I continue to be extremely impressed with the Parallels VM. However, I just spent an undue amount of time wrestling with Window's and Parallel's network configurations in order to achieve a relatively simple result. In the hope of sparing someone else out there some wrestling, here's the scoop:

Goal

Set up a Parallels VM with Windows XP so that it is isolated from the outside world but network addressable from my mac via a fixed address (192.168.2.100) and the name 'parallels.'

1. Set up your parallels VM
2. In your VM's Network Adapter configuration, choose 'Host-only Networking' for the emulation mode
3. Go to the DHCP tab of the Parallels application preferences. Set the DHCP scope to include the desired address. (I chose start of 192.168.2.1, end 192.168.2.254, subnet mask 255.255.255.0).
4. Start the VM
5. In Windows, turn off the firewall. (Control Panel | Windows Firewall)
6. In Windows, set the local connection to use a static IP. (Control Panel | Network Connections | Local Area Connection | Properties... | Internet Protocol | Properties... | Use the following IP Address: 192.168.2.100)
7. In OS X, open a Terminal. Type 'ping 192.168.2.100' and make sure you're getting a response.
8. In OS X, etc/hosts isn't recognized. In order to put a name on that IP, you have to...
9. Open Applications/Utilities/NetInfo Manager. Go to 'machines.' Create a duplicate of 'localhost'. Rename it to 'parallels'. Set 'ip_address' to 192.168.2.100. Save and quit NetInfo Manager.
10. Back in Terminal, make sure you can 'ping parallels'.
11. Fin!

New Mac Day only comes once every couple of years. It has come today. I write from my new MacBook 2.33ghz.

This was my first Mac-Mac migration in the modern age, and I'm still amazed by how simple it was. It literally only took about 5 minutes of my time (plus about 90 minutes unattended to copy stuff from my old PowerBook). I guess I'm not surprised really, but when I think back to how the set up of a new Win2k machine was always a multi-day affair to get everything just right...well, it's just neat.

Actually, it's almost disappointing. Here I am. New machine, same setup. Back to work. There really isn't much else to say. I'll play with parallels or BootCamp later - that's the big difference for me.

Initial observations for now:

• I love double taps. I love the little remote.
• It definitely is zippier. The project that I'm working on took around 50 seconds to compile on my PowerBook - now it takes me 9 seconds. I like.
• It definitely is quieter. I like.
• It definitely is *not* cooler (temperature-wise). I'm just sitting here at about 50% CPU and the bottom of the case is fairly warm. And both cores are reading around 160 degrees F. My G4 never read that hot even at peak. Maybe it's a difference in where the sensors are placed or maybe the Meroms are just designed to run hotter, not sure.
• The keyboard is a little quieter and little 'squishier' than my PB. It's subtle but I'm not sure I like it quite as much. Maybe it just needs to be broken in.

Perhaps most importantly, though, iQuip came up perfectly on my very first login:

I hate Objective C but I can't stay away. I put together a little Preference Pane for the Mac that puts a random quote in your login window. It's basically a pretty wrapper around the old fortune program.

You can get it here. Lemme know if it works for you.

Props to thenopp and especially Ralf for helping me track down some bugs.