So, I recently came into possession of a rather large merchandise card for Office Depot. This was to replace a chair that broke a month after I bought it. I long since replaced that chair with an even more expensive one (which, oddly enough, didn't cost me anything), so I had no need to use the card to buy another chair. So, what do you think I did with it? That's right... I bought monitors! I now have 2 new Acer V223 Wbd 22" widescreen flat panels on my desk at home. This replaces the 22" widescreen Dell I had previously. Don't get me wrong, the Dell is a better monitor, but when I go dual screen I am very particular about matching my monitors. So, I've moved the Dell off to my other computer (which is currently stuck with dual 15"), and I set up the new monitors on my gaming/dev rig. So far, I really like it. The new monitors aren't quite as crisp as the Dell, even though they are on a DVI connection, but it's not enough to bother me. Also, the bases are much lighter, which means the monitors are very wobbily if I bang into my desk... fortunately the desk is pretty solid and I don't move the monitors, so again, I don't see a problem. If it bugs me, I'll get a couple of arm mounts and be done with it.
Anyway, I think I'm going to to leave both 15" on my other computer and insert the 22" in between, meaning I'll have 3 full monitors on that box. I use that machine for bill pays, music streaming, torrents, and general office type work. I have to install a spare PCI video card I found while packing up my computer room last month before the move, and I need to get a beefier power supply for that computer, but I think I can make it work. When I'm done, I should have the 22" monitor in the center, as my primary monitor, and the matching 15" on either side of it, as peripheral monitors. I think I will like it.
I still don't know what to do with my Poweredge server. It's got a brand new install of Server 2008 on it. I've thought about putting it in my living room as a Media PC connected to my TV, but that seems like a waste. I've also thought about making it a virtual server, to host my various VMs for personal dev project, school work, or the Ride Yellow site. Actually, that might not be a bad idea... if I can punch the right holes in my router, I could let Sharron connect to that machine to work on the ride yellow code directly.... I'll have to think about it. I also wanted to make that box my Domain controller, and get my network on the domain. I should do that *before* I install the Windows 7 RTM on my workstations and laptop though, so I don't have to set up my environments twice.
Either way, I'll probably still set that machine up in the cubby behind the TV. I wonder if I can run media center on server 2008...? Oooooh, there's an option... screw WMC, I can use XBMC on Server 2008, or even Boxy, now that it's got a windows client.
http://xbmc.org/download/
http://www.boxee.tv/
A quick search reveals that Boxee and XBMC will both work on 2008. So, here's my shopping list to finish my home network madness:
1. PSU for Workstation
2. Wireless Draft N card for Server
3. Inexpensive wireless Keyboard/Mouse for Server
4. TV-Out card for Server
I'm pretty sure I'm using onboard video for the server, so I'll have to buy a cheap TV out card. I don't really care about turning it into a DVR machine yet, but that might change. It's only got a 320 gig hd in it right now, and I want to use it as a server too... I'll have to play around with it. I don't want to spend too much money on the project anyway. I'll start with the NIC and PSU tonight and get the basics working, I'll worry about making it a media PC after I get my domain built.
I should probably get back to work now...
Rich
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The trip here...
I'm writing this after the fact, but this is the recap of my trip from Mobile to Seattle, to make it to the technical conference that inspired me to start this blog... It wont be pretty, the trip was pretty vile. I'll try to keep things civil, but I promise nothing.
1. Going through security at Mobile, my toothpaste and mouthwash were confiscated. Bottles too large.
2. My flight to Atlanta (connection to Seattle) was delayed 35 minutes.
3. That put me on the ground in Atlanta with less than 15 minutes to get on my flight to Seattle.
4. They pulled my gate checked bag off the plane last, leaving me 5 minutes to get from Concourse D all the way over to Concourse A in the Atlanta Airport. This airport is so large they have a subway train to ferry people between concourses.
5. I got to my Seattle gate, they had already locked the door. Thankfully, the plane hadn't left let and the pleasant lady behind the counter let me on. It seems there was some sort of equipment malfunction with the plane....
