Supreme Overlord of the Internet

I fixed my HDTV

2011-02-14T20:10:00.000-06:00

I changed the name of my blog.

2009-09-26T23:18:00.002-05:00

I found a better blog name, and I'm switching to that address. I'll keep this one around; but I'm not posting to it anymore.

The new address is : simpletonpattern.blogspot.com

If your reading this in a newsreader, please subscribe to the new feed.

Thanks,

Matt

How I fixed my DLP TV

2009-09-12T21:12:00.004-05:00

A year after the warranty expired, lots of little dots started appearing in my Samsung DLP TV. I did some research and found it would be around $500 to have it repaired. I also found I could repair myself for around $150. That seemed worth risk. Here is how I did it. Click the pictures to enbiggen.I started with the following supplies left to right in the photo above:

Latex gloves - So as not to get finger oil on any of the sensitive parts – lens or dlp chip. Also, they provide some insulation against electric shock.
High quality heat sink paste – the (probable) reason the dots appeared in the first place was that the heat sink wasn’t properly melded to the chip, and it got too hot.
Needle Nose pliers
Replacement DLP Chip from samsungstore.com. My TV is the HLT5675S, and this is the part that fit my model.
Screw Driver
Disassembly instructions from the “Disassembly Reassembly.pdf” document found here.

I started by removing the back panel. The whole thing comes off including the lamp cover area. This metal tray holds the “light engine”. To the left is the power supply. I had to remove a screw from it to move it up and out of the way to let the tray slide out. Now is a good time to put the gloves on.The tray is out and I’ve removed the shroud that encloses the lens. The bulb is on the right behind that fan. Just to the left of the bulb assembly is the color wheel housing. The DLP chip is behind that heat sink. Be careful not to touch the lens.Use the needle nose pliers to lift one end of the metal band holding the sink. The band should come off easily. The heat sink will probably take a bit of a twist and pull to come off. Look what samsung put on the heat sink – tape! That’s the worst.

When I put the heat sink back on, I scraped all the tape off first. I cleansed it with rubbing alcohol to get all the gunk off. Then I applied some thermal compound to it. The heat sink is off, and there are just a few screws to remove the metal shroud. There are four screws around where the heat sink is – those have to come out to get the circuit board out. Do not ever turn the yellow/green screws in the picture below (in the above picture they have white half circles around them.) Those are alignment screws, and it is very hard to re-align the TV once it’s screwed up.This is the circuit board taken off and leaning forward. You can see where the light is projected through that hole onto the chip.Click the picture to enlarge so that you can see the dead pixels clearly. When the chip is at rest, the normal pixels are in the black position. The dead ones are permanently stuck in the white position.It just takes a little prying to get the chip out. I didn’t worry too much about bending the pens because the chip is kaput anyway.

There’s only one way for the new chip to go into the socket. Re-assembly pretty much goes the same way but in reverse.

I didn’t go into great detail because the pdf I linked to above does that pretty well. The components in my TV were only a little different than the pictures in the manual – so I made this post for other people with TVs like mine.

Special thanks to the people that contributed to avsforum in this thread.

Tour through Monument Valley 1

2009-08-12T19:56:00.003-05:00

FJ at Monument Valley

Katka giggling at 4 months

2009-07-28T21:10:00.006-05:00

My youngest daughter is a much happier baby than my oldest. She rarely cries, and when she does, she "ramps up" so you have time to fix it before it turns to a holler.

Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)

2009-07-22T20:39:00.004-05:00

I wasn't going to watch this based on the title. Out of curiosity, I checked out the imdb profile, and saw that it was likened to Sean of the Dead. I liked Sean a lot; so I checked out LVK.

Although it wasn't as good as Sean, it was a fun goofy movie. I was surprised by the quality of the FX and acting. It wasn't the B movie I was expecting.

I'm not sure I would say it was the same kind of movie as Sean of the Dead. I guess they are both British horror-comedies. But LVK was a lot less horror and a lot more comedy.

There's more than a few funny jokes. It's definitely worth a rent.

