Been a while since I’ve posted, so I thought I’d chime in since we’re on the cusp of some big news items.
Christmas update

Posted some new pictures on my family’s site from the Christmas holidays. I really, really needed the 2 1/2 week break. I haven’t done any work whatsoever. The last six months have been stressful at times. Problem is that I just don’t have anyone to turn to who is knowledgable enough to share the load, I have to do it myself. I don’t know what’s coming up since we have a looming capital campaign, but I don’t think it’s going to be nearly as rough as Aug-Oct was.

My beloved Crimson Tide

A couple of days after Mike Shula was let go by the University of Alabama, I began hearing Saban was going to be his replacement from pretty reliable sources. And now we’re less than 24 hours away from knowing whether or not that is going to be the case. If he really wants to come back to the college game, Alabama is a golden opportunity. He has experience recruiting the general vicinity, a program that is now squeaky clean, and the clout to do whatever he wants with the program, and tell anyone who gets in his way where to go. The way things are going, he’s not going to get a renewed contract from the Dolphins without a playoff appearance next year. What college position would he be waiting for that would be open in the next couple of years that is going to top the Alabama job? The only ones that I can think of that would fit the bill would be Florida State and Penn State. Do you want to follow a legend? Or be the new legend?
Apple

We don’t own any individual stocks, we’d have to get special permission to do so from Jamie’s work since she’s in that business, but if I did, I would have bought some Apple stock a few months ago (or even a few days ago when it was momentarily down because of the stock options scandal). My dad actually bought a bunch of shares when it was a 12 a few years ago, it has since split twice. Apple just posted a teaser to their website, they’re clearly feeling cocky about the upcoming year:  “The first 30 years were just the beginning. Welcome to 2007.”
With the major leaks seemingly plugged, I look for them to come out with some surprises this year. I’ll be at Macworld next week for Steve Jobs’ keynote address with first hand impressions of their upcoming products. I look for the following:

iLife (100%) and iWork ‘07 (100% with a spreadsheet app),

iPhone announced (85%, will be announced at a special event shortly thereafter if it isn’t out at Macworld)

Speed bumped Mac Pros (90%),

Macbook Thin (65%),

iTV (100%) iTV with HD videos from iTunes Store (85%), iTV with HD distributed via torrents (50%),

Airport Super Extreme aka 80211.n (35% - but will be definitely announced by mid year, it’s already built into my new MacBook Pro, just not publicly acknowledged).

The true video iPod (35%, betting this one is still being debugged for a release in the summer. If Zune had actually been competition, they would have likely rushed it out)

New Cinema Displays with HDMI (95%) also with a TV tuner? (20%)