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If you read this post, then you know how frustrating and exciting this whole thing has been. I got the TV. HOORAY! I got it home, started loading the TV stand and then…
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My birthday is right around the corner. The tradition in our family is to tell Mom what you want for dinner and dessert and it magically appears on the table when we all get together to celebrate that birthday. This year, I decided to do things at my place. That kinda means that I have to cook. Oh, the humanity!

I decided on Lasagna with garlic bread for dinner. I want carrot cake for dessert. Some will say they don’t go together. Carrot cake goes with everything when it’s this good.

I make my spaghetti sauce the old-fashioned way. I add a bit of this, some of that, mix in more of that, and then let it simmer all day. I’ll be estimating measurements for the “recipe” so those that want to follow along can.

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I had to look this one up once upon a time because I just didn’t know how the heck you peel a tomato. Once I saw how, it made perfect sense. Blanch them! (continue reading…)

Steve figured this out.

I finally got my gallery fixed up. In a nutshell, it worked fine for normal users. But for someone trying to upload stuff, it was a pain in the neck. It would get a few images into an upload and just hang.

The quick fix was to add server.network-backend = “writev” into the lighttpd.conf

More details are available at Steve’s site.

Steve deserves the credit for this. I’m simply linking it to help anyone else that happens to have the same issues.

First, I need to give credit… I didn’t make this one up. Got this recipe at browneyedbaker.com.

It’s Mac and Cheese, but with some things that make it appeal to adults, too.

First off, IT HAS BACON! It also has some more “sophisticated” cheese in it. This isn’t just cheddar and parmesan, folks.

Grown-Up Mac and Cheese

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I’ve been working with a lot of digital media lately… copying avi files to my Wii’s SD card, burning AVI’s to DVD, converting AVI’s to video DVD, etc… It’s a royal pain in the neck.

I KNOW! I’ll build up a cheap HTPC. I can get all my media over the network (or from the HD) and no more messing around.

Parts were ordered and assembled, I hooked up through HDMI on my AV receiver. (After all… a guy at work said it’d work right)… Nope. Nothing. I can hear everything. I can’t see a thing. OS isn’t showing HDMI working, either. WTF?!

I come to find out… unless you pay a boatload for your AV receiver, you don’t down-convert HDMI. Well, shucks! So now I either sit on this computer or I find a new TV with HDMI…

So I suddenly find myself in the HDTV market. Hooray-sorta. I get to decide on a size (not too big. Condo’s not that big). I have to decide on what resolution, refresh, etc…

I’m proud to announce that an LG 37″ 1080P at 120Hz is on its way. If all goes well, I should have it by Thanksgiving! I can’t wait!

Here’s the TV at amazon, supplied by DataVision

The TV I ordered

Free week-or-two shipping. I paid for expedited shipping to have it here sooner.

Did I mention how excited I am?

Before I get into my rant, I have to jump in the way-back machine to tell you about the last time I had to deal with DTE…

I was buying my condo. I called DTE from my parents’ house to set up the electricity. I moved in. Everything was great. . . Until I got my first bill. They sent my my parents’ bill AND my bill. I called DTE. They fixed the problem… or did they? (continue reading…)