| Elections |
[Feb. 10th, 2008|03:08 am] |
Presidential elections freak me out. It's not the candidates or their political positions that make me nervous; it's the supporters that turn my stomach. Nothing scares me more than a mob mentality. |
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| Media Center |
[Mar. 24th, 2007|10:42 pm] |
So, I recently decided to add a media center PC to my home theater. Here is how I attacked the problem:- Mac Mini Intel Core Duo w/1GB RAM (~$630)
- Panasonic Powerline HD (~$150) for the pair. This provides Ethernet over powerline because I didn't want to run Cat6 cable through my house.
- M-Audio Transit USB adaptor. This allows you to pass AC-3/DTS audio from the Mac Mini to your stereo. ($100)
- 3ware 3650SE RAID card. ($500)
- 4 Western Digital 500GB hard drives for RAID6 (~$140 each).
- PC-pitstop 4-drive SATA enclosure (~$230).
So, after you buy all this crap, it pretty much works great. I should have gone to eBay for the RAID card as I could have gotten it for half price, but oh well. Before I went with 3ware I tried out the Highpoint 2322 RAID controller. The Highpoint works fairly well, but it won't rebuild your array automatically on insertion of a new drive. One of my WD drives was also bad and the Highpoint controller failed to detect it. So far, the 3ware RAID card is a lot more reliable as it rebuilds automatically when a drive is reinserted. One thing to be weary of if you go with 3ware is there is no support in FreeBSD 7.0-CURRENT for the 3650SE. I had to hack the FreeBSD 6.1 driver into the 7.0-CURRENT kernel to get it to work (I'll post diffs upon request) as I run 7.0 in order to get my built-in NIC to work on my Dell.
In terms of setting up the Mac Mini to do media center stuff, it's pretty straight-forward. You need to download all the CODECS you want to use, install them, and then stuff mostly works. If you want to play DVD folders, you need to download a program called DVD Assist as FrontRow is unable to browse them by default. Also, you REALLY want to get the M-Audio Transit USB if you're wanting to replace your DVD player. Otherwise, the Mac Mini cannot do AC-3/DTS out. My only complaints are that FrontRow is kind of buggy. From time to time, it will lock up and crash leaving me with no recourse but to reboot the Mini. Otherwise, it's pretty cool. |
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| Godammit |
[Aug. 30th, 2006|11:35 am] |
I've been chasing a bug in my software for the last week and a half. Twice now I thought I had fixed it (passed the tests that exposed it previously) only to have it fail sometime later. This is really starting to irritate me.
How's everyone else doing? |
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| Rainier ride |
[Aug. 18th, 2006|11:19 am] |
Last weekend I rode around Rainier with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nathan. The ride was pretty good and the view made the event totally worth it. The roads up there definitely need some work though. I snapped some pictures at the Paradise Lodge. They didn't come out as well as I had hoped as the clouds moved in right when we stopped.
( Rainier )
On the negative side, my bike has developed a weird buzzing sound. I'm pretty sure it is a loose fairing, but I can't seem to find it. It only happens at at a certain RPM range in the two lowest gears. It is driving me crazy. |
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| Still around |
[Aug. 8th, 2006|05:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relaxed | ] |
I'm not sure why I haven't been posting much, but I haven't. So far, my summer has been good. I have been spending most of my weekends riding around on my bike and grilling up good grub with the occasional trip out to dance or drink.
Instead of going down to Atlanta this summer, my mother came up to visit for a week. We basically tooled around Seattle. I have to say, our Japanese Garden is quite pathetic compared to the one in Portland.
