Other than selling my extra monitor today, I went to see the 3rd Shrek movie with Danny and Starr. It was really funny. Not sure if it was better than the other 2 but it was well worth the money, and walking home in the rain. Now i am cleaning up my apartment and trying to relax before the work week starts again tomorrow.
Entertainment
Zach’s Birthday Party
My nephew had his first birthday party today. It was an interesting event. I mean he didn’t really care what was going on. He had cake, got to run around with his little helper walker thing, and got held allot. It was a great day for him, but he had no idea it was a special day. Overall I think everyone had fun. It was a one year olds birthday party, so it wasn’t total fun for adults with no kids, but the kids had fun.
I got to see my grandmother who flew up from florida to see Zach for the first time. I also saw a bunch of friends of the family that i don’t see that often.
After the party i meet up with Jayson and we headed to John’s for some poker. I lost, so did Jayson. It was a relatively early night! All in all a good Saturday.
Sunday in the Park
The weather cleared up today enough so i was able to get a good ride in Central Park in the afternoon. I don’t know why (maybe the lack of any exercise all week) but i was more tired after my work out than i can remember ever being on the same route. Even last week wasn’t that bad. I guess that means i need to do my own self made course more often to build up my stamina. Hopefully i can get out a few nights this week.
Technorati Tags: Biking in Central Park, Biking
First Ride of the Season
I headed out to the bike store today to get air in the tires of my bike. Sitting in my apartment all year left them needing a quick refresh and then I was off on my first ride of the season. I took it easy today since I know I am a bit out of shape and I don’t want to over do it. I rode a bit in Central Park, and then headed home. If the weather stays the way it is I hope to get a few more rides in this week.
My Apple TV
I finally got my Apple TV a few weeks ago. Since I was really sick when I got it I didn’t really get to set it up and use it until around the 26th of March. Then I just never got around to finishing this post. So now here is my brief first thoughts on the product.
So far it has meet my expectations, and I am happy with it. Even though I have read mixed reviews about it, the Apple TV fix in perfectly with my home entertainment setup. Since I use a Windows PC for a DVR, a Mac Mini was not feasible for the same TV. I KVM didn’t work so well, and the DVI to HDMI cable never got the resolution right on the Mini. All that and the fact that Front Row was very slow to respond on the Mini, the Apple TV fit perfectly. I have a new Stereo with HDMI inputs and the Apple TV plugged in and was online in 10 minutes.
It is true that the Apple TV doesn’t have HD content, but what was watching on my Mini wasn’t in HD anyway. Eventually getting HD content would be nice, but I am happy with the product as is for now!
Time For Vista?
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.
Technorati Tags: Beyond TV, DVR, Mac, Mac Mini, Media Center, snapstream, windows vista
It’s My Birthday
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.
Wii Fun
I finally rewired my TV so I can use the Wii this morning. I can tell you that after on a little while with this thing I can see how addictive it can be. The only limitation is my arm’s began to hurt. As I was breaking in my new system Jayson called and wanted to hang out. He brought his Wii controller over and we went head to head. He has had his Wii for longer so he kicked my ass at Wii Spots. Granted he is in better shape than I, but he did have more practice. After only like two hours I was tired. I am going to try to pace myself and do like about a half an hour a day with this. It is fun though!!!
Technorati Tags: Wii Workout, Wii
Reno 911
I went with Jayson to see Reno 911 the movie today. It was funny, but not funny enough for me to want to go out and rent I when it comes out on DVD. That is my new ranking system. The movie wasn’t bad but it wasn’t spectacular. Before we saw the movie we got to hit White Castle. I have some weird attraction to that fast food place. After the movies we went down to Union Square so Jay could goto a guitar store. After that we hit Heartland Brewery for drinks and food. It was a nice afternoon in the city. I would complain about the cold since we were walking around everywhere but I like the cold even when I bitch about it when I am freezing. At least I am getting my money’s worth out of my new P Coat.
Technorati Tags: movies
Apartment Cleanup
I spent the past 2 days trying to clean up the mess that is my apartment. It is not going well. I see no improvement to the situation. That is what happens when I decide to rearrange some piece of electronics gear. Everything gets moved around and messy. I should try and finish up tonight, but I am just tired. The events of last week have still not sunk in. It will eventually, but not yet.
Well I stopped writing and got off my but for a while and I cleaned up decent amount. I still want to tidy up a bit more. I have also decided to wipe my mini, and remove the XP partition on it. I also brought back my dedicated DVR Windows XP machine. The Beyond TV Link software and the dual booting the Mini was not cutting it for me. I will use my regular DVR machine on my TV until the Apple TV thing ships and then I will plug that into my TV as well. My Mini is now plugged into my KVM. My main Windows box is not feeling too well after the moving of stuff. I think the power supply went. It is over 2 years old so I don’t know what I am going to do to it just yet.
Still cleaning…