Moon Over Marble Canyon

2009-06-20T08:07:00.002-05:00

Marble Canyon, AZ

I took this on the way back home from vegas. I traveled along a road that stretched across northern Arizona, southern Utah, and northern New Mexico. There were incredible views the whole way.

Fry Thief

2009-05-29T14:41:00.003-05:00

But you have plenty of delicious vegetables

Taken today at the Au Park shopping mall in Bratislava.

Lake Mead

2009-05-20T21:53:00.003-05:00

Lake Mead from an overlook on the way to Hoover Dam

Wolverine (2009)

2009-05-17T23:09:00.002-05:00

This movie received a lot of negative reviews. They are not unjustified. Unless you really like comic book character or super hero movies, I'd say give this one a pass.

Here is what is wrong with it. The special FX are not super. There are points where the graphics look painted on. In one scene, wolverine is examining his claws by moving them around in front of his face, and the CG claws don't track with his hand. Things like this can take you completely out of the movie as you think about how bad it looks.

The plot is not super either. It's full of holes and a bit dull.

The acting was good, though. And the movie was full of action. If you're going to see it, see it on a big screen for the thrill ride.

Star Trek (2009)

2009-05-17T22:53:00.002-05:00

This is arguably the 2nd best Star Trek movie (2nd to Wrath of Khan.) I think it's one of the best scifi movies ever. Whether you're a Star Trek fan or not, I think you'll enjoy it.

If you are a Star Trek fan, there is plenty to like. In particular, Dr McCoy was great. There are other great injokes and plot points that are put there just for you.

Due to a time travel paradox, this is a different Star Trek than the original series. The characters are very similar; but not the same. And the universe has been irrevocably changed in ways that will give future movies new plot points to follow.

I'm looking forward to future movies with this same crew.

Getting started early

2009-05-09T13:24:00.003-05:00

Taken at Sandy Lake Amusement Park

close up at the flamingo

2009-04-12T11:50:00.002-05:00

This is from Vegas too. We were hanging out at the atrium in the Flamingo.

The Flamingo in Vegas

2009-04-04T20:34:00.003-05:00

chillin in the gazebo

The Flamingo has a garden in the middle of the complex with fish ponds and pink flamingos. We spent an afternoon there exploring.

Baby on bridge

2009-03-29T16:39:00.002-05:00

Meghan Videos

2009-03-28T20:48:00.007-05:00

Photoshoot at the hospital

Mommy and baby come home

Meghan Katarina Taylor newborn photo gallery

2009-03-26T19:41:00.002-05:00

From Meghan Katarina (click for gallery)

Meghan Katarina Taylor

2009-03-24T16:25:00.002-05:00

8lbs 14oz, 19.29 in, born at 4:08 pm. March 24th.

Checked in and hooked up

2009-03-24T05:59:00.002-05:00

And still in a good mood.

Valley of Fire Road

2009-03-21T16:40:00.002-05:00

The main road

I built a Home Theater PC last weekend

2009-03-19T13:59:00.004-05:00

I bought an Antec Fusion 430 mini atx enclosure, 2 x 2GB RAM sticks, a motherboard with integrated Nvidia 9400 video processor, and an intel Celeron CPU. I had a spare hard drive, DVD drive, and power supply to put inside. I was worried about the noise, but it's actually quite quiet. I think this is mostly because of the way the antec case is designed.

I went with intel because the best mini atx motherboard I could find was nvidia 8600. It was just a few dollars more to go with intel. I wanted an Nvidia based video card because of Nvidia's excellent drivers and video acceleration.

I put Vista and XMBC on it, and I was very disappointed with the video performance. I had read that nvidia drivers will offload video rendering from the CPU. My CPU was spiked while playing anything encoded with x264. I dug around and learned that you must purchase a video player to take advantage of acceleration on windows. XBMC was not going to work.

This left me with two apparent choices - buy the nvidia software and use it's unsuitable-for-tv interface or return my intel celeron ($40) and exchange it for a dual core ($120).

I was chatting with an XBMC project manager about this, and he informed me that nvidia had just released drivers for linux that would accerelate video rendering the way I want, and that XMBC Linux has a branch that takes advantage of it. This is a bit more trouble than the windows route; but it's free and it's exactly what I want - hardware accelerated XBMC.

