Saturday, June 06, 2009

Mr. Chris and The Slow Internet Connection

Thursday the Internet connection here, which is AT&T U-Verse fiber optic 6 mbps Pro service was extremely slow. Scott was getting bumped from xbox live, web surfing was painfully slow, and downloads were close to unbearable!

I did a soft reboot of the Residential Gateway, a unit pictured below that centralizes IP TV, IP Phone, and Internet into one unit that also connects to your existing home phone wiring so no new phones are needed for IP Telephony, and this seemed to somewhat mitigate things. Wow! Am I the master of run-on sentences or what?

Yesterday I noticed it was slow again, but there were other things going on so nothing further was done. This AM, particularly since the kids were at their Mom's for her week, I had plenty of time to kill after a bad nights sleep that was filled with very strange dreams. As I mentioned I have 6 mbps service and multiple speed tests to different locations and through different companies were showing download speeds as slow as 1.2 mbps!

So, I got on a tech support chat with a woman named Geraldine at AT&T and I told her what was going on. I was very impressed with her, because instead of following the usual reading from a script of things to do, and ignoring any of my inputs, she actually listened to what I had to say! Also note that this was not going to b the only surprise AT&T had in store for me this day!

She asked permission to login to my Residential Gateway and I gave it, and soon I could hear her scurrying about intermixed with the other ones and zeros on my network. She worked her magic, and did a reboot, and then, second surprise, even though she was sure this would rectify the issue, she called me on the phone to follow up 10 minutes later when she saw activity on the Internet connection.

We soon discovered while my speed had improved it was still barely half of what it should be. She put me on hold and transferred me to a gentleman named Tim who listed to me as well, and did some testing and discovered noise on the line from the street leading to my house. He mentioned a technician would have to pay a visit. Sigh; what were my chances of having this before sometime next week I figured!

Here's where AT&T delivered the coup de grace and told me a technician could be on site in less than an hour if that was agreeable to me!

So, here I sit, exercise bike riding temporarily postponed until after AT&T comes and looks at my line. Note while I was spell checking this, Bob from AT&T called to inform me he would be here within 20 minutes or so!

Oh, as to the strange dreams I had? You did not really think I was going to let that slide did you? I went to bed around 1:30 AM. Last time I looked at the clock it was 3 AM before finally fell asleep even though I was dog tired.

I had dreams of trying to cook Taylor Ham on a grill in the bedroom closet so no one would know I was eating it, crawling through the infrastructure of a huge housing project looking for my kid who turned out to be a kid I had never seen before, fighting little 2 inch tall people (like the ones in the Night of the Museum movies) that were trying to take over the world, and eating at a restaurant with the X, her parents, and our kids where the mac cheese came in portable electric warmers made of gold and the snooty waiters and maitre d’ made us move the heavy tables around before they would seat us! After being seated I noticed little people coming in through a crack in the wall, evidently a carryover from the earlier dream!

Interesting because in these dreams I see my desire to still be in a normal family relationship, my longing for foods I can't have, and the elements from a recent movie I saw.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Picture Of The Day 06/05/09

The overgrown little used path to my yard on the side of the garage. By next month the growth will be up to the windows. Not a problem though as all access to the yard is done via the back doors.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Picture Of The Day

Tails and I over the weekend. Even if I do not have the keyboard in my lap, she often insists on sitting on my chest. Perhaps she was trying to tell me something, though I have no idea what!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Thank you, come again!

I hope everyone has been enjoying the pictures I've been posting for the past month or so. I hope to get back to blogging more regularly in another month or so and am hoping to be feeling even better by then. So, feel free to enjoy and comment on the pictures and such. I answer all comments, it may just take me a few days since I usually post pictures via my iPhone and then respond to comments whenever I am on the blog via computer which is not all that often these days.

If you have Facebook, look for me there since I can do that much easier on the iPhone then I can on the blog as there's a custom applet for it. I'm on Facebook as Chris Falco.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Picture Of The Day



One of the corridors at the local mall. We went there Tuesday to get sneakers for Danielle and I had planned to get her and Scott dinner at the food court afterward. Imagine our surprise when we found "Do not cross Police line" tape across the entrance and the place soaked while the shop owners mopped up their stalls. Turns out there had been a small fire while we were shopping.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Monday, May 25, 2009

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Picture Of The Day

One of the 7 pictures I hung this weekend........or the view out my bathroom window. You decide.

Picture Of The Day

Another picture of the flora around my house.

I call this one "Individuality"

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Picture Of The Day

Reflections in the Mustang's window.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream (Weirdly!)

I had such a weird dream last night I could not resist posting it.

It started off with me hanging out with a woman named Donna who worked where I worked at CONRAC before we became Smiths Industries, and later she worked for me. This was back in Florham Park New Jersey. So, in this dream I am hanging out with her and her husband who I never met in real life. In real life he is named Chris, and in the dream he was no one I ever remember seeing.

We were having a great time sharing some drinks, laughing, and talking about old times.

That in itself was weird, because Donna and I never were friendly and rarely talked outside the job specifics. She was a hard worker and really knew her stuff, but, that was it. No 'old times' to talk of for sure!

So, as I said the three of us were having a good time and I realized it was late and that it was time for me to head home. They asked if they could come too. "We'll have a sleep over!" they declared! "Call your wife and ask if it's OK!!" So, I called Debby, not remembering in the dream that we are divorced and asked her. She said fine, and we headed over to my dream house as it were.

The house was no house Debby and I ever lived in...and then all of a sudden Donna and her husband Chris were gone and Debby and were alone in the dimly lit bedroom.

OK, time out here all of you who have your mind in the gutter, expecting some king of mad sex scene between me and the X wife! Take a deep breath or a cold shower. It just ain't going to happen! This is a blog that kids read for goodness sake!!!

And in reality, while I do dream of her on a regular basis, and while I still do have feelings for her, strangely enough my dreams of her have never gone down that road before.....go figure! The dreams are usually very mundane where she and I along with the three kids are together as a family, happily doing things together. In almost all of them I do not remember we are married, and afterward I am always a little blue upon waking. In this case, as you'll read below, I was just flabbergasted!

So, in the bedroom Debby was going through a box of my dad's stuff that I brought back from NJ last summer after he passed away. She reached in and came out with a pair of boxer shorts.

"What the hell are you going to do with your father's shorts?" She asked. I explained I was going to use it as a skirt for a lamp to diffuse the light and make it more subdued.

"That's just stupid!" she said. "How will you be able to turn it on and off then?"

I replied with "You could reach through the fly for that!"

She laughed mightily at that, and then said there was no way we'd have a lamp like that in our house and she threw the pair of shorts in the garbage.

At the point the dream shifted and I moved onto another weird dream that did not feature anyone I knew....and as I only remember fragments......my story ends there.

My reaction when I woke was what the heck is up with that????

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Picture Of The Day

A location by 28th street and i-96 here in West Michigan. The angle in this shot is everything and this will be revealed in another picture one day.

