Life has been busy with work but nothing hugely significant happening. I continue to stay up past my bedtime reading blips of the most random things available on the interweb, my taxes are done (at 5 am after staying up through the night during the big Chicago snow storm last week) and our fish party was a success.
VALENTINO!
How could I forget the most awesome fish ever? Last year for Valentines Day Anna was feeling sad about not being able to have a puppy in our apartments so I got her something even better, a velvet red beta fish. Given the circumstances under his birth into the Healey family we decided to name him Valentino. Fast forward one year, first birthday party for big V. Having a fish themed birthday party was our second best theme party we've thrown, next to the To Catch A Predator party where I dressed up as Chris Hansen, the girls as little school girls and the other men as creepy old guys.
For the big day we supplied sushi, red velvet cake, gummy worms, gummy sharks, Swedish fish and goldfish crackers. The entertainment for the night revolved around our attempts to get Valentino to jump out of his fishbowl and through a flaming hoop of death but when he wouldn't we decided to sit back and watch a few of the BBC Planet Earth series documentaries. The party fizzled and eventually Anna and I turned on SNL and went to bed.
Techy Geeky Updates
None this time. Someday I'll put together a nice comprehensive outline of my offices hardware/software schematic so anybody wondering how they might be able to configure their optometry office can see how we did it, learn from my mistakes and ask their own questions. So far ECR Vault is working fantastic at getting the patients files scanned and properly organized into OfficeMate.
Later.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Just a quick word
It's late again. Earlier today Microsoft decided to make a OneNote iPhone app! I've never been much for all the different note taking apps reviewed on Gizmodo or Lifehacker, mostly because I don't take notes, but OneNote has a bit of a special place in my heart from back in the day I bought my first laptop for school and religiously used the Office '03 flavor for everything I could. My new found interest in this one has perked curiosity in all the other note taking apps people have been squealing over (Evernote and Simplenote specifically). I'll have to give them all a shot and jot down my thoughts another time. As for now, I'm still enjoying my new Moleskine notebook Anna gave me for Christmas... so soft, smooth and classy!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
More Addiction
The time is 1:33 a.m. and I’m considering googling “tech’s anonymous” to see if there’s some kind of group I can go to in order to overcome my addictions to reading about all these fun gadgets that are coming out. Each morning I wake up and the first thing I do is check my phone for the 3 am daily email I receive from Newegg.com about their Shell Shocker deals. At work today I spent the bulk of my working hours watching the tech support remotely install ECR Vault on the server and workstations and the rest of the day playing with the scanner (which is amazingly fast) and receiving the official training from the technician. A quick word about the process, with our officejet all-in-one it would take about 2 minutes to scan and assign each sheet of paper in a patients file, with a touch of training my coworker ripped through about 200 insurance claims and attached them to the corresponding patient files in about an hour and a half. It took her longer to go through the stack of papers taking out the staples than it did scanning and archiving them.
Another little ditty about my adventures through silicon-land… last night I spent almost 5 hours on the phone with my dad giving tech support to him. After a little bit I logged in to his computer and tested out the fantastic LogMeIn program. Remote assistance at its finest! Many failed attempts with the default Windows Remote Assistance tool through Windows Messenger had me a little flustered so I finally caved in and signed up for this service I’ve seen mentioned here and there in all my tech pr0n I’ve been reading. Highly recommended. The LogMeIn Free edition in conjunction with Dropbox gives amazing functionality to anybody trying to help somebody out (and please, if you’re reading this and thinking about doing the Dropbox thing, use my link and we’ll both get an extra bit of free online space in our accounts).
It’s late, I’m tired.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
The next weekly post.
Anna hasn't been feeling well. She's been on her ped's rotation and probably picked some little bug up from one of the kids which has left her with headaches and a sore throat. Today was suppose to be spent in the peds ER but she decided to call in sick so it isn't spread to the rest of the world. I feel bad for my little wifey, she's a sniffley mess.
Sushi has come and gone three times this month so far. Once at our neighborhood favorite place Ichiban, once at a higher class place for one of our friends birthday parties called Hachi's Kitchen, and lastly we used a Restaurant.com coupon at a place called Blue Fin Sushi. Hachi's gets the award for the tastiest and classiest place, Blue Fin would be the most cost effective place if you're buying a couple rolls individually but Ichiban still remains my all time favorite with their awesome taste and the all you can eat option. Lucky for me it's just a block from where we live!
Work has been chugging along. Last week I spent a few 12 hour days getting the office computers updated with the latest software so we can begin going paperless. We will be one of the first established Chicago optometry offices to change from a paper files system to paperless EMR (electronic medical records). Last week Officemate was installed on our newly built server. One of the challenges with converting an office like ours (established over 15 years ago) is scanning all the paper files into the server. All should be set up this coming week using ECR Vault which I'll be teaching co-workers about so they can do all the gruntwork of getting things scanned.
The rest of the family videos came this week as well. There was a bit of a scare when the box was opened because one of the videos got crunched during shipping (thanks UPS), however, the video that broke was the Safety First video from my dad around the 2002 Olympics and there's plenty of backups. None of the other videos have backups (which is why I'm doing this). I've only started on one of the videos but I've found a few jems I've posted to Facebook and one to Youtube.
Sushi has come and gone three times this month so far. Once at our neighborhood favorite place Ichiban, once at a higher class place for one of our friends birthday parties called Hachi's Kitchen, and lastly we used a Restaurant.com coupon at a place called Blue Fin Sushi. Hachi's gets the award for the tastiest and classiest place, Blue Fin would be the most cost effective place if you're buying a couple rolls individually but Ichiban still remains my all time favorite with their awesome taste and the all you can eat option. Lucky for me it's just a block from where we live!
Work has been chugging along. Last week I spent a few 12 hour days getting the office computers updated with the latest software so we can begin going paperless. We will be one of the first established Chicago optometry offices to change from a paper files system to paperless EMR (electronic medical records). Last week Officemate was installed on our newly built server. One of the challenges with converting an office like ours (established over 15 years ago) is scanning all the paper files into the server. All should be set up this coming week using ECR Vault which I'll be teaching co-workers about so they can do all the gruntwork of getting things scanned.
The rest of the family videos came this week as well. There was a bit of a scare when the box was opened because one of the videos got crunched during shipping (thanks UPS), however, the video that broke was the Safety First video from my dad around the 2002 Olympics and there's plenty of backups. None of the other videos have backups (which is why I'm doing this). I've only started on one of the videos but I've found a few jems I've posted to Facebook and one to Youtube.
Friday, January 7, 2011
New Years Resolution
Anna gave me a small Moleskin notebook to write things down in, I think I'll use it to jot notes about what I want to blog while I'm out and about... then I'll write at least once a week about it. Well, that's the plan
Just a small post
Geeking ahead
I'm in the middle of playing with my computer... overclocking my Intel Core i5 750, trying to get the voltage right so I can get a stable OC (at 4.0 GHz), so I'm going to keep the post small.
Recently I built a server and tonight I finally got the software and everything working properly. It's going to take a while to get use to the new setup. It's a huge step towards getting our office to go completely paperless! Bring on the Electronic Medical Records! We'll be the first optometrists office that I know of to get rid of the paper charts!
In other news, I've also been having fun overclocking. If anybody is googling the problem with 3DMark 11 having problems when it gets to the physics test, the solution is to close 3DMark and when you reopen it, right click and "run as administrator" and that should fix the problem. I believe the problem is coming when the program doesn't have access to view the hardware specifications of the computer but it never brings up that windows UAC popup that asks for administrative controls to make changes/view the computers files. That solution worked for me (it's also the reason why the program works when you uncheck the box to scan for computer hardware in the settings tab). I still get some pretty sad readings from 3DMark 11, I'm only running it on a Radeon 5750, one of the lower end DX11 cards. 3DMark Vantage gives me fair results, but it just isn't built for any kind of real performance with tessellation or any of the other DX11 eye candy.
The lovin'
The biggest news recently is that Anna and I have finally gone on our (much deserved) honeymoon! We're only 2.5 years late, and we did have to travel in 2 separate vehicles again (different flights down, same flight back home) which doesn't even compare to the previous honeymoon we had (moving ourselves, driving across the country at 45 mph in two separate cars).
