Exstatica

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a total nerd, I would say geek, but something about biting the heads off chickens just doesn’t do it for me. But ya never know I’m always up for trying new things. This post is going to get semi nerdy and if you can’t follow along I’ve gone ahead and sectioned off the extreme nerd part, so just skip over it if you like, or not, frankly you probably will read it anyway so I don’t care and is mainly for my own personal amusement.

# Extreme Nerd Alert #

A few months ago I bought a new TV. My first HDTV. I’ve had Verizon Fios for years but just never plugged in the HD service because I was waiting for the right tv. I have this huge storage array I call Tiger, its a server that runs gentoo, with about 4tbs of storage. I keep all my music, and ripped movies on it for easy access. My old media PC wasn’t cutting it anymore. It was an old Athlon 1.6, and only had S Video out on it. I wanted HDMI and 1080P streaming. So I built a new Media PC or HTPC. After a bunch of research I landed on the ZOTAC GF9300-D-E. I loaded it with the following specs

• Pentium E5300 2.6ghz Dual core processor
• Corsair 4gb ram
• 250gb 7200 rpm Sata drive

All in a APEX MI-008 case. Although the stock CPU would not fit which I read was going to be a problem, was not an issue since we have a stock of them at the office for servers and usually its not hard to find a low profile one. Problem Solved. I loaded Windows 7, because I wanted the full Media Center experience. I used to be a MythTV person, but it just took too much work to keep it running, and updates and everything were just out of control. Plus with MyMovies, now my movie collection is organized and it looks amazing.

Screenshot of Movie Screen

It has a built in collection management, It can handle seasons of TV shows which is a big deal for me since if I really like a TV show I’ll save it.

I have not however hooked it up to the Cable. Verizon Fios DVR is just too good to let go. Plus I hate dealing with compatibility of the IR and crap.

Anyway, I’m very happy with my setup, I had a full keyboard and mouse setup. It worked great but was a little big to manage especially for casual browsing and making changes. So yesterday I went on a new keyboard hunt. I searched all over to find a new one and finally settled on a Logitech diNovo Mini. The thing is beautiful, tiny, and rechargeable. It will go perfectly with my Logitech Harmony 880.  I’ll post a proper review of the Mini keyboard after I’ve used it for a while. The remote is nice, I have to spend some more time with it since I need to make adjustments here and there so things do what I want when I hit an activity. We’ll see. But its all coming together nicely.

# End of Nerd Alert #

So onto the Home Security Section. A recent episode due to a friend of a friend of a friend caused my house to be broken into. While they took nothing of mine, except some pillow cases, a few laundry baskets, they took his turn tables, mixer, and a few other things. Either way it could have been much worse. Said friend is no longer living with me, and I have my house to myself again. But who says they won’t be back to take the really good stuff.

I came across a post on LifeHacker the other day. Vitamin D turns your webcam into a security cam. You see I have lots of old webcams, and network cameras that just are too much of a pain to always watch. Thats where Vitamin D comes in handy. Its currently free and I’ll probably buy it if they add remove viewing ability, but its a feature it currently lacks.

I have it currently setup in the only access point of my house. The front door and the large windows pretty much cover the major area of where all my toys are. I have 3 views. One from the TV in, One from the Back to the TV, and One from the Side to the front door. Pretty much there is no way you can walk into my house and not be caught by a camera.

Yes I own a rocking chair, why would you not want one? and Yes its a little bit of a mess because I was up late last night coding so eat me. I do want to do a side project with more cameras. I want to record the movements of the cats over a time lapse of a few days. I have a feeling that there are patterns that they use when they go place to place. I have 3 cats and I have a feeling they take turns in different areas. Although I don’t think the rotation is every 3 days, I think its more like a few weeks, I’m not sure I can record that much. I’m gonna see if its possible with some sort of camcorder and external drive. If I can get 2 weeks worth of sunrise to sunset. I think I can have some awesome video. If you know of a good way to do this let me know.

On another note, I did finally get a Couch (yes I was couch-less. we can blame the last breakup. I also replaced my entertainment center with the one you see pictured. Its very nice, and much more organized. The old entertainment center was more of two end tables pushed together and a board on the top. Yes it was ghetto, but it worked until I found something I really wanted.

The next big purchase is a new TV for the bedroom. Thankfully the Bed has already been purchased. I had to cancel and order and cancel it a few times to get it right, but the new Select Comfort is coming soon. I know its expensive. Like 2k expensive but if you think about it you spend about half your life in bed. I don’t know about you, but I love sleeping (not that I get to do much of it).  On that note, I’m going to make like a baby and head out.