Monday, November 28, 2005

I got out of hanging the outside Christmas lights on the house. It's raining now. We're also supposed to get a few inches of snow this week, which hasn't stopped me from rolling around on the roof before. I have Friday off to do some serious gaming, but I'm sure I'll end up forced into the Christmas spirit.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

While the women were baking cookies, I figured the boys would be able to play some Xbox. Unfortunately, the damn Vikings were playing, so no game playing was had, which is odd since it was 2 to 1 in favor of gaming. But I guess the 1 owned the TV.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

I only had a little time to play some games. I spent most of it on Psychonauts. Now I didn't have much time with it, but I can't believe all the major gaming sites gave it above 9.0. I will have to spend some time with it. I noticed one review said the game wasn't really challenging, just entertaining.

Friday, November 25, 2005

After trying many CD-R's, CD-RW's, and burning software, I found the combination that would work with my computer and Xbox. In the end, if finally works. What started this whole mess is that I set XBMC to be the default dashboard. When I was updating the version, I forgot a ">" in the settings XML file. Because of this, the Xbox would only boot to the original Xbox dash and I couldn't FTP into it. So after booting from an EvolutionX iso, I was able to FTP into Mobil and add the ">".

Now that Mobil's up and running, I really have to reinstall linux on the server. Currently, the server is out of commission due to a failed Debian install. I think I'll continue to use Mandrake until I get a bit more comfortable.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

A four day weekend. If my Xbox worked, I'd say that I'd spend it all playing games and watching movies.

I really need to get it working.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

I can't believe how fast work got busy. It's good that I don't have a second to spare; it makes the day go by incredibly fast.

Monday, November 21, 2005

I actually had time tonight to get stuff done. When this happens, I try to get a house project done and a computer project done. The house project was to replace all the smoke alarms with smoke/CO sensors. They look ugly, but hopefully I won't die.

The computer project was to set up drive sharing with Karl over the internet. We tried the using NetBEUI protocol. I don't know if we didn't configure something correctly or what, but we gained nothing from our hour of work. Personally, I blame it on Karl's home network.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

It's amazing how easy it is to not get much accomplished. It took me probably a good 3 hours to install a light switch. Granted, it's not your ordinary light switch, but still. It's a three-way dimmer with a main computer terminal controlled by a remote wall dimmer. Not like TV remote control, but a second switch. The remote switch or the main terminal controls the computer, which then in turn controls the light. Because this isn't a three-way but a direct connect, I had to remove the two original switches and the light to do a little rewiring. Ahh, just like to old days. I'm very pleased with the end result, just not the time it took.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Well, what do you know? I finally was able to watch a movie tonight ... straight through with no interruptions, and on the big screen. The movie was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I thought it was pretty good. Even though it was a remake, you'd still expect it to be somehow different from the original, but it was pretty much exactly the same as the first. A Burton/Depp movie is like a good White Zombie album, you know what to expect, but you'd listen to it again and again.

Friday, November 18, 2005

I finally got my radio working in my car. Unfortunately, the faceplate is barely balancing in place, since all the little clips and springs are missing, and I can't detach it, and I can't play CD's because the faceplate would have to tilt down to insert the disc. However, it is really nice to have something to listen to again. I'm thinking of getting rid of the Alpine and putting the Pioneer in. If I had the time, this would be a perfect opportunity to continue the carputer. I have all the guts, but just need to build the power supply and get a monitor. Once I finish a project, I'll certainly put some pics up.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

I thought that after my exam, I would have time to watch movies, play video games, work on the family website, and get some house chores done. But it turns out that I'm surprised that I had even the time to study. I've been thinking of all the projects that I need to do, and I think the first should be to get the server running ... well, after I get the Xbox functioning again. I theoretically have a boot disc that should allow me to FTP into the Xbox and fix the massive problems that I created. That should happen tomorrow ... or else.

Monday, November 14, 2005

I found out that if you have a little absinthe before bed, you sleep very soundly.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

I went to Karl's with expectations of doing grand projects. One was to stay up all night. Somehow it didn't happen. Probably because we never pace ourselves...

