What is Fallout's Graphical Projection?

Fallout (1997) Game Cover via Moby Games

With the recent release of Amazon Prime's Fallout series, I started to re-watch video reviews and interviews from the original Fallout role-playing game that the TV series is derived from. Despite having never played any of the games, I was always a fan of the design and artwork.

From the videos I reviewed, I noticed a misunderstanding of the type of graphical projection Fallout used. 

From LGR's review, Clint Bassinger states:

Now, you’ll see some refer to Fallout’s aesthetic here being isometric, but technically it’s cavalier oblique projection. This perspective was chosen in order to better suit the hex-based areas you’ll be navigating and it works quite well for what it is. 

Timothy Cain, the original creator and lead programmer of Fallout, describes the origins of the game as being isometric:

I went back to good ol’ sprites, and 2D, isometric… and uh, starting to put together just a little isometric game. 

So what type of projection was it? To lay this to rest, I grabbed a screenshot of the game and overlayed an axonometric grid in Affinity Designer.

Affinity Designer's Grid and Snapping Axis pallet.

Designer has several presets including isometric and axonometric, but I used the cube mode to visually overlay the grid over geometric features in the screenshot. 

Fallout screenshot with axonometric grid overlay.

The different angle values told me the answer I was looking for, the projection for Fallout is trimetric. 

I don't blame Tim Cain for saying isometric because it's common practice to use that term to mean a projection that is not in perspective. But Clint went out of his way to say it's not isometric but rather another projection type which was incorrect anyways. A rare misstep, as he's usually on top of his research and technical information.

HSC 1995 Video

During my unfruitful search for the original KPT Bryce 1.0 software, I came across this video from 1995 that features Kai Krause at his home (at the time) in Santa Barbara as well as the HSC headquarters located in nearby Carpinteria, CA.

I was fortunate enough to visit the building after the company was renamed to MetaCreations but I never got past the front lobby (I was on a sales call from my previous company and spent about an hour there chatting with one of the employees).

Unfortunately, the video is all in German and the closed captioning feature did a horrible job so that even Google Translate couldn't make a lot of sense of what was being said.  Linguistic issues aside, it was nice to hear Kai speak his native tongue and to learn how to say Krause with the proper German pronunciation.

HSC Digital MORPH

I recently have been experimenting with the original KPT Bryce 1.0 application and discovered the CD-ROM that came bundled with the superb "The KPT Bryce Book" by Susan A. Kitchens.  One of the files on the CD was called "Order HSC Products!" which contained a list of available (at the time) products that could be directly ordered from HSC Software by phone or fax (internet sales was not a thing at this time).  What I found interesting was a product listed that I never heard of called HSC Digital MORPH (spelled DigitalMorph in the text file) that retailed for $149.

After some researching, I discovered it was indeed an early product published by HSC Software but apparently developed by Ed Chmiel at Pacific Coast Software. I'm guessing it must have been an acquisition since it was only available for Windows 3.1 and not for the Macintosh as was typically the norm for early HSC products.

I was able to find someone on eBay selling the software on the original 3.5" floppy disks, but I was able to download it from the bundled Creative Power Graphics CD-ROM image.

The installation went smooth however the user interface was vanilla Windows 3.1 and could have used a fresh makeover from Kai Krause.  I had to resort to the online help feature to figure out what to do but as you can see my initial test morph leaves much to be desired.

I could use more practice...

I've seen that butterfly icon before...

The splash screen

Remember floppy disks?

I was able to find a review of the product from PC Magazine back in October 1993 which gave it middling marks.  As far as I could tell it never received any updates but later HSC would revisit morphing software under its new company name, MetaTools with the much more capable and better received Kai's Power Goo.

Vintage CGI Ads - HSC/MetaTools/MetaCreations

For archiving purposes, I've clipped out vintage computer graphics software ads from popular computer magazines like Macworld and MacUser. I thought I'd highlight some of the notable ones published from HSC Software/MetaTools/MetaCreations. What I noticed while going through these ads now was how weak their taglines were—lots of bad puns. Also, as with their product box designs, the typography was all over the place and the layouts had no respect for white space. In any case, their entire collection can be found here.

