uhh, holy crap!?!

I got all geeked out that iTunes7 came out that I DL'd and installed it ASAP. This is something that I usually never do, but it's iTunes, and I've never had a problem w/ an update. I have a problem. The playback sounds like someone has the volume up too loud on blown speakers. I went through a bunch of troubleshooting, even trying to re-install iT6, but nothing has worked. I can play the files fine in WinAmp, but no go in iTunes. As I've gone to blog here, I haven't seen anything regarding this on Google.

I'm not so happy right now. But hey, view #3 looks dope! Visually the player looks ok, but I'm not too fond of it getting darker in places. But whatever, I can't play any kind of files in it now, including streaming radio, so I won't have to look at it until this is figured out. Otherwise I'm dropping it.

Technorati Tags: computing, iTunes 7, Apple

still more to do!

The fun continued as I was still having random reboots while using my beloved hate machine. Event viewer was tellling me that there was something wrong w/ mis discos! I have a program called Easy Recovery Professional by Ontrack that allows me to check the disc physically, check the partitions, as well as monitor the S.M.A.R.T. reports. There happened to be problems w/ both my C:\ and my D:\ drives. One scheduled chkdsk later things are running smooth, or at least smoother.

I'm still having some random crashes, but that's due to a sketchy nVidia driver. Sounds like a lot of people are having the same issue. Why would you put out crappy drivers that create conflicts like this? It's the software industry, why not. Everyone else is doing it.

I've had to redo my iTunes music files since I can't remember my drive letter structure from before. I'm pretty sure that they're all correct, but still no go. I'm consolidating everything as much as possible.


Technorati Tags: computers, technology

Google reads my blog!

I jumped in head first to the new Blogger the other day on Cycleboredom. Unfortunately they didn't say anything about not being able to alter the template source code at the moment. So I don't have my header, nor do I have my labels on the side. But I'm going to start to label my past posts in order to well, have them labelled. You can change back to your 'classic' template, but I want to keep working w/ the new version, and hopefully they'll have the editor back and running.

I really want to get in and tear these blog's CSS/HTML apart. I have a lot of ideas, and I want to get 'em out there.


Technorati Tags: Blogger beta, Google, Cycleboredom, CSS, HTML

Google sucha tease.

Beta this, Beta that. I guess that's a good way to avoid any blame when the product sucks. Why is Gmail still in beta?

So I wanted to do some work on my blogs last night when I encountered what I thought was an incorrect login screen. No, it's an invitation from Blogger to enjoy the benefits of their new and improved program. I go through the process only to find, once again that the invite is blocked. Are they beta testing w/ just 10 people? Why even make it a part of the logon process? There's another 3 steps just to get to the Dashboard. Sometimes they're just plain idiots.

I can't wait for the categories. I'd like to give Wordpress a go, but you have to pay for more than one blog. Blogger is free. Since I already have established pages, as well as server space w/ Media Temple, there's no reason to pay for anything.

I also wanted to give Writely a try as well. Locked out, what a surprise.

Onto the more established 'Evil Empire', Microsoft is offering test drives of Office '07. I've been using Office for awhile and even moreso during my classes at AIO. I'm a PowerPoint master now. I never would've thought. Once I get a chance I'll fire that muther up and run 'er good! They're also offering an online version of Office called thinkfree. I haven't played w/ it yet, but it's a response to Writely, so hopefully it's good.


Technorati Tags: blogging, Blogger, beta, Writely, Office 2007, thinkfree

I HAVE THE POWER!!

I ain't playing around this time! I finally figured out that it was the power supply* that was causing all the havoc. I may be able to use the other mobo in light of this intriguing development. Anyway, after having a vast array of Windows crashes ranging from during games, using the mouse (a good one), to letting it sit there doing nothing. I started to think that XP was on the way out for some reason. When the computer started rebooting during post, I started to get lost. Once it started to kick on then shut off immediately, I had a feeling that my choice in PSUs was a little crappy.

I may have installed a bad power supply, as I didn't really see any negative reviews for the Ultra 500w. So I imagine that somewhere, someone is enjoying theirs.

