31 days of 2007 are down, so only…*does math on calculator*…334 days left of 2007. If my countdown timer was working (to be honest, I haven’t really tried to fix it since it broke), I could also tell you how many more days until the end of school, but my quick estimates put it at under 90. It’s coming, and fast…
I made some more progress in Warcraft 3, but unless I want to carry my save file back and forth from UTD to my house, I’ll have to work on another game at home. For the forseeable future, that will probably be FFXII. After that, it’ll be a tossup between a console and PC most likely. And of course there is WoW, so that will become a timesink again sooner than later most likely.
Personal - Dallas
Today I went to go swap out our cable box from downstairs for an HD one, and decided to pick up one with DVR functionality at the same time. Our Tivo had to be pushed to a different room (my parents’ bedroom, actually) because it can’t handle an HD signal, and I still wanted to be able to record and watch certain shows in our den. Well, I forgot that the only interface Motorola sucks at more than cell phones is DVR (which is one of the reasons why we even got a Tivo in the first place). There is the intriguing solution of the line integration finally happening next week, so then the Tivo wouldn’t need to be connected to a cable box and could act like a typical DVR (access to all the analog stuff). The option then returns to that of a Media Center PC and a digital tuner and/or Cablecard solution. If it’s all about balancing the positives and negatives; the current setup is very, very low on the list, but there’s not a clear winner among the alternatives.
If all else fails, I can always go back to the VCR setup that I used at our old house. That system worked fine for my needs, but it just feels like a step backwards to have to go to it. Everything going digital should make this type of stuff easier, but in reality it just adds more layers of protections and incompatibilities that drive people crazy. If a company can make something that is easy to use and meets all of my needs for a reasonable price (I’m looking at you, Tivo Series 3), they’re very likely to get my (or rather, my parents’) money. Until then, I’ll just suffer through what’s available.
Personal - Dallas
My desktop is back out at UTD in working condition, I have no other major computer issues to speak of (no, the Shuttle problem doesn’t count as it is still quite useable), and my life is in a fairly average-paced, normal mode. Considering my desktop storm is just now over, hopefully I have a little respite before the next one. Check back with me in about a month and we’ll see if this holds up.
Vista launches tonight, but I have no intent of getting it immediately. Hopefully over the next couple of months more definitive reports of the Media Center DRM will come out so I can decide if what I want to do is supported or if I’ll need to turn to Linux. I’ve already started researching my alternatives and seem to be focusing in on a couple of specific product lines, so it’ll be nice to have a backup plan in place assuming my Vista one doesn’t pan out. Yes, I lose the Cablecard support, but really, that’s not all that big of an issue since most of what I’d want to record is in the analog range or is the unencrypted HD channels. I wonder what will happen though after the analong cutoff date; I’ll either be stuck controlling a cable box or find some way decrypt all the digital stuff.
Personal - Dallas
Bonus points to anyone who knows where I got the title of this post from, but if you know, that also means you can’t make fun of me for it :)
As I indicated 3 days ago, I have to design two websites: one for a friend (a clothing line/store site) and the other for my aunt (a site for a recording studio). Since it’s not a big secret that I’m artistically impaired, I definitely didn’t want to start from scratch. To assist with updating and a basic structure, I’m using Drupal for the underlying foundation of both sites, and hopefully I’ll either find a good template or at the very minimum be able to come up with something that they like.
I’ve started to look into alternatives for our Media Center PC setup besides Vista. Unfortunately, I’m probably out of luck with Cablecard access if I step outside that realm, but that wouldn’t be an absolute dealbreaker (especially if some of the restrictions are true that would interfere with my goals anyway). One of the big plusses to it was the Media Center Extenders that meant there wouldn’t need to be a full PC down in my dad’s office, but I may be able to accomplish the same thing there with Mini-ITX form factor computers. The other big way to go is going to be Linux + MythTV, so hopefully by this summer I’ll have read enough to be able to make my decision.
Personal - Dallas
As much as I enjoy playing FFXII, I “took a break” (read: had other things to keep me occupied) today and didn’t play it at all. Instead, I spent my day watching TV on both the actual TV and on my computer (downloaded episodes), buying an HDTV for downstairs (just a 32″, stupid space limitations), and playing games on my computer. I don’t have that much homework I need to do tomorrow, so I may build in some FFXII time then.
One of my accomplishments today was that I finally beat Half-Life 2 for the very first time. It came out over 2 years ago, and the game itself could probably be beaten in a weekend with a couple of power gaming sessions, but I just never sat down for long enough periods to really make progress in it. I decided that I’ll probably pick up Episode 1 around the time Episode 2 comes out, so I’ll spend my time now with Warcraft 3 most likely. I made it to the third campaign, but considering I no longer have that save file (or if I do, no clue where it is), I’ll be starting over from the beginning. And after that, maybe some Command and Conquer: Generals to get in the mood for when C&C 3 comes out. So, in the meantime, this is where I get off…
Personal - Dallas
I’m posting this from my desktop which hasn’t been used in approximately 2 weeks, so I know that it must be happy to be doing stuff once again. The only thing that didn’t work initially was sound, but that was only because I forgot (or more appropriately, didn’t realize I needed to) plug in the power cable to the onboard sound. Everything works fine now, so I’m once again in business.
