I was working on a Tasks Pro migration yesterday, and I want to share some tips I learned during the install. The client was moving his Tasks Pro installation from a G4 over to a G5. Before heading over, I made a checklist of things to do:

1. Export the existing database
2. Copy the Tasks Pro files to the G5
3. Install PHP 5.0 on the G5
4. Install phpMyAdmin on the G5
5. Install MySQL on the G5
6. Import the database dump into the new database
7. Verify that all data was in order
8. Install Japanese localization file for Tasks Pro

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Felix is moving out of California! Where he goes next is up in the air, but the choices are narrowing as Felix takes more trips around the country. TN, GA, CO, OR, WA, anywhere but CA apparently!

Friends from all sports, cycling, climbing, running, and cars gathered at his place in Fremont for one last party. I saw familiar faces like Debby, Dave, Evelyn, Loren, and Suzie, and met a few new ones in Sharon, Lisa, Yvonne, and Cherie (did I miss anyone?). As I was driving back home, I wondered how many of these people I would see now that Felix is leaving. He was the glue that kept this particular group together. We’re all getting to that point in our lives when massive divergence happens. People are getting married, having kids, and moving away. In the past, it was difficult to keep in touch, but today, there are more and more options. Some would say there are so many options that none are even chosen!

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I have a confession to make. My lips have never tasted beer. Heck, for the longest time, I didn’t even know that beer was carbonated!

After the wedding, we’ve got all these drinks — Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider, Pepsi liters, and Riesling wine — left lying around the house. Somehow, a couple six-packs of Miller Genuine Draft found their way into our kitchen. Until today, the closest I got to drinking beer was having it spilled on me during various house and frat parties I attended in college.

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The ReadyNAS 600 deal from COBA and Infrant is quickly coming to an end on June 30th.

We have already qualified for the deal, so if you were on the fence, now is the time to jump in!

• $100 off driveless configuration (retail price $645)
• $200 off 4×250GB = 1TB (retail price $1395)
• $1895 - 4×400GB = 1.6TB

Just one more day to the big day. I’m not nervous, but I am slightly stressed with all of the work that remains to be done! Still, with friends and family helping, things will surely run smoothly tomorrow.

In case you haven’t seen them already, we’ve produced six different invitations for the wedding. Props out to Joon-Mo, Randy, Levi, and Vanessa for helping with the various photoshoots over the past several months! Which one is your favorite?

Once the dust has settled from the wedding, we’ll be posting a behind-the-scenes look at some of our wedding preparations. Now, I understand how much of a major production planning a wedding can be!

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The June 8 meeting of COBA featured a hands-on demonstration of tripods. Many COBA members brought in their tripods, heads, and accessories to show to the group.

I’ve been using my Gitzo 1228, and I never knew how to remove the center column until Jeff demoed it right in front of me with his 1227. Guess I didn’t RTFM enough! Horst showed his Wimberley Sidekick, which is a scaled down version of the Wimberley head for very large lenses. He also had a Kirk Low Pod mount which makes shooting at ground level very easy.

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It’s the end of another year at the Digital Vision Fellowship Program at Stanford University. This past year whizzed by so quickly; it seems like only a few months ago that I was saying goodbye to Heather, Segeni, Joe, Raphael, and everyone else from my program year!

Once again, the party was held at the Faculty Club next to Tresidder Union. Lighting conditions were fantastic due to a rare June appearance of overcast skies and rain in the Bay Area. Instead of harsh shadows, we had nice soft diffuse lighting! I only wish that it will be like this on my wedding day! Not only was the lighting good, everyone was in a cheerful mood — that’s the most important thing for getting great photos!

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Dana Elcar, most famous [to me] for playing MacGyver’s boss, Pete Thornton, died on Monday of complications from pneumonia. He had a long and productive life, but I’m still feeling sad.

MacGyver was my favorite TV show growing up. Pete and Mac had great chemistry together up until the last episode of the series. In later years, Elcar developed glaucoma which rendered him virtually blind. Instead of writing him out of the series, the producers decided to incorporate Elcar’s condition in the show. I remember getting choked up when he told MacGyver he was losing his eyesight!

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From the time that I first met Petrice, she’s been studying for her Masters in Nursing from UCSF. This past Friday, we celebrated her graduation from the program with her friends and family! The commencement was held at a packed Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco. Rae and I arrived a few minutes late, so we sat in the nosebleed section.

There was a reception at the Fairmont Hotel, but because the ceremony went a little over time, we didn’t spend too much time mingling and snacking.

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It’s official, Apple will be transitioning to Intel-based Macs in the next two years. The “soul of the Mac” is the operating system, not what processor or hardware the computer runs on. That said, how different is an Intel-based Mac from a stock PC running Windows or Linux? The $999 developer kit with a 3.64GHz P4 suggests nothing, or does it?

Spoke too soon. From CNet:

After Jobs’ presentation, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller addressed the issue of running Windows on Macs, saying there are no plans to sell or support Windows on an Intel-based Mac. “That doesn’t preclude someone from running it on a Mac. They probably will,” he said. “We won’t do anything to preclude that.”

However, Schiller said the company does not plan to let people run Mac OS X on other computer makers’ hardware. “We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac.”

Interesting tidbit: The name Rosetta, formerly the codename for Newton’s Handwriting Recognition System, has new meaning today as the Dynamic Binary Translator that allows PowerPC code to run on Intel-based Macs.

Can an Apple turn into an Orange? We’ll find out soon enough!

I’ve been holding off a major computer purchase to see what Apple is up to. Now that this news is out, I might opt to buy a refurbished PowerMac G5 or a previous generation model instead of the more recent speedbump releases. I’ve been doing fine with my now 4-year old QuickSilver, but I need something to bridge the gap between now and the next 2 years.

Update: John Siracusa from ArsTechnica has posted a short article on the switch to Intel. Good read from the man who writes the best reviews of Mac OS X anywhere!