Candy! Popcorn! Peanuts! eh?!

Last week I traveled to Toronto, Ontario for an equipment inspection. It was a pretty nice trip, except for when I got waved into immigration at the airport. I've flown into Canada twice, and both times I got the wave. So, I'm either really unlucky, or I look highly suspicious.

Anyway, while there I got to tour Toronto a bit. Downtown, there is an area with two theaters, and on the street that runs in front of them, they have created a Canadian Walk of Fame. I took this picture of John Candy's plaque, but didn't get any other pictures as not to hold up the others with me. I did see stars for William Shatner, Dan Akroyd, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Rich Little, Michael J. Fox, Jim Carrey, and Ann Murray.

We also got to visit Roger's Center and watch the Oakland A's battle it out at the Blue Jays. It was a good night of baseball. The Jays took the lead early with a 3 run homer in the first. In the top of the 7th, the Jays were leading 3-1 when Oakland loaded the bases with nobody out. The pitcher made a good play to the plate on a swinging bunt to save a run. Next batter grounded into a double. Then in the bottom of the 7th, the Jays were threatening with runners on 2nd and 3rd. They put the squeeze on, but the batter fouled the bunt back. They ended up scoring with a ground ball and a good slide at the plate. Jays went on to win 5-1. Also, a Backstreet Boy walked by me to get a hot dog. Seriously. Also, the best looking women in Toronto are baseball fans. ;-) Rogers Center is nice! The dome was retracted and the weather
was perfect. Mid to high 70's and breezy.

Cool gadget that you don't need

I was going to make this topic a mini rant. Those are the things that I originally created this blog for, but haven't actually written any since inception. I hate to come back from a hiatus of over a month to rant, but here goes.

I found this on the FatMatrix blog which I subscribe to in Google Reader. It's a cool gadget someone installed on their car that lets you know when someone is in your blind spot. From the description: "In the presence of any approaching vehicle these high intensity pulsed beams get reflected back to the vehicle and is detected by Infrared sensor TSOP 1738.Whereas in the absence of any approaching vehicle no reflected Infrared beam is present and output of TSOP infrared sensor is High. It should be noted that output of TSOP sensor is high when no infrared beam is present and become low in the presence of pulsed (36 KHz) Infrared beam. Thus Software continuously monitors the output of both TSOP sensors and generate alert if there is change in the output of any TSOP sensor. User has option to choice alert on LCD only or user can go for voice alert too."

Cool! Just not needed... just like those goofy little "blind spot" mirrors sold at autopart stores and retailers. I try to explain this concept to people all of the time. If you set your mirrors correctly, you shouldn't have a blind spot. (I'm assuming here that you are not driving some kind of convertible or sports car with little to no rear window visibility, of course.) Before leaving your driveway, follow this simple exercise. Adjust your rearview mirror so that you see out of the rear window. Next, adjust the driver's side mirror so that the last thing you see in the left side of the rearview is the first thing you see in the right side of the driver's side mirror. I don't know why people have a fascination with looking down the side of their vehicle in the side mirrors. THIS DOES YOU NO GOOD! Next, do the same with the passenger's side mirror. This is not as critical since most of these are made for wide angle viewing anyway.

Now, when you are driving down the road, and someone is passing you on the left, you will notice that as they approach you and the front of their vehicle disappears in your rearview, it will appear in the side mirror. Now you can see their rear in one mirror and their front in the other. As they continue to pass and the front of their vehicle disappears out of view in the side mirror, TA DA!, it is now visible through the window next to you in your peripheral vision. No need to ever crane your neck around to check beside you before you change lanes...

That's how your mirrors are supposed to work. Use them. :)

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for extra safety, and I think this a cool gadget that could be incorporated into new vehicle designs cheaply. The bad thing is, people would become even more lazy in adjusting their mirrors and using their best sensory input; their own vision.

Parks closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.

Time for a major update! Well, just a long one, I guess.

We had a pretty good holiday weekend. We slept in on Friday (of course). That evening we drove to the inlaws for some supper and fireworks. Glenda's mom and dad had fixed quite a spread! There was a big pan of grilled ribeyes, a big pan of grilled chicken, baked beans, squash casserole, loaded baked new potatoes, chips with bean dip, and garlic bread. I stuffed myself silly. Then to top it off, we had homemade vanilla ice cream with Oreo Bon Bons in it. Awesome! Afterwards, we watched the kids shoot some fireworks and then headed home. I can't remember if I played some xbox that night or not. I wanted to try and finish GTA4 this past weekend, but I fell short.

Saturday we slept in even later than Friday. I called the neighbors to see if they wanted to come over and eat dinner with us. They have 3 boys, 1, 3 & 5 (I think) and they all came over to eat and hang out. I grilled some burgers and some bacon-wrapped scallops. We also fixed some garlic pasta, mac & cheese for the kids, and some french fries. Then we fired up the Wii for some Wii Sports action. Reg and Danielle were playing baseball, and Danielle was batting. At one point, she swung the WiiMote to hit the ball, and the oldest boy walked in front of her at the same moment. She nailed him in the back of the head and he went down flat on his face! He was ok, but I know it hurt for a few minutes. It was one of those where you know everyone is ok, and then you can't help but laugh but you try not to. They took the boys home to put them to bed, and then Glenda and I went over to their place for some Taboo. We got home about 1:30am, and I played GTA4 until about 4am.

Sunday we slept in even later... then we got up for a few hours and then went BACK to bed. I finally got up around 7:45pm, and didn't go back to sleep at all. We watched "Deja Vu", I played GTA4 for a bit, and I set up my ARCHOS 705 media player with the plug-in to download my DVR'ed shows from my DishNet receiver via the USB port. I copied about 20 hours worth of movies and shows over to it, so it will be ready when I travel this week.

So, I should crash early tonight since I am running out of steam already and it's only 3pm.

I see where the buyer of my Mustang has upped the selling price on his website. I hope that means that he will soon be leaving me positive feedback on eBay since he hasn't bothered to do so yet.

On a sad note, my neighbor Reg sold his motorcycle. While I'm glad for him, because he kept it over a month and made money off of it, I hate it because we had some nice rides together. Three out of the last four Sundays, not counting this past one, we took a night ride. No traffic to dodge, nice and cool compared to the heat of the day, just relaxing all around. I hope he will be able to buy another one soon, but I think he plans to take care of some bills first so it may be a while before I have a riding partner. My other neighbor Justin sold his also, but he is getting ready to move, so I would not have him as a riding buddy much longer anyway.

No need to thank us. Really.

So I mentioned in my last blog that I now have a flexible spending account credit card that was forced upon me. I realize that at this point I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth because I've had to have some dental work done will be able to use the card for that, but still, I did not choose to participate in a flexible spending account.

When I changed jobs, we looked at the benefits from my new employer and Glenda's employer, and taking the family plan from her employer was much cheaper. They had no restriction that spouses must take their employers insurance if it is available to them (my last employer had this stipulation). One good thing about doing this is that my company reimbursed me a bit of money every month as an incentive.

