Technology: HVAC Update

The X10 control unit and thermostat were installed late last night. After debugging the wiring for an hour the current temp finally showed up on the backlit goodness of the thermostat. Next step is picking a good library for bidirectional X10 commands. Know any good ones?

Cousins

Thanksgiving is good for getting some turkey and second helpings of pecan pie. It's also a great time to spend countless hours goofing and a paling around with your cousins. Thomas and Jackie in a typical configuration (Jackie smiling for the camera and Thomas just being Thomas) :)

Technology: Bluetooth and Voice Recognition

.....I've been living with voice recognition technology now for one week . I've chosen to use my Motorola bluetooth headset as my microphone. this has proven to be very interesting in the.I can be across the room and continue to talk to the PC, all my words magically and randomly sometimes appear on the monitor.it would be nice if xp had better integrated voice command options than it does . Currently I average about 86 percent accuracy with this setup. Overall, it is interesting awkward and frustrating but in the end I hope to have very basic but robust, wireless voice control.This post was generated using this method.I think I will stick to just typing for now.

Technology: Home improvment

Just got by new thermostat and controller. It's X10 controllable. I'm a geek what can I say. To quote Azreal from Kevin Smith's Dogma: "No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater than central air", now controllable from anywhere in the world!

Technology: Media Center Extender for XBOX

I just got my Media Center Extender for XBOX!!! Only problem is Alienware has not been able to get me my upgrade to Media Center 2005 (required..). So I have to wait a little while longer for Alienware and Microsoft to get the collective acts together. What is this "Extender" well.. it basically lets me use my XBOX to play video, tv, images, music files from my Media Center. Actually the software on the PC allows for up to 5 simultanious connections depending on the power of your PC. It also lets you run any application designed for Media Center to run on the XBOX.... so my custom home automation and weather/news applications should run just fine!

Movie Review: After the Sunset

Pierce Brosnan, Selma Hayek and Woody Harrelson star in this theif and cops chaser that left me confused about what kind of a movie they were trying to make. First off, this is a beautiful looking film. Selma Hayek hanging around the beach is what I remember most from this film.. Watch it and tell me it wasn't intentional although not quite over the top. The film is supposed to be a drama with Brosnan and Hayek playing the recently retired master theives to Harrelson's always-one-step-behind FBI agent. What ensues is a great cops and robbers story with some of the most awkward comedy thrown in.... the bits between Brosnan and Harrelson are funny but way out place with the rest of the film. A bit more editing would have done wonders with this one. Note: As a geek and technologist the technical/computer realism issues with this one put it on the top 20 "Bad" technology films. Watch it and tell me if YOU'D trust a wifi link to be available like Brosnan's character does... Overall it's a fun popcorn flick with plenty of eye candy with good performances overall.

Lubdub Lubdub Lubdub

The beat goes on... This pic is from my annual visit to my cardiologist at the University of Chicago Children's Pediatric Cardiology clinic. I am the patient here, not my son as one might guess. My checkup every year is to monitor my aorta since I born with a congenital heart defect called a coartation of the aorta which also came with a bicuspid aortic valve. It was corrected when I was a child at the wonderful University of Kentucky (which happens to be my birthplace).
Growing up a corrected heart defect wasn't strange in the least. I was given a clean bill of health. The only problem I would run into was when I would change doctors or be sent to an emergency clinic for some reason. Often the nurse or doctor would listen to my um.. unique heartbeat and begin to.. panic. Most doctors have never heard the sound of a corrected coarctation with bicuspid regugitation... he he he. That's always a fun one to explain..

Movie Review: How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Required Reading for anyone: Dr. Seuss' Origianl storybook.
It's only the middle of November and I haven't even eaten turkey and mashed potatos until the point of exhaustion yet. Nonetheless, here I am playing my Christmas playlist on my pc. It's been going strong for forty minutes and I felt I had to justify this innocent pleasure. What can I say, I need a little Christmas, right this very minute. It probably is just a bit of undigested pototo or it could be that I watched the "How the Grinch Stole Christmas (The Jim Carrey version). Good movie? yeh, but not great. Made me miss the Chuck Jones animated version with Boris Karloff. What a teamup! Anyway no disrespect to Ron Howard and crew, I did enjoy the movie it did get me into the Christmas mood so for that, a job well done. I'm just glad I didn't watch it say, in July. Watch the 2000 version, then watch the origianl, it's liking getting two pieces of pumpkin pie instead of one.
Favorite Scene: The triumphant scene on the top of Mount Krumpet was well done and much needed.

