In which our hero writes up his impressions of his new laptop
http://www.powerpage.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/powerpage.woa/wa/story?newsID=11420

Let's just say that the Women's World Cup doesn't have quite the draw of the Men's. Ok, so the Skins had a game the same afternoon as the U.S. Women's Team against Sweden. Still. Jon and I picked our seats and never got near the ones we had bought. They claimed there were 30,000 people, but that's probably stretching it. It's a time honored tradition in sports. Once, when I was working with the basketball team, Joe asked the facility manager what the attendence was. Tony gave the number, and Joe replied, "Add 400 to that, and give that to the Post." Ah, good times.

It was a good time, though. The U.S. Women are a solid team, and beat Sweden 3-1. It was a gorgeous day for soccer, a little overcast but about 75 degrees and not humid at all. The sun burned through during the Brazil-S. Korea match, which was certainly nowhere near as entertaining. Brazil is certianly nowhere as good as their men's team. It's an odd thing, the countries most associated with excellence in men's soccer (Brazil, Germany, England, The Netherlands) have pretty crappy women's teams. Brazil still won, 3-0.

One trip to the Apple Store later, and I've done someting foolish and bought myself a 'puter. The new G4 Aluminum 15". So far so sweet. Also got Final Cut Express for $99 instead of $299, and an iSight, to boot. Not that I know anyone else with one, but shit, someone's gotta take the plunge. I've also got a plan, but we'll see how that turns out in a couple months. I got the Superdrive 1.25 GHz model. I've always used office machines before, so it feels good in a way to have something of my own. Liberating. And it's gonna have to last me a while, so I went for it and got the top-of-the-line machine.

We'll see how it goes.

Well the roof didn't cave in. And the windows didn't shatter, so that's a plus. I finally roused myself to walk around and take a look at what's happened. We lost two trees in front of the building, one ripping up the sidewalk something fierce. Strolled to Georgetown to look at the river, supposedly lapping at the doors of the restaurants on the waterfront. It'd gone down to a few inches below the docks, but the high water mark could be seen way up grounds. They dropped big sea walls in front of the restaurants to prevent flooding. Rather impressive, really. The other thing I wanted to see was the C&O Canal which I expected to be raging, but in fact had been shut off far upstream, and emptied down into the Potomac. Surprising, but sensible, to keep it from overflowing its banks. There have been recent problems with erosion during recent heavy storms.

Overall the impression seems to be one of anti-climacticism - 'was that it?' Far worse was forecasted. Of course, I don't live in Virginia and I won't not have power for days and days. I don't envy them at all.

At least that's what it was supposed to be. But so far, so boring. Noisy wind, lots of rain (yes, I know that's what a hurricane is, thank you), but so far Isabel is letting me down. I haven't seen reports of any gusts over 40 mph. Of course, that's in DC, not Virginia with the powerless million. The Metro was shut down at 11 this morning and GW was closed - and tomorrow, too. None of this stopped the mail, though. Three pieces of junk mail, in my box, like clockwork. Ah well, sometimes we can take comfort in consistency.

UPDATE 11:30 PM:
Excellent move on my part to tease the gods. It's now the worst it's been all day. Oddly enough, after the storm has really passed by. I went out and stood in it for a while. I love weather, and the rain is surprisingly cold. I have no idea what the wind speed is but it feels and sounds faster than it has been all day. The winds are backing from the south now, so I'm not really sure what that means.

Of more immediate concern are the three leaks that appeared over my door in my ceiling, which have now merged into one, along with a group of spidery cracks. This building is from the Forties, and sometimes it seems the roof is, too, though I know they've resurfaced it in the last seven years. I have a feeling I'm going to be up all night...

I had prepped my camera for some good picture taking, but I just don't think it's going to pan out, it's dark and the lens would get occluded anyways. We'll see what the damage looks like tomorrow.

With all the frequency of a Jim Lee-illustrated comic, it's back in the swing.

Delectable 15" Al PowerBooks were released today and I was nearly bouncing off the walls in anticipation of getting one. Believe it or not this would be the first computer I've ever actually bought. Everything I've ever had at home has been from the office. It's going to be a liberating event, in more ways than one. However I was thwarted... the day's events unfold:

0614: Jump out of bed to turn down the bagpipes blasting out of my stereo. Cadence to Arms by the Dropkick Murphys. Trust me, if you have problems rousing your carcass in the mornings, this is your solution.
0615: Load up the Apple site. Drool.
0956: Call the Clarendon store four minutes before opening to find out if they have the goods. Informed that a shipment of *something* is arriving today but they don't know what. Call back at 1.
1304: Ring the store again, told by a sweet girl that they got 17" PB in today, but no 12 or 15", but they get 2 shipments a day and the second should arrive later and I should check back. She also is kind enough to take my name and number so she can call me when they arrive.
1653: Overcome by curiosity, I phone again and am told by another girl that not only did they second shipment arrive sans 15" machines, but that they actually DID get eight of them in at 11 AM, and sold them all and I should try back tomorrow.

Never trust retail workers.
Here endeth the lesson.

I'm going to go enjoy the last bit of beautiful weather before class starts. There's a storm a-coming soon, and I want to remember what blue skies and sun feel like.