2005 - January

Archive for January, 2005

My wipers suck

1/11/2005

I got my windshield wipers changed in preparation for the winter season back when I had the Blizzak’s mounted on the car. I went for winter wipers. The only difference between winter wipers and regular ones is that the winter kind have a thick “coat” around them. This is to prevent them from icing up on the windshield. And it’s true, that coat does prevent freeze-up. Anyway..

As God as my witness I will never get wipers from a tire place again. At any speed above 60mph, the wipers fail to wipe the most important place they should: in front of my face. If I slow to under 60 they wipe fine. Any speed above that and every area of the glass gets wiped except right where I need to SEE. Ironic, eh? Yeah, very.

I should have done what I do every year: Go to NAPA and get premium Anco winter blades. This year I didn’t. Now I remember why all those years back I bought Anco’s. (a-duh..)

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Generation canyon

1/12/2005

I heard something today (here at werk) that really irked me. There were two people talking to each other, a girl in her mid thirties and a guy in his early forties. They were discussing what they got for Christmas this year. The guy says to the girl “Was Santa good to you this year?” and the girl shows a bracelet she received from a friend.

The guy says “Nice bling bling!”

Yeah. A white bald guy in his forties stating “nice bling bling”.

Now I admit I’m somewhat of a dork (if not a total dork,) but what that guy said just took the cake and thensome. There are certain things people just should not say when you reach a certain age. This kind of reminds me of when my mom started saying “chill out” in her fifties. Um, yeah.. sure mom. Right.

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Lack of visuals

1/12/2005

I notice that a lot of people I know have digital cameras now. Some have had them for a few years(!) One thing is for certain - I really need to get one. Note that I said need because pictures are important. It documents our lives in a way.

Sadly, I barely have any pictures taken of me in my 20’s. The ones I do have are scattered about from place to place. It’s just really a bummer because for the years of 21 thru 28 I have basically nothing - and I’m going to regret that for the rest of my life.

This will be soon remedied - I am set on getting a digital camera. I’m going to buy a good one with the timer feature and take lots of pictures. I have got to start getting something together before my 20’s are over - and that is fast approaching.

Someday I’ll be able to look back at the pics I take and say “there’s me at 29 - thank God I took some photos.”

I can remember most of my 20’s now.. but one day I won’t.. and I won’t have any pictures to look back on. That’s.. just.. sad. (sigh)

For this year, and the rest of my life, I won’t make that mistake again.

Note to my friends: If you have any pics of me any time in my 20’s, please send them to me. I would really appreciate it.

[-- edit --]

I’ve made a decision. I’m picking up a camera today after I get out of werk. No time like the present. Wal-Mart, here I come.. (grin)

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Phone rats

1/13/2005

I’ve added a new category to the blog here called phone rats, which will have stories and so on depicting the experience of what it’s like to work at a call center providing computer technical support (which I do). I will still keep the werk department which is just about standard corporate stuff.. mostly. (grin)

So.. watch for it. Should be good.

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Fog

1/13/2005

Today’s fog was absolutely brutal. Visibility on the drive home today was less than 15 feet near my house.

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The Kentucky Fried Movie

1/14/2005

I’m up in the middle of the night so I decided to write something…

A guy I know at werk happens to be a huge Zucker fan (Airplane, The Naked Gun and so on).

I asked him “Have you ever seen The Kentucky Fried Movie?” His response (with a confused look) “Nope.”

Those who like Zucker films must see this movie. Is it bad? Yes. But is it funny? Absolutely.

As it says in one of the comments for the film on the imdb descrip: “A film of extraordinary magnitude.” Yes it is. See, that’s a line from one of the skits in the film, it happens where.. oh, just go watch it.

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To-do list

1/14/2005

I have to remind myself of my to-do list or else it will never get done.. (grin)

In no particular order:

- Finish a full screenplay (already finished a shortie)

- Finish a full EP (on/off again thing)

- Pay off credit card (in the works)

- Clean my office (almost done!)

- Clean the bedroom (not even close to done!)

Okay, now I can start my day.

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What a difference a day makes

1/14/2005

The horrible fog yesterday was replaced with rain today. Check out the difference between the pictures. Only one day apart, taken around the same time of day.

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Hotei says hello

1/15/2005

I’ve talked about Hotei before. Now you know what he looks like!

Looks quite happy as usual. :-)

What’s that? You want a Hotei of your own? eBay it!

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Weeny Computers

1/15/2005

I personally get a big kick out of ultra-small form factor computers. In my opinion there is absolutely no reason for computers to take up the sheer bulk they do these days, especially with the current technology that’s available.

My box is a standard cheapo $25.00 ATX case. I built the computer myself and put all the things I needed in it and so on. The only thing I don’t like it the sheer mass of it. Too darn big. I would rather prefer something less than half its size.

I could use a Micro-ATX motherboard, then go with a Micro-ATX Mini-Tower but that’s still just too big. I want to eventually get away from the whole “tower” thing.

Enter into the fray the Mini-ITX motherboard. Very small, but fast. Even smaller: Nano-ITX. Cool stuff. Very tiny = very cool. It means more space on my desk.

For Mac’s, there is the Mac Mini - so even the big guys are starting to realize that we don’t need these big honkin’ computers any longer. Mac also has their all-in-one iMac G5 which includes the computer built-in to the monitor itself. Slick.

For stuff even smaller there are Weeny PC’s. These are computers about the size of a Rubik’s Cube or smaller. Digression: Check out the Rubik’s Web Site. Neat stuff. Take a trip down amnesia lane. (grin)

What I want to do eventually is build one of these ultra-small computers with absolutely no moving parts. This means no moving disk drives or optical drives and no fans. It this possible? Just about.

1) Mini-ITX motherboards are available right now that are “fanless” because they don’t run that hot. And yes it will run Windows XP with no problems at all. That’s been proven time and time again. So that takes care of the CPU fan noise.

2) It is possible right now to boot from a USB hard drive? Yes. That takes care of the hard drive noise. USB’s are obviously silent.

3) There is such a thing as a small fanless power supply, however it needs a 12V source. More or less this means the PSU is meant for an automotive application. Cars use a 12V battery.

Sidenote: I am still searching for a small fanless PSU that will use standard 110v home current. It probably exists already, but I still haven’t found it. The search continues. There is a large 300w fanless PSU, but it’s too darn big.

—

Here are some computers built that I think are just plain awesome. You’ll probably get a kick out of them too. Bear in mind that this is the future of computing. Style will eventually come into play with all computers - you watch. It’s darn close. Mac tried it earlier with the colored iMac’s - but they were just a little too ahead of their time.

SuperNES PC

Commodore 64 933MHz PC (if it only had a number pad and all the “F” keys….)

..and last but not least, my favorite:

The Windows XP “Box”

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