So the Nook is available for pre-order. It looks spiffy enough that I might want one for reading all the e-books I've collected over the years and barely touched -- especially since it has native PDF support. I could actually get through all those gaming PDFs I've purchased and barely read!

Also, it runs the Android OS. Yes. The fscking Android OS. Whoo! Which means it is not going to be a walled garden like the Kindle, and I sense some awesome hackery and Android app-making will commence shortly.

Plus, I could bring stacks of books with me to bed to read. Instead of having to decide on just one, I could hop in bed and make the decision from there. Though, really, that's the draw of any e-book reader.

This might be the e-book reader that gets me to take the plunge and buy one, assuming the PDF support is more-than decent. We'll have to see what the reviews say after its release (supposedly end-of-November).

I was listening to one of the NPR tech segments the other day when driving back from the dentist when one the folks on the program mentioned a password manager they used. I've completely forgotten what the name was now, but it had the following features:

Can generate strong passwords.
Stores passwords for each site.
Automatically enters passwords for each stored site.

Anyone know what the program was, or can recommend a similar program that does the same? Thanks!

Bizarre. It looks like...liquid? somehow got INSIDE one of my archival backup CDs. Yes, one of the discs itself. It's...bizarre. I've never seen something like this before. It is literally on the layer below the plastic and on top of the foil. You can move it around by applying pressure, and if you tilt the disc, it actually flows. Nor can I get it out of the disc.

I was planning on moving my archive CDs onto my spare harddrive as a secondary backup measure, and started with this one. It crapped out on one of the largest files on the disk -- an archive of e-mail from '01 to '05. I found a data recovery program that MIGHT have gotten 60% of it.

I'd try again, but the disc reads as damaged now...actually, as blank.

I'm...rather upset.

I'm in love: geek love.
I want.
Sadly, I'd need a sugarmama. Or a concerted effort by everyone on my rapidly approaching birthday.

My foray into wireless bridging is not going at all well. And the only help the internet has provided thus far has been:

1) utter silence
2) twits who can't even write a whole sentence claiming it is impossible and I'm an idiot for asking because no router in the entire world can be a bridge or access point regardless of reality
3) folks stating they've heard it can be done but think the equipment might not handle it or that the equipment should handle it just fine because it shouldn't make a difference

What I HAVEN'T gotten? Directions, instructions, diagrams, FAQs...you know, the sort of thing that comprises HELP.

I have tried damn near everything I can think of on my own to get the stupid things to communicate with each other. Heck, there are damn "Wireless Bridging" and "Access Point" options in the Belkin controls which do NOTHING DISCERNABLE TO MAN OR MODEM!!! And the "instructions" I HAVE found on-line are -- politely -- unhelpful, vague, and half-assed. Also, THEY DO NOTHING! (except occasionally force me to reset the router because it becomes no longer accessible.)

SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! RAWR! HULK ANGRY!

Hulk just want to stream movies from DVR to computer to 360. Hulk not think that too much ask. rawr

Here's the current set-up:

Belkin Wireless G router (F5D7230-4 v8000) cabled directly to 2Wire 2700HG-D, which is also the DSL modem. Both are upstairs. Two PCs, one laptop, and some other devices all connect to the Belkin wirelessly to get internet access*. The 360 and the DVR are internet capable, but have no wireless connections (ethernet only, and I am not purchasing the 360's wireless adapter). All of these are downstairs.

Here's what I'm wanting to do:

I want to use the 2Wire's built-in wireless for everything's internet access. I know how to do this. The problem area is that I want to uncable the the Belkin from the 2Wire upstairs and cable it to the 360 and the DVR downstairs. I want those two device on the local network and able to access the internet through the 2Wire using the Belkin as a wireless pathway to the 2Wire.

Having never done this before (connecting a wireless router to a wireless router wirelessly), I'm a bit beyond my usual experience. What I've sussed out in short form is that one of the following three options is what I'm looking to do.

Do I set up a bridge? How do I set this up on the 2Wire's end? (I know how on the Belkin.)
Do I set up the 2Wire as an Access Point?
Or am I looking at flashing the Belkin with DD-WRT** or Sveasoft firmware?

Anyone who can give me some decent advice on how to proceed, thanks! I'll be poking around myself trying to get it working in the meanwhile.

* I recall I set it up that way originally because I didn't realize the 2Wire had a wireless option built-in (the option to turn it on was lost amid the config menus).

** OK, DD-WRT and Sveasoft are incompatible with my version of the Belkin. Any other firmware options for it if that's what I need?

That was easier than expected. My power supply burned out--I suspect it overheated. Quite surprisingly I was able to find a new one locally; saved me on shipping costs.

I think maybe the start of next year, once the prices drop again, I'm going to trawl through NewEgg and build myself a new PC, give this to one of the kids for homework and gaming (minus Internet access--have to lock it out of the non-local network on the router).