Quote of the Day

Well, proverb actually! This was today's quote of the day from the feed I use on my blog, and I really liked this one!

One of life's greatest mysteries is how the boy who wasn't
good enough to marry your daughter can be the father
of the smartest grandchild in the world.

Picture Of The Day

Mustang in the morning today. I just love my car!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Day After Mother's Day

Chicken and Shrimp Kabobs

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I offered to host a dinner for the X, our kids, and the X's parents, who to me will always be Mom and Dad.

My goal was to make an excellent meal worthy of my culinary acumen, and stay within my budgeted calories for the day. Of course, I also wanted everyone to enjoy themselves!

I started preparing Saturday night cutting skinless chicken breast and marinating it overnight in a mildly spicy southwestern style marinate. I also processed jumbo shrimp in this manner.

I made a mixture of 92% ground beef and ground round, plus some spices and shaped 8 nice 5 ounce burgers and these too were refrigerated.

I then cut and sliced 2 quarts of Strawberries and put them in the fridge with a cup of Splenda. Smaller portions of Blueberries and Red Raspberries were bagged with Splenda as well.

Sunday morning after a 12 mile 70 minute workout on the exercise bike, I got cleaned up and began making Kabobs. I cut up onions and red pepper, and along with cherry tomatoes and small button mushrooms I built the Kabobs pictured above. It took about 90 minutes to make a total of 12.

I made a nice salad with cucumbers, lettuce, onions, and tomato, and I baked corn on the cob, which I prefer to boiling. I sliced onions and tomato for the burgers, and plastic wrapped these plates and left them in the fridge.

We all sat down and had an excellent meal of the Kabobs and about an hour later I made a round of Cheeseburgers, grilling onions on the grill at the request of the X and her folks.

For dessert I mixed the berries and served them with sugar free cool whip. For those not watching their weight there was also whipped cream and Ice cream.

Everyone enjoyed the food and had a great day. After every left except for Scott and Danielle, Danielle and I enjoyed an hour of Left 4 Dead on expert mode.....fun stuff!

On and off during the day, I kept thinking of my Mom, and how much I missed her. I tried to dwell on happy childhood memories of her which helped. Hard to believe she has been gone for 18 years!

The X sent me an e-mail this morning thanking me for such a nice Mother's Day, which really made my day.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Picture of the Day - Happy Mother's Day


Mothers are the glue that holds a family together. For those of you who are lucky enough to still have their Mom in their life, make this day extra special for her, and make every other day special for Mom as well. For those who have lost their Mom, remember them fondly this day, as I shall do!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Photo of the Day

Dusk approaches near Forest Hills Foods in West Michigan

We'll be back later explained

To make a long story short I am having some health issues and won't be posting on a regular basis for awhile while I get a handle on things. If something really cool or out of the ordinary happens I will post a note here, and since I can send pictures directly from my iPhone to the blog (how cool is that!!??) I'll post a picture each day or so. That way there will be something to see.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

What Darling Danielle Learned at School

It is good that we pay exhorberant taxes for school! One thing I really liked about moving to Michigan was that the quality of the school system was superior to what we left back in New Jersey. My oldest boy at the time was having trouble with his grades and they improved significantly when we came out here.

Danielle was proudly regaling me this morning with her knowledge of international sign language! I had no idea the curriculum was so varied at her school!

She was able to show me the equivalent offensive American middle fingered gesture for Australia, Italy, and China! Now, that is your tax dollars at work!

Being Italian, I feel the need to ground her for the week since she flipped off her father! She thinks because she shared the popcorn that I bought her yesterday that this mitigates this parental insult!

She is quite the young lady! Hard to believe she has evolved from this:

Danielle (and Bubbles) in March of 2000

A Week ago Today

was Easter. It was a decent day, the kids, the X, and her Parents came over for pasta. I made spaghetti and meatballs, with pepperoni and sausage in the sauce as well. I also made my infamous garlic butter spread for garlic bread and a plain loaf of warm Italian Bread as well.

The X gave the kids Easter Baskets at her house. I thought it was cute that they all wanted Easter baskets, Scott and Danielle preferred that t just getting some candy without the basket.

After dinner we looked at some digital pictures from 1999 and 2000 up on the 50" plasma, quite the difference between the kids then and now! We then tucked into the dessert Mom had brought.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Two of my Favorite Females

Danielle and Tails in a cute moment!

Please!
Take a deep breath before passing on an e-mail

Yes, this is one of those posts where I vent about something that annoys me.

A very good, long time friend this morning passed on an e-mail that was largely inaccurate. It claimed that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Australia made a speech saying he wanted Muslims out of Australia. I Googled this with the word "HOAX" appended to it and immediately I saw this was something that has been circulating the Internet for years now and it was in fact mostly inaccurate, particularly in the context given. They also suspect the reason it is circulating again is to stir up feelings of hate and racism! This can be seen at this page here.

I get many mails from friends and family of this nature and most of them are spam or scams, so I ask you to please, take a deep breath before passing on an email.

Yes! Just take a moment and think about it! Do a little research! Take the subject matter and put it in text quotes, go to Google, enter it and put +hoax or +scam after it (with a space in between the closing text quote) and make sure this is not one of countless hoaxes that have been circulating the Internet for years!

This is a pet peeve of mine as I get a ton of mail like this both from people I know and many I have never heard from. So, be responsible and use some common sense when dealing with your e-mail such as:
  • If you do not know the person sending you the mail, delete it!
  • If there is an attachment and you have any doubt whatsoever of it's content delete it!
  • Make sure you have anti virus software installed and something that scans for Trojans as well. Drop me an e-mail if you need recommendations as there are plenty of free programs out there. Set them to update automatically.
  • Make sure, particularly if using Windows, to have security patches installed automatically.
  • If your e-mail has a spam filter, turn it on.
Use common sense because:
  • NO ONE is sending you a million dollars from Nigeria!
  • The windowed wife of some foreign country's ruler is not sending you his fortune!
  • Bill Gates is NOT sharing his fortune with you!
  • IBM and Intel are not giving away millions to you!
  • You did NOT NOT NOT win the United Kingdom Lottery you never entered!!!!
  • Just because the message starts with "This was certified by 'insert various hoax site name here'" does NOT mean it really was! Go to the hoax site and check it out or Google it above!
  • If it sounds to good to be true it most likely is not true!
  • If you forward the e-mail on to 2,4,6,8,or 12 of your friends you will NOT become rich, meet the person of your dreams, or have your deepest desire fulfilled! you will NOT cure cancer either for that matter.
  • If you forward the e-mail on to 2,4,6,8,or 12 of your friends, there's a good chance you will annoy 2,4,6,8,or 12 of your friends and then cause them to annoy 2,4,6,8,or 12 of their friends. At the very worst you are helping to spread ill will, hate, and racism and other karma impacting things to others.
OK, Stepping down off my metaphorical soapbox I am done ranting and raving now but this sort of thing just annoys me because if people were more careful there would be less spam and less scams....and the Internet would be a faster and safer place for all!


