Stuff one does

Actually, the latter is pretty close to Park Sanssouci, which makes a good opportunity to search for a nice spot and sit there reading a paper while killing the time until the seminar begins. It wouldn't make sense to head back to the institute after the exercise, as I would have to leave again 15 minutes after I arrived. So I get to sit in the Park every Monday for something like 90 minutes! Okay, I did it only once so far, because for the first two weeks we didn't have a talk in the seminar and then either the weather was slightly nasty or I had to do some scribbling, which required a desk to sit at. Which I don't have in the Park but in the physics building. Anyhow, I plan to be more often in the Park, I found a nice spot and it really is a good place to read papers, see the picture on the side for an impression of the (short) transition phase between no leafs and full blossom.

It would also be a great place to do some programming actually. Which made me think about a new laptop again. Mine is fine and does what it is supposed to do, but it is not exactly a portable machine: It is made to be able to work at A, B and C, but not on the road between those places. The c't had a big laptop comparison a month ago and it seems the MacBook would be a nice choice. Especially since I would not have to deal with installing a usable operating system. A major draw-back all other laptops suffer from. Granted, it is not that problematic to install Linux on a laptop, but it requires a more thorough investigation before buying. And then more work to get everything to cooperate. That made be consider the MacBook, where I can just start to use it with every hardware detail working.

But somehow I still could not decide whether I really want it. I do not care about the style and the oh so kinky hardware, which is not oh so kinky at all. It is a plain PC in a stylish packaging for crying out loud! In fact all the fuzz the MacBooks are causing (everyone is getting one, it seems, and everyone loves them) makes me — and I am the first one to agree that it is really irrational — not wanting it. And it does not have a trackpoint! Nonetheless I nearly bought it a month ago but then could not make myself spending 1.4k€. Not too bad, since the MacBook got a make-over last week: More stuff for less money. Now I am really that close to order one. But I first want to check for a Latitude D630. And a T61 would be nice too. It is hard to decide on this stuff. I guess I will again not be able to convince myself to spend the money and go without a new laptop for another month. And then the same game will start from the beginning. Oh well...

Anyhow, this traveling through Potsdam once per week (actually, twice, we meet every Wednesday to discuss the new exercise sheet and I have to fetch the stuff the students did) made me start an old habit again: reading Perry Rhodan. Yeah, it is just a dime novel, but it is a nice thing to read in the bus/train/tram. I started again at novel 2381 and am now at 2387, waiting for the next one to appear next Friday. Gheez, I would not have thought, that they would interest me again. But then, it is fascinating to see what happens in the Perry Rhodan universe nowadays and that they still do it. Lets see how long I will follow.