Almost broke Jen's PC, though. I was using her PS to test my computer to see if that was the issue. Thought I had to take out her heatsink and CPU to pull out her PS, so I did (though it turned out I didn't need to). Somehow, when I put the CPU back in, I bent one of the pins. Trying to fix a pin is one of the most nerve-wracking things in the world, too little force and you can't nudge it, too much force and it snaps off making the whole chip useless. But after about ten-or-fifteen-minutes of careful work I managed to un-bend it.

I also cleaned her PS and heatsink out: dust bunnies weren't just breeding in there, they had formed a whole society and were going to war over religious differences against the dust bunnies that had collected underneath her hard drive. I am super surprised her computer wasn't the one to overheat.

In non-techy news, sadly, I'm still not feeling right. Haven't gotten sick-sick yet, but I wake up, feel OK for a while, then spend the next few hours feeling my energy plummet, like being awake is taking up more energy than I have.

Computer blew this evening. Not sure exactly what happened yet, I suspect a component overheated and ate itself. I was sitting in the living room when I heard a loud bang, turned and looked over at the computer to see it had shut down. Just stopped. Turned off. No power. Smell of something electrical burning. And it wouldn't power back on.

I suspect the power supply but I won't be able to tell until I swap the supply from Jen's into mine and see what happens. If that is the issue, it will still be a while before I can order a new one and install it. If it turns out to be something worse...well, I don't want to think about it.

.mkv format makes me want to kick the people who upload it.

.mkv, you SUCK!

I've written more for Waking the Dead over at the Well, doubling the size of the story, though I haven't finished it yet. Comments are very welcome.

(Also, if you're new, these are the stories preceding it, in reverse order: Yellow Skulls and Dragonfly & Cricket. I'll eventually tag these so its apparent they're part of a pseudo-serial.)

I also discovered that the version of WordPress I upgraded to has a very annoying feature that can not be turned off via the control panel: revisions. Every time you make a change to an entry, it saves an additional copy of the entry in the database, wiki-style.

So if you go in and change two words, you end up with two copies in your database, the old one and the new one. If you go in and change another word and remove a sentence, you now have three copies in your database. Which is a ridiculous waste of space and completely USELESS for my needs or, far as I can tell, for those of most single-author bloggers.

And (again) IT CAN'T BE TURNED OFF via control panel (you have to hack code). Jesus. Yeah, I can hack the code, it's easy to do, but whose bright idea was that?

Tonematrix. This is additicingly fun.

Tore the 360 apart today because it has been overheating nonstop. Once I'd pulled the chassis off, I could see why: the heatsink was just clogged with dust. Cleaned it out, put it back together, and hooked it back up. I'll put it through its paces later--actually, I'll let the kids play Guitar Hero, since that has been red ringing it consistent and quick--but I suspect it will be fine.

Unfortunately, not so much luck with the computer.

It decided today was a good day to overheat. It's clean, the fans are running, etc. But it beeped its little head off in warning and then shut itself down. Thankfully, I don't think I lost anything, but it's damn aggravating. I pulled the case cover off for better airflow and so far it's working. Still hot though (running around 50C -- I've had this thing run at 32C steady and cooler before, even overclocked -- not sure where all the extra heat is coming from).

I've been using GreatNews as my feedreader for a while now, but there's one problem: it crashes like a drunk in the Indy 500. SPECTACULARLY and ALL THE TIME. And leaves widespread damage behind. In terms of losing off-feed articles I clicked through to read or responses I was making.

I'm going to try FeedDemon now instead to see how it handles. (ADDENDUM: That's a bust: don't like the layout.) Anyone have any other suggestions?

We have a tournament coming up and I haven't been able to build a V:tES deck that works for months. My Ventrue political deck just can't hold it's own against the group's tourney decks, nor is my Valerius star-deck working well (occasionally it goes off, but more often than not, it craps out).

I'm not even going to futz with the Ventrue deck any longer. I might redo the star deck, possibly de-starring it (and just go with straight bruiser Thaumaturgy, add another Uta so she always comes out). My main solution is going to be retooling the Bleed-Bounce-Bloat deck into a straight Dominate deck, dropping about half of the Bounce and ditching the Burst-Rotschrek trick (which just wasn't working, I didn't block enough).

I am currently in the process of copying the 90 Gigs of content from my D: drive to my 1TB drive because I'm fairly concerned that the former drive is failing. It's crashed twice now while the system was running (once during a transfer, once right after boot) -- just disconnecting itself and disappearing from Explorer. Not a good thing.

D: is the drive I store all my projects, illustration and writing, on. And WAY more importantly it has my porn! (Ok, kidding...the porn isn't WAY more important.)

Oh, hah! D: is also a sad face!