Danielle's Baby

So, imagine my complete and total surprise as evidenced by the title of this post! You may have read about Danielle's former boyfriend here and my misgivings of her dating someone two years older than her as she is only 14!! This is something my X wife and I had disagreed on, but I let it continue because I love my daughter and it made her happy. I was worried she might get hurt!! So, knowing this perhaps you can put two and two together??

Well shame on you! She's only 14 for goodness sake! You should be ashamed of yourself!!!

So, anyway, she's sitting here on the double recliners, and I am on the couch. She had trapped the cat under the blanket she had over her legs and the cat was struggling to escape. It wiggled it's way down to her feet and then with a loud plopping noise dropped out onto the floor taking off like a shot, whereupon Danielle chirps up and says Look! I just dropped a baby!"

Anyway, if you bought into the first paragraph at all Danielle and I are chuckling mightily at your expense!

Useless Factoid of the Day

A useless, yet interesting factoid is that at five minutes and six seconds after 4 AM on the 8th of July this year, the time and date will be:

04:05:06 07/08/09

This will never happen again!

However, next year at six minutes and 7 seconds after 5 AM on the 9th of August the time and date will be:

05:06:07 08/09/10

That will never happen again!

We now return control of your life to you! And no, you may not have the last two minutes of your life back!

Friday, April 17, 2009

The Terrible Tale of Mr. Chris and the Ghost Peppers!

Wednesday my friend Dave at work gave me a bottle of Dave's Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce. I tried it that evening adding it a recipe I was making, and I used about a teaspoon. Note this was at the start of the cooking process and it was a single serving recipe.

It gave the food quite a nice kick and taste, and while indeed spicy, it was, as I have used this line in the past, nothing to write home about. It was a good flavor but not a huge amount of heat.

Well, last night I must have had a brain fart because I made myself a frozen dinner (one of those new all natural varieties) and after it was done I took a taste. It was decent, and obviously of better quality than your usual frozen dinner but for something labeled as Spicy Southwestern Style Chicken, it was about as spicy as Whoopi Goldberg in a cocktail waitress' dress. It needed some spice!

What to do, what to do, what to do? I thought! And then I spied the bottle of Ghost Pepper sauce......So, I added a couple of teaspoons and a dash for good measure of Ghost Pepper sauce and mixed it in.. Note that this was after cooking had finished in case you were still busy visualizing Miss Goldberg and forgot about that fact. In the back of my mind I was thinking the previous exposure to the sauce that it was just not as spicy as advertised, but, being in the midst of a senior moment I forgot I had cooked it the previous evening for about 20 minutes which of course mitigates a lot of the heat.

It should be noted here that the Ghost Pepper Sauce has a rating of 550,000 Scoville units which is in the same range as Law Enforcement Grade pepper spray. Per Wikipedia, the Scoville scale is a measure of the hotness or piquancy of a chili pepper, as defined by the amount of capsaicin (a chemical compound which stimulates nerve endings in the skin) present.

I'd like to humbly suggest that various Law Enforcement departments around the world should carry a bottle of this instead of pricey pepper spray! Imagine the cries of "Can I have some wings and blue cheese dressing with that?!" screamed by malefactors subdued in this manner as they fall to the ground like sacks of wet sand!!

Anyway, I digress! So, the food was prepared, the sauce added, and I sat down to watch the previous night's episode of Better off Ted. I took quite a large bite (I was using a tablespoon since there was rice in the dinner), and instantly any trace of being tired or congested from the cold I have had this week vanished in a flaming flash as my eyes went from mere slits to wide opened!

It was to say the least very spicy! While the heat of it was not too much to bear (though was certainly hotter than I prefer for casual dining!) my eyes were watering, I went through about a dozen double sheets of paper towels mopping the sweat from my head,! My eyes were tearing something fierce and the tears were streaming down my cheeks! An average person would probably have been screaming or reduced to lying and moaning in the fetal position.

How hot was it you ask?? Heck! The EPA called and mentioned the neighbors' were complaining about intense pungent fumes coming from my house. The wanted to know what was going on! They accused me of having a chemical processing plant in my garage!!!!

Well, the head sweating and eye tearing went on for about 20 minutes or so while I was eating, because of course I had to eat the entire portion! Knowing that water or soda, my usual dinner beverage, are useless on a fire like this I drank nothing while eating which took about 15 minutes. Afterward, instead of reacting the way the average person might by downing a bucket of water, I enjoyed a small scoop of vanilla ice cream which immediately stopped the burning in mouth.

I did drink about 40 ounces of diet orange soda after the ice cream over the course of the next two hours, but I figure that was to replace fluids lost as a result of the sauce. I was not overly thirsty per say.

I can see myself making a big batch of my famous baked spicy chicken wings, and in addition to a whole jar of Sambal Oelek and the other spicy items I use, I can see some amount of this making it's way into the sauce, which of course is added after the wings have been baked nice and crisp so all the heat would be maintained.

This experience also reinforced my thought that this would be an excellent addition to my ground beef chili recipe!

Finally. to my friend Dave I say thanks again, it was quite the eye opening experience!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Saturday

I arose early to a gorgeous bright and Sunny day! By 10:30 AM I had done three loads of laundry, folding and putting away 2 with one still in the drier. I had also done 9.5 miles on the exercise bike and done the shopping for Easter dinner after getting cleaned up. I also started cleaning the incredible mess that was my house after a week with the kids there. What a productive morning, normally it takes me most of the day to get that much done.

While it was still in the 40's when I went to the store I could not resist the sun and I eschewed the wearing of a jacket enjoying the briskness of the morning in my short sleeved shirt! It was glorious and I had to resist the urge to give the heavy coat wearing bag boy a hard time!

I took a lunch break and watched the rest of Good Luck Chuck before doing some work on the computer.

I did notice that a new movie was playing at the local theater. based on the poster below you can bet I will go see it!

Friday

So, the kids and I ended going off to Ming 10 and had an excellent lunch. The place was packed! We've been there many times and at all hours and never have I seen such a crowd. We were placed in the furthest section away form the food. Because there was so much traffic the food was constantly being replenished and never had a chance to sit for long so everything was wonderfully fresh.

After a thoroughly delicious repast eating stoutly like trenchermen, we headed out. We stopped at the Meijer that is adjacent to the complex that Ming 10 inhabits as my good friend Brian told me that his wife Carrie had found Dreamfield pasta there. This was good news because after the local grocer by my house stopped carrying it (they replaced it with disgusting gritty stone ground whole wheat pasta) I had been reduced to mail order to keep it on hand. Dreamfield uses a unique method to encapsulate most of the carbohydrates in the pasta so out of a normal serving which contains 40 grams of carbs, only five are digested. And it looks and tastes like regular pasta. Being a diabetic, Dreamfield pasta is something that lets me enjoy pasta without my blood sugar being affected!