So, I made an Ubuntu 8.10 CD, and installed it onto my HTPC in a dual boot configuration. Next I downloaded and installed Nvidia latest linux drivers. This was probably the easiest part. You download a bin file and run it. It unpacks itself and sets up the drivers for you. I was a little worried about installing something that wasn't in a repository; but from what I've read, you can get around any problems Ubuntu upgrade's cause by re running the Nvidia installation file.

Ubuntu's desktop has fancy features that you can enable once the driver is installed and working properly. I found a package called Emerald that makes windows transparent like on Vista.

Next I had to check out the source code for a special branch of the xbmc project and build it. I think the hardest part about this was getting all the dependencies installed. There's a list of them on the XBMC site, put they don't match the versions/names in the ubuntu repository exactly. Actually building XBMC took a while because of my slow celeron. Installing was a breeze. And it worked perfectly once it was done.

Audio worked fine, except getting audio out of HDMI. I found a helpful guide that stepped me through the process of enabling this feature. Basically, it went through disabling pulse audio, installing the latest alsa drivers, and enabling ESound. Then I could set the output using alsa mixer.

I launched XBMC and loaded a 1080p x264 video. It played beautifully. Running "top" told me the CPU usuage was at 7% which is exactly right if the video card is doing all the work.

The negatives are that whenever Ubuntu decides to upgrade the linux kernel, ( not very often ) I'll have a bit of work to do afterword: re-install nvidia drivers, re-build xbmc. Also, the antec remote doesn't work with linux (UPDATE: I got it to work; but what a PIA. Post about it forthcoming.)

Here are some links if you're interested in doing the same thing:
Parts List
HDMI audio and Ubuntu
Nvidia drivers for linux
XBMC instructions <- follow the build from source install and use the vdpau branch.

Glyphs at Valley Of Fire State Park

2009-03-17T11:53:00.002-05:00

taking closeups of the glyphs

I ran into another photographer in the valley and had lunch with her and her husband. He was an IT Director or something from california, and they were on a month long holiday. It looked like they were on a camping trip.

I ran into 3 other photographers on a Tuesday morning. Must be a popular place for picture takers.

Misha shopping

2009-02-28T17:34:00.004-06:00

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

2009-02-14T17:04:00.003-06:00

Valley of Fire

The same morning I went off-roading at Nellis Dunes, I drove out the this state park. The rocks are a stunning hue of red-orange. And many of them have native american petroglyphs (which are carved as opposed to painted like a pictograph).

The Midnight Meat Train

2009-02-08T03:04:00.004-06:00

It's a very gory horror film with more than a few recognizable actors. I rented it because it's based on a short story by Clive Barker. I know anything that guy writes is going to be a trip.

And it is a trip. I don't have much to complain about. The movie was horror through and through with an interesting twist in the end. It also left me thinking about it when it was over (if you watch it, look for the name of the last train station.)

They did some wild things with the cinematography. Stuff I haven't seen in a movie before. I came away with some very disturbing images - and not just because of the graphics, but because of the horror of the circumstance. It's not "torture porn"; it's way better than that.

It's not the greatest movie ever made; but it's definitely worth the rent even just too see the special fx.

(note: the unrated version has a cartoonish amount of blood. Japanese director, go figure.)

Wheelin @ Nellis Dunes

2009-02-05T23:27:00.004-06:00

Offroad at Nellis Dunes

During the week in Vegas, I went out one morning to drive on the hills at the Nellis Dunes recreation area.

Rambo (2008)

2009-01-28T21:52:00.003-06:00

I was sceptical going in. The fourth movie in a series is seldom good. But I have to say, it didn't disappoint. If you liked the other Rambo movies, you'll like this one too. Probably a lot.

Also, it's the goriest war movie I've ever seen. Gorier than Saving Private Ryan. But it's done in a way that looks excessive instead of realistic. Which is to say, it's quite spectacular. It looks real. If you're squeamish, you may want to give this one a pass. You'll be hiding your eyes through half of it.

