I have one computer, whose sole purpose in life is to be a media machine. Back in the day, this box had pretty much bare minimum hardware in order run Windows. Something like 256MB of RAM, of which 32 were shared with onboard video. But it worked. I plug a TV into it and pop in a dvd and it works. AVI files on the hard drive never gave me any trouble, either. My biggest concern was that I had to have several different applications for different types of media. iTunes does exactly what I want it to with mp3’s. BSplayer does exactly what I want for digital media files, like .avi or .mpg, etc. PowerDVD ($$) works nice for DVDs (kinda). But really, I want one app that does everything. And I want a simple user interface. In fact, I would rather just hook this machine up to a TV, unplug the monitor, keyboard and mouse, and just have a remote. What a concept! Well, along came Windows XP Media Center 2005. Woohoo! NOT! After doubling my RAM, and installing a 64MB video card (essentially doubling the video memory), Media Center actually starts up. And it plays DVDs, after installing PowerDVD (I guess Microsoft needs PowerDVD alongside it, so that it knows what to do). And… oops, my TV card isn’t supported in Media Center. Okay. New TV card. Alright. now we’re getting somewhere. Got myself the cool Microsoft remote control and everything works. I can watch DVDs, AVIs, MPGs, listen to mp3s, all within one easy to use interface, with a remote. Cool. But… it is soooo slow. And it crashes more often than Windows 95 Beta. What gives? And the remote only works in Media Center. So when I have to install yet another lovely Microsoft update, I either have to connect a keyboard or use VNC…
But what’s that? There is yet another thing that Linux can do for me? Freevo? MythTV? There are open-source alternatives? And they are free? What? So here I go again with another project. Bye bye Windows. I can’t get Linux installed on this thing fast enough. Wish me luck on my Freevo project this weekend. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
Is it just me, or is it difficult to make food for one person? I just recently started living in my own studio apartment, and I’ve noticed it extremely hard to find recipes that make just one serving. I am used to eating mostly junk food or eating with friends or roommates. I’m trying to live a little healthier, and it has been told to me, that grocery shopping and eating at home is cheaper than going out to eat. I can see that point, but so far it has not been the case. I went shopping today and bought a bunch of great food, and it being the weekend, I actually have time to stand over the stove for a while and actually make myself a full meal. But now I’m contemplating running down to the local Burger King or something to that effect, because everything I have makes 3-6 servings. I don’t want that much. I just want to eat one serving. I don’t want leftovers. I don’t have a microwave, nor do I want one, and frankly, my refrigerator wasn’t really designed to hold much more than a six-pack. So what to do? Spend the next hour preparing a meal, just to have 4 times more food than I can possibly eat? Or invite some people over to help me eat all the food I’m going to make? Attempt to cut all the recipes in half, and have a bunch of half full packages of ingredients laying around? What a hassle, all that is. Plus, I spent a lot more on groceries for two full meals, than it would cost me to just go down to the local pub and grab a burger and fries 4 days in a row. So.. how is that any cheaper? I guess its going to be Ramen Noodles for me.
I was watching some re-runs of Saved by the Bell the other morning, and a thought crossed my mind. Interestingly enough, the thought I’m referring to is apparant in all kinds of popular culture, and in real life. In Saved by the Bell, the main character, Zach, and his friend, Slater, are competing for a girl. What is this? This alpha-male mentality is a little ridiculous. I see it all the time in movies and in real life, or in music. It seems like in every love story out there, some guy is trying to impress a girl, to get her attention, so that he can date her or whatever, even if she already has a man, or is interested in someone else, Mr. Alpha-male-wannabe does everything he can to make sure she knows that he is the manlier man, that he is stronger than the other guy, that he is smarter than the other guy, etc. Does this work? I mean, seriously. This works with certain animals. But I think humans are a little naive to be acting like this. Girls don’t compete for guys like this, do they? If I had two different girls competing for my attention, I wouldn’t say: “Okay, you two arm-wrestle, and whoever wins, gets to date me.” That is ridiculous. Please tell me, I’m not the only one who has observed this behavior. I think people just like certain people and not others. Feelings can change and whatnot, but seriously, the alpha-male behaviour is so 15th century. Back in the day, guys used to duel over a women. This kind of makes sense. If a girl can’t make up her mind who she wants to be with, they duel it out. Whoever is still alive, wins the girl. The other guy is dead. Simple solution. The medieval lance fights have the same outcome. Problem solved. But nowadays, people don’t kill each other, and if they do, I would hope that the girl in question would NOT go for the guy who killed the other guy. That’s messed up. I don’t know. Maybe I’m weird. Logically, it just doesn’t make sense to show off, in order to win a girl’s heart. Just think about it. And notice how many movies have this theme. Those movies suck. Listen to Journey instead. They rock!