They did indeed have it, so I picked up a few boxes, a roll of electrical tape, some cat treats, and a pair of wire cutters. Thursday after I got home from work Scott seeing the portion of the dash from the Mustang that contains the cigarette lighter was spurred into action and wanted to install the radio I bought for his car last September! I could not find my wire cutters so a new pair was needed.

We had gotten as far as we could Thursday having removed the old radio and gotten together everything we needed for the installation of the new.

Returning home I began working on the wiring harness that would mate the new radio into the existing wiring. I had bought the radio from Crutchfield and they sell a kit that makes the radio, which was a totally different size, fit like it was custom made int he dash of the car. They also give you a wiring harness that mates with the existing one in the car and that is wired to the new hardness. This requires some time as you have to solder and then tape each connection which I did. here's a picture of my work area:


So, after about two hours work all total I had the harness made, we got everything plugged in and the adapter faceplate would not mate with the holes in the dash of his car! A quick inspection showed I had put the new radio in upside down so I turned the bracket 180 degrees, and got everything connected. We turned it on and nothing came out of the radio except static, the same symptom of the broken radio! Scott was distressed because the person we got the car from said it was a bad radio. I checked the connections int he trunk to the antenna and they were fine, so, I pulled the radio out to find the antenna connection had slipped out! We got that firmly in place and Scott, with the radio playing, carefully put all the screws back in the pieces of his dashboard he had removed.

He headed out with his friends, and Danielle and I watched TV while snacking on some popcorn samples that had been delivered. Scott and Steve showed up a bit later and played Left 4 Dead here awhile before heading out to meet up with more friends. I dropped her off at her Mom's house around 6 PM and then Tails and I spent a very quiet evening watching TV and puttering on the computer. I retired around 1 AM.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Lost In Space

Picture of me during today's EVA

The start of a long weekend.

On the way home from work yesterday, where I worked a half day from 6:30 AM to 10:30 AM I stopped at Tommy's one of these quick change oil places. The Mustang has been going there since I obtained it and they know me and the car well. In addition to the Oil Change the car needed a new air filter and it was time for the power flush and changing of the fluid in the power steering system. This whole process took about 30 minutes and then the car and I enjoyed a free car wash before stopping at the X's to help her with a computer issue. On the way from her place to mine I stopped at Forest Hills Foods to pickup the ingredients for dinner.

The kids are off this week for spring break and while Danielle has been going to assorted friends houses Scott spent most of the week indoors, partially because many of his friends were out of town for spring break, partially because he is still not feeling the best. His is still having pain in his chest and trouble breathing but it is not as bad as it was a week ago. I hope he continues to improve!

Danielle, who slept over her friend Bob's (a girl!) the night before spent the day on her friends grandparent's farm yesterday. She helped feed the baby goats, watched them milk the goats (she did not wish to experience that!), and then they all made cookies. Danielle named one of the goats Candlesticks which I thought was amusing. She had a good time. Scott went out around 3 PM and Danielle got home around 4:30. As Scott would not be home for dinner I made tortellini with a creamy pesto sauce accompanied by grilled chicken strips. It was quite delicious!

We then spent the remainder of the evening watching TV, computing, and I played some Left 4 Dead. When Scott returned around 9:30 we watched a couple of episodes of The Smpsons off DVD. I retired around midnight.

This morning I arose around 8 AM. It is now 11 and shortly Scott will be woken and we will be heading off to Ming 10 for lunch. It's my last day with the kids and they will be at their Mom's for dinner since this evening is the start of her week. thought taking them out to a nice lunch would be a good end to the week since I have today off.

I have really been enjoying my iPhone. my bluetooth earpiece arrived Wednesday and it is so cool to be anywhere on the first floor of my house and be able to take a call with the phone docked in one of the two bases I have for it. If it is docked in the speaker dock and I ma listening to music when a call comes in the music pauses. I can then pickup the call on the earpiece and when I am done the music resumes from where it paused. The dock in the car will do the same thing, though I have to crawl up under the dash to replace the fuse I blew when I took the panel off the dash to fix the loose cigarette lighter socket that was causing the dock to move left and right whenever I made turns.

The applications for the iPhone (I have about 25) range from the very useful, to fun games, to totally ridiculous items, but it is some good stuff!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

My Review of Isound Dgipod-1500 Twin Charger For Iphone[tm] 3g, Iphone[tm] & Ipod[r] (isound Dgipod1500)

  • Compatible with iphone 3G, iphone & all iPod models
  • Charges 2 devices simultaneously from any wall outlet
  • Custom led illumination
  • Sturdy desktop design
  • Includes brackets for current iphone & iPod models & 110/240V AC adapter

  • 4 5

    Describe Yourself: Gearhead, Business Professional, Parent, Practical

    Primary use: Personal

    This does what it is advertised to do; it charges two iPods or an iPhone/iPhone 3G and another iPod. The on/off button for the blue charge light is a nice touch. Only complaint is it could be heavier to allow for easier one handed removal of a device but that's just my preference. I would definitely recommend this to someone needing a dual device charging stand.

    I would have given it 4.5 stars, but the rating system would not let me!

    This can be obtained from Beach Audio

    Saturday, April 04, 2009

    Saturday Morning in West Michigan

    I awoke shortly before 8 since Danielle, in preparation for her first day of school at Barbizon, had to be up by 8 AM. I was 99% sure she would be, when it comes to things like setting the alarm clock she is very responsible and in fact wakes Scott up each morning for school.

    She was up and ready by 8:50 when her mom picked her up. We decided since the monthly classes (4 hours on Saturday and Sunday) always fall on my weeks to alternate the days, so, I will take her and pick her up tomorrow. After class they will be picking up one of Danielle's friends and the X will drop them off at Red Sun Buffet for lunch. They will call me when they are ready to be picked up so I can bring them back here.

    The four of us ate at Red Sun last night in fact, on the weekends they also have roast beef out for carving, and for a Chinese Buffet it is very tasty and of good quality. They also have a limited selection of shusi (less than Ming 10) and a grill. They also have a larger selection of food, but it is of just slightly less quality than Ming 10. Since it is closer and the kids like it better it is now our place of choice Friday and the weekend. Weekdays we would still go to Ming 10.

    All of Scott's friends are going away for Spring break. One of his Best friends Alex is not leaving until later today so I let him spend the night as Scott is feeling better, though the pain and trouble breathing are still present. He is in a much better mood though which is good!

    I have been adding additional songs to my iPhone this AM from my large collection and enjoying the $10 free mp3 credit from Amazon (5 for the case, 5 for the speaker dock I bought)

    The Amazon software stub that integrates with the web browser is nice ; it detected iTunes and automatically adds the music to it. There are also a ton of free songs that change almost daily if you go to their mp3 site.

    Currently I have 400 songs, 35 video files, 60 applications, and 7200 digital photographs (starting from my first digital camera in 1999). I still have about 4.5 Gigabytes free though out of 16.

    It is a glorious sunny day with blue skies, and probably going to be the warmest we shall see in days since snow is predicted tomorrow.

    Friday, April 03, 2009

    Posting direct from iPhone

    Tails is watching you read my blog!