At the beginning of this year, I get a letter welcoming me to our flexible spending account plan. I'm like, whiskey tango foxtrot people, I didn't sign up for this. I've been blessed in that I've had no major health problems, and I rarely get sick enough to visit a doctor. My only real medical expense that I could claim would be contacts and associated solution. Glenda participates in a FSA because she has a lot of expense associated with her diabetes supplies, so it makes sense for her. A few days later, I get a letter at home explaining that, as a cost saving venture, I would no longer be reimbursed on my paycheck every month, but that a FSA was setup for me and the balance of the year's reimbursals would be added to the account and that I was free to add more pre-tax money to it as I choose.

So, at first, I was really upset that I was being forced into this, and in a way, I'm still upset about that. But, after contemplation, I can see where I should probably start adding more to it each month. I'll be using this year's balance for my dental bill, but Glenda usually ends up spending all of hers by mid year. If I actually contribute pre-tax money to mine, then she can start using it when hers runs dry, effectively saving a bit of money each year.

But still, even though it is overall something I needed to do for myself, I'm kinda ticked off that it was forced on me. I'm like that, though. :-)

Swallet: "It's all good."

For about 5 years now, I've been using a Swallet instead of a wallet. "What is a Swallet?" you ask? Well, it's basically a round piece of neoprene wet suit (or maybe dry suit, I don't know) with a smaller width piece of neoprene with a slightly larger diameter to fit around it. The idea, or rather the idea for me, is to force you to take a minimalistic approach to what you carry around in your wallet, cutting it to basics to make it more convenient and comfortable to carry. It's also great to use for sports and activities, and that is probably the main purpose for it. It floats in water, and the rubber exterior makes it difficult for it to fall out of loose fitting pants pockets.

My longtime friend stumbled across one when a person he was working with was selling them. He bought one and like it so much, he bought me one and gave it to me. Like him, I was skeptical, but willing to try it. I had a bunch of crap in my wallet, and it was hard to come to terms with the fact that I didn't need it all. What wasn't hard to dispute was that the bloated wallet was very uncomfortable to sit on and a pain to carry around. I finally whittled my contents down to my driver's license, 1 credit card, my debit card, insurance card, and some cash. I moved anything else I wanted to keep to my checkbook, and I don't carry that with me much. It took a bit of adjustment, and then I knew I'd never go back.

Well, with my current job, things are a bit more complicated. Added to the Swallet were my business credit card, business calling card, flexible spending account credit card (forced upon me by my employer, which I need to make a blog post about...), & annual safety training card used when I visit plant sites. I've also added about 3 gift cards that I put in there because I kept forgetting them at home and need to use them. This has made the thickness of the Swallet grow too much, and it is getting to the point of feeling like my old wallet.

So today I went and ordered a 2nd one (actually I ordered a few, to either keep as backups, even though this one has lasted and doesn't need replacing, or to give away to friends who want to try one out). My plan is to separate some of the work stuff into the second one and try keeping it in my backpack, or in my left pocket, since I don't put anything in there usually.

So, if anyone is interested, they are only $7 plus shipping. Worth a try, and if you don't like it, you ain't out much. When I called today, he offered me the option of buying 3 for $19.95 and getting 2 free, which I did.

Wrap up.

Since I've been negligent in updating, I'll do a round up and try to squeeze in what I can remember since the last post.

First thing, I want to congratulate Sal's wife Morgan on her amazing success at a lifestyle change!!! I've tried to make a change before, and it is the hardest thing to stick to. She's lost over 140 lbs! I've never met Sal and Morgan in person, but I hope to one day *cough* Meet n Greet 09! *cough* :)

Last Thursday night, my neighbor and I rode our bikes out to "Bike Night" in downtown Tuscaloosa. After perusing the cool bikes on display, including some custom painted bikes, some Big Dog choppers, many Harley's (one with a cool neon light setup), we went into one of the bars there to grab a beer and shoot some pool. There was a band playing called Handshake Promise. They were playing covers from '80-'90's rock and metal bands (and a couple by The Who), and they were excellent! The singer could wail, and the guitar player didn't miss a note, and they played some tough songs. It was a good night for riding, cool and breezy.

Since that neighbor is moving at the end of June, and my other neighbor that was buying a bike has already moved, I'm pretty pumped that my neighbor across the strret bought a bike. He bought a Suzuki Intuder 800. It's a sharp bike. I'm kind of partial to the way they look for some reason. He has already put it back up for sale, however because he wants to upgrade to an 1100 or 1300cc. We took a ride last night down to Bryant-Denny stadium. It was a good night for riding again. It's just about too hot to ride during the day already...

Mom and Dad have a computer and high-speed internet! Now I can get some MP in while visiting them... ;-) They wanted a new computer since they've received their "stimulus" check, so I ordered them a new Dell and had it shipped to me. I stripped it of some fluff and installed some free apps for them. I took it to them this weekend and set it up and installed their DSL modem. I think they are pretty happy with it. I know my niece loved it as she didn't want to quit playing with it all weekend.

I bought a key fob remote for the Nissan. It was $93, plus programming fee from a dealer. I bought it off of eBay for $9.95 including shipping and looked up the programming directions on the web. That worked out so well, I'm buying Mom a replacement for her Infinity because hers is broken.

I've mailed off the title and registration and Bill of Sale for the Mustang. Only thing left is for the buyer to arrange pick-up. I'm not as sad as I thought, but I have moments where I know I'll miss it. I just hope it goes to someone that will fix it up and take better care of it than I did.

Cowinky dink?

I'm staying at a Marriott, and the newer ones and the renovated ones have little pictures on the room number plate. Here is mine from today. Coincidence? I THINK NOT! Here are a few pics from the room. Nice view here in Hazleton, PA.

Bye Bye, Love.

The Mustang has been sold. I finished the eBay listing about 8pm last night. Someone called me to ask some questions this morning at 7:15am. I told him what I would accept and he clicked "Buy it Now".

Let's have a moment of silence.

The decision

Looks like everyone took the long weekend off from blogging.

Well, I made my decision on the car. Since used ones are hard to find right now, and when you do find them, they are snatched up pretty quick, I decided to buy new and get all of the options I want on it. We looked this weekend at a couple of different cars and sizes; Ford Focus and Fusion, Toyota Corolla and Yaris.

Then when I got to work this morning and checked the credit union's web site, there it was. The deal I've been looking for. 2005 Nissan Sentra with 62k miles. Wholesale listed at $7400. Low KBB listed at $7100, middle price listed at $8,000. I offered $6500 and they countered with $6750.

This'll save me about $300/month in gas...

Boomboomboom!

Since I haven't posted about it yet, and there are a few people that read that weren't there, I want to give an account of my weekend at the 4th Annual GGSE Meet n' Greet.

I'll start with the Wednesday night packup. First off, I should have skipped the GTAIV multiplayer and just packed up, because I got in bed way too late to be driving 3 hours after work and staying up most of the night on Thursday playing H3, but I'm getting ahead of myself, I guess. After playing a bit of MP, I saw Hog signing in and out of Live over and over again, and realized that I still hadn't updated all of my games. So after about 45 minutes of that, which was totally a waste of time considering we had Live access from the LAN, it was down to packing. I've about got the packing for LANs down to where I need to be. After 3 prior MnGs and several local LANs, I've refined it a bit. I was able to get everything, including my clothes, into 3 bags.

