Archive for June, 2007
I met this really hot girl at Smiths with Sam the other day. I think she’s going to go out with me this weekend. We are in love. This is the head shot she give me.
You can see that Sam mentioned the situation here at the bottom of the post.
A while back my father-in-law, being the generous guy he is, handed me 2 laptops. They were both in working condition, with all the plugs and cables needed for usage. What is the catch you ask yourself…. nothing… if your a nerd and don’t plan on using them as your regular pc, you see these lappies barley run Windoz ‘98. 64 meg of ram doesn’t really get you to far in the computer world today.
These lappies sat in the back room of my house when one day I was reading one of my favorite blogs TUAW (BTW this isn’t the post I saw but you get the idea.) Well, being the master of self-control that I am I got off work at 11:00 pm and went straight home and started on my new project.
***Note to self- install the operating system and pictures before dismantling the lappie.
The keyboard was a pain in the butt to get off. I eventually decided that I didn’t care if it came off in one piece- and then it did. After removing the hard-drive and the screws in the back of the casing I was able to remove the inside cover (where the keyboard once was) and start the real work.
I removed everything. Everything.
Then I took what I wanted out of the pile and starting putting back together what I needed for the Photophrame: the motherboard (processor was still intact with fan), the hard-drive, the screen, the disk drive, and the keyboard. (You only need the keyboard and disk drive for set-up on most lappies, then you can toss them.)
With dismantling done I needed a light snack at 1:00 am. My hot wife hooked me up.
Man I look bad, ummm.. I mean hot.
I pieced it all back together on the table and did a test run of the boot up. ***Note to self- hard drive cannot be touching the motherboard or lappy shorts out.
Now to make the casing. I wanted to do something nifty that I saw on the original post, which was to mount the whole thing on two pieces of Plexiglas. I put the motherboard and the screen on the pieces that I had purchased at Lowe’s (they also cut it for free if you buy it there) and marker-ed in the mounting holes. I had to borrow a drill from my parents house and I drilled the holes in my living room.
*** Note to self- put something under the Plexiglas or you drill into the carpet.
I mounted the screen and motherboard onto the Plexiglas with some nuts and bolts that I purchased at Lowe’s as well. Total cost at Lowe’s: give or take $20.
I decided to go with a different distribution of Linux than Knoppix. Kubuntu gave me a workable desktop and a GUI that I was more familiar with. I used Synaptic Package Manager to grab FEH (a light weight image viewer). FEH is great, if you aren’t a big linux user just type “man feh” in the command line and it gives you all the instructions you need. My buddie Justin helped me write a script to run FEH at startup, and Vua-La “et voila” your own homemade photophrame for cheaper than dirt.
It’s sooo hot, I want to touch the hiny.
Its really power efficient, and with Kubuntu you can configure the screen not to go dark when not being used and have scheduled shutdowns. Now I only really turn it on at our weekly Cookie Night to impress the other nerds that show up to my house.
**Update: Thanks to Tess I now know that proper French is “et voila” as reflected in the post. I have the script that Justin helped me make as well if anyone is interested I will post it.
I have been attending college for 5 years. I have spent roughly $25,000.00. While I “graduated” in April, technically I still do not have a degree. I was under the impression that I needed one more credit. That’s correct- one more. Well, turns out it was two… Ho ray! Here I come second block of Summer. First Block got out Wednesday- Second Block starts, you guessed it, Thursday. I have never second guessed my “education”.
In my many interactions with friends/co-workers about the “in’s and out’s” of this thing called the (Interweb) (SerfingNet)… Internet? I have come across the most intelligent (and attractive) man I have ever seen. As depicted above from Michaelangelo rendering of our Divine, we see the embodiment of Glory. At times I wish I could eat his brain in an attempt to ascertain a glimmer of his intellect.
Here is my tribute- To the father of my webshite, my wifes’, and many others “I’m naming my first kid after you, and if it (my website) ever brakes I’m coming to blame my foibles on you, Dad.”
p.s.- it was working when you touched it last.
-Have you ever had a credit card offer at a place that you have lived in for 3 weeks?
-Do you wonder how these companies know where you live but your parents don’t?
-Have you ever thought that finding missing persons could be as easy as attempting to open a credit card in their name?
If any of these thoughts have crossed your mind you are like millions of Americans who are harassed offered a:
“0% for the first 12 months, no money down, Premium Rewards Platinum Plus Super Awesome I-Asked-Your-Mom-and-She-Said-It-Was-Alright credit card. With our “One Credit App a Day” standard we can make sure that your garbage is overflowing with paper that has your information all over it. And remember, I’m not only the president but I’m also a child molester.”
So I’m fed up. I started calling all the credit card companies that were sending me this crap. I call the “Activate Your Card Now” number and politely let them know that I want to be placed on a Do Not Mail list. 50% of the time I get a “we don’t know how to do that in this department” comment but you can always go right over their heads (ask for their supervisor).
I had one such event last Friday. I have called most of these companies on more than one occasion, especially Citi but I thought I would remind them that I didn’t want their crap. The first representative with Citi that I spoke with told me that she would give me the address of the marketing department and that I would need to mail them a letter stating that I would not like to receive solicitations anymore. To which I replied “No, that isn’t going to work for me today. “I didn’t mail anything to you to start receiving your solicitations and I don’t plan on starting a new pen-pal.” She told me that was the best she could do, so I asked for her supervisor. (I remained calm and let her know that I wasn’t frustrated with her- I was frustrated with who she works for.) Todd got on the phone and was very defensive at first, but as I spoke with him about how I have called numerous times before he relaxed. I stated that I “am kind of a tree hugger” and didn’t like the waste, he agreed and then expressed his frustration with the same thing!! When he stated that me mailing a DNC letter was the only way, I politely asked for his manager. He agreed and I sat on HOLD for 15 min.
Now, some of you who like to get pushed around “cause it’s easier than telling someone to stop” are saying to yourselves right now, “he could have written a letter in that time and used the stamps on his desk to send it out.” That defeats the purpose! I’ll let you have your freedom if you are willing to give me $10,000.00. “But it’s easier to give the money!” some will reply. NO! My privacy is mine and I will not comply with requests so that it can be given back to me. I will not be pushed around by bullies, corporate bullies, corporate bullies with bees in their mouths, or lazy passive-agressive whiners.
Back to the tale! So Todd’s manager gets on the phone 15 min after Todd puts me on hold. I reiterate my position “I no mail to you first, I no mail to you now” AND HE SAYS: “Ok, can I get your full name and address.”
Now if everyone did that there would be no two tiers full of “mail us something”. DNC would be an option in the beginning, because companies know that it would be cheeper to do so.
I hope the point was taken. Here’s looking at you Citi.
*Update: I have found a website that will allow you to opt-out of any of the major credit bureaus for 5 years over the web, or indefinitely by mail… arrrg mail. Thanks consciouses blogger!