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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.

Did I disable cable TV yet?

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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.

Howl’s Moving Castle in Lego Format

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Aug 312010

Over my vacation I got to watch some movies. Of course most are movies I’ve seen a dozen of times. I got to watch Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, two of my favorite full feature cartoons to come out of Japan. Both movies are directed by Hayao Miyazaki. (I’ve yet to see Ponyo…it’s on my list.)

Anyways, the reason I bring up Howl’s Moving Castle is I want to showcase someone’s dedicated time (or too much time on hand) and their massive collection of Legos. My kids love Legos so this was right up their alley. Someone actually built a full fledged Howl’s Moving Castle. Good work imagine’s brickzone!!! Click here to see his work.

My kid’s only wish they had half the Legos it took to build this. My kids are fully addicted to them like Pookie hooked on crack.

Hunting for a new TV – LCD

TV/Movies/Music, Video Games 1 Response »

Dec 302008

My 10 yr old 27inch Zenith CRT no longer can survive in this day and age. The color is going out in it and it looks terrible when playing games via an S-Video connection. Colors are all washed out, the screen alignment is off, and the list continues.

Since I am such a cheap ass, value is key. I won’t be going for any high end 108-p business. Mainly because I have not bought into this whole Blu-ray era, yet. All other content that I would watch would be just a 720p. I’m notorious for refurbished goods as long as the extended warranty will cover it. I’m mainly looking at a 37-42″ LCD widescreen that is 720p, HDMI, and HD Ready.

Some brands that I was looking at was Viewsonic, Dynex (Best Buy), or Corion (newegg.com). Of course others will be looked at if the price is right and the specs are met.

Here’s hoping that the NFL Playoffs/Superbowl will drudge up some good deals.

End of Ed, Edd and Eddy on Eddie’s Birthday

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Apr 262007

The longest running original Cartoon Network series is about to come to an end this Friday. Well…beginning this Friday. This Friday kicks off a 30 hour marathon of Ed, Edd, and Eddy before Cartoon network airs its final installment. The marathon is called “The Best Day Edder”. This even includes the three Haloween specials. The series began in 1999.

The funny thing is the series begins its end on my son’s birthday who is named Eddie. Which is the same name as me and my father. We have been called Ed, Ed, and Eddie. It would of been better if the series began on my birthday.

Here’s to a semi-decent cartoon.