Aside from the hiccup in flight plans, everything else went off without a hitch! We both arrived at the Miami airport on the Tuesday before Christmas and cabbed it down to South Beach where our hotel was. We stayed at the Astor Hotel which I highly recommend (if you like great music playing right outside your window each evening and birds chirping in the courtyard each morning). We ended up spending huge amounts of our time laying out on South Beach (two short blocks away) or bumming around the streets looking for little shops to wander around. Fatburger was just across the street which was a great help to attaining my goal of hardened arteries at a young age, but my favorite little shop was the small French bakery right across the street from the hotel.
I do want to keep writing, however, I am very distractable and Anna is calling for me... I must go!
Edit: Also, I really need to tell y'all about that video project I was working on throughout 2010 for my parents. I put all our home videos to DVD, it only took about 200 man hours, some sweat and a few tears (usually tears of laughter when I saw myself or other siblings doing something ridiculously awesome). December was an intense month getting that put together. I also used Lightscribe DVDs to burn titles and screenshots as labels for each one.
I'm in the middle of playing with my computer... overclocking my Intel Core i5 750, trying to get the voltage right so I can get a stable OC (at 4.0 GHz), so I'm going to keep the post small.
Recently I built a server and tonight I finally got the software and everything working properly. It's going to take a while to get use to the new setup. It's a huge step towards getting our office to go completely paperless! Bring on the Electronic Medical Records! We'll be the first optometrists office that I know of to get rid of the paper charts!
In other news, I've also been having fun overclocking. If anybody is googling the problem with 3DMark 11 having problems when it gets to the physics test, the solution is to close 3DMark and when you reopen it, right click and "run as administrator" and that should fix the problem. I believe the problem is coming when the program doesn't have access to view the hardware specifications of the computer but it never brings up that windows UAC popup that asks for administrative controls to make changes/view the computers files. That solution worked for me (it's also the reason why the program works when you uncheck the box to scan for computer hardware in the settings tab). I still get some pretty sad readings from 3DMark 11, I'm only running it on a Radeon 5750, one of the lower end DX11 cards. 3DMark Vantage gives me fair results, but it just isn't built for any kind of real performance with tessellation or any of the other DX11 eye candy.
The lovin'
The biggest news recently is that Anna and I have finally gone on our (much deserved) honeymoon! We're only 2.5 years late, and we did have to travel in 2 separate vehicles again (different flights down, same flight back home) which doesn't even compare to the previous honeymoon we had (moving ourselves, driving across the country at 45 mph in two separate cars).
Aside from the hiccup in flight plans, everything else went off without a hitch! We both arrived at the Miami airport on the Tuesday before Christmas and cabbed it down to South Beach where our hotel was. We stayed at the Astor Hotel which I highly recommend (if you like great music playing right outside your window each evening and birds chirping in the courtyard each morning). We ended up spending huge amounts of our time laying out on South Beach (two short blocks away) or bumming around the streets looking for little shops to wander around. Fatburger was just across the street which was a great help to attaining my goal of hardened arteries at a young age, but my favorite little shop was the small French bakery right across the street from the hotel.
I do want to keep writing, however, I am very distractable and Anna is calling for me... I must go!
Edit: Also, I really need to tell y'all about that video project I was working on throughout 2010 for my parents. I put all our home videos to DVD, it only took about 200 man hours, some sweat and a few tears (usually tears of laughter when I saw myself or other siblings doing something ridiculously awesome). December was an intense month getting that put together. I also used Lightscribe DVDs to burn titles and screenshots as labels for each one.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Another test…
I’m doing much better at going to bed early (for the last two days at least) but I did get a small distraction tonight when I saw the Windows Live Writer in my start menu… had to try it out.
In other developments, if anybody cares to search for Adobe Creative Suite 2 (Adobe CS2) in search of installation tips for Windows 7 (x64) I was able to finagle my way into installing the programs without having to install them through the virtual machine. It must be a completely clean install, get rid of any traces of an Adobe Creative Suite product because when you insert the first of the installation cd’s it must ask which folder to install the programs to. By default Win7 will assign it to the Program Files (x86) folder but I think the Adobe program doesn’t view the parenthesis as valid characters for a destination folder, so it wont install, the next thought was to install it in the regular Program Files folder, but that either doesn’t work or it will install but when you open the program it crashes each time you try to enter a product key. Create a new folder! I suggest naming it “Adobe” and having it as a first level folder under whichever drive you decide to install the programs on. All subsequent Adobe 32 bit programs should automatically chose that as the default installation folder, 64 bit programs will go to the regular Program Files folder as they should.
The only problem I’ve run into so far is that the Acrobat 7.0 print driver (print to .pdf) doesn’t function properly (when trying to print from other applications/web browsers to .pdf) but that was easily remedied by installing the free application doPDF 7. I’ll admit, I’m an extremely light CS user so there may be a whole realm of other things that don’t work, but this is the only one I’ve run across that doesn’t want to cooperate.
Good luck, have a good night. I’m going to crawl into my new bed sheets next to my little wife.
Late.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
My recent business...
I'm still plugging and chugging away at this thing called life. Chicago is getting to that short point in the year where the weather is bearable and Anna is happy because it's her favorite season. The leaves are turning colors and the wind doesn't quite feel so humid anymore. In the mornings the ground is slightly moist from the dew signaling the imminent close of longboarding season (moisture, leaves and road grime don't fare well with $100 skate bearings). I should be getting ready to pull out the visqueen to insulate the windows from the upcoming bitter cold winter. I've managed to keep staying up late with my crazy ventures on my computer, the various projects I'll give a few details.
I've run in to a few hiccups with the "big project" I've been working on, but things will work out. It's just required me redoing the entire project (another 50 to 60 base hours) plus an additional 1/2 to 1 hour each section (22 total) to overcome the little hiccups that are happening due to my cheap software and hardware limitations. In researching my options to make this project a little simpler for myself I came across some of my dream setups. While checking out these pricey gizmos I was able to give myself a few more distractions to fill the deficit in ADD.
The first project (distraction from the main project) was found while researching software options. I love Adobe software, that stuff is like cocaine to me (or what I would imagine cocaine being like). It began while looking at the academic pricing schedule, the software looked great but was all pretty expensive (almost $1000 for most single programs without the student discount, around two or three hundred with the discounts) so I decided I'd struggle some more with my cheap software and just put in the extra man hours to manually correct the audio problems. I noticed one program was completely free for students, Adobe Flash Builder 4, used for building applications for computers, phones and websites. I've always been interested in how to build these applications and have thought of uses for my own little apps so I applied using my DePaul .edu email address for the free software. About a week later I was accepted and given a free license to learn and use it! I haven't really done anything with it other than take a small look at the interface, but it's a great tool for when I decide to dig deeper.
A short time later I received an email from the Adobe Student program reminding me about my "last chance to enter a submission to the Slamdance/Adobe Re-Cut Competition." I didn't hear about it before, but I have some interest in video editing, and I consider myself a software whore, so I checked it out. The competition includes downloading a video composed of a bunch of different scenes (with 2 or 3 takes each) of an independent movie which will be shown at the Slamdance Movie Festival in Park City, cutting up the takes into one smooth flowing scene (a chase scene, but according to the rules of the contest I can't really tell you much about it without risking my disqualification), burning it to DVD and mailing it in. The winner gets his "re-cut" put into the final movie along with a paid trip to the festival (in UT, I would get to see my family and mountains again!) and a huge package of Adobe software (Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium, about $1,700 worth). All the Finalists get the CS5 package and tickets (but not airfare and hotel to the show) while every participant in the show gets a license for Adobe Premier Pro CS5 (the main software program for the video editing, which I've been doing a lot of, which would really simplify my life).
I entered the contest, downloaded the trial software and cut together a little bit of magic to submit. If I'm lucky I'll be a finalist and get to bask in the glory of the whole suite of software getting to use the video editing for my main project, but more importantly I'd get Photoshop (which I'm in love with). As it is, I did send in a submission so I will get the video editing anyway. If the stars align and the winds are just right and I won, I'd get a trip to Utah for the film festival, hotel, software and the ability to chill with my family for a while (squee!) which is something I've only been able to do twice in the last 2 years and probably wont get to do again for another long time. Do I hear "ski trip" if I win? I would absolutely love to see my family sometime soon.
