Did you Survive?

Actually, yes, I did. I survived Xmas just fine.

And, I admit I got some neat gifts. The people in my life are good at gift-giving, despite my protests against the whole thing.

My mom tricked me this year. She e-mailed about a month ago and asked for my help picking out a portable GPS for my Dad. So, being the dutuful young Lex, I promptly went to work. I headed to Amazon, CNET, etc. I read reviews and poured over user comments by the dozens. I factored in how he might use such a device and what features were necessary (ease of use!). Also, those that weren't (playing MP3s on a portable GPS? Why?)

So, I narrowed it down to three different models: A Garmin, a Magellan, and a Tom Tom. Then, I fired off the links. I even made a point of calling her and sending them to her personal e-mail address (she usually just shares one with my Dad, but I figured he'd see the e-mail if I sent it there. I actually called her and made her check her Gmail account to ensure that she got it ok.) I then told her if she needed anything else to let me know, and quickly forgot about it. She never brought it up again, so I figured she picked one (they were all about the same), ordered it, and that was that.

Then, along about a week or two ago, she mentions to me that I should be looking out for presents for the kids, and from where they will be arriving (Amazon, Discovery Store, Gymboree, etc.) And, just before I hang up with her, she says, "Oh, and there's a present coming for you from" - get this - "Radio Shack" of all places.

Radio shack? WTF?

What could Radio Shack have that I would want or need?

Of course, the first thing that went through my mind was that it could be a remote control vehicle of some kind. That would be cool...my kids would like it, too.

So, finally, a small non-descript box arrives from Radio Shack about a week before Xmas. It's not heavy. It doesn't make any noise when I shake it. I have no idea now. It wasn't big enough for a remote control car...maybe if it was a mini-RC, but, wow, now I, the Great Lex, am stumped.

So, I do the only thing I really can do at this point.

I wait.

And wait.

So, finally, on Xmas eve, after all the kids open their stuff from my parents and other relatives (none of Santa's gift's, though, because they don't arrive until Xmas morning) I remember the box from Radio Shack. It's the last gift of the evening. I get a knofe, open the box, and guess what's inside?

Yep, a portable GPS. The TomTom Go 720. With a small carrying case.

I never saw it coming. She tricked me.

It looks pretty cool. I haven't used it yet, but I might bust it out and see how it works tomorrow. I don't know if it's something I'd need on a regular basis, but it could come in handy at times.

Good ol' Mom. Just when you think you've seen all everything in her bag o' tricks.

-la

Twas 5 Days Before Xmas and all through the office...

...were a whole lotta people doin' nada. Including me. I should be working, or better yet, studying...and I'm not. I did a bunch of work this morning, but I've run out of steam.

So, of course, when that happens, what do you do? Head out to das internets, of course!

First, I hit the web page for the Oklahoma Lottery Commission. Had to see what that Powerball was up to. $25 million? Well, that's ok...I suppose I could get by with that...maybe.

Maybe?

Yeah, well, I have discriminating tastes. For example, what if I wanted to go blow the whole shebang and buy my own private island? Because if the jackpot is $25 million, I'd want it and want it NOW. But, there's a tax hit with that, right? So *poof* half of it's gone immediately. How much island can you buy for roughly $12.5 million? Ok, loaded question.

It depends where you want your island. Yes, you'd have to make up your mind. Because there are islands in the sun (Caribbean) or islands where it snows (New York, Alaska, etc.), foreign islands (Oceania, Asia, Africa), and so on. Then there are other factors, like the size of it, amenities, etc. For example, if I wanted to purchase Fanny Key in Florida (yeah, I used that one because I picture Beavis and Butthead saying..."heh heh, he said Fanny!") I'd have to shell out most of my lottery winnings: $8 million!

Would there be enough left over to live on and with which to furnish my new island home? (Questions that those who are really rich don't even have to entertain.)

So, I'll do it for them.

Yeah, probably. Because I'd be shopping for bargains. You know, folding lawn chairs from WalMart and an outdoor stereo system from Buy More.

Could you really deal with island life, Lex?

Stellar question!

Because it would be a change, for sure. A different existence, if you will. According to the article referenced above, if you're in good shape (because, chances are, you won't be close to a hospital or have your own medical staff...well, I would keep my Swedish massage therapist, Inga, on call), are good with tools (stuff breaks down and this ain't suburbia where you call walk your digits through the yellow pages and hire Joe Handyman), and don't mind the alone time, then island life might be for you. Otherwise, "you'll go bonkers."

So, you're a social animal with two left thumbs who is also a fat ass. Plus, now, you've got all this money you've just won burning a hole in your hot little pocket. Yet, you can't shake this island jones.