It's a great final chapter to the John Rambo story.

Dagmar and Misha on Fremont St

2009-01-28T21:45:00.003-06:00

We "experienced" Fremont Street in Las Vegas. My mother-in-law, Dagmar, is happy to hold Misha anytime.

The flash fill is from the on-camera flash, and I have the exposure set to manual to make sure the ambient light from the background comes through. The lens I have mounted is very slow. I couldn't get the focus I wanted, so I applied some tricks in my favorite photo editor. The foreground is isolated, and a blur gradient is applied to the background to simulate a fast lens.

Lions at Play

2009-01-24T19:07:00.007-06:00

Lions At Play

While in vegas we stopped at the MGM Grande to view the lions. It's a pretty cool exhibit. It has a glass tunnel that you can walk through to get a full view of the lions. The standing lion is trying to entice the other into playing.

Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, TX

2009-01-16T22:16:00.005-06:00

Cadillac Ranch

I'm always keeping an eye out for interesting textures. The paint on these half burried cars definitely counts. The flash is being held by my brother-in-law and triggered remotely. I would have like to spent more time here; but it was impossibly cold. You can't tell because the crazy kids aren't wearing jackets.

Taken

2008-12-15T12:11:00.002-06:00

I'd never heard of this movie. I was surprised to see Liam Neeson in it. He plays a retired CIA operative whose daughter gets kidnapped while she's in France. He goes to Paris to find her and get her back home.

It's a very suspenseful action movie. My wife and I were both intensely involved all the way through. What happens when some bad people abduct the daughter of a very serious ex-spy? Turns out it's exactly what you would think might happen.

This movie reminded me of several others, most closely Man on Fire. which means it's not that original. But unoriginality is forgivable if the movie is good. If you enjoyed these types of movies, you'll really like this one.

Speed Racer (2008)

2008-12-06T23:41:00.002-06:00

I had really low expectations when I started watching this movie, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was campy, and fun. It made me smile in several places. The special effects were very cool.

What I found most impressive was the compositing and editing of the different scenes. They used this device a few times that I really enjoyed. to cut from one scene to another, they would "wipe" a talking head across the screen. It had the effect of keeping the action nonstop while transitioning to a different point of view.

Not the best movie in the world; but it was still enjoyable.

Letters from Iwo Jima

2008-12-02T21:09:00.003-06:00

I enjoyed this movie more than Flags of Our Fathers. It just had more action, drama, and likable characters. It was a real touching movie done really well. It's subtitled in English; but I recommend it even if that's not your thing.

Quantum of Solace

2008-11-25T16:39:00.002-06:00

I think the Bond people watched the Bourne trilogy, and said, "we can do that better". And they did.

In this new movie, James Bond is much more brutal than any of the others. It's much more like watching Bourne or Transporter, except, I think Daniel Craig does it better.

This movie had the shaky camera; but it was much less annoying than any of the Bourne films. Some of the action sequences left me wondering how they got the shot -- like in the first part of the film when Bond and the double agent go through the window onto the scaffolding. Even with the quick cuts and shaky camera, the action was very entertaining to watch.

Bond uses not a single remarkable gadget in this movie, or at least, nothing you haven't seen before on 24 or Alias. I think this is a symptom of where we are as a society. We are no longer impressed by tiny cameras or laser watches.

I was impressed by the computer interface at MI6. It reminded me of the UI in Minority Report, and except it was far more practical. I could see this becoming a reality someday.

The plot ... let's say that the plot didn't get in the way.

There was a sub plot about Bond getting revenge on someone for killing Vesper. I figured out that this was a continuation of the plot from Casino Royale. This movie starts very soon after that one ended, and I wish I had watched it before watching this one; because I had no idea who she was or why she died.

Bonds beats, shoots, and stabs his way through the film. There are vehicle chases (including a plane chase), and a romp through an exploding apartment complex. The film is thrilling and fun to watch. I recommend seeing it while it's in the theater.

Bee Movie

2008-11-21T22:48:00.001-06:00

I didn't like it. The acting was horrible. The plot is stupid. And it wasn't funny at all.

It's bad communist propaganda.

