Adam's Journal

Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad warranty service never fails to amaze me.
Called for repair on Monday - CPU overheating... Bad (i.e. 110Deg Celsius!)
Box came Tuesday - Wrote on paperwork "DVDRW Flaky, latch on hid kinda broke, cpu cooks eggs"
Shipped on Wed to Depot, got email on Thur it was being returned. Got it back Today, Friday.

They:
* Replaced Keyboard
* Replaced Screen
* Replaced Screen Housing
* Replaced DVD
* Replaced Mouse Pad

I mean. Really. FQN love. They totally re-spiffed this.

I guess drug dealers in Detroit average 7K per annum more than in Dallas TX
SimplyHired.com

...Hoe's salaries are also +4K per annum in Detroit...

http://bgplay.routeviews.org/bgplay/

Totally frekkin awesome

About a week ago, I picked up a XBox 360 (specifically for the Fable 2 release exclusive on XBox 360...)

Today they launched the new dashboard making it possible to watch Netflix streaming movies over the XBox... Frekkin Sweet!

Been a while since I have posted on LJ...

Things are going good, quite hectic, but good.

Finances are starting to really get into order around here and breathing a bit easier. Past few months has been hectic with deposits, new service, waiting for checks back from old services, etc...

House is still *huge* and still finding where to put things... It's been *that* hectic.

I have been going to Mexico on a semi-regular basis getting things done for work... Quite a bit different than what the American perception says... It is quite a beautiful place.


Anyways, mind is blank other than that. Hope everyone is doing well.

Status Update:

Not much new... Work is going well.

Leaving for Mexico in about an hour. Will be in Mexico City and Guadalajara within the next day. Will be interesting. Hopefully much good will come of it (Work related stuff).

Will be back in a week.... Need to pay for Flickr to upload plenty of pictures :)

End of Transmission...

Got my new Dell XPS 420 today...
My god, its love.

Called them because I did not accept Windows Vista Licensing Terms... No hesitations, $200+tax refund coming to me. With there agreement with MS, they can not actually return software, but they will give you a "Good Will" credit. This does not prevent, or restrict you from using the software, but they will not support any software questions if you call them (DARN!). Final cost, comes to about $1050 taxed and shipped.

Currently I am installing Ubuntu (and I love the use of FF while installing!), but I did a "test-run" of Vista... Power-On to Stopped HDD in ~45 Seconds. FQN LOVE!...

( Proc/lspci Views Behind Cut )

Pure Love.

As my first new action of freedom....

Dell's offering 0% for 12 months on new XPS systems...

I can now apply for credit w/o authorization...

Product Description
XPS 420, Intel Core2 processorQ6600 (2.40Ghz,1066FSB) w/QuadCore Technology and 8MB cache... Word.

Hackers: 1
Microsoft: 0
Killing the F-Lock Key on MS Keyboards

Although I hate that annoyance in the first place. I am really in love with my new Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse, the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000

+ Renee gave me a 16GB iPod Touch for X-Mas
- iTunes does not work with the iPod for 64-Bit Windows
- The Touch does not work as a mass-storage device
+ iTunes has a shit-ton of songs
+ The iPod Touch is very sexy
+ I havent jailbroken it yet, because I want to have something nice that just 'works' ;)
+ Xmas was good this year
+/- iTunes can get expensive quick! (+ for availability of songs, - for cost)

So, Dish Network did not show up... I guess they did not have my DVR on hand... Rescheduled for Tuesday... Ugh!

I decided to rectify the fact that I will have no phone line for the Reciever to "Phone Home," and I have not had my old primary contacts number active for months...

It seems simple, put a PAP2NA (or similar) on a Wireless Gaming Adapter, solution fixed... But I am cheap.

Solution ended up being my laptop that runs Asterisk as a WiFi Bridge to Ethernet with a VoIP router on the Ethernet port in my entertainment center. W00t! Free solutions!

But now I can pass CID off to my Current (and future DVR) so I can tell who is calling!

Mix that with also grabbing CID for calls that come in on my work line and prefixing them with a [W] in the CID name field, and I can tell if I want to avoid need to answer the call.

New Camera! W00t!

A meaningless update...

Have not really updated in a while, work+school has been a killer...

Finally got our VPN Concentrator today for the datacenter... Smashed to hell by UPS.

One of the wings was literally bent at a 45 deg. pitch.... For shame UPS, for shame...


Unfortunately, when the FL office shipped it to me, they did not get insurance. Total loss. Had to go buy another one... UGH.

At least now we'll have RPSU on it! :)

About ready to ship down the server I have here, and have them send me back double... Plus another one from Dell... Screw UPS for that, I'm going FedEx Freight. With as much packaging as the Dell boxes have, I am sure it wont be that big of an issue.... At least I hope not!

I dare not power these things up though... I could just imagine the heart attack when the Electric bill came ;)