Month: March 2007

Time For Vista?

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This week I decided to install Windows Vista. Now hold on I know what you are thinking. Yes I still use a Mac as my primary machine. That is why I decided to put Vista on a computer or two. My work laptop has been sitting in my office barely used day in and day out for weeks and I figured I would play around with it. According to Microsoft Vista will run on it just fine. WIth nothing to lose since I do use my Macbook as my main computer for home and work I figured what the heck. As I am writting this post it is running windows update. So the jury is still out on this one.

At home I decided to put the Mac Mini I had doing pretty much nothing to better use and I setup a dual boot of OS X and Vista now that Boot Camp 1.2 is out and it supports Vista. I figured I might as well put my copy of the OS to use. I am replacing my current machine I have running my Beyond TV DVR and put the Mini in its place. I even read an article from the folks at Snapstream that showed how they tested the Intel Mini with their software. I also read and verified that the 4 products I use (Beyond TV 4.6, Firefly Remote Control Drivers, USB-UIRT IR Blaster, & the Hauppauge USB2 Video Capture device) on that machine to run the DVR are in fact compatible with Vista now, so I said why not. I have been having issues since day one with the MCE 2005 install I had been using on my old machine so I was up for a change. I have been using that machine less anyway now that I got an HD DVR box from my cable provider, but since I already own all the gear and it is free to use I am not getting rid of it just yet.

The install and setup of the DVR box was relatively painless. I put Vista on it earlier this week, and took some time today to swap the old machine I was using for the Mini, and then setup the software and all the drivers. The DVR setup is slightly better than the ld system, but it is a bit cluttered since I need to use an external Hard Drive for video capture. The Snapstream article explains why. Initial tests are showing me that the problems I had with MCE 2005 are resolved (for now) with Vista. Until There is an equivalent DVR for the Mac (EyeTV in my opinion is not anyway near as good as Beyond TV) I guess I will be using this setup. More information as I discover them.

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Data Center Tour

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Today was busy with meetings and an offsite tour of a data center. We are looking to take some of our self hosted gear and put it at a hosting facility. We looked at one in the city today. It was a decent facility but not the nicest I have ever seen. It does meet our needs, but we need to audit what we want to put there and get a real space and power estimate. Other than that, nothing else went on that was worth noting.

Back in the Swing of Things

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It is Thursday an I have successfully completed two days back at work. Both were filled with meetings and other stuff keeping me running around, so I am glad that I made it. Not much else going on in my life yesterday and today. I was glad I was able to make it through work. Jayson & Danny meet up Tuesday night for drinks. I missed it, but I was glad to get the rest. The trains ended up getting messed up so I was glad I I didn’t go out. The commute Wednesday morning to work was also screwed up from lingering issues related to Tuesdays train problems. Everything was back to normal today so I was happy.

I look forward to finishing the week without getting sick again and resting this weekend.

Out of It

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I have been offline for the better part of the week trying to get over some really bad migraines. Thus the no posting. My anniversary post was actually written about two weeks ago but just not posted. I am just now able to sit at the computer for longer periods of time. Aside from the flu I had 3 years ago the medication issues I had about 2 years ago this was probably the worst experience in pain in my entire life. The bad part is we still don’t really know what triggered everything. Probably couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I am only on month 2 of a new job, so missing any time is bad, but missing a total of like 3 days in a week is not good.

I am hoping to be bak to work tomorrow. I just hope I don’t have any repeat events. On the plus side I discovered (not sure why I never knew this before) that the ER has this nice cocktail on IV that can kill a migraine. It isn’t even pain medication, but whatever it is does the trick. Now all I have to do is be able to sleep normally again. I goto bed normal time or early and I wake up yawning. I still can’t figure that out, so I am still concerned about going back to work. We will see what happens tomorrow.

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4th Anniversary

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As amazing as it seems to me, today is the 4th anniversary of me starting this blog. I have had a few hosting providers. Bloggar for a few weeks, then I tried it myself, then Gus’ server, and now Typepad. This blog was not the first time I ever wrote a journal about my life, but it was the first time I published those thoughts for anyone to see. Who would have guessed that I would get sighted in an online article or two, referenced by official blogs of some of the tech companies I write about, and my personal favorite emailed by the Chairman of the board of a company that I bashed their product. It has been an interesting 4 years. There have been times when I thought I wouldn’t continue to write this thing, but then there are other times like tonight when I sit here writing way past when I wanted to goto bed for the simple fact that I want to take what I am thinking and put it down on “paper”.

The amazing thing is I started writing this site for myself, and didn’t care if anyone read it. I still feel that way but I get a kick out of hearing from friends or strangers that read the site. Looking at how people find the site on google and other search engines is also interesting. Of course that isn’t as interesting as me finding my own site while searching for topics on google. It is never good when your search result for something brings up your site as a top search because you were previously blogging about an issue that you can’t find a resolution for.