Movie Review: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

I love this film. It's on my top 10 list. It is a magical blend of 30's and 40's pulp/art deco/sci-fi/noir with the best giant robot action ever. Doesn't sound interesting? If nothing so far interests you remotely, then don't watch the film. That's not to say that if you give it a chance you won't be entertained. Gwenth Paltrow and Jude Law (not to mention Anjelina Jolie) turn in wonderful performances. They are all watchable (especially Jolie, trust me, she steals the show in her small but crucial role). I really can't say enough about this film but I will limit this post. If you want a peak inside my technicolor/art deco styled dreams, look no further.

Halo effect

Movie Review: The LadyKillers

The Ladykillers (2004) At the urging of several friends I am offically beginning my Movie Review career tonight. At least, I'm beginning to write down what they get an ear full every morning around the water cooler/coffee pot. Tonight's review is of "The Ladykillers" starring Tom Hanks. Review? I liked it. I'd recommend it. It's a Coen brother's film which means its required viewing material for me, buy not necessarily a automatic hit. It's a fun crime comedy in which Hanks plays a southern gentlemen characture/criminal mastermind of a gang of offbeat, part-time criminals/losers. It has some great slapstick and a rollercoster finale'. Not the Coen's best work. I won't be quoting from this one like I did "O, Brother" for six months... ok 3+ years now? "I detect, like me, you're endowed with the gift of gab" I love that film.. I just like this one.
PS. For those who don't know IMDB, THE INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE... use it to A) answer any silly movie trivia question and B) answer those "oh whatwashisname in the movie whatchamacallit" questions that keep you up all night. Ok, that keep me up all night...

aurora borealis

I just confirmed with the Solar Terrestrial Activity Report that there has indeed been quite a bit of solar activity which explains WHY I WENT CRAZY looking up at the Michigan sky around 10pm local time. I was looking at the Northern Lights! I tried to capture some video and images but my photographic equipment isn't suited for such tasks. The good news is that due to other coronial ejections the increase in aurora activity will last through tomorrow.

Sky Captain Redeux

I was asksed by a friend recently what I thought of Sky Captain. In short I said I loved it. I said it was one of my favorite films of all time. No Joke. Why? Whole lotta reasons. More on that later. I ended up explaining that I was also lucky enough to see a sneek preview of the film in Austin, Texas (one of my former haunts) thanks to Harry Knowles and AintItCoolNews.com. Photos from the adventure can be found here.

Texting at the Car Wash

Here is my 2000 Saturn getting professionaly cleaned. While I was at Sparkle Car Wash in Benton Harbor, I noticed a sign: "Got Text Messaging? Ask cashier about special deal!" So... I had to ask, given that I've never seen a public notice or advertisement with the words "text messaging" in Southwest Michigan area. After speaking with said cashier, she informed me that on certain days, the manager would text me and let me know of special "limited time car wash specials. I signed up.. I'll post the first special offer I receive..

Xbox, the morning after

I played Rainbow Six on XBox LIVE a little longer than i should have (yawn). Solution? Coffee at the Cracker Barrel for the walking wounded. I wouldn't normally discuss my bad eating habits, however, in this case I may save someone in the process.. Cracker Barrel's new Holiday Sampler Platter is huge. It has everything on it. Don't ask, just trust me. You order it and you get three or four plates of food. It's acutally inteded for one person to consume at one sitting. Please, unless they've just pulled you back from the brink of starvation, don't even think about being able to eat the whole thing. Just for record.. I left a whole uneaten biscuit on my plate.

More news and info about the PSYCH clan at my XBOX Forum (free registration required to read and post)

Friday Night, Out With the Guys

Here's Thomas enjoying a well deserved Superman ice cream cone at St Joe's Chocolate Cafe. While I don't make it down to the store every week... I do have a tendancy to stop by more often than I'd like to admit. Thomas doesn't seem to argue to much...

Chilis Abstract

Chilis has created something that threatens the way most Americans cook: Chili's ToGo
Although I love to cook and while some people do not like Chilis. I seem to find it a very simple and guilty way of not cooking when I don't feel like it. The picture? I was tinking around with my T616 and noticed a very interesting picture of the tiles on my table...so I took it. Made you look...