The first bag I use is a backpack. This gets the actual 360, controllers, games, X1 headphones, and all associated cables I would need to play even if I didn't have the other bags with me. Cables and adapters in here include: power brick, 360 VGA cable, usb extender, plug n play adapter, monitor power cable, rca to mini adapter, female to female mini adapter, vga gender changer, and a CAT5 cable.

The second bag has various things I, or others, may need. Two 3-prong extension cords, 2-3 surge protectors, 2 sets of pc speakers with adapters, an extra vga cable, 2 extra pc type power cables, 2 extra headsets, extra network cables, and a CAT5 crossover cable.

The last bag is one that I bought to carry on when travelling, and it works great here. It's a 20 or 22" roll around duffel with a zippered compartment under it for clothes. I put my laptop and clothes in the lower compartment, then broke down the Rock Band drums and was able to fit everything except for the pad section in the duffel.

That left only the Rock Band drum pads, 2 guitars, and monitor to be carried seperately. So, without bringing all of the "extra in-case" items, I could get by with 2 bags, the monitor, and the RB gear.

I left right after work on Thursday and arrived at the hotel around 8:30pm EST. A quick call to Hog confirmed that they were still at Oosik's house and would be there long enough for me to head over and hang out. I'd like to take this opportunity to say a big "Thank You" to Oosik for his hospitality on Thursday night. I arrived to find Oosik, Bud, Hog, Junior, and Waders out on the patio having some beers. I grabbed some pizza and a beer, and we hung out for another hour or two. We shot some pool (made me miss my pool table :( ) and played a few games of H3 matchmaking on Oosik's home theater (and I mean THEATER) projection setup. We left there so he could get some sleep before heading to work on Friday, and we setup in their hotel room and played some games until the wee hours. I think I got in bed around 4:30am. We did some H3 co-op, but we couldn't get GoW or GRAW2 going because everyone couldn't get into 1 room for some reason.

I started my Friday sometime around 10:30am. Got a shower and woke up a bit and we headed out to Chipotle for lunch. When we got back to the hotel, several others had made it to town. Jeeps, Tim, Spark, Dusty, Jedi, Milk, and Mrs. Milk were all unpacking when we pulled up. Bud, Hog, Jr, Waders and I decided to make a booze run to replenish what had been consumed the night before, and I wanted to switch to bourbon. So, for some crazy reason, while in the liqour store I just felt strongly that I needed a 1 point seven-five liter container of hard liquor. Looking back, probably not really necessary, but that's what I felt. I couldn't bring myself to pay the extra 30 bux for the bottle of Woodford Reserve bourbon, so I bought the Gentleman Jack Tennesse whiskey instead.

Upon arriving back at the hotel, it was time to go to dinner at the Wild Wing Cafe, where we all were meeting up with Oosik and MadFurther. Dinner was decent, but more importantly, we all hung out and had a good time. Let me see if I can go around the table and remember everyone that was there. McJeepers, Jedi, Dusty, Hawk, Mojo, Milk, Mrs Milk, Bud, Hog, Waders, Mad, Oosik, Sabian, Ninety Seven ...maybe a few more I can't remember. At some point before whirleyball, Eclipse and wife, Wise, YuSoDum, and Ramzezz joined us. Then it was off to Whirleyball!

Just as last year, whirleyball was a blast! Someone made the comment on the way hoping for the same ref/announcer that we had last year because he was so funny. Well, I think they were taking that back when our ref stepped out onto the court to go over the rules... a 100lb brunette that believed in 'if you've got it, flaunt it'. I don't know what band razor she uses, but I know she uses one, because her jeans only barely reached above her mommy parts. Even after she hiked them up as far as they would go, there was still some plumber's crack in the back. Ok, so back to the festivities, since we all had played before, the rules meeting was short and sweet and the festivities were on! Highlights were Bud spilling a Jaeger shot down his shirt, Bud about breaking my hand trying to block a pass, the 100lb ref telling Bud to "Get your ass in the cart!", the 100lb ref out on the court lifting a bumper car off of the ground to fix the body of it while 7 or so GGSE ogre guys sit there and watch her, the look on Jedi's face as he is standing next to the ref in the booth as she leans back and screams "OH YEAH! OH YEAH! HARDER!", YuSoDum running full speed into the wall at the windows and racking himself; not once but twice, and finally the biggest highlight of all, the ride back! Ninety Seven was nice enough to drive Bud's truck back with 8 drunk bastadges annoying the crap out of him, I'm sure. Bud was in the passenger seat, the middle row had Hog and Junior with Spark sandwiched between the captain's chairs, the last row had Hawk, Mojo (or Waders, Jedi?) and I, and in the very back was Dusty. At some point, Bud thought it was a good idea to take Johnny Cash out and put some techno music in the cd player. So the song goes, "Boom-boom-boom, let me hear ya say Way-Oh!" and 8 drunk guys all scream, "WAY-OH!"... at the red lights... with the windows down. Then we decide to rock the truck a bit. But, 97 got us back safely, and for that he deserves a big "THANKS, 97!"

After we got back to the hotel, it was another night of gaming until 4am. We broke out the Rock Band that night and I am surprised we never brought the wrath of the staff or the po-po down on us. Sometime during the night; unexpectedly, my old squadmate, Rude, showed up. It was awesome to get to meet him in person for the first time.

Wow, is it Saturday yet? I managed to get up a bit earlier on Saturday than I did on Friday. After we loaded up Bud's truck, we headed out to the LAN a little late, around 11:30, and then we had to turn around because I forgot the most important piece of equipment... my huge bottle of whiskey! Luckily (or maybe not), Bud was willing to turn around and drive back to get it. So I guess we, meaning Hog, Bud, Waders and me, got there sometime about noon and set up.

Let me take this moment to sing the praises of the Computer Arena. Walking in, you enter a computer store with a covered courtyard off to the left out another door with tables and chairs where the smokers could go for a fix. The computer store had used systems for sale, all sorts of cables, parts such as video and sound cards, cool cases for gaming pcs, pc build service, and pc repair and/or upgrade service. Heading on through the store, down a ramp, you enter the gaming area. Straight ahead is the classroom we setup in. There are about 25 stations setup with pcs for computer classes. Connection to the internet was provided. All we had to do was hook up out 360 and plug in the network cable already provided. To the right of the classroom are banks of pcs hooked to the internet for gaming. Awesome sight! There is a Wii setup on a big screen in front of a couch right there next to the classroom also. The snack bar is there in this area also. They offer beer, soda, ice cream, and a menu of item like pizza, burgers, and sandwiches. I had a pizza and it was pretty good. Behind this counter, there were about 12 360s, each with their own gold Live account for rent. In the very back, there was another room that could be closed off for a private area. In here, there was a stage set up with Rock Band. The big screen tv for Rock Band was kind of crappy, but it did the job. With all of the other nice stuff available, this was certainly no deal breaker. Also in here were several other big screen tvs in front of chairs and couches for 3-4 people to play 360, PS2, or whatever together. The price to game all day is $20 per person on Saturday and special occassions, and $15 per person every other day. If you live in the area, check this place out and support it! I want it to be there for our use next year! :)

We had a blast gaming during the day. I slowly drained about 3/4 of the whiskey during a lot of GTAIV, some H3, and one or two PGR4 races. At some point, I thought it would be funny for the drunk guy to use the classic, "I love you, man" line. And like most people under the influence, I carried it past the point of it being funny, I'm sure. So now, you'll see references to this phrase on people's Live bios or on the forums...

