It’s been a good run. I think I started using Movable Type as my blogging platform in 2003, but it was time for a change. Most importantly because Movable Type blogs have become spammer magnets. A month or so ago, after a particularly nasty spam storm, my hosting company suspended […]
Year: 2010
Rooftop Antenna
I’ve not had much luck with antennas as part of my Home Theater PC build. Up until now, none of the models I’ve tried have worked very well. This latest one, a Channel Master 4228, did not fare well inside my attic, so I finally had to admit defeat and […]
Fifteen Albums That Don’t Suck
At the urging of a friend on Facebook, I am accepting the challenge to name fifteen albums that don’t suck. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, either. I was around and buying music when CDs first hit the market — you know, back when they were called “record stores?” […]
Hey Airline Industry!
Recent surveys have indicated that the airlines are getting worse instead of better when it comes to customer satisfaction, one of the key areas being on-time arrivals. Now it doesn’t take a genius to realize that arriving on time is heavily dependent on departing on time, so it follows that […]
Google Sketchup
This has been on my todo list forever, and today I finally got around to it. I’ve been wanting to learn how to use Google Sketchup ever since it was released and they are now on version 7, so that should tell you how long I’ve been putting it off. […]
Netopia 3347 DSL Modem/Router
At the suggestion of an AT&T technician, I upgraded my old router and DSL modem to this Netopia 3347 combination unit, and I am very glad I did. He notified me that my old DSL modem, a Slipstream 4100 B that I purchased at Best Buy about a year ago, […]
Quest For A Good Antenna
An integral part of my Home Theater PC build is the antenna, and when I first wrote about the hardware, I wasn’t even aware how complicated things would become in this area. The RCA ANT1251, which is little more than a pair of glorified rabbit ears, did not perform well […]
Lenovo Wireless Keyboard
The Lenovo N5901 wireless keyboard is a small handheld remote with a full QWERTY keyboard and built-in trackball. It seems well suited for home theater (HTPC) applications, however, it has a number of drawbacks. The first, and most noticeable, is that in the home theater environment, there is a desire […]
Magnetic Picture Gallery
What do you get when you cross a child’s door with a refrigerator? A door that any kid can use to show off his best work. This is a simple project you can do with your child (it takes less than an hour), and then eliminate the need for tape […]
Sammy Scott’s
I don’t think I’ve ever written a restaurant review before, but since I’m waiting for Dobbs to change the oil in my car, and this was the first place I found within walking distance with a free wi-fi connection, here we go. This is the first and only location of […]
The Lost Room
I just watched Sci-Fi Channel’s miniseries The Lost Room for the second time, and I have to say that it is really very good. It originally aired in 2006, but I didn’t watch it the first time until 2007. At the time, I was in between seasons of LOST, and […]
Missourah
This is addressed to those who routinely mispronounce the name of my home state. Some of you, inexplicably, are from this state and you still don’t know how to pronounce it. Since you somehow managed to escape any proper instruction in its pronunciation, allow me to enlighten you. It is […]
How To Hide Your Gold
On one of my recent journeys down the Wikipedia rabbit hole — you know what I’m talking about, when you look up something in Wikipedia and one of the links on the page draws your attention, and you click on it, and then repeat until you are seventeen pages and […]
Electric Cars Still Coming
A year ago I wrote about the electric car from Zenn Motors that was on the verge of becoming a reality. A year later, it doesn’t appear to be any closer to real, unfortunately. I’m pretty bummed about that, but I can’t say I’m surprised. The promise of an electric […]
Disappointed With LOST
I was disappointed with the Lost finale. There, I said it. It wasn’t very good. Actually, it was good — just like every other episode of the show, it was well acted and well made — it just wasn’t very satisfying. But there are a ton of people who are […]
Killers
Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl make a pretty good team in the new romantic comedy Killers (whose plot seems strikingly similar to the Cruise-Diaz vehicle Knight and Day that opens later this month — just sayin’), although I will say that the on-screen chemistry seemed to be lacking, when compared […]
Memory Foam Mattress
It’s been about six months since we bought this memory foam mattress at Sam’s. At the time, I read every single comment on the page, left by dozens (if not hundreds) of people who had purchased the same mattress. They all expressed the same apprehension about buying a mattress online, […]
Bye Bye DirecTV!
Earlier this year, I documented my Home Theater PC project. My primary motivation for this endeavor was to find a viable alternative, preferably less expensive, to my subscription to DirecTV. I had been a customer of theirs for over 10 years, and in that time I watched my monthly fee […]
Here We Go Again
Welcome to the third annual Running of the Blogs! We’ve called it 30 Days of Blog in years past, but that title isn’t terrible catchy, so I thought we could use a new name for it. In fact, I might even register the domain name and turn it into a […]
First Harvest
We had our first salad the other night from our garden and it was great. I can’t wait for all of the other crops — peas, carrots, and even cantaloupe! Yum!
Happy Earth Day!
Yeah, I know I’m a week late, but I had to post an update on our square foot garden. My wife did a great job getting all of our crops planted and now we are only a few weeks away from having some delicious home-grown salads with dinner. Yum! Stay […]
Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me
My favorite show on NPR is Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, and we attended the live taping of Saturday’s show. The panelists were Charlie Pierce, Roxanne Roberts, and Mo Rocca. I think Mo is tied with Paula Poundstone as my favorite panelist. The show was very good, and it was […]