Friday, November 11, 2005

So Digg has been in the news, and probably will for some time. But I found out that Kevin Rose is behind it. I think his internet episodes were cool, and have to check out one of his new creations.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

We indeed played Ms. Pac Man at the bosses house. It turned out there were no prizes for the second highest score. I guess it still felt good to get a score of over five times the next highest score. Well, maybe not good since we're dealing with Ms. Pac Man and a bunch of co-workers that don't play video games.

Tuesday, November 8, 2005

I'll be going to Hartford tomorrow, so the posting might not happen for a while, not like it's interesting lately. We're going to the big boss' house again, so there will probably be some Ms. Pac Man action. In fact, the boss said there was a prize for the second highest score after me. Hey, just cause I have dexterous phalanges I shouldn't be penalized.

Monday, November 7, 2005

Isn't this incredibly cool?

Sunday, November 6, 2005

Sorry for the missed posts, but it was the first weekend after exams. I tried some Green Fairy over the weekend. I'm going to have to document my findings at a later date, but right now, I've gotta get some sleep.

Thursday, November 3, 2005

The exam's over. The exam was from 9:30 to 1:30 and I always get a Snickers in case I get hungry. But I am always too focused to remember that I'm hungry. So when time ends, I get really hungry and eat the Snickers too fast. The caffeine and the release of months of studying got to me and I felt sick. Of course, nothing several beers couldn't handle.

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Exam Eve. Getting exhausted. Losing vital fluids.

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

This is the point where I start thinking of what's going to happen after the exam. But I have to stay on target. Not too much longer.

Monday, October 31, 2005

With the daylight savings time change, I get to see what daylight looks like. Of course it's morning light, but I'm not complaining. Actually, I am. Only a few more days of studying until I can leave work while it's still light.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Tomorrow's the last day to enter codes to win an Xbox 360. I have a few more, but the servers are pretty swamped. Plus my calculated chances of winning are 0.06%. Maybe next time.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

I spent my last Saturday before the exam studying. It was a good nine hours. I'm still having issues with my study program. I guess if it's not working on Monday, I'll have to download the database into Microsoft Access and build a quick form to replicate the web program. With only a few days left, I can't afford to not hammer useless facts into my brain.

Friday, October 28, 2005

I still haven't got my radio to work in my car. The head unit is pretty banged up and the faceplate won't snap on without some force. So, I'm back to thinking while I drive.

I noticed that there is an empty warehouse on my way to work. Driving behind it revealed an open window on the second story. Do you know how many times in my life a grappling hook would have been useful? Back in school, we actually set out to make one, but got side tracked when the TV turned on.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

I had more issues with my study program today. I should say that I had more issues with my company's firewalls. I couldn't access the server that my study program is located on from any computer within the company. This happened last week as well. And when I tried again in the afternoon, it worked. I didn't bother with the help desk, but if it happens again, I might need to. My thoughts are that maybe the company's firewall has a threshold of number of requests to a server per hour, to prevent DOS attacks. But I'd say I only request about 15 times an hour, which shouldn't be a problem.

Anyway, it's kind of frustrating to not know when it won't work, especially since there's less than a week until the exam. And especially if I'm going to allow other students within the company to use this, I'll need to have this problem worked out.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

What do a blimp, two dead homeless people, and a cockroach all have in common?

Things you see while studying during the night.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

My mind is like Jenga - one minor disturbance and it will crumble.
Or is it like a full trashcan - adding anymore will cause it to overflow.
Or is it like a bomb - can't take it anymore.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Work gets in the way of studying, and studying gets in the way of play.

I also upgraded the Divx Bundle. There were a few DVD's that the prior version couldn't convert. These were mainly newer DVD's with just enough quirks to make Divx crash. Rumor has it that the new version will handle these now. Does this mean I can finally watch Constantine?

