Smithcraft's Blog - 2old2play

I guess I did have the dough...

I picked up an Intel mini on eBay using the Live.com 25% back deal. Still have to wait a bit for the money, but I picked up a rather awesome nearly NOS 1.66 CD mini. Also picked up a T7400 2.16Ghz C2D CPU for it, as the 1.66 was having some problems with 5.1 sound and HD video clips. Most say that a 1.83GHz C2D works out, but 2.16 is a bit more future proof. What a nerve racking install that was! Spring loaded pins secure the CPU heat sink, rather than a clip, or screws. A clip would have been really nice! Of course you can't re-use the pins, so you use nylon 4-40 nuts and bolts. I had it over the edge of the coffee table and I'm working on it like I'm under my car. Holding it down with one hand, pushing the bolt through with the same hand, while trying to line up the bolt to go through the hole in the main board, and then screw the nut on when the bolt goes through the hole with my other hand. I was sure I had to have cracked the CPU, but it fired up fine, and seems to be running great.

Front Row is a nice media center app, but Plex rocks the mic right! Now if only the documentation was worth a shit...

I wanted to get a Mac Power(Taiwan) M9-DX2 for the external storage, and slam a 1TB Seagate in there, but Mac Power(Taiwan) doesn't seem to have a distributer in the US.

Picked up a Western Digital 1TB MyBook Home at Costco as it had an instant rebate. Now I just get to live on Ramen and hot dogs for a month, or three, to recover fiscally!

I think my only remaining expense on the Home Theater setup is a replacement battery for the Harmony remote, and I'll be set! Oh and some sort of DVR deal by the digital deadline...

If I don't waste your time again, before the end of the year - Have a great Holiday season!

[2 Comments]

My kind of rocket science!

Really makes me wish I had gone into Aerospace, instead of Electro-Optics!

Pom Poms in Space!

[0 Comments]

Sometimes I just wanna tighten that turtleneck!

Well, it looks like Mister Black Turtle Neck is whacking two of the companies best (IMO) products.

The first being removing Firewire from the lowend models, like the new MacBook. Of course the writing has been on the wall for sometime now, and the love/hate relationship that Apple has with Firewire, might be coming to an end. USB is nice, but there are too many silly things about USB that really don't make it worth while for high bandwidth use. CPU dependence being the most irritating restriction/hinderance. Then again when they claim that a combo USB/Firewire chip for the iPod would make the iPod a millimeter thicker, which Mr Black Turtle Neck won't accept. So I'm stuck with my old 4G iPod. Oh well, it holds more music than I can listen to as it is.

Then there is the super cool ass Mac mini. I replaced my big old G4 desktop with a mini, and it's awesome. And it's just a G4 mini, which is not as awesome as the Intel mini, simply because of the built in IR for the remote, and optical in and out for the audio! If I had the dough I'd go and get a nearly top of the line mini for a home theater computer. Quiet, and small. Plus it uses barely any power. Heck, the original XBox uses more power than my G4 mini. So, rumor has it that no more minis will be shipped, and what is in the store is all that there is. I think that Intel might be dumping the chip that is used for the mini, but that's just my guess. I wish Apple would come out with a mini with better graphics. Something a bit better than the GMA950. A mini with the X3100 would be super sweet ass!

Of course I'm still pulling for something that I don't think that Apple will build. Something like the Cube. Something small, that I can put a nice vid card into. But I don't think that Mr Black Turtle Neck wants to do that, because it would possibly cannibalize the MacPro market. Which I guess means Hackintosh FTW!

[0 Comments]

Superman ][ - The Richard Donner Cut

I've finally started making time to watch some of my HD-DVDs. This last weekend I watched Mad Max 2, and it seemed a bit on the edited side, but I'm not sure. However the majority of the movie is quite stunning in terms of picture quality. Although the one scene where Max falls into the trench in the dark is grainy as all get out, but with the darkness of the scene and the speed of the film it's understandable.

So, two weeks ago I watched Superman - The Movie, and Superman ][ - The Richard Donner Cut. Superman was great, just as it always has been. I was kinda let down by the amount of extras, as the regular DVD has more, but WTF who cares, right? It's all about the movie and not extra crap. It did include the extra footage that wasn't in the movie during it's theatrical release, but surfaced when ABC showed it on teevee. One interesting option, which I didn't really examine is just to have the video, and the music, with out the dialogue or any of the other audio effects. I still think that Anne Archer would have been a better Lois!

Superman ][ - I always had problems with some of the crappy writing, the clumsy story, and the general lameness of the New York battle. I had no iDea of how different the Donner version would be. Would it just be a few timing edits? Maybe some extra scenes? Can't be much more than that, right?

