I’ll admit it. After seeing Ubuntu running on Glyph’s MacBook, I want one. I would be a lot happier about this deep-seated consumerist desire if they had a full keyboard, like Lenovo’s ThinkPad line, but I want one anyways.

Here in Washington DC, I realized that I’d forgotten the power cable to my laptop. Curious, because I also forgot my power charger the last time I came here (for PyCon 2005). Since I already had to go to the mall for clean socks, I considered buying a universal adapter (again, something I did the last time I was in town). Instead I stopped by the Apple store, and I almost gave in; it would mean I’d spend my weekend of vacation in Starbucks playing with a new laptop, and I’d have to catch up with friends some other time. I probably would have, if not for Mactactic.

The site is awesome. I found it Googling “It predicts release schedules and tells you how long it’s likely to be before Apple releases the next iteration of some project. They estimate another month before the next version of MacBook, and I decided (to the joy of my checking account) that I can wait that long.

Here’s what I got through in January and February:

• Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After The Fall by Andrew Meier
• Next by Michael Crichton
• A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

Still not hitting my goal of three books a month, but getting closer. At least I’m finishing them now. Here’s what’s on the roster for March:

• Glasshouse by Charles Stross
• The Best American Nonrequired Reading (2006)
• On The Wealth of Nations by P.J. O’Rourke

• Friday I drove down to Fairfield and caught the opening night of 300.
• Saturday I went into New York City to see Mike and Kara.
• Sunday I drove out to Somers to visit my grandmother.
• Monday I’m going to Philadelphia for work.
• Tuesday morning I have to drive back up to Boston.
• Wednesday we fly out to Colorado for the Arcadia off-site.
• Sunday evening we fly back into Boston; the next morning I fly to Atlanta.
• Thursday I take a couple days off and visit friends in Washington, DC.
• Afterwards, back to Atlanta for another week.

It’s a good thing rent is cheap in my corner of Brighton, or I’d consider moving all of my furniture into a self-storage unit.

I’ve been a huge fan of Linode since the beginning; I’ve been a member for almost four years and I’ve never had cause to move away. It’s a great idea for a service (virtual Linux servers with full root access), the people who run it are superbly helpful, and their management tools are top-notch. On top of that, they have continually improved their offering over the years.

This past week, Linode announced they are doubling all of their plans. They’re doing this for both new and existing customers (though some of us have to wait for their data center to add capacity). So consider this an unsponsored plug: if you need a 24/7 personal server, and don’t want to pay through the nose, check them out.