(L) Kai's Power Tools 2.0 (Macworld - Feb 1994)
(R) Monascape - Kai Krause

This ad for Kai's Power Tools 2.0 (left) is the earliest full-page ad I found on Macworld. The Mona Lisa image was later used as a test image for KPT Bryce, created by HSC Software interface designer, Kai Krause. 

Kai's Power Tools 2.0 (Macworld - May 1994)

This is another Kai's Power Tools ad that gave the public a first-time sneak peek of KPT Bryce. Originally planned to be named "KPT New World Explorer", HSC reverted the product's name back to the codename of "Bryce" before its release later that year.

KPT Bryce 1.0 (Macworld - Aug 1994)

This was the first ad that introduced me to Bryce. To say that I was impressed was quite the understatement—I couldn't believe an image this photorealistic could be created on a personal computer using software that retailed for under $200. I loved my PC, but I definitely had Mac envy and needed to wait two long years before the developer would offer a PC version with the release of KPT Bryce 2.

The cover image is titled "Rochers Glacier" and was created by the developer of Bryce, Eric Wenger, who was both a skilled graphics software developer and an amazingly talented visual artist. Some of the best-looking images ever produced by Bryce were created by him.

The ad is also notable for being the first to showcase its "billing block" design, mimicking the look of classic movie posters.

 MetaTools Product Lineup
(Macworld - Nov 1996)

This MetaTools ad showcases the remarkable talents of ArtEffect, the Los Angeles-based design studio headed by Robert Bailey and Jackson Ting. What differentiated their design work from other studios was their almost exclusive use of Bryce to model, texture, and render their 3D designs. This meant performing boolean operations with primitives and using grayscale height extrusions, rather than using a traditional polygonal modeler like 3D Studio or LightWave 3D, to construct their models. They later joined MetaCreations as interface designers, working on products such as Bryce 4.

The MacBook Pro M1 Max

After four years of wandering through the PC wilderness with a Dell XPS 15, I've returned to the Macintosh fold with an M1 based, MacBook Pro. Although it was pricey—by far the most expensive Apple product I've ever bought—I couldn't be more delighted.

Although the MacBook Pro was announced and available to order from October 2021, I decided to wait because I was in the middle of a higher-level Japanese class and wanted to allow myself some time to figure out if it was the right machine for my needs. 

In February 2022, I took a trip to my local Apple store to kick the tires and compare the 14-inch and 16-inch sizes. 

That night, I pulled the trigger on the following configuration:

• Apple M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
• 32GB unified memory
• 1TB SSD storage
• 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display

I typically choose Space Gray for my Apple devices but this time, it was silver. Because the black keys are set in a double-anodized black well, I think the higher contrast of silver looks better. I've also heard that the Space Gray coating wears out over time due to the palms resting on the case. Also, for some reason the braided Mag Safe power cable only comes in white, so it's a closer color match.

The initial shipping estimate was six to eight weeks, but apparently after three delays due to China's zero-COVID restrictions, it ended up being fourteen weeks. According to a recent Accidental Tech Podcast, co-host John Siracusa is currently experiencing similar wait times for his Apple Studio Display.

MacOS has evolved so much from the last version (High Sierra) I used with my 2011 MacBook Air. I'm not a fan of Monterey's rounded square icons on the Dock, but I can understand why Apple wanted to share the same designs as their more popular iOS. I'll get used to it.

macOS Monterey (12.4) Dock

macOS High Sierra (10.3) Dock

I like the integration between my iPhone and the notebook in regards to the automatic syncing of notes, notifications, and messages. It's nice to finally have all USB-C/Thunderbolt ports now. I hope to discover additional features the more I use it.

Regarding M1 optimized applications, I wasn't satisfied with the information provided from the unofficial Is Apple Silicon Ready? guide so I made my own Google Sheets version. The MacBook Pro is an expensive machine, so to maximize its performance and value, I intend to use applications that are Apple silicon optimized and don't require Rosetta 2 translation to run. Unfortunately, this is one reason why I felt compelled to walk away from my favorite 3D app, Modo. Heartbreaking.

Maxon Cinema 4D R25

After researching my options, it came down to two 3D apps—Cinema 4D and Blender. I took advantage of an educational discount and purchased a six month license of Cinema 4D for $9.99. I plan to follow a few of the tutorials to see if the interface and feature set are a good fit. If not, I'll give Blender a try.