    Update

    Thanks to those of you that sent me e-mails or posted comments regarding my son. It means a lot!

    Scott is still feeling ill but has been making improvement. He went to school this week managing all three days before spring break started on Thursday. They are off all next week, I have two half days Tuesday and Thursday, so I will be home at 10:30 AM those days and I have next Friday off for Good Friday.

    Danielle starts attending Barbizon modeling classes tomorrow (goodbye money we made selling one of our timeshare units!) . This is in spite of the headaches she has been having for months now. Back in early February we were told to make an appointment with a pediatric neurologist....the first opening was April 15th!

    I am still loving my iPhone, anyone who wants me to harass them with pictures from it please e-mail me your e-mail address to

    blandishment at-sign gmail dot com

    I am sure you can figure out the email address from that but I did not want it sucked off the page by any annoying web crawlers which could then spam me. It should like something like name@gmail.com if you are computer challenged and the above looks like gibberish to you!

    Not much else to say I guess other than some TV comments I may put into a new post, work is keeping me busy, and I'm just not feeling like a lot of posting these days, though I will try to post more going forward. It's just been a very, very rough few weeks.

    Monday, March 23, 2009

    Sorry

    Sorry for the lack of posts which will continue for the foreseeable future. Scott is going through a tough time at school, involving a bad break up enforced by the girls parents who had the audacity to visit the X's house and make assorted threats if he did not stop seeing her. They've forbid her to even talk to him at school.

    Needless to say Scott has been hit hard by this, I had to take him to the Doctor's today because he was having chest pains and trouble breathing. largely anxiety they said...he is miserable and it pains me no end for him to grow up and gain maturity in this manner. He's such a good kid and does not deserve this BS!

    anyway there won't be any additional posts until we get this situation stabilized. I'm off to bed for some needed sleep.

    Tuesday, March 17, 2009

    Happy Saint Patrick's Day



    For those that Celebrate it
    Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

    Being Italian, and no longer married to my X with her Irish heritage, I do not. But, that does not mean YOU can't! So, head down to your favorite pub, hoist a pint, or two, or even three or more of your favorite green brew, kiss the Blarney Stone, dance a merry jig, listen to some jaunty Irish tunes with some cute Colleen, and ENJOY!

    And know this....while you be eatin' corn beef and cabbage for dinner, I will be dining on a perfectly grilled steak this evening!

    Sunday, March 15, 2009

    Saturday: The Rest of the Story

    After Danielle left with her friend Bob (Bob is a girl by the way) I worked on the computer for a bit and made an excellent lunch; Shrimp Cocktail with some spicy cocktail sauce and fresh lemon drizzled over the shrimp. I chilled the glass in the freezer for an hour before adding the shrimp. This is what it looked like:


    For a tastier large picture click the shrimp above!


    Lunch was delicious! The shrimp was fresh and very succulent. The drizzle of freshly squeezed lemon juice over the shrimp made a very nice complement to the spicy cocktail sauce. I was very pleased the shrimp was on sale!

    Bad news: I was still hungry!
    Good News: There remained enough shrimp for seconds!

    I returned the glass to the freezer, did some e-mail to pass the time away, then I made a second cocktail and enjoyed it greatly.

    After the morning's wake up from the place looking for the person whose name of many syllables I had no chance in hell of pronouncing Murphy must not have been done with me. Work called around 2:30 - I was glad both kids were out since I ended up having to run into the office, returning around 4 pM. I spent the remainder of the day on the computer, watching TV (Iron Chef America, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, and Gary Unmarried to name a few) and then around 8 PM Scott called. His sleep over plans had fallen through and he wanted to know if he and a friend could sleep over here. I said yes, Scott arrived, we watched some TV together then his friend arrived. As they descended downstairs to play I enjoyed a campaign of Left 4 Dead before retiring around 1 AM.

    Saturday, March 14, 2009

    Saturday Morning here in West Michigan

    Another Sunny Day in West Michigan! It is gloriously sunny with clear and bright blue skies this morning!

    After staying up late on the computer until about 2 AM some automated service called around 8AM, which woke me out of a deep peaceful slumber.....

    They were looking for someone whose name of many syllables I had no hope in hell of pronouncing. There was a number you could call if that person did not live where they called. It was a number I had called before......so...I called again....perhaps for the third or fourth time over a few months.

    Unlike the previous calls, where I got someone whose accent was so think you could cut it with a steak knife, I actually got someone who spoke unaccented English! I politely explained to this person how this was not the first time I was called about someone whose name of many syllables I had no hope in hell of pronouncing, and would they please take note that based on the previous owner's residency in this house followed by mine that someone whose name of many syllables I had no hope in hell of pronouncing had not lived here at least for the past 40 years, nor did I ever expect that someone whose name of many syllables I had no hope in hell of pronouncing would ever be living here.

    This person said he did not know how my number got back in the system and he would insure that someone whose name of many syllables I had no hope in hell of pronouncing would be sought at my number again.

    I countered with I did not know either how my number got back in the system but obviously their company was simply behind the times and was not availing themselves of the latest technology, which was inexpensive, free in many cases in fact, and it would be a boon to a company such as his trying to locate people.

    I told him that here in Michigan we had a marvelous invention and perhaps they had it where he was too. It could easily, and in a matter of seconds show that my number was not owned by someone whose name of many syllables I had no hope in hell of pronouncing.

    He sounded intrigued so I told him "It's called a phone book." I then went on to inform him that MY easily pronounceable name of very few syllables is shown there, and, as I am in many online systems, if they had heard of the invention called the KOM-PU-TER (I had to sound out the syllables as the poor gentleman sounded very confused when I described the miraculous phone book which was an analog device, how could he possibly know about electronic ones?) he would have found no record of someone whose name of many syllables I had no hope in hell of pronouncing living at my address.

    I then, in what my daughter Danielle called my scary quiet voice, informed this person that I had utilized another free on-line service called a reverse look up of their phone number and I knew who they were in spite of their name not showing up on my caller ID. If this happened again, I promised him, I would contact the attorney general and Better Business Bureau of their state and lodge a formal complaint.

    I then remembered to thank this person for waking me up on my day off, wished him well, and good luck on his search for someone whose name of many syllables I had no hope in hell of pronouncing, and hung up the phone.

    So, in spite of the Miracle of Miracles when Scott when out for his SATs at 7:20 AM he did NOT awaken me, he was quiet as a mouse in fact, Murphy had to have been watching and decided I needed to be up!.

    I tell you this tale not to complain, but, I hope as an amusement to you, perhaps it gave you a slight smile or chuckle when you read it.. Perhaps it even brightened your morning a bit.

    ANYWAY, it is quiet as Danielle still sleeps and I putter on the CC (How does one putter on a PC you may muse) it is time to end this tale as I prepare for the morning's exercise bike ride.

    Friday night

    After work I decided to be industrious and I installed the custom order sliding shelf into the bottom left double-doored cabinet of the entertainment system. I'll post pictures later on. I wanted to remove the all-in-one printer device out of sight since it did not go with the home entertainment theater motif. AND the printer is white so it really stands out against my black components.