I'm not sure what time we broke it down, but it was an hour or so before the 2am cut-off. I think. I seriously do not know how I managed to get all of my stuff packed and up to my room and not lose anything. I remember going back down to Hog, Bud, Jr and Waders' room after I put my stuff in my room. I remember someone asking how I felt and replying something to the effect of, "Not all right." I went back to my room and decided I needed to get under some hot water, so I turned on the shower as hot as I could stand it, which was probably a lot hotter than normal. Eventually I laid down in the tub with the water running into my face. Time was beyond me then, so I could have laid there 3 minutes, or 3 hours. At some point I went on to bed. Good news is, I didn't get sick (unlike some people that weekend *cough* BUD *cough*). I think the shower helped.

On Sunday, I had planned on making the Braves game at 1:30pm with some friends that live in the area (hey Susy and Martin!). I actually made it up on time to check out before the noon cut-off time, and I felt pretty good. Well, I didn't feel good, but I didn't have a pounding in the back of my skull like I deserved to have. Luckily for me though, my friends' plans had changed and they couldn't make the game. Instead, I visited them for an hour or so and then drove on home. I crashed pretty early that night without unpacking, and I crashed pretty early after work on Monday night, again without packing. Tuesday, I was back to normal.

So, that's the story of the 4th Annual MnG from my perspective. All I can say now is, "Is it next year, yet?!"

Fuel woahs

I realize that it is Thursday and that I still haven’t posted about the 4th Annual GGSE Meet n’ Greet, but I’m going to do a topical one today. For now, I’ll just say that we had a blast.

Ok, so gas prices are up, averaging $3.62 across the country. Crude oil is up to $120+ a barrel. However, there is no fuel shortage! We are still putting oil into the reserve! Why they heck am I getting cut off at the pump? I have a 26 gallon tank. I fill it up. I drive it until the low fuel light comes on. (For me, that is about every 3 days) It usually takes anywhere from 21-22 gallons to fill it back up. So now, when I get almost there… the pump cuts off. At $75. This happened last time, 2-3 years ago, when prices jumped significantly. The pumps would quit at $50 then. And I’d have to restart and have an extra charge on my visa for 1-2 gallons. And they add these little signs, “Please be courteous to other customers and limit your purchase to blah, blah, blah.” Look, if I don’t buy it now, I will be back in less than 3 days. It’s unavoidable. It’s gonna happen. Why are you forcing me to stop more often than I have to? THERE’S NO SHORTAGE!

Argh!

And don’t even get me started today on the stations that remove the handle lock on the pumps. Hello, there is already a perfectly capable safety device in there… But that is a rant for another day.

Anyhoo, I am getting ready to make my first ever vehicle purchase that will be influenced mainly for the sake of fuel economy. I still haven’t decided which route to take. On one hand, I could buy an 8-10 year old car with 100-150k miles on it for around 3-4k, pay cash, and it’ll pay for itself in 8-10 months. After that, as long as it keeps running, I’m coming out ahead, and when it quits, I buy another. On the other hand, I tend to drive vehicles forever. I bought my truck new 9 years and 160k miles ago. I could buy a new, or almost new, economy car. That way, I know it will be getting optimum gas mileage for awhile, and I know I will keep it long enough to make it worthwhile. Also, some of them are available for 0% financing. Anyone out there have an opinion on it?

Atlanta = PWNED!

Just a few more hours until I head off to Atlanta for the 4th annual GGSE Meet n’ Greet! If you’re reading this blog, then chances are that you are one of the ones attending, or you at least know what I’m talking about. But for those that don’t know, this is when many of my online friends in the Geezer Gamers SouthEast clan get together to actually meet face to face, hang out for the weekend, and of course, play xbox.

The first two years, we rented a conference room at the respective hotels where we stayed. The second year was kind of crowded and we had a bit of a problem finding power on enough circuits to plug in all of the 360s and TVs without tripping breakers, so last year one of the Atlanta residents did some leg work for us and rented a huge room at Andretti’s for Saturday. That was a huge success. Plenty of power for all of our stuff, plenty of food and drink on premises, and the extra fun of racing go carts during LAN party breaks.



Also, Oosik reserved a Whirleyball court for us on Friday night, and we had an open bar and pizza and wings to eat. It was a blast. Bumper cars married to basketball. This year, we are playing Whirleyball again on Friday night, but we are opting out of the open bar/food because the food just wasn’t that great and it isn’t that good of a deal for the non-drinkers in the group.

The Saturday LAN party this year will be held at the Computer Arena. Again, Oosik did a great job with the leg work in finding us a place to get together. This place is already setup with 360s (although most of us will be bringing our own) and computers, and we are supposed to have internet access, something we haven’t had at the LAN party before. They also have a stage already setup for Rock Band, which should kick ass!
I still couldn’t talk Glenda into coming with me this year. I guess the pictures of everyone having fun at Whirleyball and Andretti’s didn’t interest her.
I’m hoping to get a few people that aren’t flying out or driving too far together for the Braves vs the Reds on Sunday afternoon. Nothing like a stadium dog and a beer for 20 bux!

I feel the need...

[cue Steppenwolf]

Hardcore

It's been nice bike ridin' weather, and I removed my windshield a few weeks ago since it has warmed up a bit. Saturday, Glenda and I rode to a local park where her company had an Earth Day picnic. We had a good time and a good lunch, catfish and chicken catered by a local restaurant called Bottomfeeders. We got home and our neighbors were outside, so we went over and chatted with them for a bit. After an hour or so, I could tell I'd been in the sun long enough and bid my farewell. Glenda stayed over there a few more hours, so now her arms, neck and nose are burned. Sunday, we planned to meet her family for lunch in celebration of my brother in law's 50th birthday. Glenda didn't feel like riding the bike since she'd burned the day before, so I rode it alone to lunch. I usually ride the left tire track on the highway and move over when passing 18 wheelers, dump trucks, etc. Well, a semi was heading my way so I moved over, and when he passed, he kicked up a rock that hit me square on the right shin. OUCH! I've got a nice bruise there this week. I'm just glad it didn't get any higher...

I took a good natured shot at Sal in an earlier blog about having a Sportster, however, the last few times in the Harley dealer, I've found myself kind of admiring the 1200N retro looking Sportsters. I particular like the olive/black and the primer red colors. I passed a guy riding one on the road the other day with black pipes on it, and it looked like an old custom bike. Very cool. But still, with my size, I think I would look like the king in Pocketbike Racer on a Sportster... :)

Faucets - check.