Adobe going subscription only left me with a tough choice. If I was freelancing, it's absolutely worth it, but as a hobbyist, I had to look elsewhere. Fortunately there are some good alternatives, so I decided on Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher—the Serif equivalents of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Currently they're having a half off sale, so I bought all three for $80.

Serif's 50% off promotional graphic.

I also ordered a laptop shoulder bag and a Logitech wireless mouse to complete the package. For 3D work, a three-button mouse is absolutely critical. For this reason, in addition to its ridiculously high price, is why I never considered the Apple Magic Mouse. The bag and mouse should arrive by next week.

What's Wrong with The 11th Hour?

I've been feeling a bit nostalgic as of late regarding the golden age of PC gaming as I came across my old copy of Trilobyte's The 11th Hour, The Sequel to The 7th Guest.

It's been years since I've completed it and figured it was time to revisit it using more modern hardware.  Since the original game was designed for a system in the era of the original Pentium with Windows 95 I decided to repurchase it using the Good Old Games port so that it would work with my Windows 10 laptop with minimum fuss.

The first thing I noticed is that the Full Motion Video (FMV) ran in interlaced mode.  I haven't played the game since it was released back in 1995 so I couldn't remember if this was normal or not.  It turns out that both interlaced and progressive video was supported on the original game however only the most powerful hardware of the time would run the game using progressive scan.  The GoG port had to be modified in order to run the game on modern hardware otherwise the animations would play too fast.  One of the casualties of the port was all the FMV would play with the black lines characteristic of interlaced video which really hurts the quality.

Technical issues aside, the gameplay was as I remembered it, which is not very fun.  I was a huge fan of the original "The 7th Guest" which was groundbreaking back when it was first released in 1993 due to the high quality graphics, fantastic musical score, spooky themes and a great mix of puzzles to keep you engaged.  The storyline and acting quality was cheesy at best but this only added to the appeal and campy tone that the original developers may or may not have intended.  

The 11th Hour for all purposes should have been a better game than the original.  Computer processors were faster, video cards were a lot more capable and the budget greatly increased from $650,000 for The 7th Guest to a reported $2 million for The 11th Hour.  Various development issues caused the project to be delayed almost 2 years late and still the game feels a bit unpolished compared to its predecessor.

Let me first address the "fun" issue, or better yet "the lack of fun".  In a word, anagrams. For some reason almost every riddle feels like it involves anagrams.  I suppose some people love solving them, however even a native English speaker like myself would rather play a puzzle involving logic or trial and error then to sit down with a pencil and paper and try to unscramble words into other words.  There is no way possible to complete the game unassisted without solving these demons of word play which for myself is no fun at all.  There is a feature called the "GameBook" which allows you to get hints and may also provide actual solutions for the various puzzles, however resorting to it always feels like cheating.  Again NOT FUN!

If you haven't already played the game and wish to remain unblemished before you attempt this feat I would stop reading at this point and continue once you complete it.

*** SPOILER ALERTS ***

Unlike The 7th Guest which involved solving puzzles while exploring the mansion, The 11th Hour is more of a treasure hunt, looking for items in a very specific order.  The GameBook will provide you with riddles that you have to decipher in order to know which object you need to find.

As an example of how difficult the anagrams can be is one of the first ones you come across:

Winter coat worn for a mixer.

Half the battle is trying to figure out which words comprise the anagram and which ones you can ignore.  In this example can you determine which words are relevant?

Relevant words: WINTER COAT

Now you have to solve the anagram using just the letters in these two words in order to get the solution:

Anagram solution: TONIC WATER

Now how in the world were you supposed to know that WINTER COAT were the correct words to focus on?  I have no idea.  Some anagram fiends say you should look for words that seem out of place or are not very common however WINTER COAT are common words.  Once you have the anagram solution there is often another play on words in the riddle for an extra bit of verification.  Tonic water is often used as a mixer when making drink cocktails.  Very clever Stauf, very clever.

A possible solution to this difficulty problem is to highlight the words involved in the anagram.  The game does this one time and only one time.  This makes me think the developers toyed with the idea of making the anagrams easier and then changed their mind (forgetting to undo this particular case).  The did this with the following riddle but by highlighting the relevant words in uppercase.

Blend a TEAPOT SHOT and the pearlies won't rot.

Ok this makes the anagram easier to solve as TEAPOT SHOT = TOOTHPASTE, also the "pearlies won't rot" part makes total sense.  Unfortunately the other riddles aren't this transparent. 

