My Next PC

I'm in the market for a new computer since my current one is showing it's age. I also plan to change the way I compute at home.

1. 
   
   I plan to get an LCD TV "soon" (within a year), 1080p, probably around 42". It'll sit in my living room, I'll hook the Wii up to it. It won't reflect. It'll be great.
   
   


2. 
   
   Said TV will have DVI or VGA input so I can hook my computer up to it. It'll also have USB hopefully so I can jack in my camera or whatever.
   
   


3. 
   
   I only use my computer to surf the web and watch movies. I'm not a PC gamer, I don't develop software at home really.
   
   

So my dilemma is that I just need a browser and movie player. I can get a crappy browser form my Wii, so if it just played movies, even ones I downloaded it'd be perfect, no PC needed at all (well I'd want a keyboard too, but I'm told some USB keyboards work with the Wii already). Any suggestions? I don't really want an Xbox 360.

I Knew It, I Just Couldn't Find It

After a conversation with Eric while at work, I realized the word I was looking for was "curiosity".

To Stand

This weekend, I was asked by the GD and The Lady Hizzle to stand in their wedding this Summer. I'm not certain that I was able to convey over the phone just how special that made me feel. I've always wanted to stand in someone's wedding, to be one of the selected few that a couple has chosen to represent the love and support they will need to help their marriage grow and remain healthy.

I like Matt and Lauren, and I like them together. I've known Matt since my freshman year in college. He was always my sounding board whether I wanted to sound off or not. He got me to talk about how I felt, understand my own value system through his constant, yet enjoyable questioning.

Lauren I've always liked. I remember talking to Matt back when I'd tease him about having "a woman in every port", and he told me that he'd cut the strings with all the others to be with this one girl. While Matt didn't say it, I knew she was very special to him. Driving home after that talk I thought about it, and in Matt-like fashion I said "I bet they get married." Like Matt, she's proven to be a good friend to me. I remember playing Monopoly with her one day when she was still going to Purdue and Matt was off in Chicago. She's great with introspection too, I know whenever I've got an issue that needs a woman's perspective that I can turn to her.

These two people have shaped my life more than most. I hope that one day I find what they have found in each other. I am proud, not just to stand in a wedding, but to stand in their wedding. They honor me more than they know.

Sweaters

I was driving in my car with Josh [for 12 hours] this past weekend when we went by the "Homelesss to Harvard" inspirational sign with that chick on it. I always note that she's a cute girl, and it got me thinking about how women can look good in knit sweaters. Josh didn't believe me. So tonight I went looking for proof. I found this, and let me just say that I've never been so happy it's cold outside in all my life. Not exactly what I set out to find, but wow, I didn't know they could do that with sweaters.

Anyway, it also reminds me that I was in Target the other day thinking that melanie would look good in a ladies zip-up hoodie. I meant to tell her as much, and now that I'm thinking about it, I'll go ahead and tell you all too, "Melanie would look good in a ladies zip-up hoodie." Now you know.

Insight FTW

Sure enough, my cable modem died late Thursday. It was giving flakey connections to instant messaging services and then failed altogether. The lone blinking Internet light being the only indication that it it was getting power. After a phone call last night, Insight sent a tech out to check my setup. He gave me a free brand new cable modem and we were back in business. They even called me to let me know he'd be by in 20 minutes so I could head home instead of just giving me a 5 hour window like other services do.

Good job Insight. Too bad you're selling out to Comcast, you will be missed.

It Tastes Like Tuna Sadness

Not like Tuna Helper. I didn't remember this stuff taking a half of stick of butter, but my memory is NFG anyway. But tonight I watched the worst movie (in my opinion) ever: Griffin and Phoenix. Only seeing it could fully make you appreciate it's awfulness, but I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

And so my dinner was bad, my movie was bad, and it makes me feel alone. Lonely. Empty. Hollow. Incomplete.

As You Can See

I went to the dentist on Monday. They didn't do anything to my teeth. What they did, was show me my teeth. You see, I'm going to a new dentist, Dr. Guido, who incidentally is the father of a fellow fencer I know at IU Bloomington. Anyway, they've got LCD screens attached to the patient's chair. Then they use marvels of modern science to take pictures of my mouth digitally. They can also get x-rays into the computer pretty quickly. So they can show me exactly what the dentist sees, maybe even better with the magnification.

So now instead of the dentist saying "Well there's some wear on your teeth, and some tooth decay here and there, I can literally see the gaps and holes. I can see the hairline cracks in the tooth where the old school metal filling has expanded and contracted enough to damage the tooth. I can see where the sealant I got as a kid has chipped away and needs replacing. I can see all of that.

Then on top of it, they had a laser that they used to determine density. But it didn't just crank out a number, it made a noise when it found something hollow. I could "hear" just how bad my teeth are. No longer do I have to trust my dentist on assessing the quality of my teeth, I can see exactly what his concerns are, and judge for myself if it's worth the cost to fix.

I no longer need faith in my dentist. I like that, it makes me feel comfortable.

I wish that they could find a way to apply this technique to auto shops and eye care places. Places where I have to trust someone else's visual assessment.

I thought it was a fart...

I was wrong. Home Depot is not a good place to make mistakes like this.

Boots With the Fur (With the Fur!)

I've had this song stuck in my head. So if you hear me talking about apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur, baggy sweat pants, or Rebock's with the straps, this is why:

Bon New Year Buddy

I'm not gonna recap my holiday, but suffice to say I had a good one. What this post is about the human interactions. My friend Heather just wrote an entry in her blog about all the random people who talked to her today. I think it's because holidays like New Year's where you want to spend time with people reminds you how important those interactions are, and perhaps leaves one feeling a little lonely, a little wanting afterwards.

I just watched Ocean's Thirteen. In the movie they have a super computer to monitor people to detect if they're genuinely excited to win, or if it's an expected win. It bases it's judgement off pupil dilation, body temp, blah blah blah. It got me thinking that having a human there, instead of a bajillion cameras, would probably be just as good. You can tell when someone is lying. But then it also got me thinking, that I can more easily tell that someone is lying when I'm interacting with that person. If I jump up and down and scream with a winner, I can use it as a reference for how the other person is reacting. It's an advantage I have over the guy standing on the other side of the room.

So I encourage you to interact with someone new, someone you just met, someone you may never see again. Say "hello", say "I shoot lasers from my eyes", say anything. And then listen.