I'm not just a software geek, I like hardware too. I've really been eyeballing THIS little treasure for all my project needs too. Works flawlessly with the software and it would complete the necessary components to streamline all my efforts into one seamless flow of productivity.
Enough with the geek talk. This video really makes me happy
Adobe Eyeballs from Seagulls Fly on Vimeo.
It's getting late, I've been busy with some photo shoots lately and I've got a hair show tomorrow, another fashion show next weekend and a Halloween show on the 30th. They should keep me occupied for a while.
To all my imaginary friends reading this, thanks. Have a great October!
I've run in to a few hiccups with the "big project" I've been working on, but things will work out. It's just required me redoing the entire project (another 50 to 60 base hours) plus an additional 1/2 to 1 hour each section (22 total) to overcome the little hiccups that are happening due to my cheap software and hardware limitations. In researching my options to make this project a little simpler for myself I came across some of my dream setups. While checking out these pricey gizmos I was able to give myself a few more distractions to fill the deficit in ADD.
The first project (distraction from the main project) was found while researching software options. I love Adobe software, that stuff is like cocaine to me (or what I would imagine cocaine being like). It began while looking at the academic pricing schedule, the software looked great but was all pretty expensive (almost $1000 for most single programs without the student discount, around two or three hundred with the discounts) so I decided I'd struggle some more with my cheap software and just put in the extra man hours to manually correct the audio problems. I noticed one program was completely free for students, Adobe Flash Builder 4, used for building applications for computers, phones and websites. I've always been interested in how to build these applications and have thought of uses for my own little apps so I applied using my DePaul .edu email address for the free software. About a week later I was accepted and given a free license to learn and use it! I haven't really done anything with it other than take a small look at the interface, but it's a great tool for when I decide to dig deeper.
A short time later I received an email from the Adobe Student program reminding me about my "last chance to enter a submission to the Slamdance/Adobe Re-Cut Competition." I didn't hear about it before, but I have some interest in video editing, and I consider myself a software whore, so I checked it out. The competition includes downloading a video composed of a bunch of different scenes (with 2 or 3 takes each) of an independent movie which will be shown at the Slamdance Movie Festival in Park City, cutting up the takes into one smooth flowing scene (a chase scene, but according to the rules of the contest I can't really tell you much about it without risking my disqualification), burning it to DVD and mailing it in. The winner gets his "re-cut" put into the final movie along with a paid trip to the festival (in UT, I would get to see my family and mountains again!) and a huge package of Adobe software (Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium, about $1,700 worth). All the Finalists get the CS5 package and tickets (but not airfare and hotel to the show) while every participant in the show gets a license for Adobe Premier Pro CS5 (the main software program for the video editing, which I've been doing a lot of, which would really simplify my life).
I entered the contest, downloaded the trial software and cut together a little bit of magic to submit. If I'm lucky I'll be a finalist and get to bask in the glory of the whole suite of software getting to use the video editing for my main project, but more importantly I'd get Photoshop (which I'm in love with). As it is, I did send in a submission so I will get the video editing anyway. If the stars align and the winds are just right and I won, I'd get a trip to Utah for the film festival, hotel, software and the ability to chill with my family for a while (squee!) which is something I've only been able to do twice in the last 2 years and probably wont get to do again for another long time. Do I hear "ski trip" if I win? I would absolutely love to see my family sometime soon.
I'm not just a software geek, I like hardware too. I've really been eyeballing THIS little treasure for all my project needs too. Works flawlessly with the software and it would complete the necessary components to streamline all my efforts into one seamless flow of productivity.
Enough with the geek talk. This video really makes me happy
Adobe Eyeballs from Seagulls Fly on Vimeo.
It's getting late, I've been busy with some photo shoots lately and I've got a hair show tomorrow, another fashion show next weekend and a Halloween show on the 30th. They should keep me occupied for a while.
To all my imaginary friends reading this, thanks. Have a great October!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
FINISHED!
The secret project is pretty much finished... just need to talk to a few other people about how we want to package it up and present it and things should be completely wrapped up pretty soon. I've been slowly working on this project since the end of April this year and it's really nice to have it all finished up.
Another thing coming up is the annual Healey boy pushup cup. I'm pretty surprised to say that I've never won the cup, life gets in the way and I've always gotten burned out, injured or beat by just a few pushups to take the title. This year it's mine. I'm starting to think about it now so I can have my full momentum at the start of the month. Here's a little training program I found to help get prepped for the contest. Looks like a good little site for slowly upping my numbers without hurting myself (like I tend to do each year). I just hope I can eat enough to keep energized and keep from injuring my elbows again.
Another thing I'm excited about this upcoming season is cyclocross. Here's a video, if you know anything about me, you'll be able to see why I want to get involved in the sport.
U.S. gran prix of cyclocross from Jim Fryer/BrakeThrough Media on Vimeo.
It'll be cold, but I'm fine with cold if I'm having fun! Last year I had the privilege of going out to one of the races and watching it happen, maybe this year I'll find somebody with a bike I can borrow and get in a race for myself.
Another thing coming up is the annual Healey boy pushup cup. I'm pretty surprised to say that I've never won the cup, life gets in the way and I've always gotten burned out, injured or beat by just a few pushups to take the title. This year it's mine. I'm starting to think about it now so I can have my full momentum at the start of the month. Here's a little training program I found to help get prepped for the contest. Looks like a good little site for slowly upping my numbers without hurting myself (like I tend to do each year). I just hope I can eat enough to keep energized and keep from injuring my elbows again.
Another thing I'm excited about this upcoming season is cyclocross. Here's a video, if you know anything about me, you'll be able to see why I want to get involved in the sport.
U.S. gran prix of cyclocross from Jim Fryer/BrakeThrough Media on Vimeo.
It'll be cold, but I'm fine with cold if I'm having fun! Last year I had the privilege of going out to one of the races and watching it happen, maybe this year I'll find somebody with a bike I can borrow and get in a race for myself.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Secrets Are So Much Fun
So I've been diligently working on a secret project for some secret family and it's going to be a pretty big surprise, unless the secret gets out. It's been fairly time consuming however I've been having an absolute blast at it. Some of my family know about it and others don't, but it's been a great project to work on and things are coming together quite nicely. However, if I keep writing about it I'll probably end up spilling the beans and I don't want my parents Christmas present ruined early (oops, did I say that?)
Aside from the project, I've been jumping through hoops left and right to get ready for the imminent arrival of the eighth of September, which happens to be the first day of classes at DePaul. I really regret to inform everybody of some sad news. Due to multiple circumstances involving time, transfer credits, money and work I will not be able to attend DePaul University to complete my undergraduate degree in Chemistry in preparation for optometry school. Not enough credits transferred from BYU to DePaul so I would need to be in school for more than 2 years in order to finish, which means if Anna matches in California (fingers are crossed that she will) then I would have to leave school again just before I would graduate. So I'll wait until we know where we're going to be for the next set amount of time before attempting to finish school.
It's a nice weight off my chest, to have made a decision about what I'm going to be spending my time doing for the next couple years. I wouldn't be a very nice person to be around if I was back in school full time and had a part time job to help pay the bills (which is why I did so poorly while I was at BYU, too much on my plate).
It's getting late again, and I just finished with another one of the project sections, I'm going to bed.
Aside from the project, I've been jumping through hoops left and right to get ready for the imminent arrival of the eighth of September, which happens to be the first day of classes at DePaul. I really regret to inform everybody of some sad news. Due to multiple circumstances involving time, transfer credits, money and work I will not be able to attend DePaul University to complete my undergraduate degree in Chemistry in preparation for optometry school. Not enough credits transferred from BYU to DePaul so I would need to be in school for more than 2 years in order to finish, which means if Anna matches in California (fingers are crossed that she will) then I would have to leave school again just before I would graduate. So I'll wait until we know where we're going to be for the next set amount of time before attempting to finish school.
It's a nice weight off my chest, to have made a decision about what I'm going to be spending my time doing for the next couple years. I wouldn't be a very nice person to be around if I was back in school full time and had a part time job to help pay the bills (which is why I did so poorly while I was at BYU, too much on my plate).