Well, I finished the last faucet replacement last night. I stopped on the way home and bought some plumber's putty, and I went ahead and removed the two drains in the master bath and replaced the silicone with it. Although after thinking about it all day yesterday, I had determined that the seal around the top of the drain wasn't the problem. Water gets to the outside no matter what because the drain has holes around the top to catch water from the sink overflow drain. I got home and turned the water on to check, and as I suspected, I had just not tightened the nut on the bottom enough to create a good seal with the rubber grommet. I had just hand tightened it since it was plastic pipe and had the hand tighten gussets on it. I got a wrench and tightened it down a bit more until it quit leaking, and all is good.

Also, last week the shower head in the master bath came apart. It was some cheap-o plastic deal. I went and got the one out of the guest bath to use until I bought a replacement. Well, it was coming apart and isn't any count either, so I used some of our Amazon gift cards (thanks, Chase) and bought two new shower heads, one for each bathroom. They'll be delivered today. Woohoo!

Katina does NOT live here!

I have caller ID. I use it. If you call my house, and you have caller ID blocked, I AIN'T pickin' up! So, a few weeks ago, I decided to start answering these calls when I am home, and to start calling numbers back that actually show up on the caller ID. We've been getting 5 to 6 hang-ups during the day, and then 2 to 3 calls in the evening, as well as calls on Saturday, and even calls at 9am on SUNDAY!? Well, when I started answering, I found out that some debt collectors are looking for Katina. And apparently, she gave them my number. Now, the very first call I answered, I tell the nice lady that she has the wrong number, Katina doesn't live here. She asks me for a local number that she can be reached. I'm like, "Ummm, what makes you think I f'in know Katina?" Anyway, she promises to remove my number. That was 3 weeks ago. Now they are leaving messages on the answering machine because the computer thinks someone has answered. So I check messages in the afternoon and I get 5 messages that are 5 seconds of silence followed by, "Hello, Katina? Hello? Hello?" at which point I scream into the empty room, "KATINA DON'T F'IN LIVE HERE!" So, I keep answering, and they keep promising to take my name off of the list.

On another note, I decided to do a little home improvement this weekend. We bought 3 new bathroom faucets to replace the crappy contractor's grade ones that were initially installed. I knew the faucet part would be pretty simple, but these also came with new pop-up drains, and I needed to replace those also since we changed from chrome to brushed nickel. Although I'm pretty handy, plumbing is not one of my strong points. I got through both sinks in the master bath last night and we let them sit overnight before using. I got up this morning and tested them out, and sure enough, BOTH drains are leaking somewhere. I have a feeling that it is around the drain itself, because the plumber's putty I had was no good anymore, and all I had was some old silicone caulking to use. I'm going to stop today and get the right stuff and change it out tonight. I thought that if the silicone got a good seal, that it would be no problem, but apparently it didn't seal well. I should have started on the one in the guest bath, because brushing your teeth over the tub stinks.

Quick Pics

Just a quick set of pics of my add-ons. I need to quit taking them in the garage, get it out in the sun because the chrome doesn't show up well under flash. I'll take some next weekend maybe since I'll be gone helping a friend move this weekend.

Front:


Rear:


Others:

Nickel & Dime

Why can't I buy a "kit" with everything needed for my device to work the way it was intended? Electronics should come with basic cables necessary for different applications. To be specific, I just got around to installing the Sirius Sportster radio that I bought several weeks ago. I ran the antenna and the 12 volt power cord through the dash and out right where I wanted to mount the dock. The kit has the receiver, antenna, power adaptor, remote, dock, and suction cup mount included. Even though my truck radio doesn't have an aux in jack, how much could it have been to include a male-male mini cable and a mini to RCA cable? Those things are like 2 bux at Radio Shack? And if you know your device has a crappy FM transmitter, go ahead and include the FM direct adapter that plugs into the radio's antenna jack. I know electronics can't come with EVERY possible cable needed, but these should have been included here. Now I'll need to buy the FM direct adapter, and once it gets here, run another wire through the dash.

Typing about the FM transmitter made me think about another issue. I hate the radio available around here where I live. There are about 15-20 channels that come in clear, at least 7 or 8 are crap country, 1 is classic country, 3 of them are classic rock, and the rest are pop, soul, or talk/public. I like the classic country station, NPR, and maybe one of the classic rock stations. There is just no great radio available. So with that in mind, let me tell you this. There is not ONE selection on the FM dial that is sufficiently static-free for me to use the FM transmitter in the satellite radio receiver... There is some kind of crap bleeding onto every friggin' point on the dial, and there still ain't jack to listen to. One of the reasons I bought a Zune and the Sirius receiver in the first place.

Ben Dover... Glad to meet ya, Ben

We have an internal website on the company intranet with various news articles from the operating companies. This morning, this picture accompanied one of the articles.



At first glance, I thought it was an article about my raise. ;-)

Gettin' on my lazy butt

Well, since Mojo has updated his blog twice since my last update, I figured that I needed to get off my lazy catookus (or on it, I guess) and write something.

The first update to give is my Dad's status. If you are reading this, then you probably already know that he had a heart attack a few weeks ago. They kept him in the hospital for a few days and then let him go home. This is his third, and with the damage done by the first two coupled with the fact that he had quintuple bypass about 7 or 8 years ago, along with the current blockages, they decided that surgery isn't an option. It poses too great a risk and not really any benefit at this point. He is going back next week for his tests to see if he has healed enough to insert a defibrillator/pacemaker under his skin.

He needs to take better care of himself by eating right, exercising, and quit smoking. I really only get a one-sided story because I talk to my Mom mostly, but she is complaining because he continues to sit around, and he is a bit afraid of any exertion at this point, when really, he needs to be exercising. He just needs to be smart and take regular breaks and not over-do it.

As far as the sister stuff goes, I took Furg's advice and went for a ride to clear my head. I've been enjoying the bike immensely, and the weather keeps getting better and better. I've added some chrome pieces and I have some smoked blinker and taillight lenses and a chrome piece for the front fender in-transit via UPS. I'll post some pics when the last of it is installed.

Glenda and I, my neighbors Justin & Val, and my coworker Gene all rode into Tuscaloosa on Saturday for lunch. We were going to eat at a Japanese steakhouse, but they were closed. We ended up at Wilhagen's Sports Bar for burgers and beers. We went back to the house and I dropped Glenda off and Gene and I decided to ride about 60 miles south of my house to a bike rally. The directions we had were bad, and we ended up going about 1.5 miles down a dirt road before deciding to turn around. We figured nothing was down there, and if it was, we wanted no part of it. :) When we made it out to the main highway, we decided to go a little further. Not even 2/10 of a mile up the road was the sign pointing to the actual rally. So we got all happy and headed down there. Well, about 5-600 yards down, THAT road turned into a dirt road. We decided, "Screw this!" and turned around and headed home. The drive was incredibly nice, though. When I got home after 120 miles, that aftermarket seat with the driver's backrest for $799 was looking like a helluva deal...