Sunday, October 23, 2005

I entered in more codes to win an Xbox 360. I realized there is only a week left in the game. I may have to come to grips with possibly not winning one. It's probably for the best, since I now own 3 Xbox's that don't work, although not all entirely my fault.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

I stumbled upon a good study break site today while studying. You can check it out over in the sidebar.

Friday, October 21, 2005

I came across this during a study break and chuckled aloud.

I had a free moment so I figured I'd update XBMC on Mobil. Unfortunately, the Budweiser was doing the clicking and now I can't FTP into it. It just loads to the default Xbox dash. With only 30 seconds left of free time, I couldn't get it back to normal status and possibly have a useless Xbox on my hands. It might require a call to Juggler (who doesn't know someone named Juggler).

In conclusion, I finally killed the vole that was living in my garage. He was a trixey bastard, but fell into my maze like a field mouse to a hawk. What?

Thursday, October 20, 2005

First thing this morning at work, I called the help desk to get my study program to work. With only two weeks left, I haven't got time to mess around. After convincing him the server was working fine, he said he'd get back to me after poking around a bit. I never heard back from him, but at some point in the day, the site was back up. Thank the gods.

I was talking to some other students and I mentioned my study program and even showed them a demo. They thought it was the coolest thing. I told them that I would probably open it up to others to use for the spring exams. They couldn't wait to use it. Who knows, this little project could be the one to whet my appetite for a career change if these exams don't work out.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

I had some trouble with my online study program today. At about noon, I continually received the "server not found" error. My first thoughts were that I exceeded the bandwidth (not even close) or that I had too many simultaneous connections to the MySQL server. But after checking with my hosting provider and a machine outside the company, I guessed the problem was from within my company. I then thought that maybe the domain was flagged for "personal use" and blocked, but normally a page comes up that tells you the reason why it was blocked, which wasn't happening. Anyway, trying it at home is working, so I guess I'll have to explore more at work tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

I'm getting my second wind for studying. There comes a point when you theoretically know everything on the syllabus, or at least you've seen everything at least once. It's in the brain somewhere, now to only find it. So the next couple weeks, I'll be making sure nothing falls out and crack down on some practice problems. It's kinda fun.

At least that's what I have to tell myself to make it through this.

Monday, October 17, 2005

I got the faceplate to my Alpine today. I can finally start listening to music again in the car. It will sure beat thinking. I've been thinking of some more projects that need to get done. I'll have to make a list of everything I need to get done after my exam, which is only a little over two weeks away. But the list should probably wait until my brain can purge this useless exam knowledge.

I finally used up some codes to win an Xbox. By my calculations, I'll have about a 4% chance of winning.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

I had to make up some study time today. I always wonder if studying eight hours straight is any better than five hours over the day. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to experiment. As with every other exam, there is just way too much material to cover.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

I studied for zero hours today to spend the time with friends and family at a wedding. I was on baby duty the entire day, so my thoughts didn't wander into the tech world.

Friday, October 14, 2005

I've entered too many codes to win an Xbox 360, and I still haven't won. It's rigged.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

It seems I missed a few posts. I got back from New Jersey late last night. I had intentions of posting while spending 5 days at the hotel with nowhere to go, but apparently I was too busy for it. I came to the conclusion that New Jersey is a bit like hell: you're kicking and screaming on your way and once there, you hate every second of it. You lie, cheat, and steal to get out. Then after a few eternities, you realize there is no escape and you learn to enjoy the everlasting inferno, besides, it's not really the heat that gets to you. Then, when you have finally paid your dues, your flight out gets cancelled (as if it were really scheduled). Lucifer did reward me on a first class seat back home. I guess he's not so bad afterall.

Friday, October 7, 2005

I leave tomorrow to the great Garden State. I can only hope the mafia will recruit me into a world of murder and drugs.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

I don't feel like posting.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Another day per usual. The only difference is I got to go home and clean up the laundry room. I'm going to have to take the sheetrock off to remove the wet, molding insulation. I guess the good news is since the walls will be exposed, I'll be able to route some additional CAT cable .

Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Tonight was an adventure. A series of unfortunate events has put me into ultimate crabby mode. First a storm swept through the area, outputting around 6" of rain. Not bad in itself, but recently I kicked a red squirrel out of the garage, where he was storing his nuts. To get back at me, he put all of them in the gutters. Since the rain couldn't get through the gutters, it just ran over the eaves and collected in a pool right in front of the house. I'd guess there was about a foot of standing water, which then started leaking into the laundry room. Luckily the laundry room has only a concrete slab that is not level, so the water attempted to gather in one spot. After about 7 wet vac empties, the vac started shorting out, probably because I didn't have a filter on it and the water was sloshing around the motor. Running over to the neighbor in the downpour, I borrowed his industrial vac and that worked like a charm. Meanwhile, I tried to get rid of the dam in the gutters, but the ladder could barely hold in the mud, plus being outside in a lightning storm on a metal ladder probably isn't a good idea. Needless to say, it's past my bedtime and I'm crabby.

Monday, October 3, 2005

Another Monday. I gotta win that Powerball lottery.

Sunday, October 2, 2005

I took the day off from studying. I probably shouldn't have, but you can't live life locked up in a room. Maddox came over to play with Beck. I got a few more movies from Karl. I tried a peanut butter hamburger. It was a good day.

Saturday, October 1, 2005

Wow, October 1st. I really can't wait until study season is over so I can work on my study program. That sounds a little bizarre. Now that I've been actually using it, I would like to change a few things. I have to make it more user friendly and add a few more features, especially if I want to charge people to use it. I guess it'll have to wait.

Friday, September 30, 2005

On my way home today, I realized something: I really miss having music in my car. I still need to get a faceplate for my radio, but they're going for around $80 while a used complete model sells for $120.

Since I don't have a radio, I've had to entertain myself by thinking. I noticed that I slow my speed when I see a Crown Victoria, thinking it's a cop. There was one a few cars behind me and I stayed the speed limit, until I figured out it was an 80 year old man driving. Anyway, a cheap traffic enforcement strategy the government could do is give an incentive to those buying a Crown Vic. Speeders might slow down when they see them and there would be more of them on the road. Just an idea.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

The fall exams are arguably the worst. Things need to be done around the house, but studying needs to take priority. I leave the house when it's dark and get home when it's almost dark. Doesn't leave much time to do any outside work, unless I put a floodlight on the front of the lawn mower.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

I started eating seeds while studying. You know it's serious now.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

I was in a meeting from 8:00 to 4:00, which leaves not a lot of time to do much else at work. And I have two broken Xbox's waiting to be fixed at home, which I won't be getting to anytime soon. Something's got to give.

Monday, September 26, 2005

I got stung by a fricken bee today at lunch, right on the thumb. It swelled up pretty good, but I still had to work. I guess it's a good way to find out I'm not allergic to bee stings.

Happy Birthday Pea.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

I studied all day, but I did find this interesting.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Although not a movie, I watched quite a few episodes of Sopranos tonight. I'm on the beginning of season four. Which TV series will be next?

Friday, September 23, 2005

I got a whole bunch of electronics tonight for the mere price of $20. This dude bought out a pawn shop and tried to sell the stuff himself. Well, after a year, he was moving in with his girlfriend and needed to get rid of it. So I took 4 boomboxes, a complete component system, stand alone CD changer, equalizer, 3 speakers, 3 satellite receivers, and a satellite dish. Whatever I don't use, I can probably sell for $20 and be even.

What can I say? I like old electronics.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

I went to a Wild game tonight. Normally when I go, I sit about 10 rows up from the glass on the corner of the rink. These are really cool seats being close to the action. Tonight, the tickets were 2nd row on the upper deck right on the end. It was actually very cool; more like a tennis perspective. Also, being up so high and with the new rules, you could really see the plays being set up. As an extra bonus, we got $20 in certificates ... just enough for a few brews and a fist full of nachos.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

I didn't do much out of the ordinary. From the time I wake up in the morning to the time I get home after work, it's over 12 hours, only to get longer.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

I went to a happy hour for my former boss. He's leaving the company, which apparently calls for a celebration. He's really fun to hang out with, but there were a few other suits around, so he had to temper his antics. I guess that's good, because I won't be waking up with a headache tomorrow.