Other than writing really long posts about social psychology and the dark depths of the human mind...

dwaleberry, you will like this: Norse Code. Or at least I assume you will like it, given that I haven't read it at all yet, and it might be completely bleh. Still, I hold out hope.

Why the fuck is it snowing in the middle of May? REALLY? *sigh* Minnesota.

Lost my voice yesterday (that's still Thursday for me...haven't gone to bed yet), right after I came home from my wonderful hospital appointment with needles, drugs, and flexible tubes with cameras in them (no, still no idea, they took biopsies). Got it back. Still have a horrid throat/sinus infection something fierce.

Installed Windows RC7 today. Interesting. I like the visuals. The Belkin USB adapter installed more easily on it than it does with XP. Honestly, though, I haven't played with the OS long enough to really say much about it at all.

Also, the folks at Sonju will rip you right off. Stay away from there. My father had a very bad experience earlier: they must have thought he'd never bought a vehicle before. Wasted over three hours of his life and kept on lying to him to jack up the previously agreed upon price, even claiming they couldn't offer the deals they printed in the paper. All of which tells me "don't trust a damn thing said by any business from the North Shore"--historically for us, nothing but bad luck as they seem to employ liars and cheats, and even produce the occasional outright criminals.

Gah. Yuck. Blech. I have a spring cold (Oh noes! The SWINE FLU! I smells like bacon!).

I'm kidding about the bacon. Er, and the swine flu.

Haven't felt like watching tv, playing games, or working on anything. Just too weak/tired. Throat is all sore and my face hurts/puffy. Stupid spring colds. Jen's very much under the weather, too, and it's Mother's Day (so send her some love, folks!).

Ordered myself a new keyboard and mouse the other day on the credit card I just paid off (which I will now have to pay off again...poo). Decided to pick up one with backlighting on the keys, so I can see the keyboard better at night. And a spiffy mouse with a cool neon-blue glow strip.

Also, it is weird not being able to scroll on webpages (I disabled the scroll button on my current mouse because it was making computer use exceptionally frustrating).

The art piece I mentioned...I keep swinging between liking it and hating it. It don't think it is my best piece--and it really isn't, very much a historical-me piece, style-wise (and very much late 90's)--but I really like the concept.

My wife doesn't think this is a most awesome idea! She is so not a geek! *SOB* I am now sad.

Bad Jenny!

So, after an aggravating day of watching idiocy in fandom--which is basically the place where it lives, so what was I expecting?--I decided to take Rainman to the movies on our last twenty bucks for the month. Which is OK, since all the bills are paid.

OBVIOUSLY we went to see Star Trek. Rebooting the series. Awesome special effects. Love the interior design of the new Enterprise, especially the engine room: IT LOOKS LIKE AN ENGINE ROOM! WOOT! And great picks for the actors. I won't say more because of spoilers, but yeah, I'm happy. Enjoyable flick. Wouldn't mind seeing more of the same.

(Oh! Holy gods is Uhura stunning! I am not normally attracted to/find attractive women with smaller chests, but I make an exception in this case as she is freaking gorgeous! Also, why does the actor playing Bones look so much like John Barrowman? And is it me, or was he sexier with the stubble?)

( ...minor spoiler warning... )

In different news: it seems I may have to pull out a credit card and buy a new mouse. I've got the keyboard functional again, it seems, but my mouse has finally started to finish crapping out. It's left button has been broken for some time, but I've hacked it to work (mostly) and that has held up until now; now the scroll-wheel scrolls without anyone touching it, which causes all sorts of issues: changes font sizes, backs through page history, scrolls when I'm trying to read something.

This is my 5-button 4D Intuos mouse, around a currently unaffordable $90, but I'd like to get one with similar functionality. Though if I have to buy a mouse, I might as well buy a new keyboard. I'm thinking I'll get one of the models with illuminated keys, as I find using the keyboard later at night when the light is dimmer is becoming a pain: I can't tell where the keys are in the dark when I need to punch them for macros.

Also, art update coming soon. I actually did something just for me that I'm kind of pleased with.

Plus, here's today's parting gift for critical theory nutters: this is how normal, well-adjusted people feel about your crazy.

Still hate keyboard. Still making it hard to write. Stupid keys. They're stuck/sticky/difficult. Functioning. But still need a new keyboard if I want to be productive and not frustrated/constantly correcting spelling mistakes because the keys don't always register.

Also: Because: seriously...oy.

Ihaveofuctioigkeyboardrightow.SoexcusemeifIammorequietthausual.
eitherthekeytotheleftof'm'worksorthespacebar.
Actually,theyfuctiooccasioally.
Justotoccasioallyeough.
Havefudecipherigthat.

Fugame:makeallabovesetecesusigwordswithoutthemissigletter!
(IfeellikeaDragolacegome.)