Nick Balaz: My Setup
I’m an Apple guy, which should be obvious seeing as I’m writing for the International Mac Podcast. That’s because this page is all about my setup. Thinking that the Internet cares about what I use to get stuff done may be a little narcissistic of me, but whatever. I’m comfortable with who I am.
The central point of my setup is a Penryn MacBook. It’s the black one; a) Because it’s more powerful; and b) Because it looks pretty. That’s right, I paid extra for a fancy paint job and for the 2.4 GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. I’ve had the Mac for a little less then two months and have never once regretted the purchase.
When I’m working at my desk, I slap the ‘Book down on a Griffin Elevator stand. I love this thing because it props the Mac up to a level where it almost seems like a stand alone monitor. I’ve got an aluminum Apple Wireless Keyboard and a wireless Mighty Mouse. These four items comprise the main area of my desk. At the time of writing, I don’t yet own an external display, although I hope to obtain an Apple Cinema Display some time in the relative future.
And of course, there’s the software. Roughly in order of affection, it starts with Scrivener. This is my de facto word processor for all things creative. There’s a long explanation why available here. Next, would be Blogo, the app I’m using to write this very post. Then we’ve got Things, my personal choice of GTD apps, I use a nightly build (a misnomer, since I only download it weekly) of Webkitfor browsing the Intertubez, Stanza for reading eBooks, NetNewsWire for RSS, and Pages andKeynote for school work. I’ve got Mail.app serving the obvious purpose, iTunes for listening to music and podcasts almost 24/7, Adium and iChat for IMing, and Coda for web work that I plan to do in the future.
This isn’t necessarily a part of my setup, but there’s a ton of stuff loaded into my pockets on a daily basis. First, is the 16GB iPod touch (the first gen, not the new one), which gets exclusive rights to the front left pocket. There’s a convenient hole in my favourite (Canadian English FTW) pair of jeans, which is great for storing my Uniball Signo 207. My wallet goes in the front right pocket, as well as my PocketMod and my EpiPen (google it). The change pocket stores my Mimobot Venison, which I won on Twitter. I’ve also got a pair of Apple In-Ear Headphones, which are either in my pocket or surgically implanted in my ear canal at all times.
That’s pretty much the bulk of it. Feel free to leave comments about your own setup, and I can assure that I’ll read them.
And to all of the sites other bloggers, why not write up your own setup? Make it an IMP meme.