And just to make Furgs extrememly jealous... Gene now has 3 bikes! He has an American Ironhorse "Outlaw" chopper that he bought in Knoxville. About 3 months ago, he decided he needed something for cruisin', so he bought a brand-spankin' new Heritage Softail with a 103 kit and some aftermarket pipes on it. Then, about a month ago, we were in the Harley dealership, and he decided to make an offer on one of the Thunder Mountain "Keystone" choppers they had in the dealership. Man, that thing is sharp. I need to get him to send me a pic so I can post it.

Wild Hogs

Dang, it's been a whole week since I've posted! And I haven't been on Live since Tuesday, and that was just long enough to complete our Rock Band tourney songs for the week. I finished our tax return, so hopefully things will cool down a bit and I can get online. Although, I'll be going out of town Thursday and Friday. Traveling to Baltimore to visit a vendor there.

Glenda and I went shopping for accessories this weekend. She bought this jacket, which looks good on her, some boots, and two helmets. One half helmet and one 3/4 with a face shield. I haven't bought myself a modular helmet or a jacket yet. There is a guy close to us that owns a shop. He is going to try and get the helmet in that I want and he is trying to get me this jacket. He's a real nice guy and has reasonable prices. I did buy these boots today, though. :)

My father-in-law came over Saturday and helped me work on the Mustang. We got a lot done, but we could never get it to turn over. Some nagging electrical problem somewhere. I don't think it's the solenoid though, because it's fairly new. The solenoid has gotten hot enough to melt some wire insulation though, so it could be bad. Someone that works with my brother in law came by to look at it Saturday afternoon, but I don't know if he is wanting to spend what I'm asking.

Mom, Dad, Stacey (my sister), and Bekah (my niece) are supposed to drive up from Mobile county to visit with us this weekend. I don't think they've been up here since we first moved into this house, about a year ago. Dad helped me put down the laminate flooring in the living room before we moved in.

Also, this past week I made a trip to CompUSA which is going out of business. I bought this Sirius Sportster Replay Satellite Radio with car kit, Windows Vista Home Premium for the server I built, and 3 - 360 games; The Darkness, Dead Rising, and Two Worlds. Everything was 40-60% off! Woohoo!

Stir it up

Well, I got home Saturday afternoon with the bike. The pictures don't do it justice. The paint has a bit of metallic to it that is apparent as the sun hits it. It's awesome! My neighbors were outside when I got home, so I backed it off the trailer and just scooted it over there. I didn't realize that both my neighbor on the right and the one across the street had both been itching for one and that at least one already has the ok to buy because his wife really wants one too. So now I've stirred both of them up. :) Which is good so we'll have no shortage of people to ride with.

Man this bike is big! It's twice the size of any I've ridden before. One thing that caught me off guard was the initial insecurity I felt with such a heavy bike. Riding a smaller one, I never was worried about leaning it over too far because I never felt that I wouldn't be able to right it again. The first corner I came too, I was kinda intimidated and afraid to lean too far thinking its weight would carry it on over. It just took a bit of getting used to.

I used to live in the neighborhood that is right across the road from the one we are in now. When Glenda and I got married, we sold both homes and bought another. We moved back out this way when I changed jobs so that I wouldn't have a 1 and a half hour commute. So today we rode the back over there to visit one of my former neighbors. We got to his place just in time to see Ryan Newman win the Daytona 500. We had been to the grocery store, and I'd forgotten all about watching the race!

We've been riding Annie, the Poodle-American around on the bike, too. I think she needs one of these. :)

RE: The Bike

In regards to the bike, I decided on getting the Vulcan Classic. The classic cruiser look and the extra cubes appeal to me more. I'm using some club member points (the only good thing about traveling a lot for work is that we get to keep all airline, rental car and hotel club points) to stay at a Holiday Inn close to the seller's house tonight. I'm going to leave work a bit early, go by U-Haul and pick up the trailer ($14.95 per 24 hours, not a bad deal at all) and drive over this afternoon/tonight. I'll get up and drive the last 60 miles to his place in the morning and get the bike, assuming nothing is wrong with it when I get there, which I don't expect.

LOST was pretty good last night. I'm amazed at how they can pump out yet another 1 hour show, introducing a few new mysteries (Sayid an assassin working for Ben?), and not answering any previous questions. Who are the rescuers? They haven't even made it back to the boat yet. The show was over and I looked at the clock thinking they only made it 30 minutes. It flew by!

General Chang asked me if I wanted to go to the NASCAR races at Bristol this year. They have extra suite tickets available on the web. They are kinda pricey at $2000/person, even if it is for 6 races. I've been to Bristol, and it is hella fun! I'd love to go to the night race sometime. I had awesome seats to the daytime race several years ago, but had to give them up when I was going through a rough financial mess. I think I'm going to pass on these. I'm spending 7 G's on a bike after all, and I think $2000 per year, even for a suite, is more than I want to swing.

I guess that is all for now. I may post again tonight if I get bored at the hotel. Assuming I get there at a decent hour. Maybe I can get in one of the topical posts I've been wanting to get to. I'm kinda slacking off at work right now posting this, but hey, I've put in the hours already this week.

Torn

Well, my neighbor called to let me know that someone he works with is selling a bike. I don't know yet if he'll be able to get a hold of the guy to bring it (he works close to my house) tomorrow afternoon. I'm planning on leaving Friday to go get the other bike. The only thing is, the local bike is a 1300cc. I kinda had my mind set on a 1500 or bigger. But, the 1300 probably has as much power as the Vulcan 1600 because it'll be lighter. And it's 1100 bux cheaper and 6 hours closer. I think it'll really come down to physical size of the bike and how I feel on it. Don't want to look like the King in Big Bumpin' like Sparkstalker suggested. LOL. Both have a lot of extras. I don't know if the other bike ('04 Honda VTX 1300) has highway bars or if the saddlebags are as nice.

Here is a comparison with what I know right now about both bikes.

'04 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic - White (pics in post below)

• 5900 miles
  
• 1600cc
• Windshield
• Light bar
• Highway bars
• Driver and passenger footboards
• 3 nice studded saddlebags
• Studded leather belt buckle guard
• Sissy bar
  
• Vance & Hines pipes

'04 Honda VTX - Black

• 800 miles
• 1300cc
• Windshield
• Saddlebags (don't know the type)
• Sissy bar
• Lots of chrome (?) That's all my neighbor knew.
  

I can haz engineering?

I had a PE (Professional Engineer) Exam review class last night, so I didn't get in until late. So, I decided that I would create a post this morning. It's truly depressing to realize how much you've forgotten since college. It's been 12 years now, and even the basics of some things have left me. I applied for the PE Exam years ago, but the combination of my first wife dying and the lack of available preparation courses kept me from taking it yet. I believe I'm past the 5 year cutoff for my application, so I'll have to re-apply to take it.