It's getting late again, and I just finished with another one of the project sections, I'm going to bed.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
I haven't given up yet
Don't worry all you fans (and all of the imaginary people I like to think are reading this) I didn't forget about my blogging like I did last year after the few posts I put up... I'm still here. I just like being distracted by the random things of the world, like this great little gem:
I've also been very distracted with the important things in life, like getting ready for school. The two placement tests went well, I'm happy with my score on the math test even though it took quite the brain racking to remember the rules of logarithms and some of the trig rules. The writing assignment involved an article written by the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and why that article would be beneficial in a college course entitled Arts and Memorials. It wasn't very hard, but it took some patience and focus, two things I generally run short on (for example, half way through this paragraph I took a break to watch an old episode of Get Smart... ADD sucks).
AutoHotKey and other hotkey shortcuts
I don't know if I've mentioned before that I've been a complete Gizmodo.com, Lifehacker.com, Wired.com and TomsHardware.com addict, but I am. I've been keeping up fairly well with all the new little gadgets coming out in the world as well as little tips and tricks to be more efficient (which just lets me more effectively peruse more random sites faster). Just last night I spent some time reading about coding AutoHotKeys, one in particular that interested me was the "email myself a reminder" code. I've set it up so if I hit the Windows key and "G" then a small window pops up that says "Reminder: What do I need to remember?" with a space to type whatever I'd like, then it sends that to my email with my message in the subject line. Very useful because many times I'll come across something while at work that I'd like to read but don't have the time right then to make any sense of it, so I'll copy the link of the website and paste it in the message section of that email function and later I'll be able to go back to finish catching up on that topic. The program that runs this is called AutoHotKey and I'm really looking forward to seeing what other handy things can be done with it. I've been tempted to look into this before but haven't ever spent the time to figure it out.
I know it'll take me a bit of time to create and remember these shortcuts, but once I do I know it'll be a great time saver while I'm at work on my obnoxiously slow laptop. One of the programs I know to use a huge array of shortcuts and hotkeys is photoshop, which I was doing a great job learning and becoming proficient in (CS2) and hotkeys were essential to getting work done with any kind of speed, especially when working with photoshop on my old small dying underpowered laptop. The real credit should go when commenting about my desire to utilize shortcut keys more, is to the books for dummies that I used in learning photoshop. Prior to that I would only use copy, paste and on occasion select all.
/random-bit-about-hotkeys
My acting career
Apparently I'm also an actor. This past week Dad texted me asking if I had started doing commercials and specifically if I did a commercial in a hammock. I don't. But there is somebody on an eHarmony commercial that some people think looks like me. Check around the 12 second mark, he even has eyes that don't look like they go together perfectly!
Sorry Dad, I'm not an actor and I don't think I really ever want to be (but if there's some high paying job out there that wants me, I'd probably still do it).
School Computers
So you all should know by now that I'm a bit of a geek and a gadget freak. This makes me really excited to go back to school because it gives me legitimate reasons to scout out some new things I might need! I know I'm not going to be able to lug around my old laptop (may it rest in peace) anymore. This last year I knew I wasn't going to be able to use it much longer so I built myself a sexy new computer (photos). With this powerhouse I can do almost anything when it comes to computers... except take it with me. For this reason I've been reading up on some of the planned tablets and netbook computers that are out there. I really don't know how useful an iPad would be to me at school (not to mention those are pretty expensive) and I'm a little afraid of the soon to come tablets being comparable to it in the same ways Android phones are comparable to iPhones. I'm really scared that if I dive in to one of those that I'll need a keyboard and more functionality than what those will offer. A laptop would be great but I don't know if I want something that big... maybe a netbook? I've been doing some research on them and they seem to be pretty mobile and agile little guys, but they've got some ridiculously little screens as opposed to regular laptops. They're also getting very inexpensive, trying to keep their bit of the market share when they're competing against the upcoming horde of tablets that should be coming out soon. With these teeny little screens it was suggested on one website that the user become friendly with hotkey functions (which is what really lit the fire that got me to install some last night). The touchpads on them are so small they're almost useless, but with the use of these function keys, most work on a netbook can almost be done solely on the keyboard! There's some other benefits and some disadvantages, but I'll figure those out if I ever get serious about one of these little guys (because right now it's just another thing I'd have piled up on my desk, it will get use if I go full time in school).
Anyway, it's past my bed time, again.
Later
I've also been very distracted with the important things in life, like getting ready for school. The two placement tests went well, I'm happy with my score on the math test even though it took quite the brain racking to remember the rules of logarithms and some of the trig rules. The writing assignment involved an article written by the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and why that article would be beneficial in a college course entitled Arts and Memorials. It wasn't very hard, but it took some patience and focus, two things I generally run short on (for example, half way through this paragraph I took a break to watch an old episode of Get Smart... ADD sucks).
AutoHotKey and other hotkey shortcuts
I don't know if I've mentioned before that I've been a complete Gizmodo.com, Lifehacker.com, Wired.com and TomsHardware.com addict, but I am. I've been keeping up fairly well with all the new little gadgets coming out in the world as well as little tips and tricks to be more efficient (which just lets me more effectively peruse more random sites faster). Just last night I spent some time reading about coding AutoHotKeys, one in particular that interested me was the "email myself a reminder" code. I've set it up so if I hit the Windows key and "G" then a small window pops up that says "Reminder: What do I need to remember?" with a space to type whatever I'd like, then it sends that to my email with my message in the subject line. Very useful because many times I'll come across something while at work that I'd like to read but don't have the time right then to make any sense of it, so I'll copy the link of the website and paste it in the message section of that email function and later I'll be able to go back to finish catching up on that topic. The program that runs this is called AutoHotKey and I'm really looking forward to seeing what other handy things can be done with it. I've been tempted to look into this before but haven't ever spent the time to figure it out.
I know it'll take me a bit of time to create and remember these shortcuts, but once I do I know it'll be a great time saver while I'm at work on my obnoxiously slow laptop. One of the programs I know to use a huge array of shortcuts and hotkeys is photoshop, which I was doing a great job learning and becoming proficient in (CS2) and hotkeys were essential to getting work done with any kind of speed, especially when working with photoshop on my old small dying underpowered laptop. The real credit should go when commenting about my desire to utilize shortcut keys more, is to the books for dummies that I used in learning photoshop. Prior to that I would only use copy, paste and on occasion select all.
/random-bit-about-hotkeys
My acting career
Apparently I'm also an actor. This past week Dad texted me asking if I had started doing commercials and specifically if I did a commercial in a hammock. I don't. But there is somebody on an eHarmony commercial that some people think looks like me. Check around the 12 second mark, he even has eyes that don't look like they go together perfectly!
Sorry Dad, I'm not an actor and I don't think I really ever want to be (but if there's some high paying job out there that wants me, I'd probably still do it).
School Computers
So you all should know by now that I'm a bit of a geek and a gadget freak. This makes me really excited to go back to school because it gives me legitimate reasons to scout out some new things I might need! I know I'm not going to be able to lug around my old laptop (may it rest in peace) anymore. This last year I knew I wasn't going to be able to use it much longer so I built myself a sexy new computer (photos). With this powerhouse I can do almost anything when it comes to computers... except take it with me. For this reason I've been reading up on some of the planned tablets and netbook computers that are out there. I really don't know how useful an iPad would be to me at school (not to mention those are pretty expensive) and I'm a little afraid of the soon to come tablets being comparable to it in the same ways Android phones are comparable to iPhones. I'm really scared that if I dive in to one of those that I'll need a keyboard and more functionality than what those will offer. A laptop would be great but I don't know if I want something that big... maybe a netbook? I've been doing some research on them and they seem to be pretty mobile and agile little guys, but they've got some ridiculously little screens as opposed to regular laptops. They're also getting very inexpensive, trying to keep their bit of the market share when they're competing against the upcoming horde of tablets that should be coming out soon. With these teeny little screens it was suggested on one website that the user become friendly with hotkey functions (which is what really lit the fire that got me to install some last night). The touchpads on them are so small they're almost useless, but with the use of these function keys, most work on a netbook can almost be done solely on the keyboard! There's some other benefits and some disadvantages, but I'll figure those out if I ever get serious about one of these little guys (because right now it's just another thing I'd have piled up on my desk, it will get use if I go full time in school).