There is one non-anagram riddle which I freely admit to looking up the solution on the internet as it made no sense to me.  See if you can figure this out...

500=100=0

Apparently these are Roman Numerals where 500 = the letter D and 100 = the letter C.  Mix these letters and you get CD and the object you are looking for is a CD-ROM located in the mansion.  Where does the 0 come into play?  I have no idea and neither does the internet. Another clever interpretation of this riddle is that "D is C" or "DisC" if you put those letters together.   How a "normal" person is supposed to figure this out? Only Stauf knows.

By the way, I didn't realize until halfway with the game that Stauf itself is an anagram for Faust, which according to Wikipedia is the protagonist of the German legend who made a deal with the devil for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.  If you played either game you know each character seems to have made a Faustian deal with Stauf.  This is the only anagram I approve since it doesn't need to be solved in order to progress.

There was another riddle that appears to only be solvable with knowledge of a US Standard keyboard layout so good luck international gamers!  See if you can discover the logic here:

Riddle: Zu gotdy od mpy nrmy stpimf

Hint: My first is not bent around

Not all the puzzles high level of difficulty can be blames on cryptic anagrams. The 7th Guest infamously had an extremely difficult Microscope puzzle involving the computer AI (Stauf) as your opponent.  Most people complained and declared it unwinnable but fortunately you could skip it and still successfully finish the game. Rather than learn from that lesson, Trilobyte doubled down and created a few more AI based games for The 11th Hour, one of them just as difficult as the Microscope puzzle but based on a the classic Pente board game.

I've spent quite a bit of time explaining why the puzzles were a downer but there were a few more aspects of The 11th Hour that detracted from my overall gaming enjoyment. Although I give a lot of credit to Graeme Devine for developing a full screen, 24fps video decoder that ran entirely in software, I didn't like the fact that the videos you were forced to watch took place outside of the mansion.  It's like you were playing a cool video came and then taking breaks to watch TV that didn't mesh well with the 3D environment.  The 7th Guest handled this much better as all the video's took place inside the 3D world and were fully integrated.

Another feature I didn't care for in The 11th Hour was the lack of "creepyness" the original had.  Some of my favorite moments of The 7th Guest was touching a painting and then seeing it come to life with hands poking out and watching a ghostly woman drifting slowly away from you down a hallway.  In The 11th Hour there are only a few of these creepy moments such as the toothpaste turning into a bug and my favorite, the "Soup's On!" scene however these gems are few and far between.

Just in case you weren't convinced this game has issues, just refer to the ridiculous game show conclusion scene, although I do give them credit for providing multiple endings.  Unfortunately you must replay the horrible Pente game in order to see all three versions, each time getting a more difficult AI to play against. 

Give the game a try if you must but don't say I didn't warn you!

BONUS Content:

Here's a nice comparison of the graphical differences between both games.

Yet Another Display Technology - Part 2

MicroLED display and Half-Life 3. Coming to a store near you by the next decade. Maybe.

The last time Mark and I were iChatting we were talking about MicroLED display technologies. Mark called it "vaporware" which is technically true for now. MicroLED TVs are not currently on the market but I believe Samsung and other manufactures will eventually bring them out within the next 1-10 years. I wouldn't be too worried about future proofing your HD display purchase now though. I don't plan on buying one for a few more years and even if MicroLED TVs were available at that time, they will certainly be way too expensive. And traditional OLEDs will be that much more perfected.

Home PC Market: A Tale of Two Desktops

Apple iMac vs Dell XPS 8900 Desktop

During the Christmas season I was tasked by my parents to find them a new PC to replace their aging Dell desktop computer.  For the longest time I've wanted them to upgrade to a Mac so they can enjoy the ease of use and relatively malware free operating system.

It was a great time to buy a new computer as there were many sales going on at the time and as rare as it was to ever see an Apple based desktop on sale, Best Buy had the low end iMac featured with a $200 discount.

I researched the specs and although it was on the lower-end side of things it looked like more than enough computer for them since they mostly worked with Office applications, photo management and web browsing.  They were excited to join the Apple camp as I explained them it came with a beautiful 21.5" display (even the non-Retina version is great looking) and an integrated webcam (so they can FaceTime Rob from overseas).  Personally I was looking forward to setting up a relatively cable-free compute for them as they have a rats nets accumulation of cables connected to all their peripherals.