Hear is to another 4 years of me documenting what I find interesting in my world. Or just writing about whatever comes into my head as I sit at the keyboard!

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Wii Age Update

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I would like to note that on my birthday when I turned 33, I had my Wii age down to 31. My Wii workout is paying off and my eye hand coordination is improving. I am averaging in my 40’s, but just had my best day ever.

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It’s My Birthday

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With little fanfare my birthday comes to a close in approximately 5 minutes. The day started for me at midnight when I was still at work. I was trying to conduct some tests during a maintenance window, but due to issues with other tests earlier in the window, the one I was waiting to run had to be scrubbed. I didn’t leave work till well after midnight, but on the bright side I got to sleep in.

My present to myself was going to get my new HD DVR box from my cable provider. It was no small feat in the snow and sleet. I ended up taking a cab back home since I didn’t want to carry the box on the subway. I then headed back down to work for a few hours.

Due to the inclement weather all my birthday plans were canceled since no one (to some extent even I) wanted to go out. It is not a total loss since several of us will get together tomorrow for St. Patrick’s day. This is not the first time this has happened, and for the most part I don’t really mind, but on some level it is a bit depressing to be home alone on this day.

I thought I had kicked my cold, but all the walking around in the cold and wet weather has gotten feeling not so great again. I am not in a full sick mode, but I do have the sniffles. I am off to bed in a minute but I wanted to stop and write a bit. I still find writing right before I goto bed to be very relaxing. I also find that I am my most productive at this time. I would say most creative, but I am just writing about stuff in my life and not writing a novel.

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The RCN Monopoly

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The building I live in has an exclusive deal (aka monopoly) with RCN to provide Cable & Phone service. That sucks for me since I am paying more for less service than I had with Time Warner. I am home sick today so I decided to call RCN and make some changes I have wanted to make on my account. I never watch HBO so I wanted to save me the $10 (yes ten bucks) on that, and I also wanted to see if I could get a HD DVR box. The good news is I can get the DVR. The bad news is I have to pay $50 for them to install it for me. First of all I need someone to bring me a box, not install anything. I don’t want them touching my TV. Second, they were like you can come in and get the box yourself if you want. I am up for that. The only problem is in the biggest city in the country they only have one office. It is only open monday through friday 9AM – 5PM and they close for an hour at lunch time. I don’t get how a service place like that can operate like that. OK so I will go with my existing cable box and get the new one. It isn’t because of the $50, it is because they couldn’t tell me when they would be able to send someone out to me.

My next issue I had was the actual process of removing my HBO. The first guy that I got on the phone right away was more than able to add services to my account, but when I wanted to remove something I had to get transfered to the “retention department”. So I waited on hold for 10 minutes before I got someone on the line. Now both CSR’s were very friendly and helpful. I am not bashing them, I am commenting on the company. I feel there is a difference. This new retention CSR was more than happy to take off my HBO, and even try to throw in some promos to keep me spending. I didn’t bite. During this process I have to have my package upgraded since I was on an old package deal whatever that really means. So my account gets upgraded and she removes HBO from my account. Then the CSR tells me what my new monthly total will be after tax’s. I was surprised since it was within $1 of what I was paying for the exact same service with HBO. I question the rep on this and she magically is able to change my plan again (still the exact same features minus the HBO) and I am now saving the $10 I though I was saving by removing HBO. So even if the rep was helpful and friendly I have to wonder if I was intentionally getting screwed? How can they do some magical plan changing and then remove a feature from my account and I am paying the same amount as I was before? It just sounds shady to me. I need to wait for my next bill or two to see how this really plays out.

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The Cold

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I am still working on a few larger posts that I don’t seem to have time to finish. I want to get all my ideas out, so they will arrive whenever. It doesn’t help that I am a pharmacology experiment gone wrong since I am fighting a cold this week. I think the Coldeze is working, or this slight reprieve in how I feel is just the calm before the storm today. Half my team is or was sick. My boss was out today and two of my team was out last week. I just want to purge whatever it is out of my body before the festivities of this weekend. I don’t want a cold or anything to ruin my 3 day March holiday. If you don’t know what I am talking about see this blog post from last year. It covers it pretty well, as do some of the posts right after it.

And for the record, even with a cold I actually got my Wii age to be my actual age (well my age that I will be on Friday that is). And people say I am not in shape! It only took me a week. Now I just have to keep my age down.

Well I am off to take some sleepy time medicine so I can hopefully be coherent for work tomorrow. Must be in full recovery mode by the 15th.

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So What is Your Wii Age?

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So what is your Wii age? If you have a Nintendo Wii you know what I am talking about. If not you must think I am crazy. I have been doing the Wii workout for about a week now. I am getting better, but I still am averaging a Wii age of 40-50:( I am still working at it.

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