Monthly Archives: January 2010

Windows Vista Business Edition

Last week I began at a new company as their Project Coordinator. For the first few days I had been asked to provide my own laptop, so I gladly brought with my my trust old MacBook. Within a few days of starting, my laptop had finally arrived. I was presented with an HP Elite notebook, which by the way, I have to say I was very impressed with. Aesthetically I personally believe this is the most beautiful PC laptop that I’ve had the privilege to work with. But besides its looks, I was very surprised to learn that the company had globally moved to Windows Vista SP1. In my previous job, I had used Windows XP as the primary OS which was also new to that organization, seeing as they had made a move from Windows 2000 not too long before I joined.

What’s shocking about it though, is how well the OS has performed. Mind you I haven’t actually been able to run it through its paces, but for work purposes, it seems to work really well without give me any problems. Initially I had thought that I would run into several problems running on this platform, but after using this machine and this OS for a week now, I have to admit I’m thinking of purchasing a similar machine.

Biggest withdrawal from actually going out and making a purchase, is the fact that despite being aesthetically gorgeous, and doing everything that I need it to do, I can get the same results from running Windows Vista, or the new Windows 7 through bootcamp or parallels on my mac. And seeing as I am looking forward to purchasing a new 15″ MacBook Pro within the next 18 months, why spend anywhere between $1500 – $2000 on this HP Elite notebook, when I could add a additional $2000 and purchase the topped out 15″, with a 3.06 GHz processor, 8GB memory and a 500GB 7200rpm HD. Hardly worth spending the cash now when I can enjoy all the features of Vista or Win7 through my mac at a later date.

Overall though, I have to say that I am very impressed with the OS and the hardware itself. I do recommend that people look into this system if they are interested in a new PC laptop.

Invoking God’s blessing on BlackBerrys

Original article can be located here, credit due to RAPHAEL G. SATTER, The Record THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.

“God bless this BlackBerry. A venerable British church has done what e-mail addicts and workaholics have been doing for years — invoking the Almighty’s blessing on their high-tech gadgets.

The Rev. Canon David Parrott blessed a symbolic heap of laptops and smart phones on the altar of London’s 17th-century St. Lawrence Jewry church Monday — an effort, he said, to remind the capital’s busy office workers that God’s grace can reach them in many ways.

“It’s the technology that is our daily working tool, and it’s a technology we should bless,” Parrott said.

The short blessing capped Monday’s services at the Christopher Wren-designed building — the official church of the Corporation of the City of London, which runs the capital’s bustling financial district.

Parishioners took out cellphones as Parrott recited a blessing over them and their electronic devices. A few held their phones up in the air as he ran through the prayer.

Parrott said the blessing ceremony was an update of a traditional back-to-work ceremony called “Plow Monday,” in which villagers gathered to bless a symbolic farming implement dragged to the church’s door. Parrott said that ceremony didn’t have much relevance for his church in the middle of London.

Parrott took up his post at St. Lawrence Jewry — so-called because it stands in what was once the capital’s Jewish neighborhood — about seven months ago and said the updated ceremony was “a fresh idea for a fresh post.”

He said he hoped the ceremony had made worship “lively and relevant to the people who work nearby, in the financial district.”

Parrot said parishioners were welcome to leave their phones on during the service — as long as they kept them on silent.”

So I read this article while sitting at a Starbucks with my dad waiting for his appointment and I thought to myself, why not have our electronics blessed. They are our tools of work and like in the past, they do provide for us. Although no priest would ever to such a thing here in North America, I do believe that it would be a great thing to do, at least once a year.

Not much else I could say really about this article, but I thought I’d repost it anyways.