    What a pain the install was. The bottom two brackets, which could easily have had metal between them to held them into place did not, so it was a fun experience particularly with having to work inside the back of the cabinet to get the rear screws in place. Lucky me got it right the first time and now the printer is hidden in the cabinet and slides out for easier access if you want to scan something or replace in cartridges. Now I must decide how to fill the empty shelf!

    I picked up Danielle around 5 pM and we stopped at her Mom's and picked up her things, fed the Guinea pigs and gave them water, and then I ordered us dinner from First Wok which we picked up and eat while watching Ugly Betty. We then played Left 4 Dead for almost 3 hours on expert setting until Scott arrived home with the friends around 9 PM. I swear I was twitching when we stopped playing!

    Danielle and I watched some TV, she and Scott (Who has SAT's this morning) went to bed around 11, while I stayed up until 2 AM or so on the computer.

    Thursday, March 12, 2009

    Early Morning Music Musings


    One of my all time favorite albums is Pink Floyd's Dark side of the Moon, which, incidentally is the third best selling album of all time. This came out in 1973 and I was a sophomore in Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey. I've seen Pink Floyd live twice, attending the Animals and The Wall concerts. I still have the program from The Wall concert. The Animals one, for reasons I will not go into here, was lost the evening of the concert. There is quite the story around that though, but at least one of my children read this blog on occasion. Perhaps I've already said too much.

    As usual, I digress from the task at hand which is to blog about my early morning experience! I awoke at 3 AM this day, and after visiting the bathroom could not get back to sleep. After 30 minutes of trying I decided to listen to some quiet music via my MP3 player in the hopes it would relax me enough to fall back to sleep.

    While I have listened to this album many times since I lived in my parents house in 1973, it has been many, many years since I listened to it with headphones as I often did while living with my folks. I did this for two reasons, it sounded better (I could afford a decent set of headphones verses a decent set of speakers), and it prevented that shout of "Turn down that damn noise!" from the bottom of the stairs leading up to my room.

    On one wall of my room, which was painted a dark blue that was neutral to black light, I had in red black light paint, written the words to the song Time from this album. When the black lights in the room were on at night the letters seemed to just float in the air as the walls reflected none of the black light....it was very cool. Obviously I really like Pink Floyd and have for many years.

    Listening this morning I was reminded that you absolutely need the headphones to truly appreciate the nuances of this album! Many studies have been done linking things to memory triggers. Smell, sound, sight, music being sound is a good memory trigger. The fact that I listed with headphones really brought this fact home to me as I had a real experience in this area this morning.

    As I was listening to the songs Breathe, Time, and The Great Gig in the Sky, I was anticipating subtle notes, effects, and vocals seconds before they happened. These were ones you had to have the headphones (or ear buds in this case, a good pair of Skull Candy ones) to really pick out.

    While I had not heard them probably since living in my parents house over 35 years ago, here I was remembering them before they occurred during this morning's listening.

    THEN at one point, in the dark with my eyes closed, I actually felt like I was in the room at my parents house! I could feel the room grow larger.... see, in my minds eye in great detail with my eyes closed the layout of the room, sense the words of Time on the wall. If I reached out with my left hand, instead of hitting the wall in my Michigan bedroom I felt I would have encountered the doorknob to my old bedroom, I almost felt if I opened my eyes I might be back there.

    It was quite the moving and enjoyable experience, and after listening to these three songs I was able to go back to sleep where I had a very vivid dream totally unrelated to the music!

    Now, remembering this as I type it during lunch, I still feel the power of the experience and wonder....what would have happened if I had opened my eyes while feeling like I was back in my house on Washington Street in Glen Ridge......

    Yes, of course I would have seen my tiny bedroom here in Michigan....but it is nice to dream once in awhile, is it not? To be back in the past 30 some years ago, to have my parents both alive again, to once again taste my Mom's home cooking.......ah!


    Interesting footnote about my old bedroom, in addition to the words of Time on one wall, one of my friends, Dean Peterson had painted a large flaming Lynyrd Skynyrd (another group I saw live in concert) on one wall. I also had a few very good black light posters. Again in colors that could not be seen by the naked eye in daylight accented of certain areas in the room, such as window trim. On the ceiling, I had stars and such celestial objects painted in black light paint. The color of the ceiling and the stars was such that during the day with regular lighting you did not see them, when the black lights came on.....it was amazing. I spent a lot of time on that ceiling and friends often brought friends to see it, it was quite the experience. to come into the room, and have the black lights go on....and the stars come out. Even my parents were amazed by this, though of course my dad had to comment how there had to be a better use of my time......that was my dad!

    Wednesday, March 11, 2009

    Chris and the Blustery Day

    Because of this post's title, I feel I need to define the word blustery. The dictionary defines it as:
    Main Entry:
    bluster, blustery, blustering
    Function:
    noun
    Date:
    1583
    1 : a violent boisterous blowing
    2
    : violent commotion
    3 : loudly boastful or threatening speech

    So, for those of you who do not know I tripped on the basement stairs Sunday night banging my back on the concrete and my back has been unhappy with me ever since. I worked from home Monday and Tuesday and today I decided I had to drag myself into the office because I had a couple of face to face meetings. After hauling myself out of bed and getting ready I headed out the door. I was expecting nothing other than the painful exercise of getting into the Mustang, which is a chore when my back is hurting like this, and then driving to work.

    Well, you probably do not know we had wind gusts up to 50 MPH last night! I go into the garage and open up the garage door for the Mustang's bay using the switch on the wall by the door into the house. This is a good thing because many days I use the remote in the car and I would not have seen the the 15 foot long piece of facing from the eaves of the garage had blown off. It was lying right across the garage door opening and would have been flattened if I had just backed out without seeing it, which I would not have from in the car.

    The soffit underneath the eave is almost loose, rattling and shaking, and ready to fly into the wind. So, the ladder is needed. I have one of those ladders that is four pieces and locks into different shapes. It is very, very, handy and very, very HEAVY! Of course it is lying flat on the garage floor too...... I drag it outside and tack the soffit up with a couple of nails (I will get some caulk and attach the facing back on when the weather goes above freezing this weekend). The pain while lifting, moving, and climbing the later was just wonderful!

    I figure the deed is done, I go through the painful experience of bending to get into the low to the ground Mustang and start backing out. I get to the street and realize something is wrong. Chris ponders about this and then realizes his trash can, which was put out to the curb last night, is nowhere in sight! I look down the street and there at the end of a long trail of garbage is my can about four houses (and one cross street) away! So, I get out of the car which has the keys in it and SLAM the wind blows the door shut and, unknown to me at the time, for whatever reason, the car locks itself which it is not supposed to do with the engine off.

