Just testing out w.bloggar to see if it will work well with seperate accounts. test test test
rmiles7721
killing time
Was able to waste my entire morning off. Yesterday I ordered Anna’s birth certificate online, was supposed to have taken 7 to 10 days to be delivered. So I got up this morning, and Anna and myself drove to Atlanta, and waited for three hours to get her birth certificate so that she could start school. Got home and fedex had delivered the damn thing about 10am.
I was able to get Anna registered, and she started school at Temple Elementary today. She was very excited about it, and wanted to spend the rest of the day there even though we didn’t get her in until 1pm or so.
School starting
Due to finances, we decided to put Anna into public school for the year. She will still be in kindergarten, so it will not affect her as much as Chris. I hate having to do it, but just cannot afford it right now. Chris is in 9th grade and has never been in public school, so he will remain at Oak Mountain.
Went to register her yesterday (today is the first day of school), and they would not let her register due to the fact that I don’t have a birth certificate. Going to have to drive to Atlanta this morning and pick up a birth certificate, then go get her registered. What a pain in the ass.
ISPs strike back: Pac Bell Internet arm sues RIAA From today's New York Times:
A California-based Internet service provider jumped into the contentious music-downloading fray late Wednesday, filing a lawsuit against the recording industry and questioning the constitutionality of the industry’s effort to track down online music sharers. Pacific Bell Internet Services, based in San Francisco, is seeking a declaration that the subpoenas served against it by the Recording Industry Association of America are overly broad in scope and should have been issued from a California district court, not the District of Columbia. The complaint also seeks a jury trial to have the constitutional issues addressed.
Snapstream
Snapstream seems to be working pretty well. I am able to log into my HA server web pages, add a recording, and it is sending the request to the remote machine which has my TV tuner installed. Working fine. I am able to watch them (commercial free, as in cheap TiVO) on the local PC, or on my Television, which is also hooked to my HA server. It will also stream the programs across my network with no lag at all.
Very cool new toy to play with. Guess I need to configure my remote now so I never have to get off the couch.
PVR software
I’ve been messing around with the newest version of Snapstream PVR, trying to integrate it into my home automation system, and it looks pretty promising. Will post more one I have had a chance to play with it a bit.
DesktopX (Blatant plug)
If you have never checked it out, go on over to Stardock’s website and check out DesktopX, or just buy it here. Here’s a little blurb about it from their website:
“DesktopX is a revolutionary program that allows users to extend their Windows desktop to support true objects.
These objects can be combined together to form themes or used on their own. In short, a user can literally build their own desktop interface and they can do so without being a programmer.
In addition, a user can choose to just use individual DesktopX objects to enhance their existing desktop. DesktopX objects can be anything from a simple picture to an MP3 player, stock tickers, weather monitoring, instant messaging, or anything else that one could imagine having on their desktop.
Users can either create their own objects or download any of the thousands of themes and objects already available and use them.”
Yes, I am somewhat affiliated. I get a cut from your purchase of it. I have used DX since it’s early inception, and it has really come a long way.
Weapons of Mass Destruction…
….or, more stupid search engine tricks.
Go to Google and type in “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, click on the “I’m feeling lucky” button. Look at the 404 page not found very closely. Think I might just have to put this on my site in place of the normal 404 page.
Training classes
Arrived home from the training class yesterday about 7pm or so. It was interesting, but I sure did hate having to go. Missed everyone. Ended up doing pretty well. Should be back in a unit within the next seven days or so.
I did get to see everyone from the office, that was pretty cool. Pulled me out of class a couple of times for computer problems that someone had questions about. They seem to be doing pretty well, but some days are struggling. The lady that replaced me knows nothing about hardware at all, and since that was 90% of my job she has been getting a crash course. No telling who is doing the collections on overdue equipment, as I took care of that too.
Stephanie made a couple of movies of the baby while I was gone. I will edit them and post them sometime today.
Driver testing?
Saw this headline over at ABC news earlier:
The elderly man who plowed his car through an outdoor market and killed 10 people made his first public comment Sunday, saying, “My heart is broken over the extent of the tragedy.”
I am very sure that he feels great sorrow, and is grieving, but that does nothing to ease the pain and suffering of the people who died, and their families. Take the damn bus next time dude. Anyone that takes three blocks to figure out where the brake is needs to be off the road.
Personally I think that the entire drivers license system need to be changed. Not sure if it really needs to be regulated by the federal government, but it needs to be tougher. Perhaps eye (AND hearing) tests every couple of years, and a full drivers test every 4-7 years. That should weed out a couple of milion drivers. Something else that would help would be to drive up the cost, at least for the initial test (whether it be at 16 or 36, or whatever). Something along the lines of $250-300 for the initial test, and then $5-10 renewal per year. That would certainly get some of the idiots off the road. Especially the ones that can’t afford insurance. I spent the last 4 years commuting 150 miles per day, and uninsured motorists were always on my mind. If they cannot afford insurance they damn well do not need to be on the road at all.
Taking a few million drivers off the road would certainly do more for traffic control than all of the road building that is going on, as well as making people more responsible for their own actions.