I got my "NACE Coating Inspector Level 1 - Certified" certification in the mail yesterday. Along with the AWS "Certified Welding Inspector" I received early last year just goes to prove that my Mom and Dad were always right... I'm certifiable. :)

As a Harley owner, Sal made a comment (all in good fun, of course) about my Japanese bike. I'll refrain from making any Sportster comments. :) I would love to have a Fat Boy or Heritage Softail, but I just couldn't justify it when there are other bikes that are just as nice for 1/2 the price. I kinda wanted to go with a Victory to stay in the American made market, but there aren't as many used ones around. I found two in town that were very nice, but both were overpriced (From dealers) at $10k and $12k. (I can't have a toy that is worth more than my truck, ya know.) Plus, I don't care for the look of the V-Twin as much on the Victory. It needs a little something more.

I think I found the helmet that I want. I'm going to go to a local dealer and see if I can find one to try on. Looks like it'll be the best of both worlds for what I like. The seller is also including a couple of helmets since I agreed to drive the full distance to his place. I don't know what he has, but I hope that it is something different so that I'll have choices when I ride without spending a lot of extra cash.

I'm bummed because I received my Fender Stratocaster Guitar Controller replacement from EA yesterday, and it didn't work right out of the box. The strum bar and the D-pad would not register any up/down movement. So now I have to get a second replacement. We started our Geezer Gamer Rock Band tournament last night, and I really wanted the Rock Band Guitar controller because I can't use the Guitar Hero II controller as well. A lot of the guys that I play with like the GHII controller better. I have three main problems with it. One is that it just doesn't fit my frame as well. The RB one is slightly larger and my arm is not at as much of an angle. Secondly, the fret buttons take up all of the fret "area" on the RB guitar. The GHII guitar has dead space around the buttons which I usually end up fretting instead of the button. Lastly, the RB guitar has positive stops (granted they are small, but they are there) on either side of the fret buttons (above the green and below the orange). This is extremely useful in finding my hand position if I get out of place and I have become a little reliant on them.

New Ride

Well, I haven't had the time to sit down and create a topical blog every night, or every other, like I wanted. So, I'm going to try a daily update format like my buddies Sal and Casey, with a topical post scattered about. I've enjoyed reading their updates.

So, I somehow convinced Glenda to let me get a bike. We are probably going to start trying to have a baby soon, and I wanted to go ahead and buy that big toy first, or it'd probably never happen. I've found a good deal on our inter-company classified ads. The only problem is that the seller works at one of our plant sites about 7 hrs away. He's agreed to meet me partway. I'm still trying to work out the logistics of getting it home if the weather is bad. I hope to meet him this weekend. The bike is a 2004 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic, 1600cc. It has several extras, including nice saddlebags, a windshield, and Vance & Hines pipes. It only has 5900 miles on it.

Glenda seems interested in riding. I hope it is something that she enjoys so that we can ride together occasionally.

This'll be the biggest bike I've ever driven. 800cc is the biggest I've ridden before.

The plan now is to sell my Mustang (1970 Mach 1, 351 Cleveland). I'll need to change the oil, clean the carburetor and get it ready when spring rolls around. I paid 6k for it, and I've put about $2500 into it. I rebuilt the engine, had the block bored .010 and bought new pistons, new cam, rebuilt the automatic transmission, put on a stall converter and put an edelbrock 850 carb on it. It still needs a little work and TLC (very little) to have a nice Sunday driver. The electrical system needs replacing. It has a serious ground that drains the battery real quick. The timing really needs to be tweaked because it is a bitch to start. The power steering valve has a bad leak also. It needs to be replaced. I just don't have the time, or the drive, to work on it anymore. That is part of the reason for the bike. It is something I can go out and ride and enjoy without spending all of my spare time on maintenance.

That'll be the day

I love Buddy Holly! I listened to the Greatest Hits CD I have the other day, which got me thinking about this post. For a bit of a background, I, like a lot of others my age, enjoy a wide variety of music styles, or genres if you will. More explanation than that really deserves it's own post, and I'll add it to my notes for future reference. I also discovered in college that I very much prefer to see a great band in a club setting rather than in an arena. This led me to follow closely a few bands that produced several great records, but never made it "big." This is also a subject for a future post, perhaps in the same one as above. But, what I realized is that sometimes it is difficult, if not downright impossible, to capture the energy and sound a band has on stage when recording in the studio. It'll turn out to be a washed out, less heavy sound, more on the pop side than anything recorded live by the same band.

Which leads me back to my love of Buddy Holly. My wife kind of makes fun of me, and I think she mainly hears the songs as bubble-gum and dismisses them as such.* But I listen to the songs, and I picture Buddy and the Crickets in my head. I can see Buddy up there with his Strat, his Fender Pro or Bassman or Twin Amp sitting behind him. Those amps are LOUD, to say the least. I can envision those guys playing a live show, with that equipment turned up, getting all of the distortion we're used to hearing today. I bet those shows were full of sound and energy, which would explain all of the screaming teenagers and the complaining parents. :) I would like to talk to someone that attended a show all of those years ago to see how they remember it.

On top of that are the great songs. Buddy's country roots shine through and his minimalistic riffs and hooks are just catchy. Add to that songs like "Everyday" with the celeste (xylophone sounding thing) and Jerry Allison slapping his knees for the percussion, and it just becomes brilliant.

There are many acts that I'd love to time-travel back to see perform live, The Who (with Moony of course), Elvis, Buck Owens with Don Rich, The Beatles to name a few; but I believe Buddy would have to be up there in #1 or 2, possibly only behind The Who.

This made so much more sense in my head than it does here in print. Hopefully some of you music enthusiasts get what I'm saying. Right?...

* - Not that I'm accusing her of being the only one in the house that's ever done that. The biggest example I can think of offhand is "No Rain" by Blind Melon. I saw the video a couple of times and heard it on the radio and dismissed it as pop drivel and quit listening to it. Many years later, I watched the "Behind the Music" on Blind Melon. And just seeing some of their live performances and getting a personal insight into the band kind of opened my eyes to them. Now when I hear that song, I turn it up instead of turning the station.

1984 (Not the Van Halen one)

Since I travel a lot with my new(ish) job, the company provides me with a cell phone with unlimited data and a worldwide plan. We had service through Cingular, and I had the 8525 smartphone, which I loved. It had windows mobile and mobile versions of the office applications. I even kept up with the gas mileage on my truck with excel. Websense blocks all gaming content from work, so I would use the phone to keep up with geezergamers.

Then one day Cingular crossed the line. One of our guys was in Brazil for two weeks, and at the end of the month, they billed him $8k! The charges included a download 200+MB (data is unlimited, but not out of country, apparently). To his phone, mind you. He had wireless at the hotel, so he didn't use the phone as a modem, so how the heck did he download that much? Anyway, the company tried in vain to get Cingular to negotiate. It went on for 6 months or so with the backcharges and penalties adding up. They finally settled for some large amount, and we dropped Cingular and moved to Verizon.