Hey, you could always rent.

It's kinda like owning, only more expensive. But, without the headaches. Like leasing a car. Just walk away when the fun has worn off.

Renting too gauche for ya? Well, it may be gauche, but it sure ain't cheap. Be prepared to dole out the Benjamins. Typically renting will cost you between $30, 000 to $50,000 a night (or day, depending on the real estate rules).

Wow. That's steep even by my standards.

Um, what standards, Lex?

Ok, good point. I have none. Like that point needs to be made.

So, anyway, there you have it. I guess all I need to do now is stop on my way home this afternoon and buy a lottery ticket. Oh, and hope I win, of course.

No problem.

-la

The Hobbit

Ok, I'm going for the geek cred on this one, but my beautiful little wife just called and informed me that Peter Jackson has signed on to film 'The Hobbit' (according to The Hollywood Reporter and probably about 50 million other sites.)

The internet just had a collective orgasm.

Geeks unite!

-la

Lifehacker's 2007 Cool Apps List

I love Lifehacker. And, this is a great list they just put out:

Lifehacker's 2007 Guide to Free Software and Web Apps

It's a bit Winders-heavy (as is expected) but don't just stop with the list. Read the comments people post as well. There are just as many useful suggestions in these comments as there are in the list itself.

Enjoy.

-la

Wonder Pets Rehab

With the youngin' getting to that age where he can and does enjoy TV, we've been letting him watch a plethora of children's programming. He was stuck on Zoboomafoo for the longest time. After a steady feeding of that, his palate has changed. Now, it's 'The Wonder Pets', which he absolutely loves...to the point where we're going to have to start detoxing him soon.

Unfortunately, I'll have to go to rehab with him. No, don't get me wrong here. It's not as though I think this is the 'greatest thing ever and oh, my, gawd, you have to watch it!' Because, I could easily go for, oh, say, THE REST OF MY LIFE without watching another episode. The reason I'd need to go to rehab is because of the damn music. It sticks in your head...all day. I find myself thinking things during the day like, 'What's gonna work? Teamwork!' during management meetings. If you've never seen the show then you probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

The boy doesn't care which episode he watches. Unlike Mama and Daddy who watch something once and never rewatch it again, he will watch the same one over and over again. Of course, this drives us crazy.

The other day, we found ourselves cheering (literally) that the Tivo had recorded a new episode that none of us had seen. Sad, isn't it? The problem with a lot of these kids shows is that the television stations run the same episodes over and over again. This is both good and bad. It's good because it gives you lots of times at which you can view or record the show (you know, to avoid those Tivo conflicts). It's bad, because there isn't a lot of new content. And when you have your Tivo Season Pass set to only record new episodes, you sometimes have to wait a long time between new ones.

Lex, your weird.

Yeah, I know. You'd be amazed at how much I hear that. Somewhere, someone has a nice, cozy rubber room just waiting for me.

-la

Things Past

During my hiatus over the past few months, I had an interesting experience: My 20th high school reunion (yes, kids, I'm THAT old) took place in a small 1-horse town in upstate NY. Yes, the REAL upstate - north of the Adirondack park. Spittin' distance from Canada in the woods. No, not Buffalo. No, not Albany...this is six hours northeast of the former and four hours north of the latter.

In other words, you gotta want to go there. REALLY gotta want to go there.

So, after months of figuring out what everyone's schedules were going to be for that summer, I decided to go. I thought I might not go at first. Part of it was spending the money, the hassle of travel, etc. But, on the other side of the coin, I only see these people (well, at least those who show up) once about every ten years, so I figured if I amortized that cost over ten years, it came out to be a pretty cheap ticket.

My wife influenced me too. Of course her influence came in the form of, "you can do what you want, but I have absolutely no desire to go to a reunion ever again." See, she went to her 20th a few years ago. She even had a good time, as it was her first one. She skipped her 10th, because she was in a bad place in her life at the time and didn't want to answer all of the "so, what do you do now, are you married, do you have kids..." questions. But, this time she decided to go and her best friend drove down with her family and we went. It was fun meeting her old friends, watching her flit from group to group while her best friend's husband and I sat on the sidelines eating appetizers. The next day we got to visit her old school, which was a LOT different than mine. However, after all of the hoopla of that weekend, she decided that she keeps in touch with the people she likes and could easily go the rest of her life without seeing the rest. And, she probably has a point. As I got to learn about the people she went to high school with that weekend, it appeared that they formed the same cliques once again 20 years later. Some things never change, I guess. This was readily apparent during the Saturday night dinner.