Anyway, it's past my bed time, again.
Later
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Is somebody trying to tell me something?
Before I explain the title I'm going to disclose the new blogging platform I'm testing out (which loosely ties in to the title). The iPhone is a pretty great tool, let's see how it handles.
Last night I wrote about the challenges of getting my tests taken in order to proceed with my schooling situation, another hurdle decided to show it's ugly face.
Last night I opened up the writing test to begin the 48 hour countdown but tonight while trying to log on to the site to read the article again I was disconnected from the internet. Not a huge deal, but it isn't something that happens a lot. So I reset the modem and do all the regular things to get it running again. Nothing. One long phone call later and I've got an appointment with a comcast tech guy to come out to the house to fix it... The only problem is the appointment is scheduled for Thursday, about 16 hours after my essay is due.
I'm not taking the hint, I'm going to keep trying to get in to school until I get completely stopped, then I'll just start doing online courses through BYU.
Am I really not suppose to go to DePaul? Sheesh!
Oh, and blogging on the iPhone kinda sucks. Maybe there's a good app for it, but the website definitely isn't designed for the mobile poster.
Last night I wrote about the challenges of getting my tests taken in order to proceed with my schooling situation, another hurdle decided to show it's ugly face.
Last night I opened up the writing test to begin the 48 hour countdown but tonight while trying to log on to the site to read the article again I was disconnected from the internet. Not a huge deal, but it isn't something that happens a lot. So I reset the modem and do all the regular things to get it running again. Nothing. One long phone call later and I've got an appointment with a comcast tech guy to come out to the house to fix it... The only problem is the appointment is scheduled for Thursday, about 16 hours after my essay is due.
I'm not taking the hint, I'm going to keep trying to get in to school until I get completely stopped, then I'll just start doing online courses through BYU.
Am I really not suppose to go to DePaul? Sheesh!
Oh, and blogging on the iPhone kinda sucks. Maybe there's a good app for it, but the website definitely isn't designed for the mobile poster.
DePaul Testing
Just a quick one tonight folks. I've been doing a pretty good job at getting to bed at a reasonable hour lately and I don't want to quit (even though I think I figured out why my subconscious has been telling my body to say up so late, but that's a story for another time).
The other night I wrote about my short stint on prescription drugs, I initially began the blog with a different story to write about, however, if you've been following me this far you can probably guess that I rarely stay on the subject at hand and I quickly follow tangents going into Lala Land (or Pink Fuzzy Train Land as was the case the last time around). I began with the intent to write about the struggles I was having getting myself organized enough to start at DePaul next month. One of the first requirements before orientation or registering for courses, or even before speaking with a counselor is that I have to take math and writing placement tests.
Website fail.
After reviewing a few of the necessary algebraic equations and rules about linear matrices I was ready for my big debut. I installed some calculus review programs on my iPhone, pulled out my trusty ol' HP RPN calculator, even reinstalled my old copy of Mathcad on my computer (even though I wouldn't be able to remember how to use it). Now I'm ready for the test. Last minute refresher: check. Log in to the DePaul website: check. Search the horrible website layout for the minuscule link buried deep inside the student section to take my test: check. Click the link: check. Read the rules about only clicking on the link once because the site will kick me off if I click twice: check. Click the start button once: check. Wait for it, wait for it, 5 minutes later and still waiting for it: check.
I was getting more and more nervous about taking the test. I refreshed the page only to see: Thank you, your test has been submitted. Aw crap. I guess I'll have to call tomorrow to get this straightened out.
So I decide to take the writing placement test. Same story. The link doesn't actually do anything so I can't read the article I'm suppose to write about. I try the dreaded second click on the link and get the same response as I got when I refreshed the page. Guess I'll have to call about both tests.
Today I finally got around to calling. Sue in the admissions office was nice enough to give me an external link and the required information to take the test through a site not related directly to the horrible design of the DePaul student site.
The math test has a two hour time limit, I'm definitely not taking that tonight. For the writing test I have to read an article about John Adams and write an argument as if I'm a student proposing this article be debated in a class. Why would I do that? I don't like reading articles more than three paragraphs long, much less one 8 pages long about a historical figure I don't want to debate about. I don't even like confrontations, why do I want to write an article presenting reasons TO debate when I've got the personality of a 'back of the classroom observer'? These people presume I actually want to discuss this article when in reality, I don't even want to read it! If it had something about explosions or gadgets or any myriad of other techie/geeky types of things then I could probably pin my eye open long enough to scan and comprehend the article, but it's about John Adams... I hate history, I leave that for the historians! I want to do chemistry, math, physics and/or tear apart computers. There's very few historical figures I'm interested in enough to read an article about, and even fewer characters I would be able to find reasons to debate on the greatness of the person. Nikola Tesla is one of those people I'm absolutely enthralled with. Maybe it's just because I love mad scientists, but learning about that guy could keep my attention for days.
It's getting late and I work in 6 hours.
/rant
Oh, by the way, the new Transformers is going to be awesome.
The other night I wrote about my short stint on prescription drugs, I initially began the blog with a different story to write about, however, if you've been following me this far you can probably guess that I rarely stay on the subject at hand and I quickly follow tangents going into Lala Land (or Pink Fuzzy Train Land as was the case the last time around). I began with the intent to write about the struggles I was having getting myself organized enough to start at DePaul next month. One of the first requirements before orientation or registering for courses, or even before speaking with a counselor is that I have to take math and writing placement tests.
Website fail.
After reviewing a few of the necessary algebraic equations and rules about linear matrices I was ready for my big debut. I installed some calculus review programs on my iPhone, pulled out my trusty ol' HP RPN calculator, even reinstalled my old copy of Mathcad on my computer (even though I wouldn't be able to remember how to use it). Now I'm ready for the test. Last minute refresher: check. Log in to the DePaul website: check. Search the horrible website layout for the minuscule link buried deep inside the student section to take my test: check. Click the link: check. Read the rules about only clicking on the link once because the site will kick me off if I click twice: check. Click the start button once: check. Wait for it, wait for it, 5 minutes later and still waiting for it: check.
I was getting more and more nervous about taking the test. I refreshed the page only to see: Thank you, your test has been submitted. Aw crap. I guess I'll have to call tomorrow to get this straightened out.
So I decide to take the writing placement test. Same story. The link doesn't actually do anything so I can't read the article I'm suppose to write about. I try the dreaded second click on the link and get the same response as I got when I refreshed the page. Guess I'll have to call about both tests.
Today I finally got around to calling. Sue in the admissions office was nice enough to give me an external link and the required information to take the test through a site not related directly to the horrible design of the DePaul student site.
The math test has a two hour time limit, I'm definitely not taking that tonight. For the writing test I have to read an article about John Adams and write an argument as if I'm a student proposing this article be debated in a class. Why would I do that? I don't like reading articles more than three paragraphs long, much less one 8 pages long about a historical figure I don't want to debate about. I don't even like confrontations, why do I want to write an article presenting reasons TO debate when I've got the personality of a 'back of the classroom observer'? These people presume I actually want to discuss this article when in reality, I don't even want to read it! If it had something about explosions or gadgets or any myriad of other techie/geeky types of things then I could probably pin my eye open long enough to scan and comprehend the article, but it's about John Adams... I hate history, I leave that for the historians! I want to do chemistry, math, physics and/or tear apart computers. There's very few historical figures I'm interested in enough to read an article about, and even fewer characters I would be able to find reasons to debate on the greatness of the person. Nikola Tesla is one of those people I'm absolutely enthralled with. Maybe it's just because I love mad scientists, but learning about that guy could keep my attention for days.
It's getting late and I work in 6 hours.
/rant
Oh, by the way, the new Transformers is going to be awesome.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Cyclops and Pink Fuzzy Trains
If you couldn't guess by now, I generally stay up late while soaking in random tidbits of information that has next to no realistic use in my life other than to keep neurons firing rapidly rather than dying; however, last night was a completely different beast. It all began last winter (wavy screen as we travel back in time) when I made a few appointments with a psychiatrist regarding my ADD. Long story short, many dollars later I realized the expense of the visits in addition to the cost of the medication (neither of which were covered by my insurance) and the lack of interest the doctor actually had in helping me (as opposed to his interest in "testing" different doses of this medication which had multiple undesirable side effects) I decided to return to my previous mental and emotional state of depression mixed with the inability to keep my mental train from derailing. During our visits I was given a prescription for Ambien, a sleep aid which makes people do crazy things while they sleep. I never took any of the Ambien, but rather tossed the bottle into the nightstand to gather dust.
