Random Thoughts.

Being LDS, this is one of two weekends all Mormons look forward to. We can stay at home on Sunday and watch the Semi-Annual Conference on our TV's or the WWW. It's pretty awesome that I'm sitting here and actually watching conference streaming over the internet, full screen, on my 32" LCD tv and it looks better than all the low def/analog channels I get through cable tv.

I start my new job tomorrow. The commute is going to suck hardcore. To break it down, one way to my new office equals round trip at my old office. DOUBLE GAS. Gonna suck, but whatever. I've been given the gift of TIME, haha. I managed to procure a state job, meaning awesome benefits and little chance that I will be laid off or fired (save for ridiculous incompentance). I'm really looking forward to it, even though I'll be making a little less, but in this economy and with my official education I still feel that I'm ahead of the curve... and my wife keeps telling everyone that I won't be making "a whole lot"; I have to keep correcting her.

I tried installing Apple's OS X on my laptop. Using XxX Leopard 10.5.6 Final Ver 2, I got it installed, but could only boot into it via safe mode. At least two devices won't install and both are deal breakers: the VGA (ATI Mobility 2600) and Wireless (Intel 4965 AGN). After extensive research, neither are supported at this time so I 86'd the idea for now. I may do a dual boot with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 8.10... but we'll see. It was a fun idea at the time, but after booting into OS X, via safe mode, I decided that it really isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Maybe if the VGA worked and wireless worked, I would have been more impressed. The main reason I tried was because I will have to support OS X at my new job. I've decided Windows still does the best job installing programs and, more importantly, hardware and their respective drivers for any hardware configuration.

To inflate my ego, I took a quick inventory of funcioning machined currently in my house. I'm a bit embarrassed, but at the same time, it feels cool. I'd feel cooler if my wife didn't constantly hound me about getting rid of my stuff and call me a geek. How about spending less money on makeup, shampoo/conditioner, and face cream, huh? Good night, that crap is expensive. Anyways I'm currently using the following:

HTPC-1:Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-SH Motherboard,
AMD X2 2400BE, 1G RAM, Windows 7 7057
HTPC-2:Biostar NF61S-M2 Motherboard,
AMD X2 2400BE, 2G RAM, ATI Radeon 3450, Windows Vista
HTPC-3 : eMachine AU31 Motherboard,
AMD Athlon XP 3200+, 1G RAM, nVidia GeForce 6200, Windows XP Media Center Edition
Desktop-1 : Foxconn 661M03-G-6L Motherboard,
AMD X2 2400BE, 4G RAM, nVidia GeForce 7900GS, Windows Vista x64
Desktop-2 : Foxconn 661M03-G-6L Motherboard,
AMD X2 2400BE, 2G RAM, ATI Radeon x1600 Pro, Windows Vista
Laptop-1 : Asus eeePC 1000HA,
Intel Atom 260, 2G RAM, Windows 7 7057
Laptop-2 : Asus F8SA-X2,
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, 3G RAM, ATI Mobility HD2600, Windows 7 7057 x64
Laptop-3 : Dell Latitude C600,
Intel Pentium III 800Mhz, 512M RAM, Windows XP Pro/Ubuntu 8.10
Server-1 : ECS RS485M-M Motherboard,
AMD Athlon X2 3800, 2G RAM, Windows Server 2008 x64
Server-2 : ASRock Wolfdale1333-D667 Motherboard,
Intel Pentium D E2200, 4G RAM, Windows Server 2008 x64

Whew... That does look like too many, but to be fair, 2 are servers; they just run and only have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse for troubleshooting. Only one (HTPC-1) Home Theatre PC is in use with one (HTPC-2) headed to my parents house as soon as I get out there and the other (HTPC-3) sitting in the attic... still deciding what to do with it. Both desktops are in use, the eeePC is my wifes and the other Asus notebook is mine. The Dell laptop is a piece of crap and I really only have it around to give or sell... still deciding on that.

But I'm into IT and computers, I should have a crapload of machines and parts (man, i have an attic full of crap) laying around.

Late.