Nothing funny about feldspar

I had a dream last night that I was a contestant on Top Chef. Last season they had a vending machine challenge, where the chefs were given $10 in quarters and access to the studio vending machines. They had to come up with an amuse bouche¹.

I dreamed that I was participating, and devised some sort of sorbet made from Sprite and spearmint and cinnamon gum. I was slightly panicking looking for something crispy — could the vanilla gunk be scraped off of the wafers? are there crackers, and if so are they crunchy enough? — that would make the eater think of Thai food.

By the time I woke up, I had convinced myself that it tasted pretty good, but now as I write this, I’m thinking I’m glad it was all just a dream.

1. I had never heard of it before watching the show — it’s a small, not-quite-appetizer pre-meal snacklet↩

A piece of advice for those of you with female Significant Others. No matter what, don’t ask, “Is it time for your period?”

This Week’s Challenge: From Martin Schneider of Jersey City, N.J. Think of a pair of words that commonly go together. They’re part of a larger group, but this pair of words is commonly said together. The first word contains a “W” sound without the letter “W” being in it. And the second word contains a “W” that is silent. (The pronunciation of the word wouldn’t be changed if you remove the “W.”) Name this pair of words. Hint: These words are probably said multiple times during the course of this program.

This one was really too easy. Must be because nobody wants to think in the summer.

Answer below the fold.

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I think I’ve mentioned before that I talk back to the television. It’s a bad habit that I learned from my parents, both of whom read science fiction but yet could not suspend disbelief long enough when watching an action movie or TV show (if in a contemporary setting) to keep from exclaiming “That can’t happen!” when the car rolled down the cliff and immediately exploded.

I think I’ve also mentioned that my dad used to race stock cars (mostly regionally, but he had a stint as a NASCAR driver way back in the early days), so this is a topic they would have found extremely difficult to watch fictionalized.

Cue Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby. The first scene has Ricky Bobby winning a race in reverse. After that I couldn’t watch it, not because I couldn’t suspend disbelief long enough to watch a comedy with racing in it, but because I could only hear my parents trashing it; their voices were louder than the jokes.

They probably would have liked Cars, though.

If I Custom Order a 24″ iMac by starting with the 2.4GHz model, I can save a couple of hundred bucks and still get a 2.8GHz chip with 4GB ram.

Here’s how:

• Option 1 — Custom build with 3rd party RAM
  • Go to the 24-inch: 2.4GHz ordering page. Cost: $1,799.
  • Choose to upgrade the processor to 2.8GHz. Total so far: $2,049.
  • To make it comparable, get the 500GB hard drive. Total so far: $2,149.
  • Pay the tax (in my case, 6%) and have it shipped to your house (free). Total so far: $2,278.
  • Order a matched pair of 2GB RAM sticks from Otherworld Computing (been using them for years) @ $230 for the set. Add $9 for shipping if you’re in a hurry (otherwise, $4). Total so far: $2,517.
  • Fill out the rebate form, and send back the 1GB stick that came with the iMac. Assuming it works, you’ll get a check back for $25.
  • Total for your 24-inch, 2.8GHz iMac with 4GB RAM and 500GB drive: $2,492.
• Option 2 — Stock build with 3rd party RAM
  • Go to the 24-inch: 2.8GHz ordering page. Cost: $2,299.
  • Pay the tax and have it shipped to your house. Total so far: $2,437.
  • Order a matched pair of 2GB RAM sticks @ $230 for the set. Add $9 for shipping. Total so far: $2,676.
  • Send back the two 1GB sticks that came with the iMac. Get back for $50.
  • Total for your 24-inch, 2.8GHz iMac with 4GB RAM and 500GB drive: $2,626.
• Option 3 — let Apple sell you and install the 4GB of memory:
  • Go to the 24-inch: 2.8GHz ordering page. Cost: $2,299.
  • Choose the 4GB RAM option. Total so far: $2,999.
  • Pay the tax and have it shipped to your house.
  • Total for your 24-inch, 2.8GHz iMac with 4GB RAM and 500GB drive: $3,179.

Here’s a little math:

So you can save anywhere from 130 to nearly 700 bucks, even if you don’t send back the ram for a rebate. (You can save another $106 by not getting the bigger drive, but with TimeMachine coming, that’s risky.) By ordering the unit with only 1GB RAM, you’ll be at most of the way to buying AppleCare (or Leopard). Of course, you have to wait for all the RAMmy goodness to arrive in the mail, but if you order them at the same time…

By the way, you can save even more if you can wing an edu discount. Education prices:

• Option 1: $2,349 (a savings of $143 from “consumer” option 1)
• Option 2: $2,467 (a savings of $159 from option 2)
• Option 3: $2,946 (a savings of $233 from option 3)

Of course, this doesn’t actually get me any closer to an Intel-based Mac (which I want, because I really want to declutter my office and get rid of a cheapo-PC and the two old Macs that are stealing desk space), but it is an interesting exercise in remembering why one doesn’t just run to the Apple Store to come home with a shiny new toy.

(P. S. I did the calculations using Apple Numbers. I don’t have a lot of experience with it, but I would say that it isn’t for power spreadsheeters. Just sayin’)