I struggled with the title for this post for a bit. I was having trouble trying to explain what it is I’ve been attempting to do here at home. And the reason for that trouble is…um…because I really don’t know what I WANT to do at home.

Obviously I want to sleep, eat, shower, fornicate, poop without anyone knocking…

I digress.

What I meant is what do I want to do with all this computer/music/TV/crap? I want to have a decent (better than average) audio setup at home. This should include quality speakers, access to a large music library and the ability to control it all with relative ease.

So I’ve been toying around with different ideas, different methods, different hardware and software solutions to how to accomplish…uh…whatever the hell it is I’m trying to accomplish.

And amazingly enough I’ve got a pretty good handle on this. That is not normal mind you…usually complicated stuff like this is a pain in the ass, frustrating, and doesn’t quite work out how I want it to.

I plan on writing up a full on page (with pictures, woo hoo!) on what I’ve created but I’m rather proud of what I’ve accomplished today.

Without getting into huge detail (’cause I don’t want to write this whole thing twice) I’ve successfully connected all the computers (2 PC’s and 1 laptop), a printer and a wireless music bridge together. I can access any file from any of the computers (as long as they are on of course!), have any of the computers access the printer, and play any of my music files through the home audio system…using any machine. Right now I’m sitting on the couch in the living room using my laptop to access my PC’s music files and play them through the stereo.

The part that absolutely blows me away was the extreme ease of doing this. I had sorta half assed the whole setup for a while now…but with the installition of one simple bit of software it all came together at once.

Technology is AWESOME.

I don’t know this for a fact (as I’ve heard people saying this but haven’t actually been “officially” informed) but…this has been the rainest year FUCKING EVER. Seriously. What the hell is up with this? Rain rain rain…every day. Yeah, we’ve had a couple days of sunshine but are rare and not often enough.

And these days I’m driving that Dakota. It’s a cool truck. It runs great, sounds bad ass (in a couple ways) and does just what I need it to do. In other words it’s just fast enough to get in some trouble. And with that light rear end…power on oversteer is extremely easy.

But there is a problem. You see, it’s a bit too easy. These days, with all this rain, I’m lighting that thing up all OVER the place.

So I’m driving to work today…and it’s fucking POURING. We’re talking wipers on high speed, defroster blasting, both hands on steering wheel, radio is off so I can give full concentration pouring rain. And I needed that extra level of concentration.

I was doing 45 on the freeway. 45 MPH. That’s weak. But damn…even then it was sketchy. I was all over the road…I tried changing lanes at one point and the rear end stepped out a good 2-3 feet. Ease off gas…gather up the slide…let it correct…back on gas once under control. Insane.

I need new tires.

Or…

I NEED SUNSHINE!

Oh yeah…Easter at work was nuts. We had 380ish people come in. I worked the line (did expo). Oh, you don’t know what that means? Sigh…looks like another post is in the works.

Actually…I have thousands. Yes…thousands.

One of the things I got myself (woot!) for my birthday was a USB external drive. It’s actually a combination of two things…an external USB case and a regular internal hard drive. Since I’ve got both the PC and the laptop…and the PC is getting pretty full of stuff, I felt a good large portable storage solution would be…well…useful. And it sure as hell is!

I got them both at Fry’s Electronics and it was a pretty good deal. The case (Airlink 101) was picked due to its price (~$40) and its specs (USB 2.0 connection, powered cooling fan, can take either a 3.5 or 5.25 in drive) and a Maxtor 300GB ATA133 drive (’cause it was huge and cheap). Installing it was fairly easy…I just made the mistake or setting the drive as “slave” instead of “master” initially. That didn’t work. So set it to “master” and it’s a snap to get working.

Anyway…total digression here.

I put ALL my pictures, ALL my movies, ALL my documents/files/whatever…even all the free programs I’ve downloaded and am using (hmmm…another post perhaps about that? Soon…damnit the list is getting LONG).

So I’ve got a huge amount of pictures that I’d like to put up on the internet for people to …well…look at I guess. Mess with. Admire. Scoff. Whatever.

Keep an eye out for these posts in the comming undetermined time frame (in other words…it could be years folks…so deal with it).

PS: The Star Destroyer should arrive tomorrow…and I’ve got the day off

PSS: The above statement makes me look EXTREMELY geeky…and that’s a bit sad.

First I am going to post two little movies…

A video from the farm using my Canon Powershot A400

It’s dull and boring but it shows how much freaking water is up there…that’s a gopher hole in the middle of the orchard

A video of Lego Pirates made with my Logitec Clicksmart 510

That I made with the help of Matt G quite some time ago

And finally…a freakishly giant picture (to see how my site handles it)

Ok…giant picture is TOO giant because it covers up other things…so no picture.

Enjoy the movies however.

So to satisfy the craving of you (and me) to read/write/comment/bother stuff…yes…words.

Um…

OK!

Right…you’ve got two new pages over to the side there to read, with a couple pictures thrown in. I still need to write up the story of the cats, figure out how to make video work for you people to see, talk about the gourmet dinner (with the tons of pictures involved) and other things.

But I’m annoyed at those pages. I don’t, AT ALL, like how they run into each other and are hard to tell which is different.

Moe…Friday we should figure out something clever.

Which reminds me…

Friday, April 14th, is my birthday. I’ve got the day off work. Saturday I go to the grandparents for dinner with the family (and will take pictures of the scary little side house for you to look at…more on that later). Sunday is Easter…which will be nuts at work.

So this should placate you people for a bit. Now I must eat something.

First of all, big thanks to Moe for setting this whole thing up for me. I probably could have done it on my own…but it wouldn’t be anywhere near as cool as it is now and I’m sure he did it all MUCH faster than I could have.

Thanks Moe!

Expect to see some good activity around here in a while…it’s just a matter of me sitting down and getting to it. Today is a “do stuff around the house” day…which I’ve been procratinating horribly.

Keep in tune!