Other than that, I have recently gotten into poker. I grew up playing the game, but I only recently obtained a true appreciation of the complexity of the game. I have been hosting a home game now for a few weeks and I am having a blast. I never realized I enjoyed entertaining as much as I do. |
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| W00t! |
[Jun. 6th, 2006|04:16 pm] |
My clutch problem is only the slave cylinder. No new clutch needed. The labor and parts will only total $200. Whew. |
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| %$#@ |
[Jun. 5th, 2006|11:47 pm] |
Recently, my new cell phone has not been getting good reception. After doing some research, I discovered why. I bought a Sony Ericsson, because I like the interface, k750i on eBay because it had all the features I wanted and it was advertised to work with Cingular (where my service plan is). Well, it only sort of works with Cingular. Since Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, they have been moving away from GSM 1900 to GSM 850. The k750i is a tri-band phone supporting GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900. So, although the phone technically does work with Cingular, it doesn't work very well in the Seattle area anymore as Cingular must have been turning down some of their GSM 1900 stations while I was in NYC. Of course, my phone worked fine in Manhattan. My old phone has a non-functional microphone so I have to use it with my headset. This isn't a long-term solution; I don't always have my headset with me. I suppose this is what I get for buying a phone without doing more research.
I found a shop to take my car. It is going to cost me somewhere between 200 dollars (if only the slave cylinder is cracked) to 2000 dollars (if I need a new clutch and a resurfaced flywheel). If I do go the new clutch route, I'm putting in the clutch from the RS4 which is actually designed to take the torque my engine can put out. |
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| Must salvage the day |
[Jun. 4th, 2006|04:46 pm] |
My clutch is toast. I was on my way to the Washington Wine Highway and all of a sudden my clutch pedal was stuck all the way in and I could not shift. By the time I got a tow, it was too late to go taste.
I am now back home trying to figure out how to salvage the day. Any suggestions? |
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| Close of the trip |
[May. 30th, 2006|02:18 am] |
Sunday
----- Went to see The Frick Collection. I had seen it on a previous trip, but that was years ago and I wanted to check it out again.
- I had a D E L I C I O U S gyro from a street vendor.
- I saw Rent.
Today
----- I went to see where the World Trade Center towers once stood.
- I walked around Battery Park.
- I walked around 5th Ave and killed time till my flight.
I am now back home. I have to work tomorrow and I am definitely not thrilled about that. I will be posting pictures soon. I don't have many as most of my trip was about doing stuff not sightseeing (I've done that in NYC before). The mean time between NYC must be shorter than 7 years from now on! |
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| Update |
[May. 28th, 2006|02:23 am] |
Thursday Night
----- Got tickets for The Producers (for 45 bucks!).
- Went to happy hour at some bar in Times Square until my show started.
- Went to the show; it was great and hilarious.
- Ate dinner at Ollie's in Times Square (I've been there before on a previous trip, but yummy!).
Friday
----- Spent 3.5 hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After about 2.5 hours, I got lost.
- Came back to the hotel and rested.
- Went to eat at Spark's Steakhouse. I had an excellent fillet mignon dinner and I highly recommend this steakhouse.
- Came back to the hotel and watched tv until 10:30-11:00pm.
- Had a martini at the Hilton bar in preparation for my night.
- Went to Crobar on the advice of nathan. I didn't know ahead of time, but Deep Dish was spinning there that evening. The club was fucking crazy; it filled up at about midnight and stayed full till 5:00am. I left at 6ish and people were still there and the dj was still spinning. Cover was 40 dollars (!), my gin and tonics were 11 dollars (!) and water was 6 dollars (!!!). I HIGHLY recommend this club if you are in town; it seems the place to go for good techno shows.
Saturday (today)
----- Got out of bed at 2:00pm (read previous day where I got home at 7am).
- Got some lunch at some bar up the street from the Hilton.
- Came back to the hotel to floss, decided I would see a play to night, but ended up falling asleep.
- Took a train out to North Brooklyn to eat at Sapori d'Ischia, supposedly the best Italian restaurant in town according to egullet.com. I ordered an antipasta course and and an entrée course, but I wish I had gotten a pasta course; the fettuccine looked amazing. They bring this wheel of cheese out to your table with the center scooped out, they dump the pasta into the wheel, mix it all up and serve it to you. The espresso I had there was equally amazing. If you're in NYC, definitely make the trip out.
- Got drinks at Puck Fair in the East Village. A cool pub, but I was a little too tired to enjoy it.
