I’ve updated the theme to try out a new look for the blog.
I had originally placed a few types of ads on these pages, just so that I could try them out somewhere other than at the day job. But now that I’ve got ReadPath cranking there really isn’t any need to experiment here any longer.
I’m fairly happy with this new theme, but you might continue to see some changes as I customize things.
This one has been all over the Olympics and for some reason I have to stop and watch it each time. It just makes me crack up each time. Something about it is just genius.
My poor little DirecTv HR10-250 is dying. It’s been making some weird noises for awhile now, which is never a good sign for hard drive health. Today though, it’s already frozen twice. The only fix has been to pull the plug and force a reboot. We’ve had this box for over 5 years now and it’s been working great up to this point. The HD tivos had a rep as being a bit delicate.
Apparently DirecTv and Tivo have made up after some earlier issues and are planning on releasing a new receiver in 2010, but who knows when that will be. Might have to start scrambling for an alternate content source fast since you can’t watch the first two episodes of Big Love and then just stop. Withdrawal like that can have serious health issues.
First a little cinnamon toast.
Next, it’s milk time.
Here’s a pic of my first attempt at making spaghetti sauce from scatch. In order to make it with low salt for Caitlin, I had to do it myself.
I’m attempting to post from the iPhone while I watch caitlin, we’ll see how it turns out.
Just called AT&T to switch my iPhone for my blackberry as my primary phone. It was an easy process where I switched the sim cards and the rep switched the data plans. Now if you call my cell number it’ll go to the iPhone. Overall a painless experience.
I’m really happy to see all the work that has gone into getting conservation into people’s minds when they go through their day. Everyone is now talking about electric cars and plugin hybrids. In the long run though, I’m not nearly as interested in energy conservation as I am in new renewable energy sources.
I don’t really want to use compact fluorescent light bulbs everywhere, although the new LED lights look great. I’d rather be able to have a great home lighting setup with more light bulbs than you can count and leave it on all day. I want to be able to have my garage datacenter with 5 full racks of servers humming along all day and not have to worry what the power bill will be or the impact on the environment.
I’d really like to have the core of my home electrical system be a pluggable switching system where many different types of energy generation and storage systems could be plugged into. Something that would allow for remote monitoring and charting of energy generation and usage and handle balancing swings between energy sources. The local Frys outlet is now selling solar panels and wind turbines which I’d love to be able to try out and play with. Or to be able to experiment with different types of energy storage solutions.
Everyone has come to the realization that there isn’t going to be a silver bullet when it comes to getting off of oil and coal. Energy independence is going to be built off of hundreds of technologies and we’ve got to lower the cost of trying out new ones.
Was just watching the movie “the game” with Michael Douglas on TiVo. AMC played it a couple days ago.
What I found interesting is that douglas’s character, who is supposed to be a wealthy businessman from San francisco is living in the filoli house which is a historic house/park. We’ve often taken family there when they’ve visited to see the amazing gardens.
On Nov 11th at 4:58pm, my daughter Caitlin Joy McCormick was born. She arrived a bit earlier than we had planned, but healthy and happy, which is what really matters.
We had our first rain of the season last night. It’s always soothing and everything just seems cleaner the next day.
There’s an article on Techdirt discussing the motivation of some musicians for not putting their albums up on iTunes. My personal experience is that if it’s not on Amazon or iTunes then it simply doesn’t exist. My family’s entire music infrastructure has been based on the ipod and apple tv. If I can’t purchase singles that will be easily playable on these devices, then I don’t want it.
Stumbled across a new author, John Scalzi, when perusing recommendations on my Kindle. I made the mistake of reading his second book first, but it didn’t ruin anything to read it that way. Since I started reading his books I haven’t been able to stop. I’ve raced through 5 books and am just about to start his just released latest book Zoe’s Tale.
Scalzi has created a universe a bit into the future where humans have moved out into the Galaxy and found that it’s a very crowded place. All of the books have quite a bit of action, but also some plain good old sci-fi. My idea of good sci-fi is when it’s used to test out new ideas and the story is a dry run to see how they would work. The best sci-fi has a good story to go with the good ideas.
I also love his sense of humor, think Heinlein’s Starship Troopers with a touch of Monty Python satire. The book “The Android’s Dream” deals with the interplanetary fallout of a disgruntled diplomat killing a visiting alien ambassador with his flatulence. For the first bit of the book you’ll be wondering where this could possibly be going, but the second half is well worth your patience.
Watched a few minutes of the new show tonight. Looks like the producers were going for some sort of mix of MXC and Ninja Warrior. It missed on every count. Was not funny at all. The challenges just weren’t that challenging. I predict a very quick demise for this show. Had to watch a little MXC afterwards to get a few real laughs.
While watching the first two episodes of the HBO John Adams series tonight I felt my daughter kick for the first time. It’s still early, so it was a subtle movement. But it was definitely exciting.
Nothing tastes better than a cold Diet Mountain Dew as you sit down to read the news in the morning. It cuts through the fog of sleep and brings your brain to the proper state for getting the day started.
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