Getting to the end of the post, I ordered the perfectly reviewed OCZ GameXstream 700w PSU from Newegg. It actually came relatively quickly considering my past experiences w/ the Eggers. Although it was getting a little dicey as the UPS man delivered it around 8pm, nearly 3 hours off his normal time. I was starting to curse Newegg again, but it's here and it's installed. I don't have any pictures of it yet since I'm a little superstitious that if I finalize the install and make it so pretty and so nice, it'll crash. So right now, shit's dangling everywhere, case open, sitting on my desk.

I also reformatted one of the HDD that was screwed from a bad external case I had it in, installing that using a SATA to IDE adapter. At the moment I'm running 200gb above the terabyte mark! Everything seems to be hummin' w/ no hiccups to speak of yet. We'll see how that goes.

Maybe if you're nice I'll post an image of it.

*Yes honey, you were the one who thought the PSU was the problem in the first place. I admit it.



Technorati Tags: computers, PSU, OCZ GameXStream, Newegg, my wife was right

can I refinance my apartment?

So beautiful, so nice.

As a high-end computer, it's not that expensive. Unfortunately that doesn't include nearly anything that this beast is capable of! I decided to be an ass (what a suprise), and configure this thing to its full potential. I didn't include the displays because this is about what you can add inside. I chose the Quadro FX cards simply because they're stupid expensive. I didn't feel like calculating what the latest NVIDIA SLi cards would come out to be although it's intriguing as you can run 4 of them!

Anyway the total came to be nearly $13,000 fully kitted out! There's nothing that can come close to that running Windows, unless you got someone to custom paint your case w/ diamond dust... 16GB of freaking RAM! You could run all of your Adobe CS2 apps, all your Macromedia Apps, play a game while another is on pause; the list can go on! I'm sure that video editing would start to add up, but I can't see it coming close to needing 16GB! That's a $5700 upgrade in itself.

Check out how you can access your drives. So sexy. Let's just get through this first round of bugs, and I'll jump right in and snag one.


Technorati Tags: computing, computers, Apple, Mac Pro

why you work, now not work?

Computer break.  No turn on no more.  PSU?  Maybe.  Order form Newegg.  Tracking say it arrive today.  Out for delivery.  No PSU.  No good shipping from Newegg.  So much fun for me.  My Compaq last longer than this.


Technorati Tags: computer, Newegg, whatever

not too smart.

So I fancy myself a bit of a coffee aficianado, not so much a snob anymore, but someone who's simply addicted to all things coffee; not just the caffeine. Very quickly: I have a ton of different ways to make a ton of different styles of coffee/espresso, and I'm especially fond of experimenting w/ more exotic ways of preparing the drink. Today's story is about the Vietnamese Iced Coffee I had at a multi-asian-culti restuarant in Old Town, Alexandria.

I've researched how different countries/cultures make coffee and I'd been dying to get my hands on some VIC. So at at the end of the dinner I got one as a dessert. Now I know what the ingredients are (condensed milk, coffee) and I had a vaugue idea of how it was prepared. For some reason when it arrived at my table, I just looked at it like it was an alien device. I'm surprised that the waitress didn't notice my stupor, but she took off w/out a word.

So here's this metal device sitting on top of my cup, and next to it is my glass w/ ice. I attempt to pull the lid off the top of the filter, but it was on there pretty tight. Finally it came off and I started to get my coffee bearings. Water goes in on top of a screw down filter top which is situated over the ground espresso. The grind and the pressure that you provide by screwing the top filter down alters the speed in which the coffee is extracted through the final filter on the bottom. Water on top, coffee out the bottom.

The process was already completed so I picked up the cup and started pouring the drink into the ice filled glass. Yep, I forgot to stir the condensed milk while the coffee was hot and still in the cup... Once it hit the ice there was no stirring back. I eventually got everything to the right consistency, but I can't believe how dense I was for as long as I've been dealing w/ coffee preparation.

I went right out and picked a filter up from one of our local Asian Mercados. It's the Arlington Melting pot. Asian, Latino, African, and the Blancas! Now I'm making them fast and furious in the privacy of my own home. No one can see me screw things up now. I'm still working on the ratio because my grinder doesn't really do espresso anymore. I've been adding more grinds to the prep and it seems to be altering the brew time just right. Now I'm happy.


T-Tags: coffee, Vietnamese coffee, caffeine