I ended up going with the Dell after all, and it arrived earlier than expected (which was a pleasant surprise).  So far I’m impressed with the performance — it seems to be at least as good in that regard as my desktop computer.  The 2 GB of RAM helps a lot in that regard.  But I won’t bore you with details of the new hotness.

Last night was the White Wolf company Christmas party, which I went to after the company-only part was done.  Every employee got either an XBox 360 or PS3 (their choice) this year.  Last year, everyone got a Wii.  Ah, the benefits of working for a gaming company.

I also got a chance to sit down a little with Mark Kalmes, head of programming for the World of Darkness Online MMO.  We’d talked before, but I was off-limits due to a gentleman’s “no poaching” agreement between our companies.  Since I’ve made public my desire to go to White Wolf, that’s no longer an issue.   So we felt each other out a little bit — he got a feel for my programming background, and I got a feel for how the development process is organized.  I’ve always gotten along well with Mark, and he told me he’s been given only glowing recommendations for me from everyone he’s talked to, so the programming test is my only real hurtle.  I’m confident that by the time I take the test, I’ll have worked the rust out of my C++ skills, and will verily kick its ass.

In other news (from which this post gets its title), it’s like Spring outside.  Seriously, I can go out in a t-shirt today — it’s in the lower 70s.  wtf?  (Not that I’m complaining, mind you.)