Tikkabik

Occasionally I've fantasized about what life would be like if I traveled a lot more. At some point in one's life, unless one is a hopeless homebody, it's fun to think about the romance of travel and exotic places. But I have decided in recent days that I really wouldn't like it too much. I don't sleep particularly well away from my own bed and family, certainly don't eat as well or as regularly as I should and when switching time zones find it particularly difficult to adapt to new regions, especially going from east to west.

Having said that, the trip is going well so far. Given that I'm not allowed to go to much of WWDC because I'm not a Mac developer, I'm still filling my days with a few impromptu meetings, social events and phone calls from developers and companies that are here at the show this week, so it's far from a waste of time. In fact, it's been reasonably busy.

Having worked from home for seven years, though, I am totally unacclimated to working in a cubicle farm again. So I begged off going to the office this morning in favor of staying put in the hotel and have been much more productive because of it, even if it means some additional isolation.

Last night I got to have dinner with Ron and Benny; they took me to a marvelous French restaurant just around the corner from the hotel called the Flytrap. Apparently it was a hangout of famed SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, and I've since learned that it also used to be favored by Mac magazine execs until the management changed. Still, it was great food, the company was terrific, and we had a good time.

Alas, I'm back on Trade Show Time (even though this is a conference, not a trade show), so I find myself sadly short on time to hang out with family and friends.

Apple introduced the Mac Pro yesterday, and I'm still trying to assess the long term ramifications of it and Mac OS X v10.5 on the game scene.

One way or the other, between Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and now VMWare and Cider on the scene, my bet is that Windows gaming will play an integral role in the future of gaming on the Mac for at least the next couple of years. More on that later, probably in the pages of Macworld.