Christmas Eve

Well that was fast! The lead up to the holidays that is. I still cannot believe that it is already Christmas tomorrow and looking back this year has really went by in the blink of an eye. All good things must come to and end so they say. Opening doors for what the next chapter will hold.

Enough about that though, that is more for my New Years post that I may try to do a quick year in review paragraph. It's much harder than you would think to do though. Super easy to miss a lot of events but I may give it a shot anyhow.

Dinner Tradition

So as I mentioned and as you know, today is Christmas Eve which 9 times out of ten means that we will be heading over to dads house for our traditional family dinner. It will consist of one of my favorite Croatian meals called Sarma. Pronounced just as it looks.

Sarma is basically a few kinds of meat, lots of spices rolled into big cabbage leaf pieces made into big meaty rolls. Then cooked on a low heat for hours on end. You will know when it's done because the house will be thick with the wonderful smell and your stomach will be grumbling for a bowl.

My dad got the recipe from my grandma long ago and has been practicing making it pretty much every year since. I think he has it down really well but he is only satisfied with the outcome occasionally. He wants perfection and probably for it to taste exactly like it did when his mom use to make it. I totally understand that but his is awesome tasting. I really need to learn how to make it one year.

My sister Kelly, her husband Dan and my nephews Cody and Cameron will be over as well. Some years my buddy Gabe will join us as well but I did not invite him this year. Mostly because he had to work again until late into the afternoon and because we did not even know if dinner was happening this year or not until late in the week last week.

Crossover

So I stumbled upon this software last week that is called "Crossover". It allows you to install and run Windows applications on a Mac without the need for additional applications to be purchased and installed like Boot Camp or Parallels paired up with a full version of Windows OS.

Not to forget that all along you are bloating your Mac with additional software. Each time you need to run a Windows application you have to switch over to that OS (if your software allows via a hot-key) or reboot, hold a special key which then allows you to boot into the appropriate OS. Very cool that it can be done in the first place but a pain how it has to be done.

I am a little hesitant whether Crossover will actually work or not for anything other than a few games or Windows applications from the Office Suite. I plan to give it a try with my flight simulator software, Phoenix. That should put it through the paces and give me a good idea how it performs. Who knows it may surprise me.

The crappy part is that I just purchased a new Toshiba laptop last week when we were down in Carson visiting mom. I needed it to run certain software as well as perform updates on my R/C hardware as needed. I planned to use it as the dedicated machine for my 3D printer as well and that is why I went with a touch screen model.

So I guess even if the simulator runs good on my MacBook Pro it is still not a waste of money purchasing the Toshiba laptop.i will get good use out of it and the thing will surely last for as long as I need it with only the minimal use it will get.

**Update: So after a painfully long and dull installation process of the Phoenix flight simulator software I am saddened, but not surprised, to report that it does not allow me to run the flight simulator on my MacBook Pro as I had hoped it would. It did install and I can open the application but nothing more than that. I will have to give it a try on the Toshiba laptop now as well to determine if it's a laptop issue or a software issue.

Either way I am not dead in the water because I still have the PC tower that I always use for the flight simulator. It simply would have been cool to run it on any of my computers.

I guess I will not be purchasing the Crossover software. Today was my last chance to get it for 50% off the normal price so I almost just pulled the trigger on it based off all the great reviews it has been getting from users and the media. Thankfully CodeWeavers, the developers of Crossover, offer a 14 day trial (as all developers should) so I am not out the $29.99 (regularly $60). I had high hopes for the software but I will have to pass on it for now. If you are looking for something like this I would give it a try though. It's really easy to install and set up and if it will run your office applications or some of the games that you previously were only able to play on your PC but can now install and run on your Mac then it's worth every penny of the $60 price tag it retails for.

Holiday Time

OK I think that will have to do it for today's entry. The weather is still amazing and warm and I am in shorts AGAIN! I think this is the first time I have been in shorts on Christmas - so cool! But not for those that were dreaming of a white Christmas I guess. Maybe next year?

Time for me to setup the new laptop, watch the Griswold's as I do every year on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and look forward to the good eats and family time tonight at dads!

Photo: OK I don't completely mean it "all the time" but most times I think others are only saying it to do what they think others expect. Should you not return the gesture then you are a Scrooge in their eyes. Scrooge = a politically safe way for them to call you an asshole to your face!