by Matt | Mar 7, 2005 | Culture
I’ve been asked in the past few days to try and explain this whole “desktop customization” thing. I’ve tried to find a reason for it, a reason why I enjoy it so much, but I can’t. All I know is that it’s easy once you get the basics down and that there are so many basics to get down that the web litteraly contains thousands of pages devoted to mundane things like changing and icon. Group those with sites about background wallpaper, helpful widgets and windows themes and you have yourself a community. A friggin’ huge one. Sites have been created to round up folks like me and provide a sort of group theropy by letting us show off all our cool ass desktops in monthly threads about desktops themselves.
It’s an odd hobby I admit, but believe it or not it’s one that I enjoy. I suppose I enjoy the challenge of hacking Windows to bits and redoing everything that could possibly be customized. That, and on the rare occasion that someone sees my computer, I love to get those “what operating system is that” or “how are you doing that” comments. They hit the floor when I tell them that pathetic old Windows is running and OSX-esque dock bar, interactive icon labels, a media player strait out of a scifi movie and that half my desktop moves, blinks, jiggles or is interactive in a dozen other ways.
Anyway, I figured I’d write up a little guide to help explain all this and break down the past of customization into easy to handle chunks. So, press on dear reader, click that read more button…
(more…)
by Matt | Nov 26, 2004 | Culture
Well, NewEgg does it again. Not only did they process my order quicker than lightning, they also shipped it on Thanksgiving and I have it in my hands at this very moment. Wow. I’m impressed.
So, tonight will be upgrade night. I’ll take the GeForce 4 out and stick in my shiny new 6600GT. I’ll probably put the GeForce 4 into Lauren’s computer so I can use it as a “camera” to record BF1942 games or maybe I’ll stick it in the old computer and find a cheap hard drive to put in there, put it in the entertainment center and load all my NeoGeo, Nintento and Arcade roms onto it. Who knows.
Lauren’s brother is also supposed to come over tonight. After my upgrade we’ll fire up some system-linked Halo 2 and order a pizza or something.
Should be fun.
In non-game related news, this weekend is the Texas Teen pageant. I’ll be stuck working that all day tomorrow and half the day on Sunday. I’m sure that’ll suck.
Turkey Day was also tasty down here in Texas. The biggest difference is the lack of brown gravy. Everything is white gravy around here, and I’m not touching that stuff. Typically I’d make up a plate with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and a few odd side dishes and then cover the whole things in brown gravy. Alas, there was none to be found… but Lauren’s uncle does make a mean Cajun Fried turkey, so that kind of makes up for it. Who would want to put gravy on spicy Cajun goodness anyway?
I hope everyone had a nice break and a restful long weekend. Cheers!
by Matt | Nov 21, 2004 | Culture
Ok, I said I’d tell you the longer version, and here goes. About mid-morning yesterday I fire up Thunderbird to check my mail. I typically leave it open most of the day since TB has a nifty little tray-notifier when I get new mail. Well, around noon the thing starts going nuts. Mail is pouring in and its comment notifications from my journal. Of course they’re all spam. I look down at the bottom of the email expecting to click on my MT-Blacklist link and ban the sucker. The link isn’t there. No problem, I’ll just do it manually from the website. Open my browser and I can’t get to the page. Not good. So then I try my main MT control panel. Can’t get that either. Panic starts to spread. I figure maybe someone’s hacked the MT install to make my life miserable by sticking in as many comment spams as possible to raise the rank of their zoo animal sex site. So, as a last resort I fire up my FTP program. I figure maybe I can reset things manually. FTP can’t connect. More panic. I email Chip.