Someone threw together a REALLY poorly constructed slide show displaying classmates from those past few years of high school. But, it was like someone just took a shoe box full of old Polaroids and a cheap scanner and went to town. Then, where I had to laugh hysterically, was that there was a boom box blaring with hits from the 80's that was so poorly mixed, it could have been done by my two-year old and sounded better (Go Wonder Pets!). To me, it was like nails on a chalkboard after being a DJ for ten years. Have you ever heard of a mixer or, at the VERY least, the word 'fade'? Grr. Oh, and BTW...where's that compilation we paid for Reunion Committee? The wife is still shaking her head over that one. And, would you want it even if you got it after seeing the high quality slide show/mix tape crap you threw together at the last minute?

Oh, yeah, there is a point to all of this, which is that the entire 'montage' (for lack of a less kind word) consisted of basically the same people over and over again. The sporties and class officers, mostly. A few geeks thrown in just to make them feel like they were part of the crowd. But, I remember my wife remarking that that the class size was like 400 people and there was NO WAY that they went through that number of pics. Even I started recognizing people in the montage and I didn't even know any of them.

Anyway, my wife had her fun, checked the box, and was ready to move on with never seeing these people again.

So, now it was my turn and she didn't see the point in spending the money or taking the time. However, my situation is different. Much smaller school (I graduated with 26 people...and that included me) and we had a really good time at the 10th. So, I decided to go.

Only a few people actually live out of state...with a class that size, I guess that's not surprising, really. In order to mitigate the fact that the class size was so small and that we knew that maybe half of the class would show up, we expanded our little reunion to include the class before and the class after ours, since we were all close back in the day anyway. Like I said, it was a small school (400 kids -- maybe -- K-12), as opposed to the 400 or so my wofe had just in her class.

And, you know what? I had a great time. I'm really glad I went. We pre-partied a bit Friday night (necessary, of course, including some mean karaoke), spent some time with the 'rents Saturday, Saturday night got to see everyone get their drink on and helped out with the Sunday afternoon family day. There were some surprises, too. One of my best friends in high school who died a while back...well, his sister was there. I had no idea who she was at first. Quite shocking how good she looked and how much she'd changed from the little sister we grew up with and who used to run around and terrorize us. Others, too, looked good and seem to be aging quite nicely. Oh hell, we all are, really. And, for those who couldn't or didn't want to be there. I wish them well. Especially my buddy Ev. It would have been GREAT to see him. But, apparently, word is that he decided he would never live in the United States again because the laws are too, um, restrictive in some capacities, so I guess he's enjoying life in Thailand.

Those that organized this even say that they want to start doing them every 5 years. I could get behind that. And, you know that the people who showed up will show up in the future, barring any unforeseen circumstances, deaths, and such. Any excuse to drink in the north country is a good one.

-la

The Return of Kris Moose

It's cool watching my youngest boy. He turns 2 this weekend.

And, since it's the Silly Season, the wife made me assist in the annual exercise of hanging decorations everywhere. One element is Kris Moose...the smirky reindeer that adorns the entrance to my youngest son's room.

Last year Kris Moose knew all along that the trip was gonna be a bad one. This year, it's my turn to smirk. Well, not so much at his expense, but because its fun to watch my toddler not be scared of him this year. In fact, he likes Kris Moose and often pokes him in the schnoz when I say, "Kris Moose Nose!" while holding him eye-level with the beast.

The boy will then start pointing to everything that Kris Moose is wearing and start naming it: Star, tree, ball...you get the meaning.

And, the toddler-boy likes the Xmas tree - he's diggin' the lights. But, he particularly likes the chili lights I put up.

Chili lights, Lex?

Yeah, we live in the pseudo Southwestern US (notice Oklahoma isn't on this map...only on the border of it, so we can't really be called part of the Southwest - I guess OK is considered more in the Central US)....so, I have chili lights -- both red and green (you know, for Xmas!). And, because, well, I'm one hot tamale'. (Just ask my wife.)

-la

Oncoming Downtime for Silly Season

The silly season is upon us....again.

Though I look forward to some downtime around the holidays to catch up on all of the stuff that keeps getting pushed aside in deference to family, friends, football, etc. like my hobbies...guitar playing and Xbox.

My son blew through the Halo3 campaign in about two days. I've been working on it in fits and spurts for about...well, since it came out. And I have a LONG way to go.

An acquaintance of mine gave me a copy of this old Alien vs. Predator game that I played on for about 15 minutes. It was old school, but had some good playability. It wasn't as creepy as he imagined (I mean, c'mon...I'm also playing through BioShock for gods sake....that game has a creepy factor all its own.)

You know what else I'm looking forward to? The writer's strike continuing for as long as possible.

But Lex, dude, you're a TV-a-holic! Don't you want to stay on top of all of your favorite shows?