Monday, September 19, 2005

I've been collecting caps for the every10minutes sweepstakes. Pepsi products have a code that can be used for a chance at winning an Xbox 360. You can enter one code for each drawing, or save your codes and put them all in a single drawing. At first glance, it seems you'd have a better chance of winning by putting all of your chances into one drawing. For example, if you have two codes and there were 500 entries per drawing, the probability of winning would be 2/500 instead of 2/1000. But the hidden assumption here is that everybody is probably saving them. So if you have 5 codes today in a 500 code drawing, your chance of winning is 1%. And if you save your codes until you have 50 along with everyone else, there will be a total of 5000 codes in each drawing, giving you 1% again. So it boils down to if you think you can outpace others in the accumulation of codes, then save them. If not, it might be wise to put as many as you can, say, every few days. For example, if your rate of increase is 50% more than the average increase, while everyone increases their 5 codes to 50, you'd have 75 codes, giving you a 1.5% chance of winning. But if you can only increase at 75% of the average increase, then you'd have a 0.75% chance of winning.

Just give me an Xbox 360.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Down in the movie room, my AV receiver only has two component inputs. The HD DirecTiVo and the progressive scan DVD player were using these. I replaced the DVD player with Mobil (the Xbox) to utilize any HD content from Mobil. Well, I went to watch an episode of Sopranos, and naturally Mobil couldn't play the DVD. As it turns out, XBMC uses the Microsoft DVD playback software, which requires the DVD dongle. However, I learned today that the 2005-09-12 CVS build of XBMC has now an integrated DVD player, with menu support. It looks like an upgrade is needed.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

I'm still experiencing delays on the home phone through Vonage. It seems there is a lag between talkers. At first I thought it was only happening when I received a call from a cell phone, but it's happening during other types of calls as well. My new theory is it happens during peak internet times. The internet traffic obviously is worst during evenings and weekends. More testing is needed.

Friday, September 16, 2005

We moved down two rows at work today. Instead of boxing and getting a cart, I just walked my stacks of papers and books down the aisle, which got me thinking. Our cubes should be completely modular. Just think, if you need to move, a forklift could swing by, hoist up your entire cube and bring you to your new spot. You wouldn't have to pack a thing. In fact, you could still be in your cube when they move you. Better yet, when you get in your cube in the morning, it is stacked on top of a big pile of cubes and when you need to leave, the conveyor belt will bring you to ground level. Imagine a big skyscraper of cube blocks that is so tight and things are going on all around you without your awareness.

Wait a second ... something seems familiar.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

I've been driving my car to work almost every day for a while, and because the thieves smashed my climate control, I've been getting hot air spewing on me and can't turn it off. Not only do I have hot are blowing on me, but I'm in my work clothes and it's been somewhat hot outside. Luckily I only have to go 6 miles.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Karl gave me a call after the cable installer left. It seems he got a pretty crappy installer. It seems the guy punched unnecessary holes in the wall, which is stupid since Karl and I prewired the inside. Then he set up the broadband bypassing the router. Of coarse, when Karl hooked up the router, the internet didn't work due to Comcast's MAC address verification. Luckily with new routers, it's as easy as cloning. I think this was the first time that a problem was solved on the same phone call

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

I went over to Karl's to help him finish some wiring. He's been using DSL and will make the switch to Comcast cable. Now I know that there are many variables in determining whether DSL or cable is better, but I've never used a DSL line that was anywhere near the speed of cable. I guess we'll see after he gets it up and running.

Anyway, one thing led to another, and I didn't get to bed until 1:30. As usual, tomorrow's going to be fun trying to stay awake. I'll never learn.

