It's been two months with my 12 inch powerbook and I'm still quite pleased with it. Unlike my AMD based machines which, by their nature, are confined to a room upstairs, the Powerbook stays plugged in in our living room. It's been greatbeing able to have it on while we watch tv to quickly check email or chat with family and friends on AIM.

I've been learning my way around Final Cut Express more and more, for the serious amateur video editor it's very powerful. Of course, it's a lot less stratightforward than iMovie - which really shines when you want to put a decently edited video together quickly and with little hassle but it can do a whole lot more once you explore the options.

Only in two instances was I a bit surprised that something wasn't up to snuff. Using the burn icon in Finder, I saved all my Europe trip DV files to a DVD for my dad. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to read it on his PC although I'm not quite sure why. Sandy theorizes that it maybe that its because I burned a DVD-R but I'm pretty sure my dad's pc has one of those magical dvd+-r drives. I also checked versiontracker hoping to find an easy to use, panoramic photo stitching software but after trying 4 different packages none was as automatic as the one I'd earlier found for Windows. The ones I did find expected the user to either overlay the images manually to aid in identifying the overlap, or tediously match points in overlapping images to stitch pictures together.

This is a hilarious clip from PRI's show, This American Life. Jump forward to minute 25 when they compare American and Dutch Christmas customs. You can also purchase the episode on CD.\

Wait a minute. Santa would kick you?

Ever since I started following International soccer, after the 1994 World Cup, I've found myself diving years into curious groups. The year following a world cup is usually a rebuilding and coach-hiriing year for squads. Two years after is "half-way to the next cup" and a chance to read like tea lieaves the other quadrennial tournaments for signs of teams on the rise, old stars on their way out, and young emerging players. Three years after is one year before, do-or-die time for teams still in the hunt to qualify from their regions for THE Big Dance. Then we come full-circle to another World Cup year.\