Geek

I have made an absolutely fabulous discovery on the internet. It’s called In2TV. It’s AOL’s free video streaming service. It has a TON of classic shows that you can watch on your computer.

Now I’m going to say that I like this service very much. I’ve already watched a number of episodes of “Alice” (from various seasons so that I could get all versions of the theme song stuck in my head), the unaired pilot of “Gilligan’s Island” with two secretaries named Ginger and Bunny, an unaired episode of the series “Aquaman” and early “Superman” episodes. And I just discovered In2TV last night around midnight.

Unfortunately, it’s an AOL product so naturally it’s not done as well as it could be. For example, you can download many of the shows to your computer in DVD quality and watch them in full-screen. The bad news is that AOL decided to utilize Windows-exclusive software to do that, so you can’t do it from a Mac or Linux computer. Non-Windows users are forced to watch a smaller picture as it’s streamed and they can’t save the file. From what I can tell (since this is a Macinhouse), Windows users can download the files and watch them full-screen but they expire in a couple of years and you’re limited to the In2TV player, so there’s no transferring to an iPod or anything.

Now this service may have been around for a while and you may already know about it, but I’m hooked. In fact, I’ve become so excited about streaming video over the internet that I’ve also started downloading more videos on iTunes in the process. Those we can watch full screen on our Macs (all bow before Apple).

So get over to In2TV for complete Visual Lavinzation.

Update 10:20 a.m.: OMG they have “V: The Series”! OMG.

I’m not a morning person. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I barely speak English before noon. But in an effort to be a worthy, contributing member to society, I’ve been getting up around 7:30, even though my first class isn’t until 11:00. After getting up I usually mess around on the computer, feed the cat and watch The Golden Girls for a bit before getting in the shower and officially starting my day.

As a quick aside here, I must say I don’t understand those who don’t shower first thing in the morning. I am not awake, functional or pleasant if I have not showered in the morning. It’s the way I wake up. Those that don’t shower aren’t bad people, I just don’t understand how they can get started with their day. That’s all.

Anyway, this morning my mother called to reschedule our planned outing for this evening. I was already awake but I could tell she was hesitant to call me because she knows how I can be in the morning. While we were talking I noticed that the call was full of static. This has happened on and off for the past couple of days, since the completion of my wiring projects in the cellar.

So before I took a shower, before I was dressed and before I was speaking English, I rewired the phone connection to the outside world (including making custom cables), installed a shelf in the server room and relocated all our network equipment to the new shelf.

Now there’s no more static on the phone, the internet is faster and life in general is good.

And I haven’t even showered yet. Viva la productivity!

I am sitting on the floor of the new music studio in the basement. I was told today by our contractor that all that’s left to do is install the doors on Monday and it’ll be all done. Earl and I are putting in the few ceiling tiles that haven’t been put in yet and laying down carpet. By the end of the weekend I will have moved most of my stuff in here.

I’ve mentioned that I’ve been pulling wire through the walls over the past couple of weeks. I’m typing this blog entry on one of the new network connections. This is very exciting to a geek like me.

I can’t wait to play show and tell with pictures soon. 🙂

I’ve upgraded my blogging software. If something acts a little wonky, please drop me a line and let me know and I’ll see what I can do to fix it.

This new version of MovableType should make the commenting process a little less painful for my gentle readers. If I don’t know who you are, I’ll have to approve you once or twice. Once I know who you are you’ll get through without my having to look down your shorts first. Unless you want me to.

Oh, I’ve also fixed my online status button for AOL/.Mac chatting. Just click that little button on the right side of the page for more information. If you want to say hello over IM, that’s the instant messenger I use the most. Yahoo! makes me nervous for some reason. If you’re using AOL, you can chat with any .Mac subscriber without jumping through hoops, you just need to put in the entire .Mac e-mail address for the AOL screen name. Technology is cool like that.

Gaming Sunday.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I originally had plans to go visit my sister and my dad and stepmother in Syracuse today. However, Mother Nature decided that we needed to have everything coated in ice and snow, so we thought it’d be best if we stayed at home and treat today as one of those winter-time January Sundays.

We’ve spent the entire day playing “Project Gotham Racing 3” on our Xbox360.

I’ve become quite good at not dropping f-bombs while racing the streets of New York in my Astin Martin or my Corvette. Earl, on the other hand, drops blue words like candy. Always the humorist, Tom puts his ears back when he hears the profanity. His latest exclaimation was “Where the fsck is the seat belt?”, referring to the fact that he had ripped the steering wheel controller right off the table it was clamped to and had tried to pound the pedal assembly through the floor.

I am very grateful that I decided to buy the Xbox360 instead of the new Wii for our household Christmas present this year, because I’m positive that a Wii controller would have sailed through one of the family room windows or the screen of the television within the first 48 hours of playing.

We’ve always been proud of the way we’ve decorated our house, including the family room. I can’t wait to see what the new gamer chairs we have our eyes on add to the ambience.