Monday, September 12, 2005

I was in the garage today, and I noticed the bastard squirrel had eaten through another piece of wood that I nailed up to block his original entrance. Originally, I sprayed some of that expanding foam, but he just walked through that. Then I got smart and tried 2x4's, and apparently was outsmarted. All were good ideas, until I realized that he was built to chew through things. I guess the next step is either chili peppers or the guillotine.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

I went to some family functions today. I checked the camera for the battery status. There was an extra set in the case, so I figured I was good. Well, after a few shots, the batteries in the camera went. And of course the batteries in the case were dead. Luckily, the camera takes AA batteries and I was able to find some extra, but I sure need to rethink my rechargeable battery process.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

I got to watch a few tennis matches today, all in incredible high definition. I'll have to admit that it's been a while since I watched anything HD, partly because there's just not many quality shows. But after seeing tennis, it's time to find something worth watching just for HD sake.

I was as giddy as a school girl.

Friday, September 9, 2005

I spent a lot of time working with Coppermine. It seems like it will work pretty good. It's a bit bloated as far as code, but as long as it gets the job done for now, I won't mind.

I also started wiring the garage for extra lights, and am planning the AV and network wiring. There's nothing like playing Xbox in the garage with some buddies.

Thursday, September 8, 2005

I got the final component to the jumble of wires in the movie room. This one will allow the Xbox to output DTS. Maybe more importantly, I won't have to press a few buttons to get both Xbox video and audio ... only one mere button.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

I stayed up way to late watching the US Open. My all time favorite player Agassi was playing in possibly his last Open. It was quite a good match lasting into the wee hours of the morning. I'm not sure if he can go all the way this year, but he's sure fun to watch.

Also, I've been trying to make the Oberkampf script more robust to allow other users on the family blog to incorporate a photo gallery. But for some reason, I just can't get it to work. I'm sure it's something simple. I'd like to try to figure it out, as it uses Flickr to host and organize the photos. I'm currently looking into other options. I'd like to write my own and incorporate it into Nucleus, but we all know that won't happen.

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

So, I've been seeing a lot of photos and footage of the hurricane damage and flooding. It's been over a week now and people are still being rescued from rooftops. And there are still people waiting to be bused out or have decided to just stick around. It's almost hard for me to comprehend. You're at work one day, studying and surfing the net, and the next you're running from rising waters. Then on top of it, the sole goal everyday from that point is to stay alive, either on a heated rooftop with no food or wandering the city with nothing to eat. Life as it existed before is completely gone.

This is getting too deep. I gotta go steal some songs.

Monday, September 5, 2005

I went over to Karl's to fix his Xbox networking once and for all. We just can't seem to figure it out. I set his network up very similar to mine, and still nothing. Everything seems in order. I'm sure Karl's hiding something very important from me. My only conclusion is that he put up his surround speakers before me, and subconsciously I don't want to fix the problem for him.

Sunday, September 4, 2005

Another lazy day. For as much as I complain about not getting projects done, I find myself enjoying not doing them. Do what makes you happy, right?

Saturday, September 3, 2005

I stayed up pretty late tonight, goofing off on the computer and Xbox. I was able to swap components between my two fried Xbox's in an attempt to build one good one. No luck. It looks like I'll be soldering some new circuitry after all.

Friday, September 2, 2005

Not only did I get to wear jeans to work, but was able to leave at 2:00. Ahh, the little things.

Thursday, September 1, 2005

I went and bought a new 100GB hard drive from a dude in the shady part of town for $50. Now I can start the server rebuild. I quickly checked the going rate from Best Buy, and right now they have a deal on a 300GB for $100. I know, 3 times the storage for twice the money, but who has time to deal with rebates? The way I figure it, by the time I need more space, prices will once again have dropped.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

I was able to put some further enhancements into my study site today. I still find it very satisfying to create an application out of nothing, and have it work correctly. Normally, I'd spend another few hours making it look pretty, but I'm running out of time and actually need to start using it to study.

