When I move to Alaska

When I move to Alaska, I think I'll start an All-Alaska clan named (are you ready for this?)... 2Cold2Play. Ba-dum-TSHH!!! Thank you, I'll be here sporadically with worthless blogs when I feel like it.

By the way, I'm not planning on moving to Alaska any time soon.  Especially not with winter coming soon.  But maybe I could move up there and live with the grizzlies.  Like Grizzly Man, but without the "turning into a bear turd" part.

Speaking of turds, um, nah I'm not gonna go there.

But seriously, we have some Canadian members on this site.  Maybe they want to use "2Cold2Play"?  Or does it look too much like "Coldplay"?  Maybe.  I guess if you don't like clan names that remind you of musicians, then you wouldn't want to be part of 2Aero2Smith, 2Modest2Mouse, 2Linkin2Park, 2inAroom2wiggleIt, 2Nu2Ponderous, or 2Tommy2Tutone either.  All of which are fine clan names (especially 2inAroom2wiggleIt).

More at 11.

New toys

I went shopping last night to fill some voids in my home entertainment lineup.

Wanted: good sound reproduction in my bedroom when I wake up in the morning, also whenever else needed.

Ideas: HD radio, streaming internet music, streaming music from my PC, some kind of alarm clock/table radio.

Solution:
Denon S-52 table radio

I ended up ditching the HD radio, USB input and CD player on the S-52 and just getting the S-32 instead.  Saves $200 and I still get to wake up to nice-sounding bass and clear treble instead of my 15-year-old Sony alarm clock radio.  I bought it from Fry's so I can still return it in 30 days if I want to upgrade.

It's pretty cool.  It has a wireless connection for streaming music from the internet or a PC/Mac over your home network.  It also has an ethernet port, which I decided to use since I have a bridged router in my bedroom anyway and it would likely be more stable for streaming music.  It uses the Windows Media Player 11 streaming service, so I need to set up some playlists somehow (Winamp-generated playlists don't seem to work, although the Denon does random playback of all songs in a folder so that's pretty useful).

Sound quality is decent (I said awesome before, but you have to remember that is compared with a clock radio only).  Not what you would get from separate components, but great for a small room as a non-primary audio source.  I think it's like 20 watts of power or so.  It even has a subwoofer jack (RCA out) if you want to add a little punch to the bass.

Next.  Wanted: better remote control for my primary home theater.  Currently using Yamaha programmable remote from my A/V receiver.  Problem is switching inputs on my TV and receiver together is difficult due to a lack of dedicated buttons for each TV input on my current remote control.

Ideas: Programmable remote control with more functionality.

Solution: Logitech Harmony remote control with XBox 360 buttons.  Why didn't I buy one earlier?

This thing is awesome.  I'm sure there are better Harmony remotes, but the basic operation is just simple and stress-free.

Next.  Impulse buy!

Panasonic upconverting DVD player on sale for $80.  I bought an S-53 (up to 1080p).  Panasonic really only makes one DVD player these days, the S-54.  The S-54 adds "Viera Link" or some such nonsense over the S-53.  They basically do everything.  Play any disc format or file format (even divX and MPEG4).  So hopefully this is the last dedicated DVD player I ever buy.  This replaces my 480p RP-62 that served me faithfully throughout the 55" Mitsubishi days.  I'd link a pic, but it's nothing fancy that you haven't seen before.

These buys are actually quite significant.  The table radio keeps me from being tempted to move my current A/V receiver and speakers into my bedroom and buy a new HDMI-switching receiver (like castlemonster's new Onkyo) and speakers for my home theater/gaming room.  The Logitech remote makes not having HDMI much less of an issue (since I am switching video through my plasma TV's 4 HDMI inputs and switching audio through my Yamaha receiver - the Harmony remote makes that work smoothly).  The upconverting DVD player makes better use of my 720p plasma TV (my previous DVD player was bought when I only had the capability to display 480p or 1080i and upconverting DVD players were rare).

Cialis

One of the side effects of Cialis (a drug for the treatment of erectile dysfunction) is stated as "delayed backache".

Hmmm... you've got a 60-yr. old impotent man having sex for the first time in 12 years and you wonder why he may possibly have a backache?!?!?  Must be the drug, right?

Other potential side effects include a dopey grin on your face and an acute awareness of how saggy and flabby your ancient body is.

George Carlin RIP

So George Carlin floats up to heaven and is greeted by St. Peter at the Pearly Gate (yeah, it's just one gate... why was it ever pluralized?).

"Howdy, Pete!" says George.

"Welcome." says St. Peter.

"I am so glad I don't have to work stand-up comedy any more." continued George. "I got so tired of doing that '7 words' routine. I had better material, but all the rubes just wanted to hear me say '$hit' and 'f*ck' all the-"

At that point, St. Peter interrupted George Carlin. "You can't say those words up here, my son."

"Really?" intoned Mr. Carlin.

"Yes," replied St. Peter, "the 7 words that cannot be spoken on broadcast television also cannot be spoken in heaven. The first time one of them is uttered, the offender is cast into hell."

"Well, I'll be d@mned!" exclaimed George.

Jimmy's Release

I said goodbye to a young friend today.  Jimmy the turtle, about whom I have blogged before, has moved into a new home.  Here he is in his moving van:

Jimmy's new home:

Slowly going toward his new home in a creek just by the White River in Indiana:

Saying his final goodbye: