Merry Merry and Happy Happy!

Not much new here. Just watching the clock until 5pm CST6CDT rolls around. Then, I'm off until after the new year!

Please note that I have added a new link for my site. You can now peruse what's currently in my CD library. Sort of (I'll explain that in a bit).

I'm using a program called Music Collector from Collectorz.com. It's probably the best software of this sort that I've come across thus far. I paid money for it so I could get access to the HTML export feature.

The other feature that helped clinched it for me was Gracenote/CDDB support. FreeDB is not a bad alternative. My ripper of choice, audiograbber, uses it. But, I've found the entries on Gracenote to be a bit more ... reliable. Plus, I usually don't have the problem of finding multiple entries in CDDB like I do occasionally in FreeDB.

So, anyway, you can see what I've at least loaded into the software version of my library. The physical library is hovering somewhere near the 1000 range. You'll notice the online catalog is only in the 200 title realm. Sooner or later, I'll get them all in there. And then you can see how much money I've wasted on music.

Welcome home, again!

Well, if you're reading this post you will notice that it's been over one month since my last update and that it now resides at a new home, jskang.org.

After my wife had problems with her e-mail forwarding service through her provider, she suggested that maybe it was time to get that server for home.

So, here it is... sort of. It's not fully here yet. In fact, you may see my blog in particular get moved elsewhere on this server. Not sure yet. I'll need the wife's input on that.

Anyway, other than that, it's just been work and my daughter. Oh, and I just brewed my first batch of homebrew, a nut brown ale. Here's hoping it turns out OK!

This is some serious bidness...

SCROTAL SAFETY COMMISSION.

Know your facts about this horrendous condition known as "Testicular Torsion".

Will someone PLEASE think about the children?!?

End transmission...

DS is on the way!

IGN.com's article on the Nintendo DS launch.

New ATI Catalyst UI look

Thanks to AnandTech for this news that ATI has changed their Catalyst driver control panel. It is now based on .NET as the backbone.

I guess it's time for another Catalyst update for me!

GmailFS for file storage that's out there on the Internet.

GmailFS allows you to access your GMail storage space as if it were another network mounted filesystem. Linux-only as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, that's pretty neat that someone's gone ahead and done this.

"Fable" Reviw

IGN.com has posted a review of the hotly anticipated RPG for Xbox. I can't wait to get this game!

Sexy paper!

Origami Underground is a site featuring origami with a more "adult" theme. Everthing is available on the Internet!

joetron2030

joetron2030 is my LiveJournal thingy. Although I can't blame anyone but myself for getting roped into this, I'll blame the almighty "sugarrooster" for enticing me with stuff about Alton Brown updates and whatnot.

Eh. Just add it to that pile of other stuff I shouldn't be playing with because I've got a bazillion other things that HAVE to be done instead.

Preview of "Fight Club" the video game for Xbox

GameSpy has a preview of the upcoming game based on the movie "Fight Club".

The mother of all CPU codename cheatsheets!

AnandTech has an updated cheatsheet of AMD and Intel CPU codenames to actual chips. Handy as all getout!

Cheaper P4s on the way.

The Register reports that Intel has cut prices on a pile of P4s. With the release of Doom3, the impending release of Half-Life 2, and having seen in performance tests that with the latest top of the line graphics cards that the CPU is now becoming the bottleneck, don't you deserve a CPU upgrade?

Cheap HDD!

CompUSA has a 160GB Seagate HDD (7200 RPM, 8 MB, ATA/100) for $60 after rebates. Yeah, I know. Rebates suck. But, it's still $60!!! $60!!!

New game mirrors US political race

The Political Machine is a new PC game that allows you to act as the campaign manager for the office of President of the United States! No demo available yet.

Yup, you'll need to fix that...

A list of programs that may get broken by the Windows XP SP2 upgrade.

You knew it had to happen!

This here song is in the key of minor.

The 25th annual Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Festival is a-going on this weekend.

And, The Foghorn String Band is making an appearance. I know "Sammy" Lind. And, I tell you, these guys are great. If you can find their first album, I definitely recommend picking it up. I wish I could get up there to see them play (haven't yet seen them live) but I don't think it will happen.

Without out it, I'd be a zombie in the mornings. A. Really. Cranky. Zombie.

I love this mug! I'm almost tempted to buy one. Now, if they only had the graphics on a travel mug... I'd be all over it.

Tentative list of titles for Nintendo DS

GamePro.com has posted an early list of games that are under development for the Nintendo DS.

Just throw it on that pile of other stuff I'm already supposed to be doing...

phpBB.com's forum software is another in a long list of projects that I'm supposedly working on at work. I'm always willing to try something new, I suppose.

Currently listening to: DJ Krush "Jaku" (German import).

[H]ard|OCP - The Official DOOM 3 [H]ardware Guide

[H]ard|OCP - The Official DOOM 3 [H]ardware Guide. Get on it. What are you waiting for? Next week, you!

Now that thar is a sexy phone!

Motorola touts 'razor thin' metal mobile. Rrrrowrrr...

Nintendo DS redesigned...

According to The Register, the Nintendo DS (next-gen handheld) has been redesigned from what was seen at E3. Looks nice. I want!

Yes, I am a babo!

I recently became the owner of babo. He's cute, eh?

[H]ard|OCP - id Software's Official DOOM3 Benchmarks

[H]ard|OCP - id Software's Official DOOM3 Benchmarks

There you have it. I'm pretty sure the game will be playable with my Radeon 9700 Pro on a 2.4 GHz with 1GB of RAM. Besides, I rarely play at a resolution higher than 1024x768 and I'd happily play it at 800x640 (or whatever) if need be. Now, if only my RMA'd card would come back to me!

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the heck out of Champions of Norrath right now. I picked it up soley because Best Buy had it on sale for $19.99 this week. I'm a dark elf shadowknight. My character's name is "yö mämä"!

Futurama, Vol. 4 on DVD

Futurama, Vol. 4 is the last set. That's some sad stuff right there.

Doom 3 release date!!!!!!!1111111!!!!!

Doom 3's (PC) release date has been set. 03 Aug., 2004. Wow!

w00t!

Byte and Switch has mentioned the company I work for in a list of 10 storage firms that are making it successfully without the aid of venture capital funding.

The Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro

A review of the retail version of the Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro. w00t!

dream machine...

A story about a machine that induces dreams of your choice.

A tiny leap of faith...

Well, I've made the switch, though maybe not as drastic a switch as you might think. I've gone from using the Mozilla suite of tools (web browser, email, etc.) to using Firefox and Thunderbird. Like I said, not as great a leap as switching from IE to Firefox or Mozilla might be.

One of the unintended benefits in making this move to Firefox is that I can now browse The Sporting News' Fantasy Source Baseball site. It was something that I could not do with Mozilla.

The downside is that I now have to leave Thunderbird running all the time to check my primary personal e-mail account. I wonder if there's an extension to Firefox that can handle that...

Ay carumba!

What sucks is that my Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro graphics card has decided to go on the blink. So, now I need to RMA the thing and wait for a refurbished one or a replacement. In the meantime, I'm running with a similar card but a slightly older hardware revision.

What would be nifty is if Hercules would replace it with one of their 9800 Pro cards. But, I'm not holding out much hope for that.

I finished Full Spectrum Warrior over the last weekend. I was playing it on the easier difficulty setting though. So, I've started it again on the harder difficulty setting. However, I also enabled a few cheats. I'm not too far in so I'm contemplating ending it all and trying the US Army version that's included instead.

Another MPR pledge drive. I already gave so this feels like torture. But, they probably need the money since federal and state funding keeps getting reduced.

Long time, no posts (again)

It's because I've become much busier at work but you'll have noticed that I haven't been updating this much as of late.

The game getting most of my free time as of late has been Full Spectrum Warrior on the Xbox. Though, it hasn't been without it's hassles. (I apparently received a bad copy of the game. I could barely play it because of the constant stuttering of the video and audio. I was worried it might be the dreaded problem with the varying DVD-ROM devices used in various revisions of the Xbox. But, I exchanged my first copy of the game and everything is peachy keen!) This game rocks. Much fun.

At work, I've been busy getting up to speed on our HyperIP product. I'm hoping it goes flying out the door and I can retire at 40. Hey! I'm allowed to dream, aren't I?

I've also been busy learing the basics of XML. I'm trying to get the documentation side of my work life as far away from M$ Word as I can. So, I'm looking at ways to implement the use of DocBook as a solution. Problem is that everyone is so used to WYSIWYG editors that finding an editor that allows that feature and still uses the DocBook DTD has required an effort and a half!

Well, I think that's enough for now...

More details emerge on the Phantom gaming console by Infinium.

Wired News has more details on the Phantom gaming system/service by Infinium Labs, Inc.. Looks like it'll be a subscription service where the gaming "console" is free for a $30 per month fee. Or, you can buy the "console" outright for $200.

Mama mia!

The Register (UK) has a review of the newly announced ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition. Lordy!

Kevin Garnett is NBA MVP. FINALLY!

ESPN.com has a nice write-up about one of the worst kept secrets in the NBA from over the weekend, Kevin Garnett receiving the nod as the NBA's MVP. Yay!

The Register

The Register reports that the next generation Xbox's specs have been leaked. Whether or not these are the real specs is a whole other matter. The goodies: three IBM PowerPC G5-class 64-bit processors, with graphics driven by ATI's R500.

Attrition Security Rant: Anti-Virus Companies: Tenacious Spammers

Attrition Security Rant: Anti-Virus Companies: Tenacious Spammers is a lovely rant about how AV software shouldn't be sending e-mails by default in response to receiving an infected e-mail.

PSP global launch in November?

The Register reports that in an interview with Playstation.com, Sony Europe chief Chris Deering suggested that the target date for a global launch of the Sony PSP (the highly anticipated Sony handheld gaming platform) would be sometime in November of 2004. w00t!