I also spent some time tonight trying to help Karl get his samba share working between his Xbox and Windows machine. Everything seems in order, but there's got to be a simple setting we're missing. We were using Google's new talk program, and the lag was pretty bad. Unfortunately, I wasn't exactly using Google's UI, since they don't have a Linux version, yet. I had to use KDE's prepackaged program, Kopete. I must have an older version, because mine certainly doesn't look as pretty as the websites photos.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

I found I had 7 spam comments on recent posts. After manually deleting them, another 8 showed up. The spambot seems to have moved along. I noticed Blogger set up Word Verification recently to combat this. I may have to enable this.

I also tried to do a fresh install of Linux on the server, but it appears the hard drive has gone to a better place. I guess this is an excuse to go buy a new one. I happen to have about 5 hard drives laying around, but since they were used in old 386's, I don't think 720 MB will be enough space.

Monday, August 29, 2005

I had the day off today and went to the State Fair. I ate the usual fare: cheese curds, bucket of cookies, sweet corn, and a malt. I didn't get a chance to go to the bonsai display or the technology building. Last year, the tech exhibits were lame. It sure is a different experience pushing a four week old baby around. Instead of walking around watching people or looking at new exhibits, I found myself checking out the make and model of other parents baby strollers.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

I got a chance to open my two new Xbox's today. I bought both knowing they were failed attempts at chip modding. I opened the first one and it's pretty obvious why it won't boot. Most of the tracers on one side of the processor are all but gone. The second one won't even power up, implying the power supply is shot. I opened it anyway and there may be one or two tracers needing replaced on the mobo, but it looks like it may work as is. When I get another chance, I'm going to take the good power supply from the first Xbox and use it in the second, with hopefully good results. Stay tuned, maybe some photos will show up.

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Damn, missed a post.

We had a few friends over tonight. It was good. A nice relaxing evening, of babies crying. I have Monday off and am looking forward to a three day weekend.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

I tried to finally watch a movie off the Xbox, and wouldn't you know, there was technically difficulties. I've been encoding the DTS sound, and I don't have the Xbox hooked up to my DTS decoder. Stupid. I've been trying to find the last cable of the collection to get this project done, but nowhere local sells it. I have one more store to check out and then I'll go to eBay.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Well, my car got broken into last night, again. It was the same bastards that did it before. They smashed the same window and tried to pry the radio out. I said it before and I'll say it again, there's no way you'd be able to get it out with a damn crowbar. Now, if you had a phillips screwdriver, that'd be a different story. Damn amateurs.

I almost want to leave the car out to temp them to try again. I'd set up a motion sensing video camera that would signal me somehow. I'm not exactly sure what I'd do if I caught them red-handed, but I'd have some footage of the mayhem.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

I'm coding three different projects right now, and am really enjoying all.

I think I finally got the picture process down. I'm using Picasa to organize, do minor editing, and exporting down-res'd images. Then I'm using Flickr to host the pictures and integrating them onto the family website using Oberkampf. This way I'll also be able to integrate Flickr on the Xbox.

Monday, August 22, 2005

I spent another day at work coding. I really miss not being able to stream music from the internet while working.

More importantly, the first package arrived today of Operation Xbox Expand. I got another wireless controller for use in the Fireplace Room. Now I'm just awaiting the second package ...

Sunday, August 21, 2005

I'm really behind on my studying, but it's so easy to not study, especially when the other projects are too numerous. Another movie night came and went, and no movie was to be seen. I bought a lot of stuff from eBay this past week, so hopefully it all comes this week, because I just don't have enough to do already.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

I got some more work done in the garage, and then headed over to Karl's. We were going to swap some games and movies between the Xbox's, but had a hard time getting the configuration to work. We ended up having to use his PC as a middle man, which was incredibly slow. We ran out of time for me to get anything he had, which is alright because he had nothing to offer. I'm sensing the scale is a little out of balance. Surely something that will be fixed next visit.

Right, Karl?

By the way, Bloggers spell check wanted to change "Karl's" to Carol, girl's, or careless.

