Month: May 2007

Odd Man In

As most of the OMI players know, things with the game have been pretty screwy lately. This is because of my computer being out of commission and my (semi) automatic way of making sure the shots go through.

Well, it looks like my host now supports cron which is great news for OMI players. I will no longer have to rely on my home PC to engage the shots since the signal will come from the server from now on. Hopefully yesterday’s 4 hours between shots won’t happen again.

As most of the OMI players know, things with the game have been pretty screwy lately. This is because of my computer being out of commission and my (semi) automatic way of making sure the shots go through.

Well, it looks like my host now supports cron which is great news for OMI players. I will no longer have to rely on my home PC to engage the shots since the signal will come from the server from now on. Hopefully yesterday’s 4 hours between shots won’t happen again.

New Computer on the Way

I ordered my new computer parts last night. Here are the specs!

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775
Processor Model BX80557E6300 – Retail

PNY VCG7900SXPB GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card – Retail

MSI 945P Neo3-F LGA 775 Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail

WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AMD2667-2G2K-R – Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM

SAMSUNG 18X DVD?R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D/BEBE – OEM

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply – Retail

SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19″ 4 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor – Retail

I ordered my new computer parts last night. Here are the specs!

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775
Processor Model BX80557E6300 – Retail

PNY VCG7900SXPB GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card – Retail

MSI 945P Neo3-F LGA 775 Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail

WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AMD2667-2G2K-R – Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM

SAMSUNG 18X DVD?R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D/BEBE – OEM

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply – Retail

SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19″ 4 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor – Retail

Damn the Free Chapter

Two and a half years ago I finished Neal Stephensen’s Cryptonomicon. I liked it, but it took forever to finish. Well, fast forward to today and I just finished the prequel, Quicksilver. I got the book for my 27th birthday and it took me a year and a half to finish! I probably never would have read it, but the free chapter included with Cryptonomicon sold me. Damn you. Not that Quicksilver wasn’t good, but it’s almost more impressive as a thing. I can appreciate a mountain without having to climb it or a bridge without having to jump off it.

I’ll be 80 by the time I finish the whole series.

Typically I flop between fiction and non-fiction, and I just started reading the Selfish Gene. Usually the fiction goes by faster, but in this case I’m devouring it.

Two and a half years ago I finished Neal Stephensen’s Cryptonomicon. I liked it, but it took forever to finish. Well, fast forward to today and I just finished the prequel, Quicksilver. I got the book for my 27th birthday and it took me a year and a half to finish! I probably never would have read it, but the free chapter included with Cryptonomicon sold me. Damn you. Not that Quicksilver wasn’t good, but it’s almost more impressive as a thing. I can appreciate a mountain without having to climb it or a bridge without having to jump off it.

I’ll be 80 by the time I finish the whole series.

Typically I flop between fiction and non-fiction, and I just started reading the Selfish Gene. Usually the fiction goes by faster, but in this case I’m devouring it.

Arcade Fire

So far I’m not 100% sold on the new Arcade Fire album, but they were great live on Saturday at the Tower. Don’t get me wrong, Neon Bible is very good, but it doesn’t have the repeatability or depth of Funeral. I still think Funeral was the best album of the last few years, so maybe it’s not fair to compare the two and half of Neon Bible is as good as anything on Funeral anyway. It’s the other half that pulls it down a little and it goes to show you that a bad song is worse than two good ones. We’ll see how it stacks up in a year.

The show, however, was great. The only songs they left out from my wish list was Tunnels and Wake Up, but all I needed to hear was Laika to make the trip worth it. It’s one of those genius songs that sound like no other band could have written it.

In other news my webhost upgraded a bunch of stuff on the server and it broke a lot of stuff. I’m very close to pulling the plug on postnuke and switching to some other CMS or blogging software. Right now I’m leaning towards Wordpress, which I’ve used at work and like. Any suggestions?

So far I’m not 100% sold on the new Arcade Fire album, but they were great live on Saturday at the Tower. Don’t get me wrong, Neon Bible is very good, but it doesn’t have the repeatability or depth of Funeral. I still think Funeral was the best album of the last few years, so maybe it’s not fair to compare the two and half of Neon Bible is as good as anything on Funeral anyway. It’s the other half that pulls it down a little and it goes to show you that a bad song is worse than two good ones. We’ll see how it stacks up in a year.

The show, however, was great. The only songs they left out from my wish list was Tunnels and Wake Up, but all I needed to hear was Laika to make the trip worth it. It’s one of those genius songs that sound like no other band could have written it.


In other news my webhost upgraded a bunch of stuff on the server and it broke a lot of stuff. I’m very close to pulling the plug on postnuke and switching to some other CMS or blogging software. Right now I’m leaning towards WordPress, which I’ve used at work and like. Any suggestions?

Treehouse Open Mic

Last night I stopped by the everlasting Treehouse Open Mic night hosted by Rich. It’s great to see it continue and as far as I know they’ve been having one for at least 6 years.

A lot of new performers (except Bob Michel) were there and most were entertaining. I don’t remember most of their names, but I liked Jesse and the guy playing John Cougar Mellancamp covers. He was a dead ringer for Without a Trace’s Anthony LaPaglia. I had a really interesting conversation with Leon who spent a year or so in Iraq and Rob gave me some tips on beer brewing. Bob Michel told me plays Sudoku to stave off premature senility. Crazy dancing girl didn’t stop dancing for the entire last hour of the open mic.

I noticed a lot of stores right near the treehouse closing or about to close, like Paris 679, the Antique Store, and the game store. It’s a shame because those were some of the best in town.

Last night I stopped by the everlasting Treehouse Open Mic night hosted by Rich. It’s great to see it continue and as far as I know they’ve been having one for at least 6 years.

A lot of new performers (except Bob Michel) were there and most were entertaining. I don’t remember most of their names, but I liked Jesse and the guy playing John Cougar Mellancamp covers. He was a dead ringer for Without a Trace’s Anthony LaPaglia. I had a really interesting conversation with Leon who spent a year or so in Iraq and Rob gave me some tips on beer brewing. Bob Michel told me plays Sudoku to stave off premature senility. Crazy dancing girl didn’t stop dancing for the entire last hour of the open mic.

I noticed a lot of stores right near the treehouse closing or about to close, like Paris 679, the Antique Store, and the game store. It’s a shame because those were some of the best in town.