6. The part of the plane that was busted? The A/C unit. So, I just ran across the atlanta airport in order to sit on the tarmac in an increasingly hot airplane for 45 minutes while they fixed it.
7. I wasn't the only late passenger.... I was sitting in the isle seat of the bank of 3 seats in the middle of the plane. Another businessman was sitting on the other isle. A middle aged grandmother came in after me, with her 1 year old son, and sat between us, with the boy in her lap the entire time. Joy.
8. The boy proceeded to kick, grab, scream, and spit in my general direction for the next 6 hours. He needed his diaper changed at least twice. He only got it once. He turned the cookies they gave him into crumbs, which got everywhere. He spilled his milk onto my seat. I have to say, I've had better flights.
9. Arrived at Seattle, in one piece. Thank God. Then the fun started...
10. I get to my rental car service. There's no card on file for them to charge the car too. I tried to charge it to my own card, but didn't have sufficient funds to secure the car for the entire week. In the act of trying, my card was locked out of their system for 24 hours. This, effectively, left me stranded in Seattle with no car and no one back home to call (it was 10:00pm back in Mobile).
11. The guys at enterprise call me a 'cab', to take me to my hotel. Wasn't a cab. Was some indian dude who barely spoke English driving a towncar. The guys at enterprise said he took plastic, and he said he took plastic when I got in the car. After got started, he told me it was going to cost me $60 to get to my hotel!
12. We get to the hotel, and guess what... he doesn't take plastic. So we had to drive around for 20 minutes to find an ATM. No tip for him. He finally gets me to an ATM (that works) and I get enough cash to pay him. He takes me back to the hotel.
13. I get into the hotel to check in. Guess what! No card on file there, either!
14. Thankfully, they only needed to charge me for incidentals up front, which was a $60 charge. That much I had, and I got into my room... stranded, without a car and haven't not eaten for almost 12 hours.
15. I got a pizza delivery service menu from the front desk, and called what looked like a good local pizza place.... and of course, the icing on the crap-cake that was my trip out to Seattle... they got my order wrong!
Having said all that, I want to clarify that I've been telling my people for almost a month now that they would have to pre-pay for everything, because I just moved and I had to front the cost of my grad school tution, leaving me broke as hell for the rest of the month. It wasn't my fault that these things weren't taken care of ahead of time. Also, everything was worked out the following morning, and I've been enjoying the hell out of the conference for the past 2 days. This is a good thing.
Crash
1. Going through security at Mobile, my toothpaste and mouthwash were confiscated. Bottles too large.
2. My flight to Atlanta (connection to Seattle) was delayed 35 minutes.
3. That put me on the ground in Atlanta with less than 15 minutes to get on my flight to Seattle.
4. They pulled my gate checked bag off the plane last, leaving me 5 minutes to get from Concourse D all the way over to Concourse A in the Atlanta Airport. This airport is so large they have a subway train to ferry people between concourses.
5. I got to my Seattle gate, they had already locked the door. Thankfully, the plane hadn't left let and the pleasant lady behind the counter let me on. It seems there was some sort of equipment malfunction with the plane....
6. The part of the plane that was busted? The A/C unit. So, I just ran across the atlanta airport in order to sit on the tarmac in an increasingly hot airplane for 45 minutes while they fixed it.
7. I wasn't the only late passenger.... I was sitting in the isle seat of the bank of 3 seats in the middle of the plane. Another businessman was sitting on the other isle. A middle aged grandmother came in after me, with her 1 year old son, and sat between us, with the boy in her lap the entire time. Joy.
8. The boy proceeded to kick, grab, scream, and spit in my general direction for the next 6 hours. He needed his diaper changed at least twice. He only got it once. He turned the cookies they gave him into crumbs, which got everywhere. He spilled his milk onto my seat. I have to say, I've had better flights.
9. Arrived at Seattle, in one piece. Thank God. Then the fun started...
10. I get to my rental car service. There's no card on file for them to charge the car too. I tried to charge it to my own card, but didn't have sufficient funds to secure the car for the entire week. In the act of trying, my card was locked out of their system for 24 hours. This, effectively, left me stranded in Seattle with no car and no one back home to call (it was 10:00pm back in Mobile).