I also got a nice surprise with the new PSU I ordered; my old one was a modular, and while the lack of extra cables was nice, it also kept me from installing the top case fan. Well, all the ones I was looking at getting were modular, so when I ordered this one, I just assumed that it was also. Well, it’s not (surprising, since this is one of their higher end ones), so assuming I can find the right kind of screws, I can install that fan and get better cooling going on inside of my case. Not sure if I really need it or not, but that’s one of those things it never hurts to have too much of.
Personal - Dallas
My mom picked up my PSU (and monitor) this afternoon, so hopefully tomorrow afternoon my desktop will once again be fully functional. If it turns out not to be, then, as I’ve stated before, I will not be happy. Buying more computer parts isn’t what I really want to worry about this weekend. Aside from that, I don’t think I have much going on this weekend that I have to do.
What I should do is an entirely different story, however. I need to update my friend’s clothing site, start creating a site for my aunt, continue coding a program for a different friend, and play some more FFXII. Well, maybe playing FFXII doesn’t fall into the “should do” pile, but it’s going to be done regardless. Probably won’t get beaten, but progress will be made.
Personal - Dallas
Yesterday night I typed up this nice, 3 paragraph post (most of which I’ll repeat here), and then click “Publish” and walk away. When I come back about 10 minutes later to look, I see that it hasn’t posted but instead gave a timeout error. I try again, and the same thing happens. Basically, I tried up until midnight but something kept me from being able to access the site, so I couldn’t update last night. That’s the reason there was no post yesterday. If this was a normal paper diary/journal, it would have been quite hard for me to have this issue.
So, to recap from the post lost to cyberspace, my parents are closer to getting an HDTV for their bedroom. When I was doing my research, I wanted to make sure that it would be as “futureproof” as possible. This (to an extent, unfortunately) requires HDCP, a form of copy protection for a lot of new HD content (including HD-DVD and Blu-ray). The one I found and suggested should be fine with 2 each of composite, S-Video, component, and HDMI inputs (the latter having HDCP capabilities). However, this also prompted me to think about our existing HDTV and whether or not it supported HDCP.
We got our other TV back almost 2 years ago before HDMI and HDCP were really taking off in the market place. The TV itself only has one DVI input, and since that can actually come in an analog variety, I wasn’t even sure if our TV had a digital input to even possibly support HDCP. A quick search of the model number indicated that it was a digital DVI port and did in fact support HDCP, so fortunately that won’t be an issue. Number of ports might be on the other hand, since both of the 2 component ports are already in use, so adding any more devices will require the investment in a switch. The DVI port shouldn’t be too big of an issue for the near future, because once we get our Media Center PC, that can be used as a HD-DVD/Blu-ray player instead of getting standalone units.
I missed the UPS guy yesterday, and today was contemplating whether or not to go home in between my two classes and wait for him or not. I ultimately talked myself out of it, but if I had, I would have been there to receive the packages. The current plan is for my mom to go pick them up tomorrow, then I’ll just bring my computer home over the weekend and install the PSU there. Hopefully that fixes all the problems because I’d really rather not have to try and guess how many more parts inside of my computer need to be fixed.
Personal - Dallas
This afternoon my aunt from Florida called my house (and mistook me for my mom initially, but that happens with almost everyone) with a computer question. Long story short, she wants me to design her a website for a recording studio that she and her new husband are starting. Now, I’m not the greatest web designer in the world, but for an amateur I think I can hold my own. She bought the domain today and once I get my main computer functional again, I’ll be starting on that.
School today wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. It was the first time I had my accounting class in almost 2 weeks, so I had worked ahead in anticipation of us being expected to be that far. Well, I was wrong, so today was pretty boring since it was stuff I already did the homework for. Not only that, but I did the homework after it also, so I definitely feel like I have a pretty good base of what we’re covering (read: bored out of my mind until the class catches up to where I am).
Personal - Dallas
After having off 6 of the last 9 days from school, it feels weird that tomorrow is actually going to start a whole week of school. I could really go for a three day weekend, one day at school, one day off, then two more days at school, but that’s probably never going to happen again. Unfortunately, just because I like something doesn’t mean that there’s any chance of it getting done.
My PSU probably won’t arrive until Wednesday, and then unless someone is here to sign for it, that means I won’t actually get it until Thursday (stupid UPS). Luckily tomorrow and Tuesday will both be days I’d come home in the afternoon anyway, and Wednesday I’ll come home ASAP so I can try to be here to sign for the package. Then just general scheduling for the rest of the week (my game class on Thursday, and me coming home Friday after my class) might actually mean that I just use my laptop the entire week out at school and won’t worry about installing my PSU until the following week.
Personal - Dallas