My MythBox
Okay, got two things this week that are really making me bounce. I'm taking an online photography class with BetterPhoto but that doesn't start until Wednesday. and I really am not sure what to expect, so got that anxious feeling.
But the big ticket item this week is my MythBox. I've grumbled for years about my VCR since it always loses time, and sometimes the shows now start a minute early and last a minute or five past the hour. Makes for programming a pain in the keister. And within the last year, I can't tape live TV, as the way it is hooked up I just get a blue "no signal" screen when I try.
I've thought about Tivo, but never really "got" it. I mean, never figured out if or how it would work with my digital cable box. So the idea of pausing live TV just didn't make sense without a second digital cable box. But now that I have my VCR working on the "other" cable, so figure I could do a major upgrade and have something to experiment with. But Tivo annoyed me. Didn't like the idea of having to subscribe to something that I could do myself with a little more forethought and work (with the VCR). And requiring a phone line for the downloads?!? Come on!
Then reading multiple articles: Matthew Gast's, the The $500 Dollar Mythbox Project, and the 10 Days as a Linux User artcles I realized that the Linux commnity had essentially solved the issue for me with MythTV. Here was a free software option that had a large following with so many more options. Honestly, I hadn't paid attention to the Windows Media Center, but I didn't want to be spending a fortune for piece of software that was essentially a front end. I'd still need to bu or gimick up the "real" software to do everything. And all that I could do for free, so why not the whole thing. That way I could spend more on hardware! 
Plus with the latest issues on recording HDTV and Tivo's DRM flags where you can only watch a TV show for a month before they force it to wipe (Nope, not sure which article, google it yourself!) I wanted the control I could get in an open source software.
Now I find I can rip my kid's DVDs to the hard drive so he can just pick one to watch without scratching the discs? I can set it to play games? Screensaver my pictures, play my MP3s? Websruf to get MY news and the traffic and weather? Okay, yeah. I'm bouncing at the possibilities. Got four packages of parts that should be here by the end of the week. And yes, I am checking the silly Fedex and UPS sites to see where the packages are this second. I'm very excited: I have a new geek toy to build!
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Scott on 10.03.05 @ 06:28 PM PST [link] [1 Comment]
Oops, I forgot to start
Well, that was annoying screwup. I told myself I'd make sure to write an entry every day so I could get back into writing. I told myself I'd start October with a bang, and well, since this is the 3rd and there's no entries for the 1st or 2nd. I'm coming in with more of a fizzle.
This relearning a good habit helps when you remember to actually do it.
So, I think I'm a decent writer, with moments of greatness, but some horrible followthrough. So, one of the big things I've read from virtually every writing suggestion site and book is to write every day.
Now granted, all those suggestions really mean to write creatively, and not just blather on like this message, but you know, got to start somewhere.
So real quick. What I plan to do with this site now:
If anyone remembers the year+ of Couchie newsletters, I want to continue on with that idea with blog entries, but I don't want to force myself into it because at the end there, I was very smarmy and artificial in a lot of the reviews. There's so many cool sites and programs out there, but I may not find one in each category every week!
I want to just write so I do get in the habit. I would so like to have a finished novel to shop around.
Pictures! Yeah, the photobug bit me hard last year. Right now I basically suck, but with a little training to get the technical in balance with the vision, I think I'd be okay.
Oh and of course Danger Boy! Who is now 4.5 years old and really kind of reversed on the whole danger thing. Maybe him freaking us out finally freaked him out so he's turned afraid of lots of little things. Kind of concerned, but overall, he's still great.
Well, a little late, but a decent first "official" message.
(Now if I can code the site to look decent)
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Scott on 10.03.05 @ 08:22 AM PST [link] [No Comments]