Today as I was coming back from Sapori d'Ischia I saw my first unmistakable crack head in the subway stop; he had the tell-tale white lips and all. I also was amused at the DVD vendors that appear in the subways. They peddle all sorts of DVD titles including new theatrical releases. For example, in the subway today I could have picked up The Da Vinci Code or X Men 3: The Final Stand; I think this underscores that the MPAA/RIAA monopolistic controls on intellectual property are no match for the power of the free market.
I love this city, but it wears me down. Part of me has always wanted to live here since I last visited in 1999; at the same time, however, I feel that if I lived here NYC would slowly suck away my will to live. This place is like Las Vegas on steroids; every second there is something to do and every second you can actually feel your wallet getting lighter. I need to visit more often, that much is certain. |
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| Oh I forgot... |
[May. 26th, 2006|09:35 pm] |
I made it to The Producers last night. No, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick no longer star in the play, but it was still a great show. The play was very very funny.
I might try to see Wicked or Spamalot before I have to leave. |
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| Today |
[May. 26th, 2006|09:21 pm] |
I spent today at The Met. I walked around the museum for 3.5 hours. I got lost; I had to ask where the lobby was so I could leave. It was great. Afterwards, my feet hurt so much that I had to head back to the hotel to rest.
For dinner I went to Sparks Steakhouse which is, according to egullet.com, one of the best steakhouses in Manhattan. It was pretty dope; but I have difficulty telling the difference between steakhouses after they get to the Morton's level of quality.
Tonight I'm going to head to Crobar down in Chelsea to do it up.
I love this fucking town; I always have. |
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| The Producers |
[May. 24th, 2006|09:25 pm] |
|
is 110 dollars. This is unacceptable. |
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| NYC |
[May. 23rd, 2006|06:43 pm] |
The company flew me out to NYC for a two-day business trip. I decided to make a small vacation out of it at the last minute since my airfare is paid for. So, I am here through Memorial Day.
Obviously, I'm going to check out The Met, The Frick, a play or two, and possibly the Guggenheim, but I'm looking for suggestions on social places to go (clubs/bars/restaurants) -- so throw them this way! |
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| brrr! |
[May. 19th, 2006|08:51 pm] |
When I looked at the weather today, I read it was to be 70 degrees out so I wore shorts. Well, I'm hella cold now and it's raining. Thanks weather.com!
In other news, I re-injured my shoulder yesterday at the gym. I did it doing lateral raises; I'm not sure how exactly. It might just be that my shoulder doesn't like to move that way anymore after I injured it last year. Anyway, it isn't unbearable, just uncomfortable. I'm not sure whether I will skip chest in light of this or not; bench press seems to aggravate the shoulders. |
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| Stereo |
[May. 6th, 2006|02:41 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Tool - 10,000 Days | ] |
Just got my stereo set up. It of course took me hours to place the speakers, but I think they are placed adequately for my liking (at least the front channels). My sub channel is still broken; the bastards at Mondial (now Klipsch) fucked it up when they replaced the processor in the pre-amp. It still sounds great though.
God, it is nice to be able to crank this thing. |
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| Shave and a Haircut |
[Apr. 30th, 2006|12:55 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | haircut, shaving | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Konitz - Swallow - Motian - Three Guys | ] |
So, I decided to get a shave and a haircut at this men's store in my new neighborhood. I recently bought a straight razor myself and I thought I would see what a professional could do with the tool before trying it myself. It was expensive, not surprisingly so given that not many barbers don't even offer straight razor shaves anymore, and I'm not sure I like the results. I don't blame the tool, however. I think the barber was rather inexperienced at shaving. Don't get me wrong, the treatment one receives getting a traditional shave was quite nice; I just didn't receive as close of a shave as I can give myself.
Oh well. |
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| Moved |
[Apr. 28th, 2006|08:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
I'm moved. Internet access was installed today. If I missed your e-mail, I'm sorry; my domain was down while I changed providers. Once I get unpacked, I'll be throwing a housewarming. Details soon! |
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