    Cursing merrily (or in a blustery fashion?) I limp briskly down the street and collect the can and the bags of garbage, and return them to the curb. I head inside to wash my garbage fouled hands.. I return to the car on the street and happily discover it is locked! I express this in a blustery manner and head back into the house and get my spare keys. Another painful bend and I settle back into the driver's seat and just as I put the car into drive I realize I do not have my wallet! Another painful bending experience, more verbal issuance, back up the driveway, to find the wallet in the house, and then, almost an hour later, drive into work.

    So, how was YOUR morning....thus far, at lunch time, the day has been going OK. I just hope when I arrive home that my temporary fix has held the soffit in place......

    Weekend Update - The Prime Rib Dinner

    As my son Chris pointed out to me via a comment on Facebook, one event I omitted from the weekend (that he took umbrage on) is that I took him and his siblings to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

    Hey! I forgot! I hardly ever see him! He was home four four days I saw him an hour for dinner! I thought it was a dream! I was so happy I figured I must have dreamed it!! My back was hurting so bad when I wrote the post I forgot! Honest! I ran out of gas! I, I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD. (Who can name the movie the latter part of this quote came from after Honest...?)

    Seriously though my son Chris, I do apologize! It was one of the high points of my weekend, and I am sorry I omitted it.

    It was a great dinner. The kids were all well behaved, no one said anything nasty, no feelings were hurt, everyone was in a great mood, there was a lot of laughter and such, and it was one of the best dinners I've had with my three kids in a long time. And I did indeed enjoy purchasing $$$ prime rib for all of us....and I still marvel how my kids, thanks to the X, came to expect Prime Rib and take it for granted!

    When I grew up we rarely had steak let alone the choice cuts, and I do not ever remember eating it out with my folks. When we had steak t was always the low end Sirloin grade from the Grand Union food store on Bloomfield Avenue in New Jersey and my mom cooked it under the broiler on the stove....ugh! Of course back then it was a treat! That Grand Union that I grew up going to with my Mom, and later on my own for her, became a large liquor store. Useless trivia you want to know for sure!

    So, my kids if you are reading, be thankful that you have parents who can provide you with Prime Rib, and, more importantly, that you never went to bed feeling hungry because there was not enough food in the house to go around. When I was growing up we ate Pasta two or three times a week, and things like Macaroni and Cheese and Hamburger Helper. One night a week we had bologna sandwiches or Turkey if it was on sale. Sure, there was the occasional pot roast..once every month or so, but there were other lower cost things like Liver and Onions. Our not liking something was simply not tolerated at all. If you don't eat it, you go to bed hungry. End of story.

    I know kids today do not want to hear about how it was in 'olden' times that their parents grew up in, but, I think they have much to be thankful for.

    I'd like to think my kids though are aware of these facts, and, while not overly generous with the thanks (I had to fake cough like i was clearing my throat after we exited Texas Roadhouse to get the boys to thank me. Danielle, bless her heart, did so right outside the door. I don't think a thank you is too much to ask, and perhaps some deeper understanding of how rough things could be, particularly in these times of economic instability.

    OK, I am climbing down off my soapbox now......

    Tuesday, March 10, 2009

    Random Weekend Thoughts

    The past weekend while in the 40's was raining, violently in some cases with very loud thunder.

    Danielle had her boyfriend (yes boyfriend!) Jason over....that begs a discussion on the subject of my 14 year old daughter dating.

    Evidently her ages definition of dating is someone you spend time with hold hands with but have no other physical contact with, such as hugging, kissing, etc. Sure different from my definition since my X and I would not permit the latter with our daughter only being 14. So, for now she has a boyfriend, who seems very nice and we share some interests in the technology space which is good and playing video games. Danielle has been told that if this progresses any further it will be over......but for now I am content for them to spend time in public places like the mall or in my house or the X's.... As his foster mom will not drive him anywhere on the weekends, I have to transport him him to and from here and the mall and such to his house.

    Danielle and I watched The Golden Compass Sunday night when my 17 year old son went to the movies with a 21 year old gal pal......(yes, a 21 year old girl!). I had a bit of a conversation with Scott as to how his girlfriend, who is his age, would feel about this. He said she would be OK with it, I implied he has a lot to learn about women....though she could be one of the rare ones who would be OK with this. I often had issues with the X having lots of male friends at assorted points in our relationship. I pretty much did not worry after we were married.

    The kids and I watched a lot of The Critic episodes over the weekend and played Left 4 Dead alone and together.

    I spent considerable time making sure all data was moved from my old HTPC to the new one, and I even played some Left 4 Dead on the new PC which sports better graphics than the xbox 360! Whoo Hoo!!

    Other than hurting my back tripping on the basement stairs Sunday night when putting kitty to bed, nothing else major went on over the weekend.

    Thursday, March 05, 2009

    Computer Frustration
    Or
    Why Tech Support SUCKS

    Ever Been Frustrated with a Windows Issue?? Read On!

    For those who read my post on February 22, 2009, the preceding Friday I built a new Home Theater PC (HTPC). I had two problems, one with memory (fixed and perhaps I'll post a short blurb about that later) and one where the audio coming over the HDMI output of the HTPC was only in Stereo.


    This is how I felt after two weeks of trying to fix the issue

    And this is why. As I mentioned, the HDMI port on the HTPC was delivering only stereo sound, not Surround Sound, nor would it output DTS or Dolby sound. The card in question with the HDMI port was a VisionTek Radeon HD 4870, a high end 3D graphics card that also has an HD audio processor.). I tried everything. First I went into mega research mode spending many hours and days searching for any problems with the HD 4870 line of cards in the area of audio problems.

    Many, many hits were returned providing many threads to chase down. All were around the sound not working at all coming off of the HDMI port, not just it putting out a stereo signal. So far as I could find after two weeks of research was that I, lucky me, was the ONLY person to have this issue! I actually took a lunch break every day at work to search further on this issue....I rarely take lunch breaks (yes, I am strange, what can I say....)

    This is about how I felt at this point in time!

    I tired different version of the drivers for the video card from VisionTek, different versions of the RealTek driver that goes with the HD audio processor on the video card. Different combos of the two of them! Nothing! Sometimes it was a battle just to get stereo out of the system. I had the motherboard's sound device disabled in the BIOS, I re-enabled it, tried combinations of settings around the RealTek HDMI device and the devices offered by the motherboard. Again, nothing!

    I pride myself of being very knowledgeable around computer hardware and the Windows operating system. Sure, there are many people that know more then me, like my friend Mike who humbles me with his expansive knowledge, but there are many more than do not. I was upset because with all my years of computer expertise I could not fix it.

    I e-mailed VisionTek, the maker of the card....got little to no help at all from them and it's been a week as of today since they replied to my last message to them answering one of their questions about my problem, plus two subsequent requests for help.

    I e-mailed RealTek, the the maker of the HD audio driver...twice, they did not reply to either of my messages.

    I posted on 6 technical forums, including one specialized audio/video forum that also had a section for computer audio video.

    I posted on Microsoft's own Vista forum. Since the problem was manifesting in Windows as having the Surround Speakers option grayed out in Control panel it was conceivable that it was a Vista issue. Not a single answer from there! Never have I had such a horrible technical support experience in my life!