My brief joy turned to sadness when I read multiple reviews of this model that stated the one true bottleneck of this model iMac was the glacier performance of the 5400 RPM SATA hard drive.  This could be overcome if you did a custom configuration replacing it with a speedier Fusion or SSD drive, however this would add hundreds of dollars and wouldn't qualify for the BestBuy $200 discount, driving the price up even more.  Also I did not want to do major surgery and potentially void the warranty just to upgrade the hard drive after the fact.

Costco ended up having a sale on a newer Dell XPS 8900 desktop and after comparing the specifications I reluctantly conceded that this was the better deal.  It didn't have a built in display but the CPU/graphics/memory and hard drive were superior to the iMac.  Also I could easily replace the internal components at a later date with relatively ease.

My parents did end up getting the Dell and it was probably for the best as my mom uses a special property management software that only works on Windows.  My only struggle was giving them a tutorial on Windows 10 since they were previous Windows Vista users (oh the horror!).

Creative Pro Market: A Tale of Two Notebooks

Apple MacBook Pro and the Dell XPS 15

As mentioned on Twitter, I recently made a quick comparison of two professional notebooks - the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro and the Dell XPS 15 (9560).

Both of these configurations are best-value offerings, neither entry-level nor at the high-end in terms of price and features. Basically a machine to consider as an upgrade to my 2011 MacBook Air after Modo recently struggled with some print-sized resolution renders.

From a hardware perspective, Apple isn't making a great argument to stay in the fold. Dell currently offers the latest generation Intel CPU's and Nvidia GPU's, a higher resolution touch display and double the storage. All for $500 less. Ouch. The difference is even more dramatic when you increase the specs on the MacBook to match it closer to the Dell. Other long-time Mac users are running the numbers and coming to the same conclusion too.

The Good: The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050. This Pascal-based GPU should dramatically improve OpenGL performance inside of Modo as well as most games that I'm interested in playing such as Inside, No Man's Sky, The Witness, Firewatch, Obduction, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Doom. After being in the Mac camp for so long, I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that the XPS can easily be opened up and have the RAM, the wireless networking card and the SSD be replaced.

The Bad: Build quality and design. The fingerprint reader looks hastily tacked on and this reviewer showed how his XPS wobbled when placed on a flat surface. I didn't realize until recently that every PC-based trackpad has historically been inferior to the MacBook and Microsoft is attempting to remedy this with their Windows Precision Touchpad initiative. This feature is on the XPS, which improves performance, but it's still not equal to the MacBook. The placement of the webcam at the bottom of the screen, the placement of the speakers underneath the machine and the short keyboard travel while typing are all less than optimal.

The Ugly: Windows. The user interface feels disjointed to me as if random interface ideas were bolted on together by separate design teams at various times during its development. To Microsoft's credit, Windows 10 looks to be a big improvement over 8.1 in regards to UI. However, high DPI scaling is still broken for legacy apps and for those with multiple monitor configurations.

What I'll miss most if I switch: MacOS. It looks and feels like a well-thought-out, precision engineered machine. Typography, icons and folders are aesthetically designed and well-proportioned. Tons of useful utilities are integrated throughout the system. Quick Look to instantly preview multiple file formats including OBJ. Batch file renaming with options to format-add-replace. Automator actions. Not to mention the feature-rich Xcode IDE for Swift development. Sigh.

Time to focus on the "Creative Pro" market again Tim.

The Riven Review

A rebel dwelling in the Age of Tay.

I previously wrote about playing the iOS version of Cyan's Riven: The sequel to Myst but I had never finished the game until last week, a full six years after I bought it. I found Riven to be a visually impressive game with challenging puzzles and an immersive storyline.

My first attempt at playing Riven was shortly after its PC release nearly two decades ago. After finishing the enormously satisfying Myst, I was excited to find out that a sequel was in development. To bide my time until then, I discovered and played similar graphic adventures such as Gadget and The Residents Freak Show. However, as the years progressed and Riven's anticipated release dates continued to slip by, I had to lay the thought of it aside as I left for university.

The village at Jungle Island.

After four years in development, Riven was finally released. Reviewers at the time had universal praise for its visuals.

"The graphics are superbly, even fanatically, detailed..."

