Paul Mayne blogs here since 2003.

Thanks to my new found circumstances which include working full-time freelance, I’ve been in the market for a new Macbook Pro. Watching at the Apple rumor mill and seeing the release cycle for the MacBook Pro line was well overdue for a refresh, I held off. Impatiently waiting for a Tuesday morning I would wake to find the Apple store down for maintenance. (The longest Macbook Pro Streak without an update is 266 days. The current is at 263 days. This will be tied this Monday or broken Tuesday.)

I’ve been using my wife’s 2.0 GHz Macbook, it’s ok, but not up for running apps quickly and with only 2GB ram I could only open a handful of apps at once. As painful as it was, I couldn’t bring myself to pay full-price for the current MBP line knowing the next line will have the i5 and i7 processors. But after three weeks I’d had enough, caved and purchased a 27-inch iMac with the 2.8 GHz i7 processor and 8MB ram. The machine is fast, the LED screen is magnificent.

As great as this machine is, I already miss the portability of a laptop machine. I work remotely often and enjoy working (specifically coding) away from my office. When designing I prefer plugging into a large screen.

So I’m still in the market for a MacBook Pro, just not as urgent. I may wait until Apple releases 27 or 30-inch LED Cinema displays, then post my iMac on Craigslist.

— February 26th, 2010

Here are a few of my favorites from the past year.

Best New Band: Passion Pit
Not the typical Indie Folk stuff I’m really into, more electronic sounding, but something about it soothes my soul. I had quite an adventure getting into their sold out show in Salt Lake last Oct. but persistence paid off and it was an incredible set.

Best Album: M. Ward – Hold Time
M. Ward has his own style and continues to put out amazing music that I can listen to any time. Was lucky enough to see him play a live set this Summer Gallivan Center, Twilight Concert Series.

Best Live Show: Avett Brothers – Red Butte Gardens
Can’t beat seeing an amazing band with good friends on the grass at Red Butte. These guys jam and sing and wax poetic. Glad my buddy Brian insisted we sit up close.

Best Movie: Fantastic Mr. Fox
I’m a huge fan of Director Wes Anderson, so I will admit, anything he creates I will mostly likely rave about. But this one was especially sweet as I enjoy nothing more than sharing a good time with my sweet kidos. Jackson, Eli and I enjoyed watching all the promos and teasers and trailers that were released on Apple Trailers in the weeks before the theater release. They were often heard quoting many lines of the film before we even saw it. “Don’t cuss and point at me!”

Best Moment: Seeing Dylan Mayne Born
We will always remember spending all morning glued to CNN watching a hot air balloon fly over Colorado. Then our cute little fella arrived.

Best Video Game: Beatles Rock Band
A great way to re-live all these amazing tracks with my little ones. Supported with some incredible and colorful motion graphics and illustrations that make it such a pleasure to play.

Best Desktop App: Things
Keeps me in focus when I let it. Great lifehack tool.

Best iPhone App: Tweetie 2
Best way to digest my Twitter addiction.

Overall it’s been a great year. We went on a couple awesome family vacations, Disneyland / Seaworld and my fav place Sun Valley Idaho. I’m blessed with beautiful children and a sweet wife and I get to spend a lot of time with them doing the things we love. And I get to golf a lot. I can’t really ask for anything more than that.

— January 3rd, 2010

On Thursday, October 15th we welcomed Dylan Eddie Mayne, a healthy and beautiful baby into the world and into our family. He’s very happy and content and seems to only cry when he’s hungry or getting his poopy changed. And he smells so good I could eat him. We named him after my father Eddie (Ed) Mayne.

More photos of Dylan on Flickr.

— October 28th, 2009

I seem to have unintentionally taken the Summer off from my blog. I hope to get more consistent with posts written about interesting topics I think are worth sharing. I have a long list, just need to jam them out on my keyboard. I continue to be very active on Twitter, Flickr, and Delicious but often don’t compile my thoughts into a formal post.

It’s been a great Summer, I golfed at least once a week (and sunk a hole-in-one*), played in a fast-pitch adult baseball league (hit a home run), attended a ton of fantastic live shows with good friends and went on a couple family trips. The boys seemed to have become obsessed with Legos, so we’re often building and designing new ships and castles, it’s a lot of fun to see how creative their little minds are. We’re all very excited to welcome another little dude into the mix next month. Jana especially, she’s a bit tired of waddling when she walks.

brb.

— September 7th, 2009

I designed some new cards for networking and personal work and had them letterpress printed. I’m currently gainfully employed, but I wanted a separate card for non-work related use. I didn’t want to spend a lot, but loved the look *and feel* of letterpress printing. My friend Ben Webster runs the amazing Mandate Press in Salt Lake, (see a sample of their beautiful work on flickr) and informed me of a killer deal they currently offer: 250 letterpressed cards for only $95.

And yes, I put my Twitter handle on my business cards.

Fonts used: Garage Gothic and Archer

— June 1st, 2009