Fast forward to last week. After multiple nights staying up late I decided to test some of the effects of the sleeping pill, can't hurt to try (famous last words). I planned my evening so I would take the pill with plenty of time for it to work out of my system completely before work the next day. Nine pm I pop the little salmon colored beauty and go start to brush my teeth, then I remember a song in my itunes that isn't on my phone that I wanted to listed to so I plug in my iPhone. While the music is transferring I check the shipping status of my new iPhone 4. Badda bing badda boom, it's 2:30 am and I now now how to get my RAM to overclock past the automatic settings. Score ADD-1 Ambien-0.
Two nights later I've set my mind on sleeping under the influence of prescription drugs. I brush my teeth early, make sure my alarm is set the next morning and I crawl into bed. Previously I had filled a water bottle so I wouldn't have the opportunity to get distracted while taking the pill. This little bottle also suggests taking 1-2 pills before bed, so tonight I pop two of the little guys and within minutes my lights are out. ADD-1 Ambien-1. I had an amazing night of rest for myself, even though Anna claims I was talking in my sleep. End of taking pills. I decide to use will power to get to bed rather than the drugs, problem is that I don't have much will power, so I quickly fall back into my late night habits.
Fast forward to last night. I decide to take a pair of pink pills around 9, go to brush my teeth, check that my alarms are set for the next morning (on my new iPhone), then I quickly download the application to get a free case for my phone, then... hours later I am completely intoxicated with the dreary effects of the sleep aid. All effects of the sleep aid except for one: I wasn't tired. My brain literally had conversations with itself to which I felt like I was a spectator watching. While trying to read a review regarding a book about people with one eye, the text on my screen kept dancing around so I wasn't able to finish more than one paragraph every 5 minutes. The advertisements on the sides of the website were talking to me, and I think I talked back to them! That's when I realized, I was some kind of stoned. I turned off the computer, turned off the lights and walked into the bedroom. The approach to my bed made me think about boarding one of the public transportation trains so my mind illustrated a train pulling up in front of me. Pink gumdrops and sugar crystals were what this train was made out of, but I already came to the realization that I couldn't believe anything I was seeing, I was drugged. So I crawled in bed to sleep off the rest of my psychosis. ADD-1 Ambien-1 Hallucinations-1.
I don't think I'll be flirting with my last scenario again.
Fast forward to last week. After multiple nights staying up late I decided to test some of the effects of the sleeping pill, can't hurt to try (famous last words). I planned my evening so I would take the pill with plenty of time for it to work out of my system completely before work the next day. Nine pm I pop the little salmon colored beauty and go start to brush my teeth, then I remember a song in my itunes that isn't on my phone that I wanted to listed to so I plug in my iPhone. While the music is transferring I check the shipping status of my new iPhone 4. Badda bing badda boom, it's 2:30 am and I now now how to get my RAM to overclock past the automatic settings. Score ADD-1 Ambien-0.
Two nights later I've set my mind on sleeping under the influence of prescription drugs. I brush my teeth early, make sure my alarm is set the next morning and I crawl into bed. Previously I had filled a water bottle so I wouldn't have the opportunity to get distracted while taking the pill. This little bottle also suggests taking 1-2 pills before bed, so tonight I pop two of the little guys and within minutes my lights are out. ADD-1 Ambien-1. I had an amazing night of rest for myself, even though Anna claims I was talking in my sleep. End of taking pills. I decide to use will power to get to bed rather than the drugs, problem is that I don't have much will power, so I quickly fall back into my late night habits.
Fast forward to last night. I decide to take a pair of pink pills around 9, go to brush my teeth, check that my alarms are set for the next morning (on my new iPhone), then I quickly download the application to get a free case for my phone, then... hours later I am completely intoxicated with the dreary effects of the sleep aid. All effects of the sleep aid except for one: I wasn't tired. My brain literally had conversations with itself to which I felt like I was a spectator watching. While trying to read a review regarding a book about people with one eye, the text on my screen kept dancing around so I wasn't able to finish more than one paragraph every 5 minutes. The advertisements on the sides of the website were talking to me, and I think I talked back to them! That's when I realized, I was some kind of stoned. I turned off the computer, turned off the lights and walked into the bedroom. The approach to my bed made me think about boarding one of the public transportation trains so my mind illustrated a train pulling up in front of me. Pink gumdrops and sugar crystals were what this train was made out of, but I already came to the realization that I couldn't believe anything I was seeing, I was drugged. So I crawled in bed to sleep off the rest of my psychosis. ADD-1 Ambien-1 Hallucinations-1.
I don't think I'll be flirting with my last scenario again.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
I'm doing really awesome at this staying up late stuff!
So, I'm dusting the cobwebs from the old noggin and warming up my processor for some digit doodling and number crunching in my DePaul transfer student orientation placement tests. I need to take a math test and an English test (I hate English, but I still remember to capitalize it) before I can move on with the student orientation, scheduling meetings with an adviser and setting my class schedule.
Part of tonight was spent gazing at the FedEx tracking screen update about where in the world my iPhone is (it's in Chicago and hasn't moved from the same location since it got there at 6 this morning, just a little too late to be tossed on a truck and delivered to me today). I understand it hasn't moved and it isn't going to move until tomorrow when our own personal FedEx friend Angie delivers the beautiful box tomorrow, but I still like checking out the screen and drooling a little bit in anticipation.
The rest of tonight has been spent looking over numbers, symbols and installing software (and getting frustrated when some software decides to be obstinate and problematic). During my days at the Y I invested $10 in a license for a product called Mathcad 11, like a graphing calculator extraordinaire for a computer. Usually selling for around $1200. I snatched that up and I've spent a little time tonight attempting to install it with little luck. I'm bailing on it tonight, but I'll be back tomorrow to tinker some more.
In addition, I've also purchased a couple little calculator apps for my phone, one has a fairly nice math review function in the free version and an even more in depth equation review utility in the paid app. By principal I'm thinking about supporting these guys with the $3 or $4 because they're making my life so much easier right now by the work they did putting this in my pocket.
I'm skipping the insertion of links to the things I've been hunting down (fedex tracking, mathcad and the iphone app) for a few reasons: I'm not a professional blogger and my posts aren't for marketing purposes, anybody that might read this (my family) isn't going to care about mathcad or calculators, and last and most importantly... nobody is actually going to read this because nobody really even knows about it.
However!
If I get my Mathcad 11 working on my Windows 7 OS by running Windows XP mode through the Virtual PC successfully then I might write a post about how I did it, just in case theirs some other poor college student with a Win7 machine that's trying to install an ancient math program that's four versions behind and they find me through a google search.
Later.
Part of tonight was spent gazing at the FedEx tracking screen update about where in the world my iPhone is (it's in Chicago and hasn't moved from the same location since it got there at 6 this morning, just a little too late to be tossed on a truck and delivered to me today). I understand it hasn't moved and it isn't going to move until tomorrow when our own personal FedEx friend Angie delivers the beautiful box tomorrow, but I still like checking out the screen and drooling a little bit in anticipation.
The rest of tonight has been spent looking over numbers, symbols and installing software (and getting frustrated when some software decides to be obstinate and problematic). During my days at the Y I invested $10 in a license for a product called Mathcad 11, like a graphing calculator extraordinaire for a computer. Usually selling for around $1200. I snatched that up and I've spent a little time tonight attempting to install it with little luck. I'm bailing on it tonight, but I'll be back tomorrow to tinker some more.
In addition, I've also purchased a couple little calculator apps for my phone, one has a fairly nice math review function in the free version and an even more in depth equation review utility in the paid app. By principal I'm thinking about supporting these guys with the $3 or $4 because they're making my life so much easier right now by the work they did putting this in my pocket.
I'm skipping the insertion of links to the things I've been hunting down (fedex tracking, mathcad and the iphone app) for a few reasons: I'm not a professional blogger and my posts aren't for marketing purposes, anybody that might read this (my family) isn't going to care about mathcad or calculators, and last and most importantly... nobody is actually going to read this because nobody really even knows about it.
