Reprieve

I'm tired. Long day. Long week.

I'm looking forward to my weekend, even if I am getting started late.

Merry Christmas

I'm back in Wichita with my family for the weekend. I hope all of you have a good Christmas. Even you, "thepcguy".

More Nerdery

Do me a favor. Read this article. Crazy stuff. Someone actually made a working drum machine out of a Nintendo Wii Remote. Watch the HL2 video as well. The aiming doesn't work terribly well, but I'm sure it will given time. I really want to get one of these new Nintendo systems. I could really care less about the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3, outside of when I was sellling them. I think the Wii is looking pretty solid. And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Video games don't need blistering graphics to be fun. 2 of my 3 favorite games of all time (2 and 3) had 2d animated sprites. Here's No. 1, in case you're interested.

Upgrade

Hillary and I got a new desk from Sam's. It's our Christmas present to each other. I'll try to get a picture up of our actual setup later, as opposed to the product shot to the left.

It makes the office look much less cluttered, and a little higher class. And it matches the bookshelf we picked up a couple years ago perfectly.

The cure is worse than the disease

I've always hated Norton AntiVirus products. When I still ran Windows XP part-time, I managed to get a free license for Norton AV 2005, and ended up removing it in favor of the (always) free AVG Free Edition. I found AVG ran much more smoothly, and got in my way less often.

That being said, it's pretty ironic that Symantec's Corporate AV Software actually causes a problem which lets a new worm squirm into your system. The article seems to indicate the only way you can get the worm is if you have Symantec's (again) CORPORATE Antivirus software. Someone really dropped the ball on this one.

I've always hated antivirus programs because they were a necessary evil. Now it looks like people can hate them because they actually spread evil.

Let the good times roll...

20 more Nikon 18-200mm lenses on their way.

Cool Mac App

Garage Sale. It has some quirks, but overall I'm pretty pleased. It creates pretty professional looking eBay templates, and you know how I love eBay.

Speaking of which, I have a new item. The Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 USM IS lens. It's for Canon DSLRs with a 1.6x crop factor. Check out my listing. It seems to be working. I've sold one already.

People always complain about Macs not having as many software options as PCs. It's never bothered me because many of the Mac apps are better than the Windows alternatives. Garage Sale is one of them. The entire iLife suite is another. No free program is better at what Garage Band does than Garage Band. I can't think of an easier way to do quality video editing than iMovie and iDVD. My mom figured those out on her own. The same one who couldn't figure out how to successfully run a virus and spyware scan when she was on Windows XP.

There is no shortage of quality apps for the Mac platform, and many of them are free.

What's old is new again.

"I love the Power Glove. It's so bad."
-Lucas Barton, The Wizard (1989)

I never thought I'd say this, (even in 1989) but I agree. Thanks to this. I love seeing crazy people with way more engineering skills (and time) than I have doing stuff like this. It gives me hard evidence which I can use to rebut my wife's claims that I'm the biggest nerd on the planet.

And as big of nerds as those guys are, they've got nothing on this guy, who legally changed his name to include a Legend of Zelda reference, and who sat on the sidewalk for more than a week in NYC to be the first person in North America to purchase a Nintendo Wii. And when he he shook the hand of Nintendo of America's President, he did it while wearing a Power Glove. I'm sure Lucas Barton would be proud.

Living the dream...

I've always wanted to do exactly this to Best Buy. Dell might be even better. Hats off to the guy for prosecuting his case against a company which obviously didn't care, until it was too late. I didn't realize you could obtain proper service of process against a kiosk employee, but it's hard to argue with success.

Oh, and I didn't steal the image from Engadget, although it appears that way. I tried to find another picture out there, and they got it from here. In their defense, it was the best image available when looking up "dell kiosk" on Google Images.

I'd like to have a Jayhawk up here too, but...

The Wichita State Fighting Turgeons knocked off Syracuse today. I could be wrong, but I think the Shockers have beaten more good teams so far than anyone else in the NCAA without losing. And they've done it all on the road.

Classy Advertising

Sure, the marketing screams As Seen on TV crap, but it looks pretty good. I know I could use one. I ended up ordering 3, in order to get free shipping. Merry Chrismas, Mom and Dad.