Tropic Thunder

2008-11-08T21:47:00.002-06:00

A team of actors are working on a big budget vietnam war film. The film is in trouble and things are made worse when the actor's egos collide. Then things go horribly wrong.

Robert Downey Jr was the highlight of the film. He cracked me up a lot. He plays an Australian actor playing a black character to large comedic effect.

There was mild violence and some bad language. I would recommend this rental.

Big Green Egg

2008-10-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

I got a Big Green Egg this weekend, and I have to say, it performs as advertised. I cooked several things in it, and every one of them turned out perfect. The only thing I haven't tried yet is slow cooking (roasting or smoking.)

After I cooked a few things in it, I noticed that it is very much like those firebrick pizza ovens you see in restaurants. It gets really hot, and the heat surrounds the food evenly on all sides. I like to bake my own bread, and it's hard to get a good loaf in my electric oven because it doesn't get hot enough and the elements form hot spots. It occurred to me that I could make a good loaf in the BGE.

And here it is:

I have a baking stone on top of the plate setter on top of the grill. Those pans are full of water to generate steam. I brought the grill up to 600 degrees, and I sprayed the stone before putting the dough on to cool it. I let it bake at that temp for 10 minutes, and then I brought it down to 400 degrees for another 20 minutes to finish it up.

The result is a loaf with a crunchy crust and a soft spongy inside:

Before I smoke a turkey in it for thanksgiving, I'm going to do a "trial run". Let me know if you're interested in coming over for to sample the first.

Wanted

2008-10-27T14:18:00.000-05:00

It's a brain-dead action flick. I do not recommend that you think about the plot, the physics, choices characters make, or anything else. Just marvel at the special effects and outrageous action.

Free Night of Theater

2008-10-17T14:21:00.000-05:00

I scored some tickets from freenightoftheater.net, and took the wife to see the play, Sweeney Todd, at the Pocket Sandwich Theater. I'm not much of a theater goer, and I picked this play because I heard the show was a good time.

And it was.

The theater is located in the corner of an L-shaped shopping strip next to a comic book store. It takes up the entire elbow of the L. It seats about 140 people at dining tables and bars in a crescent shape around the stage. They have booths around the back wall (which I don't recommend because you have to look to one side the whole show.)

They serve dinner starting an hour and a half before the show. The food is modestly priced. It's simple fare that is hard to get wrong. My wife had chicken gumbo which she liked a lot, and I had a reuben which was ok.

A few minutes before the show, they distribute popcorn to everyone in the audience. Then someone comes on (an MC?) to encourage you to throw popcorn at the actors, sing a long to the songs, and shout boos and hurrays at the appropriate times. Then they start the play.

The popcorn throwing was a negative to me. I couldn't help feel like the actors were being humiliated and disrespected. But the younger people really seemed to enjoy it; and the actors at least pretended to have fun with it. So, maybe I'm off base.

I'm not a theater buff, so don't weigh my opinion heavily if this matters to you. I thought the acting was decent on the whole. This play was meant to be funny and entertaining, and the characters over-acted in such ways that really fed the humor. The production was low budget but very entertaining. The cast was definitely having fun doing what they do, and they transmitted this enthusiasm to the audience very well.

The whole thing is a cheap date. It's about $60-$70 on a weekend for a couple. On Thursdays, it's $10 cheaper. It's a good date too; because there is plenty of time to talk and get to know the person during dinner and the two intermissions. It's also family friendly - no curse words and only vaguely lewd innuendo.

The Ruins

2008-10-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

It looks like yet another dumb-americans-in-a-foreign-country gore fest; but it's not. The movie is gory; but I wouldn't put it in the same category as Wolf Creek or Hostel. It's more survival horror.

The antogonist is surprisingly scary. It made for a really suspenseful movie.

Not a whole lot of negative things to say. Check it out if you like a good horror story with more than a couple of twists.

My Enormous Chair

2008-10-09T23:15:00.000-05:00

I went to Fry's this weekend and purchased an enormous chair. It has microfiber suede cover over a comfortable, space foam, over-size cushion. It's made for large people; so it's sturdy. The reclining function only goes back half as far as a normal chair. Anyone who's over six feet tall can appreciate that.