As I just crossed across the room to go to the restroom, Earl promptly barked out “Don’t cross in front of me! I’ll hit ya!” Now that’s the love I always talk about.

I was chatting with my sister and getting ready to do some web site work on my PowerBook when all of a sudden “it” happened. The fan in my PowerBook kicked on and started making a really funky noise.

It sounded crunchy.

Panicked, I abruptly ended the conversation with my sister and powered down the PowerBook, hoping it would stop making this awful noise I was hearing.

My heart sank.

I love my PowerBook. I have had many computers over the past 25 years and I have to say that my PowerBook G4 has been my favorite. I can’t imagine replacing it. I can’t imagine getting rid of it. I shall get it fixed, it shall be as new and we shall be as one once again.

I turned into a Mac fanboy a couple of years ago. Back when I was a system administrator I was all about Linux and FreeBSD. I tolerated Windows on the desktop. I couldn’t stand the Mac I had to support, as it was running something called System 7. Mac OS X turned my opinion of Apple around and I haven’t looked back.

I don’t think I could ever part with my PowerBook. Ever. It’s my little computer baby.

I’m backing up my files now, with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool, thus keeping the internal fan from kicking on, and then I’m going to shut it down and work on the studio Mac Mini until I can find a way to get it fixed. But in the end, I will not be without my PowerBook. Ever.

I guess I should be working when I’m at work, and I do manage to be productive, but today I’m guilty of a little bit of chatting while I should be working. I guess it’s harmless since it was very quiet at work today, but I could easily see me falling into the habit of chat, chat, chatting away over IM while I’m troubleshooting a customer’s internet issue at the same time.

I was also quite chatty at my appointment with the local community college today. I met with one of the representatives from the Office of Adult Student Services (or something close to that) in an effort to get everything in order so that I can return to college in January. The meeting went splendidly and I found myself to be quite talkative, especially when they were asking why I chose to be a Civil Engineer focusing on transportation. I used my standard, “I want to make traffic!” line before explaining what I felt I could contribute to the motoring public, besides my terrorizing cell phone using drivers and assorted hand gestures out the sunroof of my rice burner. I’ve been surprisingly motivated about my education decisions but today I really got excited about the whole propsect of getting my degree. It’s a matter of three words now: “I can’t wait!”.

Cue Nu Shooz.

The first thing I have to do is take a placement exam next Monday night so they can be assured that I can write and speak English goodly, in addition to subtracting addition while doing algebra on geometry. “A seamstress has four yards of fabric on bolt ‘a’, three yards of fabric on bolt ‘b’ and six yards of fabric on bolt ‘c’. How much material will be required to cover Debra Messing’s clavicle?” I say screw the dress and give the woman another donut.

I’m sure the experience will be loads of fun.

Desperation.

Originally uploaded by bluemarvel.

Earl is off testing his skill at poker tonight. Rick and Helen are safely back at home outside of Philadelphia. The wind is blowing and anything that was on our deck is now smashed and lying in the back lawn. The facial hair configuration has been finalized (Jimbo got it right, by the way). The dishwasher has been emptied, the laundry is ready to be folded. On-call is coming to an end in 10 hours and 41 minutes as of this exact moment that I’m typing, but who’s counting?

So what does one do after working hours and hours of overtime and watching lots of back-to-back episodes of “Bewitched” this evening?

Sing karaoke of course!

In this photo I am singing “Afternoon Delight” and trying not to sound like Will Farrell.

Always the inquisitive one, I decided to try out Microsoft Windows Live Writer to post a blog entry. Now I’m Mac fan at heart, but every once in a while I like to try some of the new stuff from Microsoft and see what it does. So here’s a blog entry using Microsoft Windows Live Writer.

I kind of wish my iLife would do the same in that it would allow me to interface with this blog that lives on jpnearl.com. Perhaps it would allow me to do that and I haven’t research it enough.  Hmmmm, the inquisitive geek kicks into curious mode.

I kind of pride myself on this one. I remember the W.T. Grants department store chain, more specifically, the one in Northern Lights Plaza north of Syracuse, N.Y. Grants went out of business in 1975 (when I was around seven years old), but I remember shopping there with my mom and my grandmother. I remember my mother playing her Christmas albums with the “Grants” logo on the label on the GE Wildcat record player that was able to hold up to six albums at once. The retail space gave way to several department stores afterwards, including Two Guys, Zayre and Ames. Today it’s a Staples.

Apparently the family that owns the Grants Vegetable Farm near Oneida Lake (and not too far from Northern Lights) was able to snag the old Grants department store sign for their barn. I’ve seen this sign up on the barn for years, today I finally snapped a picture of it.

What’s even a little scarier is that the founder of Grants, William Thomas Grant, was originally from the city of Bradford, Pa. I drove through Bradford, Pa. on my way home today, just so I could get some pictures of some old road signs. Perhaps I brought his ghost along for a ride.