    You did not want to be around me at this point!

    I was very close to returning the card, getting a different one that just put video out over the HDMI connection. Since the motherboard of the system has its own surround sound capability I could just run an optical cable to the computer system and plug that into my Sony AV Receiver. But I had researched this with great care before buying the video card. I wanted to have all my devices connected via HDMI cables! I did NOT want to run a separate cable when the HDMI one should be supporting my audio. I did not want to BUY a 20 foot optical cable either for that matter! I wanted the ^%$*!#&!!!!!! board to do what it was advertised to do!!!!

    When I installed the new receiver after Christmas I had three devices connected to it and I was using 14 audio/video cables. With the new receiver I have four devices and only four HDMI cables! It is so much less cable clutter, so I made sure when I spec's out the parts for the new computer that I had a card that could do audio/video over HDMI.

    ANYWAY....last night I removed all the drivers from the manufacturer of the card and went to the chip set makers site and used their drivers. Typically it is best to use the drivers of whoever made the board so you take advantage of any customizations they may have added. This was an atypical case. Not only did it fix the audio issue (I screamed out YEA! at the top of my lungs scaring the kitty when the blue Dolby DTS indicator lit up on the receiver after the PC was rebooted), but it also increased my graphics score from 15,200 3DMarks to 16,000.

    3DMarks are a graphic measurement system devised by a company called Futuremark that makes graphics benchmarking/testing software. Complex animated scenes are rendered in real time and the higher the score the better. My previous Home Theater PC scored around 4.400 3DMarks.

    So, as I said quite the atypical case here, with an atypical solution, using the chip set drivers which fixed the audio issues and increased my graphics processing power.

    In closing I can't say a single good thing about VisionTek's support group or their business either. In my last message to them seeking help I also copied the sales department and their general information address. Not a peep back from any of them!

    To VisionTek, who makes the card, I say YOU OWE ME TWO WEEKS OF MY LIFE BACK!!!!

    While I realize RealTek did not make the VisionTek card, it is their HDMI device driver that provides the audio functionality. They could have at least replied to my e-mail which was a plea for help mentioning VisionTwek was unable to help me.

    There is no excuse for this in a tech support environment.

    I'm disappointed in Microsoft for not answering a question in their forum. Sure, it's a user forum but I know there are Microsoft people there!

    I really do thank those few in the other forums that did try to help, and I thank Newegg where I bought the card from for the offer of returning it for another model card. These were the only only bright spots to this tarnished experience!


    Wednesday, March 04, 2009

    TODAY IS COMMAND DAY!

    Look at the date....say it without the year.....command day!

    Get it????

    Fried Pasta - The Fifth Generation

    As I've posted before I remember growing up as a child having pasta with homemade sauce twice a week, and, on the occasions there was leftover pasta, it would get put in a bowl with some sauce, and then sometime later in the week it would be fried in olive oil, garlic, basil, and topped with grated cheese.

    This was a very cheap and very tasty meal and I remember one of my parents staying their parents remember getting this served to them when they were growing up. Both my parents are gone but this tradition lives on.

    SO, last night I fried up some for Danielle and I, adding in a small amount of meatball, pepperoni, and sausage from the left over sauce and it was awesome. Scott ate lomein from down the street. Sigh! He does not like fried pasta.......I wonder what that mailman was doing around the house on weekends I was supposed to be working.....

    Danielle has been eating fried pasta for some time...she is the fifth generation (that I know of) in my family that has enjoyed this simple but delicious meal.

    Tonight is pasta, garlic bread, sauce and meat from the batch I made Sunday. It promises to be quite the delicious meal....and somewhat affordable since I got three (maybe four if there is left over pasta tonight....) meals out of it.

    Buon Appetito!

    Monday, March 02, 2009

    A Very Nice Weekend

    Sorry for the lack of posts, been tied up with new system working a couple of issues, so that's been taking most of my free time, or playing Left 4 Dead with the kids, or watching TV with them, and frankly how many times do you really want to read about that???

    SO, this past weekend.....normally Scott and Danielle would have gone back to their Mom's house Friday evening but she was traveling so I had them until Saturday. We had planned on watching the new Futurama movie Friday night but Scott had plans with his friends. I picked up Danielle at school after video game club and we stopped at Pizza Hut on the way back home. Scott dislikes Pizza Hut but Danielle and really I enjoy their stuffed crust pizza. and had not had it in ages. I ordered the pizza to go as she did not want to eat in. I returned to the car where Danielle was talking on her phone and we got into an amusing back and forth while she was talking. I returned to the interior of Pizza Hut, nabbed our Pizza and we enjoyed it while watching Ugly Betty. We played some Left 4 Dead and then each spent time on our computers. Scott came home around 10:30 and we watched a couple of The Critic episodes off of DVD before retiring.

    Saturday after getting up, riding the exercise bike, and doing some house cleaning, I took Danielle to pick up her friend Jason, and we came back to the house. I ordered us lunch from Jimmy John's, and we settled in to watch watch the new Futurama movie Into the Wild Green Yonder. This is the fourth of four direct to DVD movies planned for the series which was canceled awhile back. There are no definite plans for another but fans can check out the link above for some possibilities going forward.

    Saturday was my friend Suresh's 40th birthday so I sent an e-card and an Amazon gift Certificate. Turning 40 is a noteworthy occasion! I used to work with Suresh and the X and I were very close with him and his wife Indu.

    A phone call from the road told me the X was close to home, and as I knew she had back pain and was tired from traveling, after Danielle and I dropped Jason off I ordered food from China Garden for the three of them, and picked it up on the way to dropping off Danielle at the X's house.

    I spent the remainder of the evening with Tails watching TV and working on the new computer. I had not realized how much data and programs I had to transfer. This is a good opportunity to clean house somewhat so the transfer process may take several weeks of my free time.

    Sunday I went out at 8:30 after getting up to shop for dinner. I went to Forest Hills Foods and bought what I needed to make homemade spaghetti sauce with sausage, meatballs, and pepperoni, as well as a loaf of Italian bread and the ingredients to make Garlic Butter.

    I made the sauce and meatballs and had everything simmering by 1 PM for a planned dinner time of 5 PM. That also allowed about 4 hours for the garlic butter to pickup the flavors from the fresh garlic and spices I used.

    Scott showed up around 3 PM wanting to spend some extra time with me and we played Left 4 Dead on expert level and got all the way the the finale. We failed three times and I had to get cleaned up and finish dinner, but we still had an awesome time, yelling and screaming when failed to get to the end of a level by a hairs breadth. It was a lot of fun.

    Dinner was awesome! I had tried a radical variation on my meatball recipe and it was great! I think one or two more tweaks and I will have achieved meatball nirvana! After eating and cleanup the X, Danielle, and I watched Meet Dave which was an awesome movie. I was in bed early at 10 PM as I've been trying to get more sleep lately (though I ended up having a very restless nights sleep for some reason.