i see dumb people
$100 second hand modded xbox + xbox media center = badassestest thing ever.
i was using a mac mini to play tv shows and movies acquired, ahem, elsewhere, but it seemed such a waste. xbmc does that and then some. i love it. and it cost about 1/8th what the mini did.
but damn do i have having a microsoft product in my entertainment center.
i want an mp3 player that detects my mood and chooses music and/or playlists accordingly.
i just finished reading steve wozniak’s biography, iwoz. while reading, i started remembering one of my first “apple is a really cool company” moments.
my family very early on realized that i had a bit of a talent with computers. my tandy trs-80 (their later color version) just wasn’t cutting it anymore, so my family bought me my first apple.. the apple IIgs, the g and s representing the enhanced graphics and sound capabilities. unlike the previous apple II’s, the gs had a mouse and a gui.
anyway, my family managed to find an entire IIgs outfit with a color imagewriter printer, monitor, floppies, everything. it was used, but in mint condition. all of the manuals were included, which i read for some reason.
i was surprised to find that the previous owner had never sent in the registration cards. i filled them out and sent them in, along with a letter stating that even though i was the computer’s second owner, i hoped the registration information proved useful to them.
several weeks later, i received a personal letter from an apple employee thanking me for the registration even as a second owner. they also sent me an apple t-shirt and an apple hat. i was impressed that someone had taken the time to write a personal letter thanking me.
nowadays i’m lucky if i get an apple sticker in my frequent apple product purchases. ah well, i still love ’em.
i also started my first bbs on the iigs, although i eventually replaced it with a pc. there was a very limited supply of apple bbs software. ah, and i ran up hundreds of dollars of phone bills. compuserve didn’t have a local number.
i’m itching for some oregon trail now.
those who know me are already aware of this, but…
i think myspace is evil and will kill babies. i really, really, really despise myspace. what frightens me the most is that evvveryone has fucking myspace now. even those i thought could never fall to such a low are now myspacing like fools.
several weeks ago i received an e-mail telling me that someone left me a note on myspace. inconceivable! apparently, i have a myspace account. there are only two possible ways this could have happened:
1) i was drunk at some point and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
2) someone who knows my “usual” password (about 3% of the world population) created the account.
my new slogan at work when something shitty happens… “well, at least it’s not myspace”
my most excellent friend molly (no, i will not link to her myspace page) has some myspace action going on. since she has no “myspace bling” going on (yet), i will occasionally visit her site. it makes me log in to do anything, but luckily i have an account for unknown reasons.
yep. just logged in to check out some of molly’s pictures. i hate myself now.
anyone have any direct or indirect experience with online universities, or colleges with online programs?
i’ve been considering finishing my degree for quite some time now. with over 100 credit hours scattered around, i can’t be too far away from one. unfortunately my schedule more or less prohibits me getting a degree via traditional means in any less than 10 years.
i’ve been reading reviews of university of phoenix online. lots of mixed opinions, makes me wonder of their degrees are about as useful as an a+ certification. however, most of the negatives i’ve read about are the same stuff you deal with at a traditional university. i had some very shitty instructors at u.t., and i had some fantastic ones. you’ll get that anywhere.
the lyrics don’t do justice – listen over here
this year has been a little crazy for the andersons. you may recall we had some trouble last year. the robot council had us banished to an asteroid. that hasn’t undermined our holiday cheer. and we know it’s almost christmas from the marks we make on the wall. and that’s our favorite time of year.
merry christmas from chiron beta prime, where we’re working in a mine for our robot overlords. did i say overlords? i meant protectors. merry christmas from chiron beta prime.
on every corner there’s a giant metal santa claus who watches over us with glowing red eyes. they carry weapons and they know if you’ve been bad or good. not everybody’s good but everyone tries. and the rocks outside the airlock exude ammonia-scented snow. it’s like a winter wonderland.
merry christmas from chiron beta prime, where we’re working in a mine for our robot overlords. did i say overlords? i meant protectors. merry christmas from chiron beta prime.
that’s all the family news that we’re allowed to talk about. we really hope you’ll come and visit us soon. i mean we’re literally begging you to visit us. and make it quick before they [message redacted]. now it’s time for christmas dinner — i think the robots sent us a pie! you know i love my soylent green.
merry christmas from chiron beta prime, where we’re working in a mine for our robot overlords. did i say overlords? i meant protectors. merry christmas from chiron beta prime.
i love christmas. every other holiday hides in fear when christmas’ bad self rolls around. yep, it’s christmas time and i’m digging it. howmeownership lets me do things like put up a real tree (check) and hang tacky icicle lights outside (check).
since i’ve got the new digs, it was quickly decided (by parties other than myself) that dana and i would be hosting christmas eve for the family. i’m not complaining — i was more or less assuming that would be the case. thinking forward to having the family here, i’m thinking it will feel like “playing house”.
oh, and it gets more interesting… this will be the first christmas eve in who knows how many years that my mom and dad will be at the same gathering for more than a few minutes. i wonder what to expect… so, mom, dad, sister, aunt, uncle, two grandparents, dana, and myself… lots of mouths to feed. lots of cars to find parking spots for. lots of sleeping arrangements to be made. lots of food preparation. lots of finding places to sit.
for the few that don’t know – i bought a house. with time divided up between that and work, i just haven’t had the time to update this thing.
ok, i lied. i’ve had the time, i just never really have the gumption to write anything during my precious lazy time.
gotta love firefox 2’s spell checker — it caught my misspelling of precious.
eddo – glad to see you’re still alive! we stayed at a bed and breakfast in southie in an attempt to keep things cheap. i forget what intersection but it was a few blocks from a red line station. i forgot you were based out there now.
happy day after thanksgiving to everyone!
dana and i ran away to boston for a few days. greetings from boston’s public gardens. a bit chilly, but very nice.
a note to whoever it is here who has an open access point and attempts to secure it by disabling dhcp: i was able to use tcpdump to figure out what ip range you use, choose a random ip in that range, and use a public dns server to get all webified n’ shit. 🙂
boston is badass. public transit (the “T”) has been much easier to use than i would have imagined. lots of walking though, my feet are about to fall off. checked out the harvard and mit campuses (yes, sir, you read my resume correct, i have been to harvard and mit. uh, no, didn’t graduate. how long was i there? less than a year.)