Well, shit on a shingle, it was as different as it could be while still being the same movie. Nearly every single change is for the better. Well except for the end. Everything is tighter in terms of the story and the writing. The New York battle still has some of the lameness, but it's still better. Even if it's exactly the same as the original battle, it's still better because it's in the better version of the film. I thought that they might have fixed a color issue or two, but they didn't. Oh well, nothing major.

The worst part is the end. In the original version, in order to get Lois to forget that Clark is Superman, Clark gives Lois the kiss that makes her forget, and then life goes on-wondering why Clark is never around when Superman is there, and all that crap. In the Donner cut, they did something really bad. I'm not going to say what they did, since I don't wanna spoil it, and I don't want anyone to not watch it because of this plot device, but Why Richard? Why?

The other bad part is that the Ursa character isn't as hot as I remembered!

[2 Comments]

Don't hope for change - Vote for it!

I saw that on a bumper sticker a day or two ago, and I started laughing!

The main candidate on the sticker has never fought the status quo, and even when he was against something, he voted with his party. Not like a maverick, but like a loyal dog at his masters side.

The back up candidate wants us to believe that that, even thought she was firmly for pork for her state, she is against pork for any state.

Why do politicians think that we don't remember what happened yesterday? As a country, are we really that stupid?

And for anyone wondering, I'll go with what Ralph Naders father said about the two party system in this country, so don't get upset thinking that I'm some liberal out to tarnish someone's reputation.

ps - If you find an equally stupid sticker for the other party, let me know and I'll link to your blog, or comment on it in this post. TIA!

[2 Comments]

I must have missed the drama...

One of the blogs here, that I liked to read, was GoldenEye0629s. But now it's gone. As it appears he is.

Where the hell else am I supposed to get my Trek news? Now I'm gonna have to go an find it out on the 'net.

Thanks for the blog GoldenEye. Where ever you are, you have my thanks, and good luck!

ps - This editor stuff is pretty sweet! Is it new or did it just not work for me before?

[0 Comments]

Mercury in retrograde?

So the shit has been hitting the fan lately. I see from some posts that it's hitting the fan for some others too.

Last week the power kept going out, and I thought that was bad enough.

The the transmission in the barge started slipping more and more. Fuck! Maybe it can last through the week. It didn't. It wouldn't move through an intersection on the way to work, so AAA got the call. An hour later.... the car is loaded up on a flat bed. Freaking AAA service is always lame in the south end of King County. While the car is being unloaded in the back of the transmission shop, I'm waiting at the counter. The counter guy tells the guy in front of me it's gonna be about an hour, so I'm thinking they will have my car on a rack soon and know what needs to be done real soon now�.

Nope. So since I figure I'm able bodied, I'll just walk home. I grab my lunch box out of my car and start walking. I thought I was making good time, and estimated I'd be home in a hour or so. Maybe they can give it the once over twice today(Friday). Tragically they are closed on the weekends, so no work will be done then.

When I'm about half a mile from home, I get the call. Twelve just for the labor(fourteen hours), three hundred for the torque convertor, another three for assorted parts/fluid, plus whatever else turns up during the inspection. So the baseline estimate is eighteen hundred bucks. So much for escaping from my ex. What can I say, that bitch Visa is always there for me. Why would I want to break up with her?

Oh, and it will be Tuesday or Wednesday before they get it done.

I was thinking about Enterprise, with that whole 'pick you up' thing, but some Googl-age showed that Enterprise would be a pretty risky deal. And some Hertz shops pick you up! So now I have a Hertz Chevy Cobalt in the driveway.

Not that I'm a fan of GM design, but if there was a way that a car could be more poorly designed than my Lincoln, the guys at Chevy figured it out. The mirrors are the second worst design that I have ever seen, and the pillars are so thick that they prevent good wraparound view. The rest of the car is ok, but not really interesting. It has the Eco engine, and it goes into cruise almost right after taking the foot off of the throttle, so I'm hoping for some good economy for the next day or three.

I did find a cool radio station on the way home though. Check out http://kgrg.com/index.php if you are into a mix of rock and punk.

So I hope this Mercury Retrograde isn't hammering anyone else to harshly!

SC

ps - The walk ended up being just over two hours.