Alright, I just have to state this fact:
Journey is awesome.
Don’t believe me? Go listen to their music. It’s just great.
I am a user of open source software. I love it. Unfortunately, I do use a few pieces of closed source software from time to time. But if I have to pay for it, I tend to go without. Since with the software world, nothing is guaranteed, I don’t like paying for something that probably has problems. Well, I do still have the original copy of Windows on my notebook computer, even though I never use it, since I have Linux on it also. And things just tend to work better…
My notebook was purchased in Germany and thus has Windows XP Professional in German. This is pretty cool. It is interesting, seeing what kind of words Germans use for computer stuff. One would be surprised how many English words are used in a German fashion. Anyway, my point is, I kind of have a problem with Microsoft, since it is soooo expensive to buy a copy of Windows, yet there are always stupid security updates that make you restart your computer. If I have to pay for an OS, I want it to be fixed before I get it, and not have them tell me 4 years after it was released that there is yet another security flaw that needs fixed and then they make me restart my computer. But that is neither here nor there. I’m sure you can find about 10 million other people that rant about Microsoft daily. But, here’s what really ticked me off recently. If one has to pay for an operating system, from a commercial company, in fact the ‘leader’ in the market, one would think that if nothing else (and seriously nothing else), they would at least get their grammar right.
I recently plugged a piece of hardware into my computer that wasn’t recognized by windows (same piece of hardware worked right away without another thought under Linux), and here is what I got:
Yep. My German Professor would be angry at this. Its the choo choo train. And Microsoft, while rolling in all of their money, didn’t even take the time to double check this one. The word ‘Mal’ is a neuter noun, therefore ‘Das Mal’. According to my German Professor’s choo choo train theory, ‘dies’ goes to ‘dieses’ when used with a neuter noun. See? They got it right on the next line. ‘Jedes Mal’ is correct, but why didn’t they fix the ‘diese Mal’? This kind of bugs me. Because you know that they probably know about this, and they aren’t going to fix it. Because who wants to receive an automatic update that changes one word, and requires a restart. Why couldn’t they just fix it right when they translated it the first time? I can’t imagine someone didn’t get paid a lot of money to translate Windows into German. Or any other language for that matter. I mean, I use Suse Linux on my desktop machine, which is a distro based out of Germany, and in the English version I find grammatical mistakes from time to time, but then again, I didn’t pay for it. And my guess is, that whoever translated it, probably didn’t get paid much either, if anything at all. So its fine. Plus, I don’t have to buy a bunch of third-party software, just to make sure that my machine is “safe”…
My German Professor always corrects me when I am using an “americanism” in my German speech. For instance, in English, if we were to talk about something that happened in a certain year, we would say “In 1999, …”. In German, we would say, “In the year 1999, …”, or “1999, …”, but never “In 1999, …”, even though, the word “in” has the same meaning in English and German. Since Germans tend to use a lot of American phrases, and one would indeed hear this incorrect German from time to time, it is known as an “americanism”. These are getting more and more common in colloquial German lately. I have come up with a few Germanisms, to go the other way. This just gets funny.
Let us take some English words, “eventually”, “actual”, and “to mean something”. The equivalent words in German are, “irgendwann, endlich”, “eigentlich”, and “meinen”. Nothing special, although, the word “meinen” in German, can mean two different things in English. “to mean something”, i.e. “I said this, but I meant that”, but it can also mean “to say something”, i.e. “I said that”. Then there are two other German words, “eventuell”, and “aktuell”. These mean “possibly”, and “new” or “up-to-date”, respectively. So here it is, hold on to your seats:
German: “Er meinte, wir müssten eventuell unsere Software aktualisieren.”
English translation: “He said, we possibly need to update our software.”
Germanism (incorrectly translating the German words into the English words that sound the same):
“He meant, we eventually have to actualize our software.”
hahahahahhaha
Seriously, that is funny. This is so funny. I want to hear someone say this to me. Unfortunately, most German exchange students that come here every year have already mastered the English language, so I don’t get this kind of amusement. Well, that was my Germanism. Hope you liked it.
