option while I’m using it regularly.
• The 2.66GHz model came with 320GB. I thought this would be enough but after transferring my data over from my G5, I’m left with 130GB. I guess I miscalculated how much data I had. I was thinking I had a little over 100GB of data only. No worries, I have over 2TB of external hard drives.
• Upgrading the memory is a little different from the previous iMac models (non Aluminum). After removing the screw for the memory area, there now tabs instead of the levers. You have to pull the tabs in order to remove the memory. The first one was somewhat easy to pull, but the second was a little harder. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1760
• The ATI Radeon HD 2600 (256MB PCIe) is a great upgrade from my G5’s ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (64MB AGP) video card. My frame rate on WoW has at least doubled and in some areas it tripled.
• The startup of my iMac is a little faster than my G5 but would’ve thought it would be faster.

I haven’t really got too much into it to feel the difference. But if you are still running a non-Intel Mac, I would suggest getting a new one with an Intel CPU. Not only will Apple stop support on non-Intel CPU’s in the future but programs like Parallels and VMWare run great on the new hardware (requires Intel CPU).

my messy desk

iMac info