However!
If I get my Mathcad 11 working on my Windows 7 OS by running Windows XP mode through the Virtual PC successfully then I might write a post about how I did it, just in case theirs some other poor college student with a Win7 machine that's trying to install an ancient math program that's four versions behind and they find me through a google search.
Later.
Monday, July 26, 2010
HTPC and MIL
This will be a quick post. Momma Abrams is thinking about ditching her huge Comcast bill in favor of something a little simpler to deal with when it comes to paying the bills for television. Anna and I haven't had cable since we moved out of the student housing over a year ago, but we've still been satisfied with our tv content. Getting to watch Grays Anatomy, The Office, SNL and whatever happens to be on Netflix instant play has been a sufficient amount, and they're all available over the internet. In addition, getting local channels is nice when it comes to watching some of the more random shows like True Beauty, Simpsons, America's Got Talent or any of the other array of dumb crap littering the airwaves, but in order to watch these as we would on tv (and more importantly, record them when we want to watch them but can't) is a whole different monster.
So here was the solution Anna and I have lived well with. I built myself a fun little computer and got it to plug into the cable outlet in the wall. Not only can we now watch tv on the computer but we can record it as well! In addition to watching and recording on our computer we can stream the live shows (and recorded) to the Xbox which is hooked up downstairs on our big tv. Like TiVo, DVR or so many of the other rip off products that charge monthly, we get it in multiple places for free (plus the cost of building the computer, but I wanted to have this baby anyway).
So my PC is pretty amazing. Amazing because it's mine, and I built it, and I can do pretty much anything I want with it because it's got the bawls to put pretty much everybody else's comps to shame. This is beside the original point though, this article is (once again) aboot why I'm up late in the middle of the night (I think my former Canadian room mate rubbed off on me a little, did you notice?). The reason I'm up reverts back to the first paragraph involving my good ol' MIL (that's Mother-In-Law for those of you with poor acronym translators). Her and I spoke a little this morning about her situation with the cable peeps but she still really wants to be able to watch her Grays Anatomy on the tv in her living room and how I might be able to help her do that. My first inclination was to say "just plug in the aux cable from the wall to the tv" but that's way too simple, and it isn't something I'm going to dwell on for hours at night. She also doesn't think her tv has a tuner in it (which I'm sure it does) but even if it does, she isn't going to be able to watch very much other than the few live local channels that come through. It's a horrible shame that we've become so accustomed to life's luxuries that we can't do without our DVR now. What did people do before that? I remember years ago before TiVo and all these other things that recorded tv, if we didn't watch it we'd either set our VCR to record it (as complicated a task as setting the clock on it, near impossible) or we just talked to friends the next day about what happened. That's been the solution the world has used going all the way back to Moses!
The solution I'm proposing (if she would like something a little more shnazzy than plain ol' tv plugged in to the wall) is for me to build her an HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer). It's been a craze with all the popular kids these days, everybody is doing it. Best thing since sliced bread (which came out just after the VCR, a couple years after Moses parted the Red Sea). So I've been configuring different hardware options to build a cheap computer for her to do everything she wants to do (and more). It would be a very easy task, but I'm taking a little bit extra time in this one. Momma Abrams is an Apple girl so I can't just take apart her computer and add a few extra things, I'd need to build a new one. Also, I'm creating this HTPC in a small and economical system, low power consumption, low noise, and low cost.
One of the big parts of this build is the operating system. Windows 7 works great, but it adds an extra $100 to the cost of the system. I'm hoping to find a nice way to skip it, since she doesn't really need it. A good Linux distro and XBMC or MythTV would be free, but I still have a lot of research to do regarding the tv tuner card that would go into the box.
I think this blogging thing might work pretty well for me. It's stopped me from continuing in my reading about Linux which I would probably have done for another couple hours. Now I'm bored with writing and rather than go back to my studying about Linux, I'm just going to brush my teeth and go to bed, or skip the teeth brushing because I've already brushed them this week.
bye.
Oh, and our iPhones get here on Tuesday. I hope they aren't in this shipment.
So here was the solution Anna and I have lived well with. I built myself a fun little computer and got it to plug into the cable outlet in the wall. Not only can we now watch tv on the computer but we can record it as well! In addition to watching and recording on our computer we can stream the live shows (and recorded) to the Xbox which is hooked up downstairs on our big tv. Like TiVo, DVR or so many of the other rip off products that charge monthly, we get it in multiple places for free (plus the cost of building the computer, but I wanted to have this baby anyway).
So my PC is pretty amazing. Amazing because it's mine, and I built it, and I can do pretty much anything I want with it because it's got the bawls to put pretty much everybody else's comps to shame. This is beside the original point though, this article is (once again) aboot why I'm up late in the middle of the night (I think my former Canadian room mate rubbed off on me a little, did you notice?). The reason I'm up reverts back to the first paragraph involving my good ol' MIL (that's Mother-In-Law for those of you with poor acronym translators). Her and I spoke a little this morning about her situation with the cable peeps but she still really wants to be able to watch her Grays Anatomy on the tv in her living room and how I might be able to help her do that. My first inclination was to say "just plug in the aux cable from the wall to the tv" but that's way too simple, and it isn't something I'm going to dwell on for hours at night. She also doesn't think her tv has a tuner in it (which I'm sure it does) but even if it does, she isn't going to be able to watch very much other than the few live local channels that come through. It's a horrible shame that we've become so accustomed to life's luxuries that we can't do without our DVR now. What did people do before that? I remember years ago before TiVo and all these other things that recorded tv, if we didn't watch it we'd either set our VCR to record it (as complicated a task as setting the clock on it, near impossible) or we just talked to friends the next day about what happened. That's been the solution the world has used going all the way back to Moses!
The solution I'm proposing (if she would like something a little more shnazzy than plain ol' tv plugged in to the wall) is for me to build her an HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer). It's been a craze with all the popular kids these days, everybody is doing it. Best thing since sliced bread (which came out just after the VCR, a couple years after Moses parted the Red Sea). So I've been configuring different hardware options to build a cheap computer for her to do everything she wants to do (and more). It would be a very easy task, but I'm taking a little bit extra time in this one. Momma Abrams is an Apple girl so I can't just take apart her computer and add a few extra things, I'd need to build a new one. Also, I'm creating this HTPC in a small and economical system, low power consumption, low noise, and low cost.
One of the big parts of this build is the operating system. Windows 7 works great, but it adds an extra $100 to the cost of the system. I'm hoping to find a nice way to skip it, since she doesn't really need it. A good Linux distro and XBMC or MythTV would be free, but I still have a lot of research to do regarding the tv tuner card that would go into the box.
I think this blogging thing might work pretty well for me. It's stopped me from continuing in my reading about Linux which I would probably have done for another couple hours. Now I'm bored with writing and rather than go back to my studying about Linux, I'm just going to brush my teeth and go to bed, or skip the teeth brushing because I've already brushed them this week.
bye.
Oh, and our iPhones get here on Tuesday. I hope they aren't in this shipment.
Friday, July 23, 2010
A New Beginning
I'm once again deciding that I'm going to be more fervent in posting on blogger... we'll see how that goes. Recently I've been staying up throughout the nights and have noticed one thing, my ADHD takes me all over the interwebs, so I thought I'd have fun writing about the things I'm learning about.
My latest distraction has been refreshing the page at Gizmodo while I've been either at work (don't tell my boss) or at home all hours of the night. I'll also check out Engadget and LifeHacker but I'm mainly addicted to Giz, they're all just blogs about all the little gadgets and random bit's of data that my biological hard drive likes to sop up. There's been drama with the iPhone 4 from the day it leaked months ago and it will probably never end, unless Apple causes something as catastrophic as the Gulf oil spill and goes out of business... thus causing the end of the iPhone debacles.
Another thing my tired eye has been scanning over during these late night adventures through my portal to infinite knowledge has been about building, tweaking, updating, overclocking and anything else related to computers. Specifically my computer. Earlier this week I finally figured out how I needed to set up my BIOS to get my RAM to run at it's rated speed (DDR3 1600) rather than the default speed my motherboard sets it at (1333), but I'll leave that for another night. I'm sure I'll be writing plenty about the frustrations I go through with my computer.