11. The guys at enterprise call me a 'cab', to take me to my hotel. Wasn't a cab. Was some indian dude who barely spoke English driving a towncar. The guys at enterprise said he took plastic, and he said he took plastic when I got in the car. After got started, he told me it was going to cost me $60 to get to my hotel!
12. We get to the hotel, and guess what... he doesn't take plastic. So we had to drive around for 20 minutes to find an ATM. No tip for him. He finally gets me to an ATM (that works) and I get enough cash to pay him. He takes me back to the hotel.
13. I get into the hotel to check in. Guess what! No card on file there, either!
14. Thankfully, they only needed to charge me for incidentals up front, which was a $60 charge. That much I had, and I got into my room... stranded, without a car and haven't not eaten for almost 12 hours.
15. I got a pizza delivery service menu from the front desk, and called what looked like a good local pizza place.... and of course, the icing on the crap-cake that was my trip out to Seattle... they got my order wrong!
Having said all that, I want to clarify that I've been telling my people for almost a month now that they would have to pre-pay for everything, because I just moved and I had to front the cost of my grad school tution, leaving me broke as hell for the rest of the month. It wasn't my fault that these things weren't taken care of ahead of time. Also, everything was worked out the following morning, and I've been enjoying the hell out of the conference for the past 2 days. This is a good thing.
Crash
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
ZOMG... Another useless blog!
{Insert sterotypical 'Here we go' style first blog post here}
So yeah. I'm starting a dedicated blog. I used to 'blog' on Live Journal, against my better judgment, and finally gave it up. I approached that blog from the point of view of 'What do I have to say that is of interest to other people'. All I got out of it was drama, and an overwhelming sense of 'Wow... I'm a boring son of a bitch, aren't I?'
Well, I'm older now. Wiser, perhaps. Still boring. But I've come to realize things. Blogs aren't really for any of your benefit. They are for mine. So, I'll be blogging about things that interest me, things that upset me, or things that just want to remember for posterity. Maybe I found a really awesome solution to a problem I know I'll run into again. Maybe I had an astronomically hellacious flight to Seattle and I want to vent it out so I don't take it out on the next asshat to annoy me. Maybe I found a bitchin' cheesecake recipe. Maybe I just dinged my 5th level 80 in World of Warcraft. Who knows?
I'll be using this blog as a personal journal for my benefit, not yours. You (whoever you are) are welcome to comment on my posts, and if you get something useful out of this, awesome sauce... but don't expect it. Feel free to yell at me, tell me I'm wrong, or laugh in my general direction... If you enlighten me, good on you. I'll be happy to delete your comments if you annoy me.
That's all I've got. I'm in the middle of a conference right now, I'll come back and edit this later.
Ciao,
Crash
So yeah. I'm starting a dedicated blog. I used to 'blog' on Live Journal, against my better judgment, and finally gave it up. I approached that blog from the point of view of 'What do I have to say that is of interest to other people'. All I got out of it was drama, and an overwhelming sense of 'Wow... I'm a boring son of a bitch, aren't I?'
Well, I'm older now. Wiser, perhaps. Still boring. But I've come to realize things. Blogs aren't really for any of your benefit. They are for mine. So, I'll be blogging about things that interest me, things that upset me, or things that just want to remember for posterity. Maybe I found a really awesome solution to a problem I know I'll run into again. Maybe I had an astronomically hellacious flight to Seattle and I want to vent it out so I don't take it out on the next asshat to annoy me. Maybe I found a bitchin' cheesecake recipe. Maybe I just dinged my 5th level 80 in World of Warcraft. Who knows?
I'll be using this blog as a personal journal for my benefit, not yours. You (whoever you are) are welcome to comment on my posts, and if you get something useful out of this, awesome sauce... but don't expect it. Feel free to yell at me, tell me I'm wrong, or laugh in my general direction... If you enlighten me, good on you. I'll be happy to delete your comments if you annoy me.
That's all I've got. I'm in the middle of a conference right now, I'll come back and edit this later.
Ciao,
Crash
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