"...scenes constantly dazzle you with realistic highlights, shadows and textures that utterly belie their origins as computer constructs."

"...has moved toward an often amazing level of photorealism...almost mind-boggling."

"Gorgeous scenery that makes Myst's artwork look like Space Invaders."

I decided to give myself a self-imposed challenge of finishing it without any help or hints simply because I had done the same for Myst. That decision ended up being a mistake. While I was able to solve a handful of puzzles and explore a few islands through careful observation and meticulous note taking, I eventually hit a dead-end and had to take a break.

Some time later, I bought the official Riven Hints and Solutions guide as an emergency back-up plan and tried it again. Once again, likely due to time constraints, I stopped playing it.

When the iOS version was released, I wasted no time in trying it once more. But the problem again was the vast amount of time needed to get through the environmental puzzles. If I lost my notes, I wrote mine in empty spaces of notebooks, I would forget how to get to certain areas and lose the desire to play through and write them down all over again.

So what finally motivated me to finish the game? Two reasons. First, I had a couple of days off during a national holiday. Second, I used both the online Riven Hint Guide and the Hints and Solutions guide book to get me past the dead ends. Both guides were excellent in giving me just enough information to find the solutions on my own.

Jutting rocks on Survey Island.

The graphics and art design were stunning, way above and beyond what I expected for a sequel. After the success of Myst, the developers could have continued to use Macintosh computers and Strata StudioPro to produce another beautiful, yet incremental, release. Instead, they boldly invested in powerful, $40,000 Silicon Graphics Indigo workstations paired with high-end Softimage 3D software to help realize their ambitious new ideas.

The decision to upgrade the hardware and software definitely paid off in the end. Vastly more detailed geography. Higher-poly rock formations, buildings and foliage. Custom mental ray shaders for accurately simulating the physical properties of weathered rock, rusted metal and water with variable depth. Realistic, yet naturally constrained animation. The imagery is even more impressive when you consider that Cyan didn't have a lot of the CG tools that today's artists enjoy such as global illumination, photogrammetry or physical sun and sky models.

A walkway to an elevator on Survey Island

The puzzles in Riven were tough but better integrated into the environment in comparison to Myst. Some clues were so incredibly subtle and obtuse that I found myself overlooking and literally walking past them. Clues involving symbols, colors and animal shapes and sounds were spread throughout the islands and needed to be explored and carefully noted.

Probably the best advice I've read on finishing either Myst or Riven is simply to click on everything.

Just a few negatives to point out:

Inability to look freely in 360 degrees. Spatial awareness is key to finishing the game so at times it's a bit difficult to follow where a pipe, ladder or track leads to when you're toggling back and forth between two pre-determined views. I would often find myself wanting to look up or down for a better view but couldn't.

Inconsistent navigation. Clicking to turn left or right either means either turning 90 degrees or a complete 180 depending on the designer's decision.

Reading. There are a few journals that give the player more background on the characters of Riven as well as providing necessary clues to finish the game. I guess you can quickly scan through them but I was afraid I would miss something if I didn't read through every page.

Overall, I give Riven an A- as a graphic adventure. These explorable, leisurely type of games aren't for everybody but if you can invest the time and have the patience, the experience is well worth it.

MacWorld 2010

**** For reasons I've long forgot, I started this blog post in early 2010 and then never finished it.  Since it's been over 6 years I can no longer remember the specific details.  I do recall it being a lot less crowed than MacWorld 2007 when Rob and I attended.  I did get a lot of good training around integrating OS X with Active Directory.***


After 2 months, I finally got around to posting my MacWorld 2010 experiences. Let's get the obvious question out of the way, why would I attend a MacWorld without Apple? Well part of it was curiosity. After attending the massive MacWorld 2007 when the iPhone was first introduced, I wondered how it would compare with the first Apple-less trade show.

Another more important reason was that I wanted to take advantage of all the Apple training that was provided by the MacIT Conference package. I'm dealing with more Mac related issues at work and I felt this was a great opportunity to take some classes (many that were taught by the actual authors of my official Apple certified courseware).

My adventure started by having LeVar Burton sit across from me as we waited for our flight at Burbank airport. I saw him first at security and was surprised to see he was actually on my flight. It wasn't until later that I found out he was also attending MacWorld and would be part of the David Pogue keynote.