Yes and no. Keeping up with TV shows, even with a few Tivos in the house, is VERY time consuming. Relaxing? Yes, to a point. But then I realize that I could have used that time for the purpose of good (playing guitar, gaming, writing a blog entry, and um, exercising...) rather than evil (um, sitting on my lazy ass doing NOTHING), I get a bit frustrated.

I'm thinking I need a break from must-see TV. Hell, if for nothing more than catching up on my Netflix movies. Ok, I realize I'm contradicting myself here. Trading one bad addiction for another and all that, but why have the subscription if you ain't gonna use it?

Oh, wait, that could apply to my gym membership, too.

(Lex makes a note to cancel his gym membership)

Anyway, in all fairness to myself, I'm thinking about buying a home gym, in an attempt to get around any excuse and work out at home. Going to the gym takes too much time. It really does. It's a bad excuse, I admit, and any accomplishment really boils down to the whole 'How bad do you want it?' mentality.

I guess it's time to start compiling my list of New Year's resolutions.

-la

HD in da' hizzie!

Well, I have to say that even I, The Great Lex, was amazed at how easy this worked out. The tech showed up, called in to the level 2 support to have them unpair and pair the CableCards with the system and BAM! (a little Emeril sound effect for ya there...) I was thrown into the world of hi-def.

As soon as it happened, the tech, who was sitting on my couch, jumped up and yelled, "Yes! Score!", and threw both hands in the air as if he'd just nailed the winning touchdown. He was obviously amazed at the quickness at which this issue had been fixed. He said, "Man, just wait 'til I tell my buddies how quickly this got resolved. They'll never believe I had a 15 minute CableCard call!"

Ok, I'm not sure what this says about the state of technology...well, yes, I do....it's still too damn complicated for the average users. But, hey, it's working, so I guess I can't complain.

The happy technician left the building. So, of course, I started flipping channels to get into full-on HD adoration. That's when I noticed that none of the premium channels were working. Crap.

So, I called Cox tech support. I understand why they have automated attendant systems that try to talk to you as if they are human, but for the love of god, "just let me talk to a real person!" So, eventually, I got to James or Steve or who was a.) Really bored with his job and didn't want to be there, b.) should have called in sick -- although I really think he was just hating his life and his job at the moment, or c.) was fixin' to go postal on someone's ass and this was the calm before the storm. If it was option C, I'm just really glad I wasn't anywhere in the vicinity.

Anyway, I coaxed him into checking on my situation and he managed to conjure up the strength to tap a few buttons and make it go. Suddenly King Kong was battling against the evil raptors in HD on my TV. Way to go bored kid with the bad attitude!

And, well, that was that.

Of course, there are still issues. For one, the Tivo in the living room has spontaneously rebooted itself twice over the past few days. I'm thinking it's a heat issue, though the old one never had a problem. However, anyone who knows anything about equipment like this and computers in general (which, is essentially what a Tivo is -- a Linux-based computer) knows that heat can wreak havoc on machines. So, I'm drilling some air holes in the cabinet so it can breathe. That won't happen until the weekend. Might have to put a fan in there, as well.

The other issue, and this is a bit more frustrating, is that the AV receiver's protective circuitry shuts down the unit at high volumes. When it comes back on, a CH. SP. WIRES message appears on the display. Not cool. After researching it, it can be caused by several things. The easiest is that the speaker wires might be shorting out against the unit itself. Less easy issues could make it a power supply issue or a short in one of the speaker wires in the wall leading to the speakers. So, I'm going to try and solve that one with some banana plugs (straight bare wires are being used right now.)

Anyway, stay tuned for more AV hijinx at Casa de Armenia. And, other stuff of course.

-la

High Definition Madness

I bought two TivoHDs to replace my aging Series2 Tivos...any Tivo junkies out there will know that this is both a blessing and a curse. It's my foray into the world of HD. I've been salivating over it for some time now...as do most people.

All of the elements are in place. Two great TVs, a home network, the TivoHDs, a new computer loaded with the Tivo software so I can transfer my favorite shows and movies, etc.

However, these new Tivos take CableCards, which is basically a PC card that decodes the cable signal and allows you to watch digital and premium content like HBO, Skinemax, Blowtime, etc.

But, when the cable installer came out, he made sure they were communicating with the Cox Communications mother ship and left...basically wishing me good luck. Of course, after they downloaded a firware update, and I rebooted the Tivos and reran the Guide Setup, blah, blah, blah...there was no HD goodness in the house of Lex.

So, another tech is coming out later today to jump through the hoops all over again. Will provide an update soon. And, tell me again, why do I work in technology?

Remaining skeptical that I'll have HD goodness by the end of the day,
-la