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Top 10 List of Geek/Nerd Things To Do This Year

Family, House, Internet, Magic The Gathering, Nerdery, Parenting, TV/Movies/Music, Uncategorized, Work No Responses »

Jan 162012

One of my goals for 2012 from a previous post was to learn obtain some sort of new geek/nerd skill, trait or as I’ll add; notch to my geek utility belt. I’ve been pondering what that item should be and was torn. I’ve decided first of all to add this as a constant annual goal. This came clear to me as I ended up with a list of possible items for this year. I ended up broadening it to ten items. Some might be a little lamer or easier than the other, but this is the first year and it might advance over the years. I’m also open to suggestions from readers…if there are any out there.

I’m open to geek/nerd activities that allow me to involve my two younger sons Quattro and Mace.

Here is the list.

Build something with a solar panel. I always wanted to build something that uses renewable energy. May it be a Lego robot that travels across the picnic table or get a solar power kit from Harbour Frieght and wire up all the external house lights.
Learn how to splice fiber cable. This one would be tough since we don’t carry the necessary tools at work and could be an expensive project to make mistakes in. Playing with small strands of glass sounds like too much fun though. My skills at crimping Cat5e and Cat6 cables as sped up this year and comes in handy when you want to make clean precise cable runs. Continue reading »

Goals or Resolutions for 2012

Adventures, Disc Golf, Family, Fishing, Friends, House, Internet, Nerdery, Parenting, Sports, TV/Movies/Music, Uncategorized, Video Games, Work, Xbox 360 1 Response »

Jan 012012

A new year is upon us and who knows it could be the last according to the Mayans. So, on the positive side of that doom and gloom, we only have to make a list of new year resolutions one more time. I hate calling them resolutions. I’m not trying to resolve some behavior or attitude. I want to accomplish something, yes. It makes it sound so much better than a resolution. A resolution makes it sound like I am an overweight, racist, cold hearty, unhealthy schmuck and I need to resolve or abolish an attitude to either stay alive, keep my marriage, or regain state custody over my kids.

So enough with that. This is what I want to get done this year. (We won’t discuss my progress from last year because I barely did a damn thing on that list. I’m going to keep track of my resolutions via a great app called Wunderlist.

-Stay well under 200lbs. [Optional goal is 180lbs.] (This has been my goal for the last couple of years and been successful.)
-Complete 2 certifications for work.
-Play more disc golf.
-Disc golf in 2 new states. (I try for one new state a year but I missed 2011.)
-Go fishing with the kids more.
-Take the kids camping.
-Get all the rooms on the first floor painted.
-Insulate 2 of the 3 crawlspaces.
-Replace the ceiling fan.
-Replace the garbage disposal.
-Replace all electrical outlets and light switches.
-Expand the garden and hook up a rain barrel system.
-Build a compost pile.
-Decommission one of my servers.
-Write 12 blog posts to this blog or any reincarnated form. (Actually 11 if you count this one.)
-Hook up a surround sound system in family room.
-Earn Xbox Gamerscore of 13500.
-Read 10 books.
-Learn a new geeky/nerdish trait or skill.

I keep making this list longer and longer. I should probably stop now or my end of the world will really be depressing since I might not complete most of these when the world implodes next December.

First Week in New Job Position

Internet, Uncategorized, Work No Responses »

Jul 192011

To those that follow me on Facebook and Twitter know that I have accepted a new position with the same company that I have been with for almost 12 years. I am no longer part of management and I have no one that reports directly to me. (Thank god.) I have moved over to an engineer role and responsible for data center infrastructure and the “cloud”. So far, it has been a great move for me. Sure its going to be a lot of work and reading. Sure I will be doing a lot of traveling and going to training classes for all types of certifications. (The traveling will be great because I can play disc golf in new states.)

After the first week in my new role and new office, I am thankful for a few reasons.

I no longer sit next to all the bathrooms.
No one walks past my office because I am in the far back corner.
No one comes over to bother me about nonsense issues.
I can play music/podcasts without annoying people or being interrupted.
My email inbox has decreased by 99%.

Now it’s time to go back to my readings about data storage and management.

Did I disable cable TV yet?

