Friday, December 30th, 2005
Going to the DMV is the worst thing ever. I’ve gone three times this week and aborted all three times, once because the line was way too long, once because it wasn’t open yet, and once because the projected wait was over an hour and a had a friend with me. By not having the time to do this, I’ve been denied entrance to two bars this week (tuh.)
Wednesday, December 28th, 2005
Tommorow is moving day at the office. It should be a pretty nice upgrade.
Wednesday, December 28th, 2005
I am starting to miss the old days of normal spam. No longer is my junk mailbox filled with ways to make my penis longer, places to get cheap viagra, and horny farm animals looking to please.
Are those upside down exclimation points? WTF¡
Tuesday, December 27th, 2005
It sure was nice to have Monday off this week.
Saturday, December 24th, 2005
Happy Festivus, and Merry Chrislist Eve!
For my feat of strength, I will punch George W. Bush in the balls.
Friday, December 23rd, 2005
For crying in the wind, it’s always something isn’t it?
Thursday, December 22nd, 2005
I play in a local band. We’ve been playing together for years and years, and as an official band for a little less than one year. When we don’t have a steady gig, we just take whatever comes along assuming it is convenient for everyone and we’ve covered all the bases. What are the bases? This should be brick-in-the-face obvious for people who claim to be music professionals or promoters, but we seem to have problems with it all the time.
If I was drafting an email to send to a band, I would include all of this information AT THE VERY LEAST. I would likely include even more information, including a healthy ‘thank you’ for even reading it. While being information-rich, it wouldn’t ramble and would be well-formatted.
Here is an example of a more typical email we get:
Hey guys-
I got a gig for you, do U want it or not?
-Blah Somebody McUseless
sigh.
Wednesday, December 21st, 2005
There are a lot of folks out there with HDTV’s. Of course, us HD advocates want to watch as much content as we can at sweet, sweet, HD resolutions. But even our once-fancy Progressive Scan DVD Player only outputs at 480p. What’s a boy to do? Upconvert, that’s what.
A totally decent upconverting DVD player might cost you as little as $125. But before you go out and buy the first one you see at Best Buy, you need to do a little thinking about your current system.
My 32″ LCD has four HD inputs, one DVI, and three component. The DVI input is already being used by my Dish Network 811 receiver, so all I have left for HD inputs is component.
Most upconverting DVD players out there only offer upconversion out of the HDMI port (not component). This is not a bandwidth issue, component cables can certainly handle the data, it is that HDMI can support DRM (Digital Rights Management) and component cannot.
LG LDA 531 – I have no experience with this one, but I’ve heard it just works.
Zenith DVD318 – If the build date is June ’05 or later, you need to downgrade the firmware. You should be able to find what you need googling around.
Samsung DVD-HD 850 – You need to enter the a little crack to get this work. Make sure the DVD tray is empty and closed. On the remote, press ANGLE, then 4, 3, 2, 7. This turns off the HDCP, makes the player “region-free” and unlocks the upconversion feature to work over component cables. In the setup menus, the option to change the resolution is still greyed out and unchangeable, but the button on the remote control to change resolution works. I just bought an 850 this past weekend to check it out, works perfectly and looks great.
NeuNeo – I’ve heard they make a pretty nice one, that is also region-free right out of the box.
Monday, December 19th, 2005
Inventor Peter Hughes has created a brilliant new energy source. A metal ramp that when pushed down by passing cars, creates electricity.
The ramp is silent, comfortable and safe for vehicles,” Mr. Hughes said.
Friday, December 16th, 2005
I went to go see King Kong last night. I was a little tired to begin with, so the first hour or so was putting me right to sleep, but not to fret, almost the entire last two-thirds of the movie is high-power actionriffic. There was even a completely gratuitous scene in this rocky valley where the team fought off giant bugs for a good 10+ minutes.
Thursday, December 15th, 2005
I saw the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe last night. I found it entirely enjoyable.
Wednesday, December 14th, 2005
It’s snowing like mad outside, and it’s about 5:15, which means the traffic is at it’s worst. Last week Thursday it snowed like this and it took me 40 minutes to get home where it usually takes about 10. Plus, I found out earlier that our tank of Natural Gas at home has run out, so we have no way to cook, no hot water, and worse, NO HEAT. I should have took such important matters in to my own hands long ago, but alas.