Tobby Hagler

A buddy of mine wants to propose to his girlfriend at a Nine Inch Nails concert. If you know how to contact Trent Reznor, please let him know.

Randall Munroe over at XKCD saw a viral billboard that says:

THE ALGORITHM CONSTANTLY FINDS JESUS
THE ALGORITHM KILLED JEEVES
THE ALGORITHM IS BANNED IN CHINA
THE ALGORITHM IS FROM JERSEY

He thought it would be funny to link the phrase back to him, so that when people google it, he shows up in the top results. It’s doubly funny because this ad is for some new search engine; yet everyone’s instincts are to search Google with the text of the ad.

Outside my office building, I can see a huge billowing cloud of smoke (and occasionally, flames) rising up from a huge fire. The fire seems to be coming from an industrial complex in the South.

One of the girls in the office called NBC news, who says it’s the South Augusta Flea Market that is on fire.

Tucker is about three months old, so it’s time to start the puppy beatings.

For the first couple of weeks, he spent his time getting used to his big sister Sadie, his new parents, and learning his boundaries. He’s learned a few words, like “kennel”, “come here”, and sometimes “sit”. He’s also learning what he can chew on (dog toys) and what he can’t (socks).

However, we’ve spent most of this time treating him like a cute little puppy, instead of an untrained, misbehaving pre-dog. UP until now, we’ve been repeating commands over and over, all the while offering treats, for doing basic things like “go to your kennel” (that’s the treat jackpot, as far as he’s concerned) and my whistle calls which bring Sadie out of a deep slumber on the other side of the house every single time I whistle. However, he hasn’t done too well with punishment for ill-mannered behavior (like chewing up cables or yapping in the house).
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As a computer guy, I get asked all the time by non-nerds (family, neighbors, etc.) for advice on computer shopping. The problem with asking me about computers is that I tend to ramble on and on about the virtues of PCs vs. Macs, or why Linux is so much better than Blah OS, or that the only true gaming system is a dual video SLI something something something RAM blah blah SATA something… (that’s all they hear, anyway, after the first three seconds of my reply).

So I’ve decided to put together a guide for buying a new computer for people that don’t speak nerd. Please bear in mind this is for home users that surf the web, email photos, and maybe watch a DVD or listen to MP3s. This guide is not intended for serious gamers or big nerds.
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My packages arrived this afternoon. I was really excited about my system together, and with my wife out of the house at her book club, it was a great time to really geek out and order pizza.

I spent some time with Sadie and Tucker, and once they were sufficiently tired of me and fighting over a bone, I went to work.

(I’ll post photos later)

With very little actual hardware, installation was a snap. I got the motherboard in; with all the connections for things like the VFD panel, volume control knob, extra USB and firewire ports, and the drives hooked up. With a final once-over to make sure all my connections were solid, it was time for the moment of truth: I powered it on.
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I love to watch my stories.

But sometimes I can’t sit down and watch TV whenever they air, and sometimes I want to watch something over and over. My friends, along with my wife, are about ready to hold an intervention because it’s 2007, and I still don’t have a DVR. This means that come Monday morning, coworkers may or may not be allowed to discuss the previous night’s Battlestar Galactica, or the upcoming episode of Heroes.

Also, I’m a really stubborn geek; and while a Tivo or the Comcast DVR might be fine for anyone else, I have to do it myself. So after several months of planning and feet-dragging, I’ve begun the process of building my own HTPC from scratch.
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