This last weekend I treated myself to the new Superman movie. I have been waiting for someone to make a new Superman movie since, well, since I first saw Superman 4 in the late ’80s. In general I am not a big fan of superhero movies, comics, cartoons, etc. But Superman is different. The whole legend behind superman that is so intriguing is that with Superman, Clark Kent is the disguise. With most superheroes, e.g. Spiderman, Batman, etc., it is a normal person who dons a mask to become a superhero. But Superman is the true, albeit glamorized, identity of Kal-El, whereas Clark Kent is the disguise he dons. My fascination with the idea is the juxtaposition of someone from a different planet with a completely different physiology trying to cope with earthly human life.
This is most emphasized in the ’90s tv series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. That show was more about the day to day life of Clark Kent as a reporter, emphasizing his romantic attraction to his co-worker, Lois Lane. The old Superman movies had more to do with the villains and action thrills of Superman stopping them from their evil plans. The scenes with Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent are actually somewhat dull and there is virtually no relationship between Lois and Clark, but there is definitely something between Lois and Superman. Another problem with those movies, is the addition and deletion of additional superpowers, as needed to move the plot along. Although this is a trait seen throughout the many implementations of the character. Sometimes he, or his Kryptonian foes, can move objects with telekinesis, sometimes he is strong enough to fly around the world fast enought to reverse time, yet sometimes he gets to an accident scene a little too late, because he couldn’t fly fast enough. But all in all, for their time, the movies are well made, and Christopher Reeve has been America’s favorite Superman for years.
This new movie, ‘Superman Returns’, is very interesting. The guy who plays Superman/Clark Kent was indeed an excellent choice. I captures the persona of the Christopher Reeve Superman very well. When Clark Kent, he has the same bumbling clumsiness that was included for comic relief in the original movies, but when he is Superman he takes on the deeper confident voice and is very graceful. I don’t think they could have found a better match for the role. As for the story line, there is definitely some confusion, since in this story line, Superman had a romantic relationship with Lois in the past, but there is still definitely nothing between Lois and Clark. The claim that this is based on ‘Superman II’, when Clark reveals his true identity to Lois, they fall in love and Clark gives up his superpowers to be with her, is somewhat illogical, since at the end of the movie, as again in ‘Superman IV’, Superman kisses Lois and she loses all memory of the incidents. Why, then, in ‘Superman Returns’ would she remember the romantic relationship she had with Superman, and not the one with Clark? It was the same event. The other problem with continuity, although it is a small one, is that the actors in the new movie are very young compared to Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, and this movie is supposed to take place at least 5 years later. Not a big deal, though. If I remember correctly, in the original movies, both of Clark’s adoptive earth parents passed away, whereas in this movie, his mother was still alive. I could be wrong, though. Based on the inaccuracies, I am mostly confused about the validity of the claim that this movie is supposed to be a sequel, rather than its own stand-alone implementation. However it must be a sequel, since the opening credits are in the same style, and they even cut together a lot of old Marlon Brando footage for the Jor-El character. Although, that was probably an attempt by the film studio to show off, since they could have easily used a different actor, like they did for every other character. It was neat, though. I really did enjoy the movie, and I am excited because I heard a rumor that there will be yet another movie in the next few years. The continuity holes are to be expected, as every implementation of Superman has re-invented the entire story line, as seen in the tv show Smallville, which I have also been watching lately. Examples include Lex Luthor’s changing role between mad scientist, career criminal, and business tycoon; how old Clark was when he started getting his superpowers; the vital state of Clark’s parents; the level of romance between Lois and Clark; for that matter, the level of romance between Clark and Lana Lang. Every time we see something different, but that has become so characteristic of the Superman universe, that it has become expected, and it always leaves room for new ideas.
I recently sold my beloved BMW 3-series. The guy I sold it to let me drive it today. Man, do I miss that car…
I’ve been in the blue jean market for the last year. I don’t mean that I’ve been spending the last year shopping for a pair of jeans. I mean that prior to a year ago, I worked at an auto parts store six days a week, for three years, and part of the dress code was black slacks of some sort. So I owned many many pairs of cheap black slacks, since in the auto parts store environment, no matter what you wear, your pants get trashed. You spill battery acid on them, they get all greasy, you always get them caught on those stupid peg hooks that all the products hang on. For three years, I regularly bought new slacks, but never bought any jeans. Since I would only wear jeans one day a week, I would just wear the old jeans that I had laying around with holes in them, or grease stains or whatever. If nothing else, I would wear my work pants on my days off. If they weren’t trashed yet, black slacks always look good.
