Goodwill has been a benefactor of my throwaway spree, as well as the Madison chapter of Freecycle.  I’ve given away a lot, and I’ve thrown away even more.  And it genuinely has helped create a better, more open space to live.  A lot of the stuff that I moved from Wisconsin to California and back has ended up thrown away once I really ask myself hard questions on why I’m keeping it around.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be moving spacebee in slowly but surely, and the only furniture we really have to buy at this point is one or two dressers for the bedroom (I don’t own one currently).  We’re planning on moving a china cabinet in, and that’s pretty much it.  I’m looking forward to an uncluttered space.  I’ll take some pictures once I clear a lot of it out.

[UPDATE 1 (10:12PM)]
Here’s our ideas:

1. PlaceBlog: add comments to an address somewhere in the world.
2. MosaicOnline: Create a mosaic from flickr photos (of a specific tag?) online
3. Literature Road Trip: User contribution system where you store where novels and short stories take place around the world, and when you plan a road trip it tells you what notable pieces of literature occurred at somewhere on your journey.
4. Talking Card: Upload audio file and take a picture off Flickr and then put them together where the picture is animated to talk along with the audio.

Still talking but we’ll need to get started before midnight if we want to finish by tomorrow.

[UPDATE 2 (10:59pm)]

I have seen the King of Guitar Hero play Bark at the Moon in Expert mode and I kneel before him. Trivia Note: He is asian.

[UPDATE 3 (11:53pm)]

TalkingCard it is, I’m started on the backend, our new late-night buddy Mo is on the Flash front end, and Ben is doing experiments on client-side photo mosaic techniques. MOre when we know. On the iPod: Hicktown, by my other late-night buddy Jason Aldean. This one’s for you, wwhazz.

[UPDATE 4 (1:56am)]

Problems abound as we hash out the details of this stuff.

I, on the other hand, do not hunt caged quail(s?). I hunt motherfucking apartments, and I do this with no remorse or regret. I need a place to live, and DOOM comes to the apartment that betrays my sense of fiscal responsibility or style. I’m slipping out of work today (ninja *VANISH* __/~~poof~~\__) to go check out an apartment in San Francisco. Then I’m leaving work slightly early to go to JUDD’S WEDDING REHEARSAL. In case you forgot, I’m performing the ceremony. I’m dressed to the Nines and ready to Rehearse. What? You want me to perform the ceremony while doing a handstand? A tripod would be infinitely more workable, but OK, you’re the groom.

Tommorow’s the wedding, and then this weekend I gotta get on with the get on to finalize apartment plans. USAA won’t give me auto or renter’s insurance until I actually tell them a specific address. Also, since I’m going to visit The Wirksusesss next weekend (!), I need to move my shit in a hurry. Anyone who wants to help me move, I’ll buy you a burrito and a Hey Dude! commemorative plate.

– well we’ll be right back after these messages/fellas grab your nutsacks, chicks squeeze yer breastesses

I’ve got a few ideas rattling around up here (*taps brain*) that involve switch boxes, fabrication, ROMs, a brain-on-a-platter, Street Fighter II, and playing what I am going to call the nine-course MaxiRound of whazz.

Anthony graciously offered to help me toward the General Project Goal (“Make the thing awesome.”) Due to the numerous online Jamma resources and the existence of Happ Controls I don’t think it will be too much of a problem. Fabbing out the PCBrain will probably be the toughest part.

We’re in the planning and research stages right now. Pictures and updates too come when we start it.

RAJ OUT.

Surplus Computers was having an anniversary sale today and I was able to get two 160 GB Western Digital hard drives for $78 each (not refurbished!) One is going in the Tivo as a replacement and the other is going into my regular machine as a place to rip DVDs to.

Backup of original Tivo disk was successful. I am now going to restore the backup to the new 160 GB drive. The previous drive was only 80 GB, so I should get some more hours out of it now. If the notes I read on the interweb are correct, however, the software doesn’t use more than 120 GB. I suppose if some hack comes along, I’ll be able to unlock the extra space; until then I’ll have to be happy with a 50% increase in capacity.

The restore worked successfully, so I started to install the hacking tools. Everything was installed successfully there as well. I was able to get the hard drive instaled back into the Tivo with no problems, and no it’s hooked up into the receiver and ready to be turned on. Erin’s finishing up watching a movie, so I’ll have to wait until she’s finished to see if everything worked. On the plus side, there’s been no errors in the setup process so far. If everything goes as planned we should get our Tivo back with increased capacity and a few nifty new features, like web scheduling and the ability to copy shows off the Tivo onto a computer.

Moment of truth: I just plugged it in… weird colored screens… according to the FAQ that’s to be expected… successfully got to the DirecTV screen… successfully acquiring information from the satellite… holy shit, i see tv for the first time in a week and a half.

All of our saved programs are gone, but our Season Passes are all intact, and the To Do List shows a full complement of shows scheduled to record. Looking at the recording capacity, I see it’s up to 116 hours from 78 hours. Nice.

The USB wireless adapter I’m using isn’t supported, so I’m going to have to either re-setup the network drivers with new versions, or buy a wired USB adapter. I think I may go with the latter so I don’t have to crack open the Tivo unit again.

So, in conclusion, it worked! We have our Tivo back, we have our TV back, and once I get a wired USB network adapter we’ll have some extra features as well! Thanks internet, I owe you one.

RAJ OUT.

So I had this great idea that may or may not actually work, since the hard drive is on the fritz. I’m going to try to replace/upgrade the hard drive and also install some cool hacking tools to be able to do things like setup recordings over the internet and copy shows to my computer to burn to DVD.

“How the hell will you accomplish that, Zach?” you may be asking, “Your ability to work with electronics ranks slightly above pool cleaner on the overall list.”

Lo and behold, I have found a way. If it doesn’t work, then *shrug* it was broken anyways. I might as well try some Do-It-Yourself action before I go out and buy a new receiver. Here’s to trying.

RAJ OUT.