I researched it a little before purchasing it, and I found that there are a whole lot of chairs designed for big people. I don't know why I never thought of this. All this time spent in uncomfortable normal sized chairs...

HTC Dream/Tmobile G1/Android Google Phone

2008-09-23T19:44:00.001-05:00

I was excited about T-Mobile's G1 phone, and I honestly thought I'd be one of the first to own one. There's a lot to like about it and little to dislike. However, there is one serious deal-breaker for me.

I use google for a lot of things. It's my primary search engine, my primary email app, and my only calendar app. Having a phone that gives me immediate access to all this information is very appealing. Portable broad band internet is very appealing. Because I'm a geek, an open computing platform where anyone can create applications is great.

From what I've seen, the phone looks easy to use, and already has quite a few useful applications. The google maps compass driven street view has a lot of exciting potential. Check out this youtube video to see what I'm talking about.

I like the G1 hardware too. It has a fast processor, and I can't live without a qwerty keyboard on a device like this. It has built-in wifi and bluetooth. And the whole thing is very thin.

However, there is no audio jack. And there is no stereo bluetooth support. You can't use the phone as a 3G modem (no accessing the internet from the laptop via the phone.) Right now, there is no video support beyond playing youtube videos. The screen resolution (480x320) could be better (like 800x480).

Most of those things can be corrected some point in the future with the right software.

The real deal breaker is the mandatory $25/month internet add-on to your voice plan. They will not sell you the phone without the data service. I just don't think it's worth the extra monthly outlay.

So, I think I'll keep waiting for the right phone, and right now, it looks like it won't be a google phone.

The X Files: I Want to Believe

2008-09-23T19:37:00.000-05:00

It's for me hard to remember the TV Series or even the last movie. I want to compare this latest movie with either of those. All I can say is that this movie is good, and it stands alone fairly well. I'm sure there are some in-jokes and inside references that I missed; but honestly, it didn't rely too much on that. This movie was like a 90 minute episode from the first couple of seasons.

The acting and special effects were both done well, and the story was intriguing. The movie kept my attention the whole way through.

If you like the X-Files or horror/scifi, rent this movie, and I think you'll be pleased.

Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000

2008-09-16T23:45:00.000-05:00

I purchased this mouse over the weekend, and I've had a few days to get use to it. I like it a lot.

It's high resolution, so the cursor movement is smooth and precise. It's a little larger than a normal mouse. That's good for my large mitts; but it could be better. It is a good shape that fits into my palm, and my pointing finger and middle finger rest comfortably on the left and right mouse buttons.

The mouse wheel has variable friction. This took a little getting used to. When you move the wheel slowly, it feels like it's filled with grease. When you move the wheel quickly, it feels fast like oil. this is good because the drivers that come with the mouse enable accelerated scrolling. That means that the faster you move the wheel the faster it scrolls. Move the mouse slow, and the document slowly scrolls; but zip the wheel, and you'll instantly reach the bottom of the web page. I wish all mouse wheels behaved this way.

The wheel also has tilt. I don't find myself using this much. I'm thinking of remapping the tilt to some other function - like back and forward in the web browser.

The mouse has fourth and fifth buttons above the thumb. By default, one is programmed to go backward within the browser, and the other activates a magnify function. The magnify function is useless for me, and I'll reprogram it to do something else when I think of something good for it to do.

I recommend it.

Virtual Box - Open Source Virtual Machine

2008-09-14T19:26:00.000-05:00

A friend turned me on to Virtual Box. It's an easy to use virtual machine application that allows you to run all sorts of guest operating systems on all sorts of host operating systems. I use it to run Ubuntu Linux within Windows XP. You could use it to run WinXP on OS X, if you wanted.

I had been using VMWare. I think virtual box is much faster, and it offers a lot more configuration options. And it's a smaller install.

It's free, so give it a try.