The only world coverage phone that was available from Verizon was the Blackberry World Edition. I just got mine in a few weeks ago. I don't like it near as much. It's ok, but I miss the touch screen, the bigger hide-away keyboard, and the windows mobile and its simpler integration with my outlook email and calendar. But the main reason that I don't like it is that, somehow, the web browsing is filtered through my company's network. So no more geezer gamers or webmail from my phone. :(

This is really going to suck when I'm in an airport bored out of my mind. Or when I'm at my parent's house 3 hours away, who don't have an internet connection (or computer for that matter) and I'm wanting to surf the web.

I'm hoping someone in the wireless communications biz can tell me how they do it. Just to satisfy my own curiosity.

What, me worry?

The quick update is, it's all together and working! Thank goodness.
Here is a list of what I used:

• Motherboard - XFX nForce 680i LT SLI Socket 775
• CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz
• Fan - Ultra X-Wind Socket 775
• RAM - Corsair XMS2 DHX 2048MB Dual Channel PC6400 DDR2 800MHz
• Power Supply - Ultra X-Finity 600-Watt SLI Ready
• Case - CoolerMaster CM690 ATX Mid-Tower Case
• RAID Array - 3 each Seagate Barracuda 750GB Hard Drives
• Graphics Card - NVIDIA GeForce 7200 GS 128MB (PCIe)
  
• TV Tuner Card (PCI)
  
• Parts used from previous build:
• 120GB IDE Hard Drive for OS
• NEC DVD RW
• Wireless Network Card (PCI)

I've installed XP Professional with the intentions of upgrading to Vista. As I've mentioned before, most of my free time is spent on the xBox 360 and I want to use the Media Center aspect of Vista to enhance my experience. I'm also hoping to be able to stream to the laptop downstairs and use it if I want to watch something in the living room.

So all of the players are in position, now it's time to implement. Until I get Vista installed, at least Glenda and I can begin moving our CD collection to the server, and she can begin arranging her digital photo albums. That alone should keep us busy for a few years. :)

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I only had off-white cd-rws in the old machine, but I had a black faced external DVD-RW drive that I had bought. I just took the case apart and put the drive in the new machine and put one of the cd-ws back into the enclosure.

Made in Malaise, yah?

Just a word of advice. Never buy a mobo, chip, and fan separately , or a barebones kit & a separate cpu fan. I've 'built' several computers for myself, but this is the first time I've gotten a mobo that didn't have the chip and fan already installed. Really, the socket 775 mobo and chip were no problem together. The way it's done now, without the need to press all of those pins down into place works great. Except, I later unclipped the bar that holds down the cpu cover plate to look at something, and when I was closing it back, I heard a loud snap... Not sure what that was about.

But the fan... sheesh! I worked on installing that thing for well over an hour and ½! I was putting so much pressure on it trying to secure the clip that my thumb hurts this morning. I have no idea how I kept from snapping the mobo in-two. I read reviews of every socket 775 cpu fan on the website and chose one that someone specifically stated fit my mobo with no problems. Well, I had problems. (I'll add mobo and fan specifics later for those that may want or need to know) The fan has a plastic mounting plate that clips to the mobo and then some metal clasps that fit onto that mounting plate to hold the fan and heat-sink down onto the cpu. It's made that way because the heat-sink is huge and you wouldn't be able to mount it to the mobo if it was all one piece. So, I chose the orientation of the mounting plate so that the metal clips would be on the sides where it seemed they would cause the least problems. If the hold down clips had just been oriented 45º from their actual position, all would have been right with the world. In one position, the metal clips would have had to have been forced between the mounting plate and some kind of (what looked like) key components that didn't need to be disturbed. In the other orientation, they would have to be forced down next to a small heat-sink on one side, and a small fan over a nVidia mobo chip on the other. I chose this latter orientation because it seemed to be the less chance for harming anything. Well, the small heat-sink also interferes with the mounting plate, and even after using a knife and shaving it down a bit, it doesn't fit all of the way down completely. So, after fooling with this thing for an hour with it slipping all around on the thermal grease on top of the cpu, I finally got it clipped into place, but I still don't know that it'll be 100% effective because it may not be sitting flat on the cpu. (and I may have broken a dozen different things...)

Anyway, I should be done installing all 4 hddrives and the add-on cards tonight, so I'm hoping to fire it up to BIOS before going to bed to make sure it's at least working at that level. Jeez I spent a lot of money on this stuff.

Before you accuse me

Since I'll be complaining a lot about stupid people, I might as well start close to home. As in with myself. Warning, there will be a lot of geek talk in the next following paragraphs.

I have a really old desktop that I have replaced everything at least once, most things at least twice. The mobo is older and only supports usb 1.0. It's sloooowwww. I've been debating for over a year now, trying to decide between a desktop or a laptop replacement. My wife, aka Glenda, has a new Nikon D40 digital SLR, I have a newish Zune, and Gleda will be getting some sort of mp3 player soon, and iPod classic or a Zune probably. So we want a lot of storage space and want our data to be protected. What I decided on was to get a laptop we could use on the wireless network to store our data on a file server. I kept looking but never buying, then this past black friday, I made an impulse purchase on a Dell Inspiron from Wal-Mart. Pretty nice computer for the price. With that trigger pulled, I started scheming for a low cost server. Tigerdirect had some 750gb hdds on sale, so I decided to get 3, buy a pci raid controller and use my old desktop as my server. To overcome its hardware shortcomings, I figured I would buy a docking station for the laptop and use it to do anything more strenuous than server maintenance. So, for $598 for the laptop and about $500 for the hdds, I was getting 1.5Tb of storage and some mobility. Not too shabby.

Now for the part about my stupidity... I browse ebay and find a Dell docking station and monitor stand for a steal. Bought it and installed it. I go to set the laptop in and I can't get it to seat properly. I remove it, turn it over, and guess what. Yes, that's right, I didn't even check to see if it had the port replicator attachment built in. Sheesh. So now I've got to decide where to go from there. Ended up today buying a barebones kit for $695. Socket 775 mobo, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 & fan, 256mb pcie video card, 600w p/s. I'll turn the server into a workhorse type and just use the laptop for mobility.

I'm out a lot more than I originally wanted to be, but chances are I'd be replacing the mobo or 1.1 ghz amd on the old machine soon anyway. Now I have the hardware to set up a nice DVR also.

Guten Tag, sunnamabadges!

Hello from the world of TheGuns1ing3r. I'll use this space to mostly complain about my job, complain about stupid people (of which there seems to be an abundance), complain about... a lot of stuff. I'm a firm believer in the idea that having a good attitude and concentrating on the good things helps to keep you happy and stave off depression, so I try not to do a lot of complaining out loud, so I will use this space here to do most of it. ;-)

I'll also try to completely bore you with the monotony of my everyday geek-life.

So, a brief intro for those that don't know me. To quote from "my"space, "Your typical uber-geek / engineer. I love to quote Monty Python, Mel Brooks movies, Caddyshack, Airplane, etc. You know, all the cool stuff..." Most of my free time these days is spent in front of the xBox 360 playing online with my friends at GeezerGamers and the GG SouthEast Clan.

I'm a mechanical engineer by education, and now in vendor quality surveillance by employment.