Picking a name for a new computer is always hard. My 2yr old Acer Centrino (which will be used by my sister once I get my MacBook) was called Magdalene (after Mary Magdalene). As a guy, the name for the computer must be female and it must be representative & symbolic of who she is to me. And since it will be used as the computer’s network name, it must be unique.

I’ve narrowed it down to a few choices. At the top of my list is

Makayla

Origin
Hebrew

Meaning
Who resembles God

A form of Michaela that was originally derived as the feminine variant of Michael. Also a possible combination of the Scottish Gaelic surname McKay with Kayla. Popularized by actress Jane Seymour during the 1990s when she played Dr. Michaela “Mike” Quinn on television’s “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.” Parents are drawn to the trendy “y” in the suffix.

Variations
Mickey Michael
Alternatives
Mikayla Michaela Micaela Mikalah McKayla Macaela Michela Makaila Mikaela

Also on my short list:
Madison (English; Son of Maud), Alexis (Greek; defender, protector)

What do ya think;-?

Microsoft has pushed back the release of Office 2008 for Mac until mid-January 2008 to make sure that the suite is up to snuff.

This is very unfortunate, because I was very much looking forward to buying it for my first semester of seminary on a MacBook. I guess I’ll have to stick with the 2004 version until January.

Check out screenshots of Office 2008 for Mac here.

My 15.4″ 2ghz Centrino/1gb/100gb Acer is too heavy to be portable and getting quite loud! Thus, I’m looking into lightweight laptops (under 6lbs) that are more mobile, and something that must last me 3 years. However, this generally means something smaller than 15.4 inches. (With a new lappy, that’ll mean my sister will reap the benefits of my old 2ghz Centrino)

Here are my options so far:

• HP DV2404 14.1″ AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core TK-53 1.7GHz Laptop
  CAD $849.99 from Best Buy
• Dell Inspiron 1420 notebook (Intel Core 2 Duo T5450/1GB/120GB)
  CAD $899 direct from Dell.ca
• 13.3″ 2.16GHz MacBook (MB062LL/A) (1GB/120GB)
  USD $1,199 through Apple USA with Educational Discount
• 15.4-inch: 2.2GHz MacBook Pro (MA895LL) (2GB/120GB/NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 128MB GDDR3)
  USD $1,799 through Apple USA with Educational Discount

Any other good, viable options?

(As you can see, I don’t know how much I should spend yet–I should be wallet-conscious and get something with the most bang for the bucuk though. But if ever I do spend more, the MacBook Pro would be my choice!)

Over the past 6 months, I’ve been getting some emails about companies interested in buying my domain - sixsteps.org. So I’ve replied to those emails stating that I am willing to sell my domain, if the price is right.

It took me a while to figure out that there’s a service out there called “Domain Appraisal” where domain registrars offer a service in which they analyze your domain to determine its suggested retail value. I took the liberty of having mine quickly appraised by GoDaddy.com’s computers, and I now know of my domain’s current market value.

So if you are or somebody you know is interested in buying my domain, please have them contact me. Seeing that my domain has an estimated market value of
$3,322 — $8,637 (US dollars),
please note I am unwilling to consider offers less than $3,000 USD. (I am also willing to accept corporate sponsorship for my Master of Divinity studies instead of cash, if there is such a thing!)

Now I want one when I get to the States! Anybody want to sponsor a poor seminary student for an Apple iPhone?

Lots of photos and details of Friday’s Apple iPhone launch at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)