Time.... to die

Don't worry, the post title is a quote from Roy Batty in Bladerunner. I'm not feeling particularly suicidal. I'm considering getting rid of this blog. It's not been updated in ages. I post everything on our Cavebabble blog now, so apparently, the love is gone. I had such great hopes for reaching the diamond anniversary...

RAID!

Every now and then, a computer moment arrives which sends a shock through your system, as you are reminded that these devices aren't immortal, and that ignoring data backups is like trusting the chamber to be empty when you put a gun to your head. For the first time, my RAID array rebuilt itself tonight. I have no idea what caused the rebuild, but suddenly, I'm more happy than ever that there are mirrored drives humming away in my case. If I only had a single drive, I have no idea what shape I'd be in right now. Three cheers for redundancy!

Duck Herding

The family went geocaching yesterday. The first stop on our list was a very old country church, which took some time to find. Sure, the GPS unit told us exactly where it was as the crow flies, but crows don't follow roads. Two dirt ones later, we finally found the church, at the corner of nowhere and nothing. Next to the church was a small house. The geocache itself was in an ingenious location, but it was a scruffy little dog that made our day. He patrolled both the house and church yards while we were there, running back and forth. There were also a few ducks hanging around. Each time a particular duck would wander around the far side of the house, or down toward the road, the dog would trot over, take the duck by the neck, and carry/drag it back up to the church. And each time, the duck had no complaints, sitting next to the dog for a while before slowly wandering off again, starting the process over again. And again. And again. You don't see that every day.

Recording... Now?

So far, I've recorded two podcasts with child #1. The most surprising part of this process for me is the amount of anticipation I feel each week for our recording time. She's having fun, no doubt, but I'm obsessive. I've spent hours composing and recording musical intros, bumpers, and outros, as well as voice clips from various Z-grade science fiction films. At this point, I have enough material to prop up a hundred shows, and we've yet to record our third! I'm sure it will all wear off eventually, but for the moment, it's a fun ride.

Testing the Waters...

I'm testing out Ping, a service that allows me to update both my blogs (and more) at the same time, making it much easier to share information that won't be read! Seriously, how many people are reading this?

I Want To Believe Again

Our family has been making its way through the various seasons of The X-Files on DVD, and it's fun to watch my old obsession become my daughters' new one. I've seen most the episodes several times, but suddenly, it seems new again. Yet, for some reason, none of us are excited to see the new movie at the theaters. We can wait. I'd like to believe again, but am more than happy to do so on DVD.

Maybe It's the Tea

I've been listening to a movie review podcast featuring five chatting Brits, and once again, I'm struck by the thought that everything is better with an English (or Welsh, or Scottish...) accent. Jokes are better, and everyone sounds like they're brilliant. I'd line up to be harangued by a Brit, because even their tirades sound awesome. Check out Movies You Should See.

And My Feet Aren't Tired

Google Earth is nothing new at this point, but I’m certainly having fun with it lately. For those who haven’t experienced this application, it functions as a worldwide map, composed of satellite images. The interface is a globe, which you are able to spin and zoom, from space to your backyard. Typing addresses or landmarks into the search field will send your view flying around the globe to the proper location, then zooming in to the coordinates. You can even stick a virtual pin on the location, give it a name, and add it to a personal favorites list. Then, once you have several such places set up, send yourself or others on a virtual tour of them (which in my case is ancient temples and architecture).

There’s much more, including raised terrain that conforms to topographical data, and 3D models of famous buildings in the cities, making it possible to take a virtual walk through the streets to get a sense of the layout. Amazing stuff, and right up my alley!

Pod Fishing

I’m fishing for new podcasts to enjoy. My weekly dose of Extra Life Radio and Jawbone Radio just aren’t enough. Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas don’t update nearly enough, and the guys at GameZone Radio slam each other like children, to the point of distraction. So, it’s on to GFW Podcast, and Filmspotting. GFW is a PC gaming discussion by the writers of Games For Windows (thus the catchy title), and Filmspotting is a two-man movie review and discussion podcast. I’ll give them a listen for a while, and see if I’m hooked.

I Have No Friends

I logged in to check email this evening, and discovered that someone new had subscribed to my YouTube page (thanks, rogue2408!). This prompted me to visit the same page, and update a couple things...

I'm getting to the point, I swear.

While updating my profile, I had quite a laugh at the glaring message displayed in the Friends box at the bottom of my YouTube page:

You have no Friends.

Yeah, I know, YouTube, but how did you? You must be tapping my phone, falling asleep from the lack of calls to record.

Lightbulb Man

One of my birthday presents was a 50-movie DVD pack of horrible, Z-grade flicks (to go along with the three other packs we already had). We like to watch them Mystery Science Theater style, coming up with our own dialog. While watching War of the Robots the other night, I noticed that the helmet worn by the main character made him look like a lightbulb. I started singing a song to go along with his adventures, and liked the result enough to create a video of it, and make you sit through it, too...

Lightbulb Man: A shining beacon for the future. Run!

The Guitarminator

My youngest and I spent a recent Saturday afternoon filming along our road. I was wanting to try out a special effect technique in Movie Maker, and needed footage to work with. The result is The Guitarminator:



Sent back in time, the Guitarminator is guaranteeing the future is safe from country music. Especially Conway Twitty.

A Turkey From a Galaxy Far, Far Away

To better appreciate Aardman Animation, here's the opposite end of the spectrum: Turkish Star Wars, featuring Indiana Jones theme music...


Ahh, ten minutes of your life you can never get back. I was wondering where all the cosplayers came from. Apparently, they bounced over from Turkey, led by an old, gap-toothed guy with gloves of death.

The Brilliance of Aardman

I've not posted in a while, so thought I'd share the brilliance of Aardman Animation, the creators of Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, and other classic bits of claymation. I'll share a compilation of shorts featuring Purple and Brown:

Balancing Act

A year ago, our family was heavily in to geocaching. If you aren't familiar with this activity, just head on over to http://www.geocaching.com. If you enjoy treasure or scavenger hunts, it's quite a bit of fun.

But here's the rub. Last weekend, after a three-month layoff, we finally tracked down three new caches. As with most of the hobbies I enjoy, I will obsess over a single activity for a length of time, then move on, sometimes not returning to that activity for months. The only exception to this rule seems to be reading, which I enjoy nearly every day.

I already know I suffer from gameritis, an affliction I've passed on to my daughters. We're all gamers, and can't seem to pass up new games, even though we've not finished the ones we currently own. Sure, I lost sleep over Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for a month straight, but since then, I've barely fired it up. Worse, I have at least three games I've not even loaded on the computer yet.

I think the key is to dabble- a mix of my favorite things in smaller doses, much like eating right. If only this 500 pound Halo 3 gorilla wasn't sucking up all our time, I'd get the balance right.

Sure, it'll happen.