Thursday, February 28, 2008

Global Warming my ass!!!

Normally I love the cold. I am also a big fan of snow. Driving in it is fun and it makes everything outside beautiful at times.

This winter has just been too much. It'll be March on Saturday and the extended forecast shows below freezing weather all next week. WTF!?! I wanted to have my car completed by the middle of May. I should have been able to work on it all this month. Not with this shitty weather. Also, I have been driving my'96 MTX which is in dire need of work. The swaybar endlinks are shot, the rear bushings need to by lubed, and the tranny linkage and lube need to be replaced. All shitty under car jobs. Fuck!

I also want to start riding my bike again. It's really the only type of exercise that I enjoy besides swimming. It just aint happening. The roads in WI are all covered with a good 2" thick layer of rock hard snow/ice/sand mixture. I have road tires on my bike, and even with normal mountain bike tires, it still would be a bad idea.

I'm really starting to get cabin fever.

....blah....

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Changing address

I've decided to change my blogger URL. My original one was too easy to find. I've used this online alias since I first hopped on the net. I don't want random people to just google my alias and find my blog. I'm hoping that if my old address gets typed in that all of my old posts will change to the new addy.

I've been hit with identity theft in the past and I don't want to make it too easy fro someone to screw with me.

Die HD-DVD die!!!

YES!!!! It's official! HD-DVD is dead! The format war is over!!!!

I'm now ready for cheap Blu-ray players AND recorders. ...oh yeah and cheap discs too.

Check it...

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUST35829920080219

Sorry for playing HD-DVD but this time the better format actually won. Now I want my dual layer burner. 200GB on one disc. ....drool...

Thursday, February 14, 2008

I'm gonna wait

I've been contemplating the whole internet radio/cell modem stuff over the past few days. The hardware that I would need to pull it off combined with the monthly fee is just too much.

I have changed my focus to a HDTV for my bedroom...

My old Panansonic 21" TV is really showing it's age. The sound is starting to cut out when it feels like it and the image looks like crap. I soon will have a dedicated HTPC computer for my bedroom. Currently I just have a HDTV card in my main computer but it doesn't work well with a multi-processor machine. The audio gets out of sync after 20-30 minutes and I can't play back video over my network. Both are very annoying.

Anyway... I was looking at real HDTVs. They are still fucking expensive. A 26" LCD goes for $600-800 and still has shitty blacks and does a horrible job with analog NTSC video.

What I've dreamt up is getting a used Sony GDM-FW900 24" computer monitor. This is pretty much the best computer monitor ever made. It originally retailed for over $2k and has a 16:9 24" screen. You can now get one used on ebay for about $300-500 depending on shipping and condition.

It would be as good as any broadcast HDTV monitor and would be capable of 1080p and then some. ....drool....

Did I mention that it weighs 94lbs? Yeah, CRTs are the shit. Screw that lightweight LCD crap.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Very tempting

On the technology topic...

I got a catalog from TigerDirect yesterday. On the back they had a full page ad for a Sprint Data Card. It's $25 after rebate. Supposedly it also offers 3.1Mbps downloads and 1.8Mbps uploads. (For the not-so-geeky, a Data Card is essentially a special cell phone that just lets you browse the internet from anywhere.)

The part of the whole deal that I really can't justify is the $60/month data package. If it was truly 3.1Mbps, maybe. I checked Sprint's website and they only currently offer 600kbps to 1.4Mbps downloads.

They whole reason that I'm considering this is that I LOVE internet radio. I've tried XM satellite radio and it's OK. The variety stil isn't there and it doesn't work inside buildings. Normal Milwaukee radio is also a joke. It's all the same repeated old shit.

If it was truely 3.1Mbps, then I could get rid of my DSL modem (currently 3Mbps) And have my roommate chip in $15/month for the cell modem.

It would just be soo incredibly awesome to listen to internet radio in my car or on the jobsite. i also already have a mini-ATX mobo just sitting around that I could throw in my car. Hmmm...

Here's what I'm talking about:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/campaigns/campaigntemplate.asp?CampaignID=452


$720+ a year is really hard to justify.... But it would kick soo much ass!!!

I love technology

I'm sitting home today in a blizzard. I'm also watching my crystal clear satellite TV. Ya gotta love it.

A wintry pic...




What you can't really tell by the pic is the snow sitting on the roof is a good 16" thick. Also, the wind is howling. Fun stuff.