Well, about a year ago, I decided to get a different job. Many different reasons, most of which involved not commuting 35 miles both ways. A friend let me know of a computer tech support position at the university. I got the job and subsequently quit the auto parts job. My new job doesn’t require black slacks. I sure wasn’t going to go buy more black slacks for a job that doesn’t require it. I didn’t really have very many pairs of jeans, though. Nor did I know what a good brand was or anything. Jeans can be expensive. It’s not like I can just go down to the store and buy 12 pairs of jeans at once.
Since I have absolutely no fashion sense at all, it is better that I don’t try to get any kind of designer stuff. I would probably look like an idiot, and I would spend too much money. So for the last year, I have been going to random department stores and picking up the cheapest normal looking jeans they had. And once again, since I have no fashion sense, I don’t bother trying them on. I know my waist size and I know how long my legs are. What are standards for? I go to the shelf, find a normal pair of jeans, which can be tricky, since people want new cool designer stuff, it is hard to find normal stuff, but they usually have them on the back wall always on sale for a few dollars less than the “standard” price. I find my size, pay, and go home. None of this all day clothes shopping for me.
Now for the rants: Wrangler’s are terrible. Lee Dungarees are worse. About six months ago, I bought a pair of Wrangler’s and have been wearing them roughly once a week to once every two weeks. and they already have a hole in each pocket, and a huge hole in the pocket where my wallet resides, so now everyone can see my wallet half sticking out. Seriously. I still consider these pants new. Around the same time, I bought a pair of cheap Levi’s. Although, I accidentally picked up a size too small, I wear them just as often, and they are still hole-free. A few weeks ago, I was at the local Fred Meyer, and I figured I would buy a new pair of jeans, since my Wrangler’s are ready to give up their ghost. Their special was Lee Dungaree’s. Well, we’ve all seen the commercial with that little puppet guy who assures us that Lee Dungaree’s are tough… So why not? After wearing them once, one of the belt loops came off. What is this? Not buying that brand again. Meanwhile, all my Levi’s are still going strong. So yesterday, I bought another pair of Levi’s. Not to mention they were the same price as the Lee’s from a few weeks ago. I think I am seeing a trend here. Mr. Strauss must have done something right. I didn’t think that brands mattered when it comes to jeans, but really, all my jeans are dying prematurely, except for my Levi’s, and honestly, I don’t abuse them. I sit in front of a computer most of the day and walk to and from classes. One would think that any pair of jeans could hold up to this kind of use…
When I was extremely young, my parents somehow trained me to be able to sleep through anything. This is an interesting development in my life, since not very many other people have this feature. Most people would like it quiet in their house when they are trying to sleep. Well, since I have this gift, I have actually grown accustomed to sleeping with sound, i.e. with the stereo on, or TV on, or something like that. It is actually a little hard for me to go to sleep in dead silence. I like to have some sound, even if it is just the hum of the air conditioning vents or a computer fan.
I have been living in my new apartment for about a month now. For at least the past three weeks, I have had at least one neighbor, that I know of, if not one on either side of my apartment. And of course when one moves into a new apartment, it is natural to kind of check out the neighborhood, in this case, the huge building in which I live. However, I hadn’t met any of the neighbors on either side of me until last night. Since I have moved in, I usually have my iTunes cranking away on random repeat, with a decent volume, so that I can hear it over the hum of the AC vents and the computer fans, and the wind blowing by the windows (yeah, I don’t pay a power bill here, so I have the AC on and the windows open). Well, because when I leave the music on and leave my apartment, I don’t hear it anymore as soon as I get out into the hallway, I assumed that the insulation is decent and my neighbors don’t hear it either. It wasn’t that loud, but perhaps the subwoofer does shake things up a bit. So, after three weeks of living next to this person, and my music always playing at roughly the same level, she decided to come inform me that it does bother her, at 2:37 in the morning. Now I feel terrible! I’ve been blasting my music for three weeks and didn’t even know it. Why didn’t she tell me three weeks ago? Is it really that loud? Maybe it was just louder than usual last night? Either way, now I feel completely terrible about the whole situation, plus I’m mad that I was awakened at 2:37 in the morning on a Saturday. It was my fault, though, and the girl next door was extremely nice about it, but now I don’t know how loud I can have my music. Maybe I should get some headphones to wear while I sleep.
So the moral of the story:
1. It is a good idea to meet your neighbors when you move into a new place.
2. It is a good idea to ask your neighbors that you just met if they can hear your music. Do this during the day time.
3. It is a good idea to turn down the music at night.
4. It is a good idea to learn how to sleep in silence.
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