So, back on the topic of my iPhone drama. I've been following the whole fiasco for a couple months and decided I wanted this device for my birthday. A few weeks ago I placed orders for two phones, one for Anna and one for me.
Time passes. More time passes. I hear about my friends getting their phones while more time passes. One friend updated his facebook status saying it only took him a couple days to get his when he put his name on the waiting list at the local Apple store, so I thought I'd try that out.
Tuesday this week I went in to the store, put my name on the list for two phones, then shortly after got quite a few emails from Apple. Emails saying they will email me when my phones come in to the Apple store, emails telling me my phones shipped from China, then the next day I got emails saying my phones were ready to be picked up at the Apple store. I was stoked! I hustle down to the store Wednesday after work but they were having "activation issues" and couldn't give anybody their phones. I went this afternoon (technically yesterday, Thursday) and wait in line and the Appleboy grabs my phone. While he's ringing it up we run into a problem, we can't cancel the order that's been shipped to get me the upgrade price at the Apple store.
Awe crap.
So three trips to this store in three days and now I have to wait until Tuesday for my phone to get here from China... I guess that isn't too bad.
On the plus side, Tuesday and Wednesday when I was wandering around downtown Chicago I got to see a quite a stir around the areas they were filming for Transformers 3. Took some pics, snatched a little video clip and laid my eyes on the beautiful car/alien/machine named Bumblebee while it did a few peelouts in the street. I'll try to post pics later (if I remember to update blogger again within the next year or two).
G'night.
*Update
I forgot my random picture
My latest distraction has been refreshing the page at Gizmodo while I've been either at work (don't tell my boss) or at home all hours of the night. I'll also check out Engadget and LifeHacker but I'm mainly addicted to Giz, they're all just blogs about all the little gadgets and random bit's of data that my biological hard drive likes to sop up. There's been drama with the iPhone 4 from the day it leaked months ago and it will probably never end, unless Apple causes something as catastrophic as the Gulf oil spill and goes out of business... thus causing the end of the iPhone debacles.
Another thing my tired eye has been scanning over during these late night adventures through my portal to infinite knowledge has been about building, tweaking, updating, overclocking and anything else related to computers. Specifically my computer. Earlier this week I finally figured out how I needed to set up my BIOS to get my RAM to run at it's rated speed (DDR3 1600) rather than the default speed my motherboard sets it at (1333), but I'll leave that for another night. I'm sure I'll be writing plenty about the frustrations I go through with my computer.
So, back on the topic of my iPhone drama. I've been following the whole fiasco for a couple months and decided I wanted this device for my birthday. A few weeks ago I placed orders for two phones, one for Anna and one for me.
Time passes. More time passes. I hear about my friends getting their phones while more time passes. One friend updated his facebook status saying it only took him a couple days to get his when he put his name on the waiting list at the local Apple store, so I thought I'd try that out.
Tuesday this week I went in to the store, put my name on the list for two phones, then shortly after got quite a few emails from Apple. Emails saying they will email me when my phones come in to the Apple store, emails telling me my phones shipped from China, then the next day I got emails saying my phones were ready to be picked up at the Apple store. I was stoked! I hustle down to the store Wednesday after work but they were having "activation issues" and couldn't give anybody their phones. I went this afternoon (technically yesterday, Thursday) and wait in line and the Appleboy grabs my phone. While he's ringing it up we run into a problem, we can't cancel the order that's been shipped to get me the upgrade price at the Apple store.
Awe crap.
So three trips to this store in three days and now I have to wait until Tuesday for my phone to get here from China... I guess that isn't too bad.
On the plus side, Tuesday and Wednesday when I was wandering around downtown Chicago I got to see a quite a stir around the areas they were filming for Transformers 3. Took some pics, snatched a little video clip and laid my eyes on the beautiful car/alien/machine named Bumblebee while it did a few peelouts in the street. I'll try to post pics later (if I remember to update blogger again within the next year or two).
G'night.
*Update
I forgot my random picture
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Ironman Wisconsin
Quite a bit since the last post! First and foremost, Ironman Wisconsin...
On September 8, 2008 I spent almost $600 to register for "IMOO" or Ironman Wisconsin (moo because of the cows and cheese famous for those parts). It was over a year in advance that Anna and I signed up for this race, we knew it was quite the commitment! We began training immediately. Right after we began training, we stopped training... it was way too far in advance, we were going to burn out too quickly. Time passes, we get race ready for the season and have our first few sprint races of the summer. After one of the races my knees began hurting, bad. To the point where I wouldn't be able to walk for a day or 2 after a race or even a run workout, bummer. One race I even had to pull out of the run because I didn't want to hurt myself too much.
Anyway, so race day comes and I'm thrilled about it! I don't know exactly what to expect because I've never run more than 13 miles at one time, but I'm thinking I'll survive. I even rented some VERY expensive wheels for the race, Zipp 404's (which saved me tons of time on the bike course!). I began the swim at 7 am, about 1/2 mile into the swim my knees start hurting (what? why?) so I knew they weren't going to last the whole race. I finished the swim in about 90 min and ran up to transition. Got dressed, grabbed my bike and off I go! After the first turn on the bike course there's a straight section, I was thirsty so I grabbed my waterbottle, then dropped it on the ground and watched it skid across 2 lanes of open traffic... bummer again. It's ok, there was TONS of great support on the course, bottles of water, gatorade, bananas, anything your heart desires while on a bike course! The first 40 miles I averaged about 19 mph, then came the hills... uh oh! They were tough but I conquered! The second 40 I averaged about 16, same with the last 40ish miles... overall I did about a 6:30 bike.
During the bike one of my knees was hurting pretty bad, but I could push through it. The knee that hurt wasn't the worse of the two knees, so I kept going. As soon as I stepped off the bike, the one knee that already hurt began flaring up big time, and the "worse" knee decided it wanted to act up too, so I hobbled my way into the transition area, found a race official and turned in my timing chip. My race was over, I didn't want to even attempt running a marathon on 2 busted up knees when I couldn't even walk straight on them.
FAIL.
I'll do it another time. As of today, I'm not an Ironman :(
On September 8, 2008 I spent almost $600 to register for "IMOO" or Ironman Wisconsin (moo because of the cows and cheese famous for those parts). It was over a year in advance that Anna and I signed up for this race, we knew it was quite the commitment! We began training immediately. Right after we began training, we stopped training... it was way too far in advance, we were going to burn out too quickly. Time passes, we get race ready for the season and have our first few sprint races of the summer. After one of the races my knees began hurting, bad. To the point where I wouldn't be able to walk for a day or 2 after a race or even a run workout, bummer. One race I even had to pull out of the run because I didn't want to hurt myself too much.
Anyway, so race day comes and I'm thrilled about it! I don't know exactly what to expect because I've never run more than 13 miles at one time, but I'm thinking I'll survive. I even rented some VERY expensive wheels for the race, Zipp 404's (which saved me tons of time on the bike course!). I began the swim at 7 am, about 1/2 mile into the swim my knees start hurting (what? why?) so I knew they weren't going to last the whole race. I finished the swim in about 90 min and ran up to transition. Got dressed, grabbed my bike and off I go! After the first turn on the bike course there's a straight section, I was thirsty so I grabbed my waterbottle, then dropped it on the ground and watched it skid across 2 lanes of open traffic... bummer again. It's ok, there was TONS of great support on the course, bottles of water, gatorade, bananas, anything your heart desires while on a bike course! The first 40 miles I averaged about 19 mph, then came the hills... uh oh! They were tough but I conquered! The second 40 I averaged about 16, same with the last 40ish miles... overall I did about a 6:30 bike.
During the bike one of my knees was hurting pretty bad, but I could push through it. The knee that hurt wasn't the worse of the two knees, so I kept going. As soon as I stepped off the bike, the one knee that already hurt began flaring up big time, and the "worse" knee decided it wanted to act up too, so I hobbled my way into the transition area, found a race official and turned in my timing chip. My race was over, I didn't want to even attempt running a marathon on 2 busted up knees when I couldn't even walk straight on them.
FAIL.
I'll do it another time. As of today, I'm not an Ironman :(
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