[1 Comments]

Rants and Observations

So, I'm driving to work this morning with all the other peeps on the freeway, and there is an accident in the left lane. I see the lights in my mirrors and try to move to the right. Well I tried to move to the right but the ditz in the SUV to my right doesn't understand what to do when you have flashing lights and sirens coming up. So after the incident response vehicle goes by, and the ambulance goes by, there, right behind the ambulance-Right behind the ambulance-is a fucker trying to pass everyone as we get back into the lane! I've been feeling the use of my horns more and more, so I talked to the dick in the Volkswagon with my horns. I really want to put airhorns in my car. Fuck the next bastard that cuts me off! Anyway I figure putting an airhorn in is better than trying to rig up a class four laser to slice the tires of the vehicle infront of my car.
At my previous job a driver(ie trucker) came in waiting for his trailer, and while I was talking to him, he said his airhorns didn't really wake people up on the freeways. So he put train horns in. He said he never has problems after the train horns blow!

Anyway, I turn on the teevee and the Replay and look to see what's on. I see that there is a show with Christina Applegate. So I figured I'd see how see looks these days, and tuned it in. There she is in a restaurant talking to some black guy, and the camera comes around and it's Tuvok(Tim Russ)! Listening to him talk and watching him act, it's like watching Tuvok. His character makes Al Gore look like a Bart Simpson. So, other than paying the rent, why take the same character that he has already done?

Well, that's enough of my rambling for now.

SC

[0 Comments]

Score!

I was over at ChumpUSA, looting what I could from their blowout, and I picked up a 12 month Live package(12 month card/200 MS points/free arcade game/360 headset) for 10% off, among other things.

Then I stopped by at my PMB place and picked up my 360, which UPS was kind enough to get to me a day early. Or they are just making up for taking 7 days to get it to Texas. Three-Day-Select my arse!

So I get home and start opening up my bags of loot. I get the Live box out, and notice that the tape that is supposed to seal the box was broken. I though, just my luck, I bet it's empty. Well everything was in there, including a second 12 month card! Woohoo! Now my Live account is paid for till January of 2010!

Just a side note, Apples old iMac style USB keyboard works great with a 360, but the cord is pretty short.

So I'm sure you are asking, Smitty, did they fix your XBox? No they didn't! What a crock of shit. I guess I'll think about getting a nice DVD player, since I can't watch DVDs on my 360 anymore.

SC

[0 Comments]

300 IMAX = 200 miles?

Some cockbite at the Pacific Science Center decides to not show 300 on their IMAX screen but is kind enough to post that you only have to go two freaking hundred miles to see it.

Oh, and make sure that you have your passport to get back into the US!

SC

ps - My 360 is coming home!

[4 Comments]

Too stupid to die!

So I work in the transportation industry, and I deal with truck drivers on a daily basis as part of my job.

These drivers are not like the guys on Comedy Central, or even truck driving movies from the late seventies. Nope, not even like BJ and the Bear. No, the majority of port drivers are immigrants. Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against any particular race, creed, color, or personal deal, and I don't have anything against people coming to the US to get a better life - No, I hate everyone equally! Anyway, there was this company coming in to get their containers direct from the train.

So I'm sitting there with a container in the air, and the driver moving forward and backward, wondering why I'm not giving them the container.

Now if you do an image search at Google on shipping containers, you'll see plenty of cans. And all from the back. Where the doors are. The doors that are in the back. Now in the front, there is a channel for the gooseneck on the chassis. So the front of the can has a notch in the bottom of the front.

So we have a notch cut out in the front of the can, and doors in the back of the can. If you understand this concept and can some how acquire a Commercial Drivers License, you are fully qualified to be a port truck driver! How you acquired your CDL doesn't matter!

Now back to the story.

So I point to their chassis, and at the container. They look at the container, and then they look at their chassis. I make a hand gesture, and it wasn't the one I wanted to make, mimicking the doors, and then I point at the back of their chassis. They look at the can again, and look at the chassis again. Then they back up, and then they pull forward some more. As if their moving is going to get me to give them the can that they want.

What they fail to grasp, is that they are facing the wrong way. You would figure that their buddy watching them would get on the radio/phone/signaling device and tell them, right? Nope. Not a clue. 'Cuz that buddy will be doing the same thing.

I found this from this particular companies website, and I thought it was pretty god damn funny! All of our drivers are screened, trained and safety tested continuously.

So yes ladies and gentlemen, the people behind the wheel of eighty thousand pounds of freight, speeding down the highway, while talking to their dispatcher on their cell phone, really don't know what the fuck they are doing!

SC
[edit] Just to make sure it's understood, I know that there are many mighty fine drivers out there, it just seems like none of them want anything to do with container freight, and I can't blame them one bit!

[3 Comments]

Don't be upset!

I see that some people reading the blogs here can't handle opinions.

If my option offends you, then please leave a comment, or fuck off.

If you express yourself, I might care, otherwise I need to vent.

So if you don't like it, don't read it. Nobody is forcing you to read everything at this site.

And if you happen to like it, well that's cool! Leave a comment! Or don't.

SC

[0 Comments]