Thankfully the problem with the FTP is that we’ve moved over to something more secure. So, crisis averted but my Movable Type install is still messed up. Well, since I didn’t have a local copy of a 2.x install I had to download 3.1 from the website. That also means that I had to upgrade MT-B as well. After some fooling I got it to install and fix whatever problem it was having. After that I installed the new version of Blacklist and at the moment everything is going nicely. It’s a temporary fix but it’ll do the job. So, I’ve activated MT-B as well as comments again and I’ve turned off TypeKey authorization, so people can comment freely without having to create an account, BUT I set it up to not allow comments on entries older than 14 days as well as comment moderation. This is only temporary. Once everyone comments on something (hint, do it now please) I’ll be able to “allow” your comment which will be remembered by MT. So, the next time you make a comment it should go strait in. I’ve also told MT to delete comments I don’t moderate, so, the spam will just sit in the pending box for a few days before being deleted.
It was kind of the long way around, but I’m glad I actually upgraded. My worry about the whole TypeKey thing was a bit much considering you can turn it off and there are quite a few more options to deal with comments when you do. So, it’s all good.
In other news, I had quite a surprise from work. A nice little bonus to specifically buy a new graphics card. A big thanks to my boss for being so cool. The only problem is that the card I want is out of stock at NewEgg. 🙁
I’d like a XFX GeForce 6600GT AGP. They have plenty of the PCI-express versions, but since I loath PCI video cards in the first place AND to use a PCI-E card I’ve have to get a new mobo and power supply, I don’t think that’s going to happen. AGP please.
The reviews on the card are solid. It beats the ever living crap out of a 9800 Pro and is dead even with a X700. Since I don’t have $400 for a 6800GT, this little screamer will have to do. Not a bad card for $220. The only thing is that I haven’t heard anything about the brand name: XFX. As far as I know, that card is 100% a Nvidia reference card, which isn’t saying its bad, it’s just been re-branded.
I’d really like Gainward or BFG or VisionTek to come out with a 6600 AGP card. I’d be all over that like white on rice. Who knows, maybe by the time NewEgg has it back in stock they’ll be more than one 6600GT AGP card on the market. We’ll see. I can’t wait to get it and fire up HL2. Yeah babe!
by Matt | Nov 21, 2004 | Culture
Hey, quick update guys. If you tried to access this page yesterday you more than likely were treated to a “I fux’ed things up” temporary page. Well, the site is back up, but the comments are not. I’ll give you more details later but basically in order to fix the problem I had to upgrade MT-Blacklist to 2.x, which meant I had to upgrade MT to 3.1. Since MT3 uses an optional comment registration system, I turned that ON and turned OFF the actual part that does the authenticating. So… you have to be registered to leave a comment… which you can’t be, because I turned it off.
So, all this has forced my hand at a redesign and I’ll be working on that this afternoon. This site should look completely different by the end of next week (or mid-week there-after if I’m too busy over Thanksgiving).
Just an FYI.
Journal = working
Comments = off
by Matt | Sep 24, 2004 | Culture
I was browsing around for some new interesting t-shirts when I found THIS. Tell me that doesn’t resemble Chip in some small way. I think I know what Chip’s getting for X-mas this year. Just think of it, Chip wearing a Chip t-shirt. It would be like Broady’s t-shirt from Mallrats, only cooler.
Also, if you’re waiting for HL2 and foaming at the mouth like I am, check this out. Announced today, HL2 collectors edition… and it has a FIRM street date. Yeah baby, November 1st will be a red letter day to be sure.
Lastly, you’ve just got to have one of these. Or this, perfect for wondering around Bean-Town.
Matt out.
by Matt | Sep 4, 2004 | Culture
I’ve officially run out of space. Everywhere. My closet is full of crap from NH. My desk is still a “temporary” desk and barely holds my 21″ monitor, let alone my mouse, keyboard, speakers, Clie cradle and lava-lamp. Yes, I said lava-lamp. The drawers are full, the desk is cluttered. Next to my desk are 6 (!) 100 CD spindles that have yet to be filed or organized. My two hard drives are also full. I’d burn files off my hard drives but whats the point? I’d have to start a 7th spindle. It’s ridiculous. I’d like to get a nice desk, something along the lines of this. Oi.
That’ll have to wait until after I get that winning lotto ticket. That and what I really want, a GeForce 6800GT. Anyone feel like being a rich relative I’ve never met?
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