TV Shows Fall of 08

2008-09-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

True Blood - HBO
Recent TV shows about vampires (Moonlight, Blood Ties, Forever Knight) have been cheesey. I expected more of the same and was pleasantly disappointed. Not only is it a good vampire show, it is probably the best of the new shows. The acting is very good. The plot is a little slow at first; but if you watch the whole first episode, you'll be hooked for the season. I'm sure.

Sons of Anarchy - FX
Ron Pearlman stars in this crime drama about a motorcycle gang in Florida. It's basically The Sopranos on Harleys. RP is a great actor; but he's weird looking. Whenever I see him in something, I keep thinking of Vincent, Hellboy, or One. Unless it's very good, this can be very distracting. I was distracted a lot in Sons of Anarchy. If you love crime dramas the way I love sci-fi, watch this. Otherwise, give it a pass.

Fringe - Fox
It feels like Alias with a science fiction twist. The pilot had me entertained. The story was good, and the acting was above par for television. This is definitely one I will be watching.

Sarah Conner Chronicles - Fox
This show is returning for a second season. I love sci-fi, and I like the terminator movies a lot. The first season mostly satisfied. The new season started out a little rough for me. The acting is not great in this series, and the story lines are hokey. If it weren't for the killer robots, I wouldn't be watching at all. I may not continue to watch this season.

Californication - Showtime
I rented the first season from netflix. I watched the whole thing, and found it to be smartly written and entertaining. I've seen the first two episodes of the 2nd season, and I'm unimpressed. I am not going to continue watching; but I may rent the dvds later.

Pool Fun at the Berry's

2008-09-08T22:01:00.000-05:00

Our friends threw a pool party, and my baby daughter went for a swim.

Don't Mess With the Zohan

2008-09-04T20:46:00.001-05:00

I don't know what they were thinking. This movie was horrible. It is filled with unfunny racial stereotypes and stupid special effects, and it has a retarded plot.

Don't waste your money. Unless you're an israeli or palistinian new yorker - the apparent target audience.

What to do after taking hundreds of photos

2008-09-03T14:33:00.000-05:00

Digital cameras are fantastic. You can freely take hundreds of photos without worrying about how much it's going to cost to develop. The one negative is that you have to manage the photos afterwards.

The first thing I do is arrange the files in folders by date and location ( or any relevant info):

20080530 Bratislava
20080531 Vienna - Natural History Museum
20080531 Vienna - Old Town

I put the date in the folder name with the format "YYYYMMDD" so that they naturally sort chronologically. This is how I remember things, so it makes it easy for me to find.

Next, I use Picasa, iPhoto, or similar program to scroll through large thumbnails of the pictures, and tag (label or keyword) the ones that are good (or give them stars). If I have time, I will add more relevant tags to the picture - like who is in it or whether it's a landscape shot.

Then I filter the thumbnails by the "good" tag, and I tag the ones I want to share with "share". The ones I want to print, I tag with "print".

If your software doesn't come with tagging, you can accomplish the same thing using sub folders. just copy the pictures to the "good" or "share" subfolder.

Then I filter the list by the "share" tag and copy these to a separate folder. I make copies because I want to preserve the originals in case I make a mistake later. I edit these for contrast and color. Then I crop them to get the composition I like or remove that pesky power line. Then I give them meaningful names.

The last step is to upload them to a shared album in picasa, flickr, or whatever service. I'm in a transitional state right now in regards to photo service. I'm currently trying out picasa.

I back up my photo directory to DVD; but I'm considering using a pay service like smugmug or picasa for photo archival.

House Wide Low Voltage Power

2008-08-29T16:59:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking of installing low voltage wiring throughout my house. I'd like to use a pair of "dark" wires in my cat 5e cable; but I'm not sure how safe that would be. Right now, I'm thinking of buying a 5.5v high amp power supply and installing it into the closet. Then I'd run wires through the attic. Eventually, I could wire the whole house from that box to power all sorts of things. I'd like to get rid of the power bricks and put USB ports in my outlet plates. Almost all my gadgets are usb chargeable.

There are several projects I'd like to build for home automation. 5v would cover my gadget charging needs and most of my sensor projects; but it's not enough for everything.

It's troubling to me that not all devices run or charge on a DC standard voltage. I'm not sure what to do about it.