Another Word for Nerd

Spreading the Media Player Love

mrbill — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:31:32 +0000

Willa (my current ladyfriend) has been using an old decrepit laptop with a bad keyboard hooked up to her TV at home to watch NetFlix instant-streaming movies. I took pity on her as the “geeky boyfriend” and bought her a Roku HD Player (e.g., “NetFlix Box”) a few days ago.

We just finished doing the initial setup and account connections via my TV and Internet connections here, and she’ll take it home with her to try out tomorrow.

awesome socks #3

mrbill — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:54:44 +0000

Today’s color: “Earth”.

awesome socks #2

mrbill — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:46:19 +0000

Today’s color choice, “Pinkle”:

awesome socks

mrbill — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:42:36 +0000

I love my new socks.

From here.

Trackballs for sale

mrbill — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:39:33 +0000

I’ve updated the Trackman Marble FX post to reflect that the three I have are now up for sale.

My XBMC Media Centers

mrbill — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:17:19 +0000

A few weeks ago, I built an XBMC-based media player to use with the 32″ TV in the living room:

I decided to make another system using an original XBox for the bedroom, since I don’t need to play HD content on the 19″ TV in there. I bought a refurbished XBox from Gamestop for $54 shipped, and picked up the rest of the pieces I needed (XBox-to-USB cables, an 8M memory card) off eBay and from a local shop. I used a 10″ LCD TV while setting it up, so I didn’t have to run back and forth to the bedroom.

Here’s the XBox after doing a “softmod” to install Linux and the UnleashX dashboard:

Here it is with XBMC installed, running the default “PM3″ theme:

And here’s the final setup. Hooked up to the 19″ TV, running the same Confluence theme as the system in the living room, with the XBox DVD Playback kit plugged in so I can use a remote instead of a wired controller.

Am really happy with both systems; the living room unit cost me around $200 total while the bedroom XBox setup cost me $90.

Another Amy Picture

mrbill — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:23:37 +0000

This is the first picture I ever saw of Amy, before I was able to meet her in person.

Mah Bucket

mrbill — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:20:39 +0000

I now seem to own a silver bucket.

Suggestions (please leave them on Facebook, not here) on what to do with it are welcome.

Hobbies

mrbill — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:30:15 +0000

A new friend taught me how to crochet last night.

The Free Hardware Fairy

mrbill — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:12:17 +0000

I’ve joked with friends that I’m the “Free Hardware Fairy” a lot lately, as I get rid of stuff and fix their computers up.

Well, it came time to setup http://www.freehardwarefairy.com/.