Family, Internet, TV/Movies/Music No Responses »

Mar 262011

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, my family and I were going to experiment with streamed content to our TV in the hopes to cut down our monthly bills and eliminate mindless TV watching of shows we don’t care about but since it is the only thing on at this time slot we will watch it. So, did I cut the cords with my cable provider RCN? No. Why? Cause it would of cost me more with RCN if I got rid of TV and just kept Internet and phone. Sounds ridiculous? You would be right. Granted, I knew there was a discount for having all three services bundled with them but I didn’t think the discount ran this deep.

So, I called an RCN rep to discuss my bills. At the start of this I had premier TV package, 10Mbps Internet, and unlimited national phone and was paying $131 a month before taxes. After telling the rep I wanted to eliminate cable she ran through some options with me. I knew this was coming since they need customer retention. She first offered lowering my cable to standard HD and added the two year price lock which would drop me to $91 a month before taxes. Sounds good. So what if I got rid of TV and returned their DVR box and kept Ineternt and phone? That would be $112 before taxes. Crazy! So, of course we kept cable, lost a lot of channels that I don’t watch but the family does. (They will survive. They have been loving the Netflix.)

I have not picked up my Roku yet. Netflix on the Xbox 360 is serving its purpose so far.

If you are looking at lowering your bundled TV/Internet/Phone bills, call them up and ask questions about dropping the TV portion. They will either give you new customer rates or some sort of promotional code. You too could drop 25% off your monthly bills with them.

Family Entertainment Experiment for 2011

Family, Internet, TV/Movies/Music, Uncategorized 1 Response »

Jan 082011

This year we are going to be trying a new media front. A new means to bring outside content to us. We are tired of the high cable costs we spend. It wouldn’t be so bad if the channels had decent stuff on during the times we watch TV. Most of the shows my wife and I catch are always off the DVR.

What are we paying $70 or more a month for? We watch the same content over and over when we aren’t using the DVR? Reruns of The Office, My Name is Earl, Suite Life on Deck, iCarly, etc. We pay for 300+ channels where we probably only watch 10%. Sounds like a big old waste of $840 a year. What how much…? I think smoking is still cheaper than cable TV.

We are looking into set top boxes to deliver online content to our TV. Something usable, easy, and reliable. Something that supports Netflix (which is everything these days), Hulu Plus, Pandora, and options for user created content. Those are just the necessities. The big players in my search are the Apple TV, Roku XDS, or Boxee. Apple TV is too limited for me. Being what some claim “Apple Fanboy”, I do not own enough IOS devices to make it worthwhile. I’ve heard great things about Roku and they are half the price of the Boxxee. The Boxxee design and awkward cube look is quite the conversation piece. However, content options and price points it will be a Roku XDS in the near future.

Two big downfalls, sort of, is teaching everyone how to adapt to a non-cable provider way of watching TV. My wife is leery on new technology. The other is lack of sports. I don’t watch a lot of sports these days. I can get my soccer fix with ESPN 3. Football is going to be my biggest loss. I guess with the money I’m saving I can walk down to the bar and watch. Or I’m coming over to your place to watch the game and drink your beer. Or pay the premium fee to stream hockey games. (Experiment begins after Super Bowl next month.)

My quick cost numbers is $100 for the Roku and about $200 a year for Netflix and Hulu which means a savings of over $500.

Plus, we are hoping that if we have more structured content to watch, we might watch less of it. We definitely won’t be watching the same rerun sitcoms between 10PM and midnight anymore. (If we do need our Office fix, we will just stream it from one source or another.) Might even free up more time for video games and board games.

Trukz Online Driving Game

Internet No Responses »

Dec 302007

I started playing this fun driving game online in the office. It only takes a few minutes a day. You can’t play long because your truck driver gets tired and he needs to rest. You drive cargo from city to city and earn cash to buy new trucks and gear for your truck. It is a text based game so your boss at work won’t really be able to tell that you are playing a game. Click on the image above to check out the site.

Game play is simple but addicting. Real-life driver issues, including fatigue, diesel fuel prices, weather, speeding tickets, and driving overloaded come into play so there is always something that demands your attention. Trukz incorporates realistic climates and weather patterns that make driving in severe weather a challenge. Trukz also offers unique driving opportunities by allowing players to haul cargo to unique locations such as nuclear and hazardous waste to Yucca Mountain Nevada.