It's a new year, baby!

2007 was a good year for CPA's.  As long as Congress keeps mucking around with the Internal Revenue Code, the prospects look good for 2008, too.  I'm starting 2008 with a fresh start for my beloved BlackBook.  I've been getting some odd errors on start-up where Leopard wants to "fix" my system and then restart.  Like so many things I try to "fix" around my house, Leopard's fix is always temporary.  

Plus, I'd accumulated too much stuff on my hard drive. I can't even figure out what all this stuff is.  I just love a fresh install. Everything is snappy. There's so much free space on my hard drive.  I feel like I've got room to grow, and buy, and record things, and take pictures.  A fresh install opens up so many new possibilities and opportunities.  

Plus, the fresh install frees me from the bad choices I've made that I don't seem to get rid of. Like the time I tried Pocketmac for Windows Mobile so I could use my Blackjack with my Mac.  I never could get that silly program to work, and I never could could totally make it go away.  Fresh start to the rescue!

Of course, there's the downside to the fresh install. No matter what I back up, I always seem to remember after the fresh install something that I forgot.  Like, I just finished redoing my business website billmirandacpa.com from scratch because I used iWeb to create it and forgot to back up that silly domain file in my user/library.  Then, after I reformat the drive and reinstall OSX, I realize I did it again!  This time, my Time Machine backup came to the rescue.  Thank you, Time Machine!  Even though, I gave my computer a new name, I could still access the Time Machine backup from before and find the forgotten file.  

I also need to create a better system for saving registration keys to all my software.  Every time I reinstall, there's a mad scramble to find those lost registration codes.  If you saw my stacks of paper and disorganized computer files, you'd understand why I have issues with this. In the spirit of new year's resolutions, I'm open to suggestions for self-improvement.  Please help me if you have ideas on how to manage this task.

In honor of this fresh install, I'm using Boot Camp again and I'm loading my unused Vista on my BlackBook.  I've been using Parallels but I haven't been as happy with it since I upgraded to Leopard.  I've decided to give VMWare Fusion a go.  I'll let you know what I think.

Tell me about your new beginnings by posting a comment or catching me on Twitter as Taxman45.  Let's be friends in 2008!  Have a great new year!