Friday, August 19, 2005

I haven't had time to sit and watch a movie in some time. With my new schedule, I'll either have to learn to watch movies over many sittings (something I've always hated doing), or watch programs coming in smaller time increments. One show I've started watching on DVD is Sopranos. I've got a few more series in the queue to start watching.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

I spent the day at work building a program to help me study. It's a web application that will produce a pop up window throughout the day with a random question, basically note cards when I'm not expecting it. Since I'm at the computer the entire time I'm at work, this will help in the pounding of facts in my brain. I've got the front end built to enter, edit, and delete questions, and a page that produces the pop up at set intervals. I just need to figure out how I want to have the pop up show at random times. I'm going to let Knapper also use this to help test and debug it. Who knows, maybe I'll open it up to other students to use ... for an astronomical fee.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Where does the time go?

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Here's a little trick I've picked up. Most of the junk snail mail I receive is some sort of offer where you fill out a form and send it back using their "No Postage necessary" envelope. The companies pay the postage on these, only if they're sent back. So I usually stuff the envelope with all the crap they sent me and return it. Now, they have to pay the postage and get rid of their propaganda. And if you stuff it really full, the envelope can't fit through the automated postal sorter, and will get the manual sorted rate. Brilliant.

Hopefully this will increase the companies expenses, thereby causing them to see that sending junk mail is more expensive than it's worth. One small step for man ...

Monday, August 15, 2005

I wish I could remember what I read today that was cool. I have a tendency to read about a lot of topics. I couldn't tell you what any of those topics are, but if asked about something, I could rattle off everything I read about it. Even this post is half thought out.

It could be that I spent time in the garage sniffing expanding foam.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Since everybody was sleeping in and I couldn't work in the garage, I spent a few hours playing the latest addition to my Xbox library, Destroy All Humans!. My initial take is that it's funner than average. It has a quick learning curve, humor in the cut scenes and game play, and is easy to quit and come back to.

After the house woke up, I spent the rest of the day building the shelving in the garage. A before picture might have been worth it.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

I started "Phase I" of the garage project. I need to build some shelving to get the bins (5 of which is just Christmas crap) off the floor. In order to do this, I had to install two ceiling fans, which of course wobbled the house off the foundation. I also had to figure out where the network wiring will go, along with the TV, Xbox, and other AV equipment. "Phase I" is turning out to be bigger than I have time for.

Friday, August 12, 2005

I went to go get my two free in-store rentals from Blockbuster, and one of the printed coupons didn't work. The store said they couldn't do anything for me and that I should contact the online customer service. Yeah right. Every time I do that, I get some unrelated response from Sarif Sharphhreeghggh. I suppose looking at the big picture, I shouldn't complain. I'm saving a lot of money by using the coupons to rent games for my modded Xbox.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

I finally got a few hours of Xbox in tonight. I threw in Fable to give it another chance. I got through the training and started to go on a real quest, but had to quit just then. Many people say video games are a waste of time and brain power, but I find it quite therapeutic.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

On my list to do is to look into making sure the DirecTiVo was making its daily call since the switch to Vonage. Naturally I haven't looked into for a while. I think it's finally catching up with me since Season Passes are starting to not record due to "Insufficient Listing Information". I read somewhere that you have to set the unit to call New York for it to work with Vonage. Apparently this is a well known bug.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Another missed post, but this one wasn't my fault. The electricity went out for the entire neighborhood at around 9:30 and I couldn't stay awake to reboot the house. I watched this show about a community that is "off the grid", meaning no government or corporate sewer, water, or electricity. They had to light a fire to heat the water for their shower, which they only took every five days. But the cool thing was the solar panels they used to generate electricity. Apparently they've come down in price. Next blackout, I'm buying some.

Oh, and apparently I'm lonely enough to have a spambot comment on Sunday.

Sunday, August 7, 2005

Again, it's been a long time since I posted. I've either been in the hospital or, as a result, tending to a baby. They say that your life changes once you have a kid, and they aren't kidding. Now that it's been over a week since the birth, things have slightly settled. So I'm back in business.