September 2006 Archives

The Tivo in the family room came with 75 hours of recording time, which seemed like a lot at the time. Over the years everyone put in the shows they wanted to record, and with some proper maintenance we made everything fit.

With the new season upon us, we had hit the limits. First, we started recording Rachael Ray every day, so we can burn it to DVD and send it to Cindy. Between the four of us, we also started recording a lot of the new shoes, to see if they're worth watching. We still record a few things for Jason to watch when he comes over, too - Bill Maher, Kings programming. Add it all up, and we were overextended.

The solution: a Tivo upgrade from Weakness.com. They sent a new 160gb — the largest that would go in without an OS upgrade — along with a new mounting bracket, new quiter fans, cabling, tools, the work. It took me about an hour to do the upgrade - I worked slowly to make sure the existing programming wasn't lost or damaged - and I'll admit to more than a little trepidation when I plugged it in after the upgrade. It came up without a hitch, and the System Information screen showed a new total capacity of 207 hours, give or take.

The first DVD writer from Newegg was DOA, and the replacement isn't expected until Friday at the earliest. With the new capacity, and the ability to burn off some of the older shows (along with weekly dumps of Cindy's Rachael Ray shows), we should be good to go for the foreseeable future.

I grabbed this off of the "borrow and return" shelf at the Country Inn and Suites in Tuscaloosa. I found the ending a little harsh - it almost seemed like the author got tired of writing and decided to close things down in two pages instead of the thirty it deserved.

Sue Grafton's Alphabet series featuring private eye Kinsey Milhone, in a pseudo-Santa Barbara named Santa Teresa.

• "A" Is for Alibi (1982)
• "B" Is for Burglar (1985)
• "C" Is for Corpse (1986)
• "D" Is for Deadbeat (1987)
• "E" Is for Evidence (1988)
• "F" Is for Fugitive (1989)
• "G" Is for Gumshoe (1990)
• "H" Is for Homicide (1991)
• "I" Is for Innocent (1992)
• "J" Is for Judgment (1993)
• "K" Is for Killer (1994)
• "L" Is for Lawless (1995)
• "M" Is for Malice (1996)
• "N" Is for Noose (1998)
• "O" Is for Outlaw (1999)
• "P" Is for Peril (2001)
• "Q" Is for Quarry (2002)
• "R" Is for Ricochet (2004)
• "S" Is for Silence (2005) §
• "T" Is for Trespass (2007) §
• "U" Is for Undertow (2009) º

† = acquired, but not yet read
§ = unowned
º = not yet released.

Book on Algorithms

COWS Ajax

A fantastically funny comic from xkcd:

Due to some problems at the hotel, we arrived a couple minutes late for our scheduled volunteer shifts at the Museum, but the volunteer coordinator had already left, and it was apparent that they would not be busy enough to need us. We headed out early for Tuscaloosa, with a stop in Athens, AL for lunch. We're getting a little road-weary when we arrived, so we watched a couple of movies while I did the laundry. Miss Congeniality and Ella Enchanted.

Carole caught up with her e-mail while I watched the NASCAR race from Fontana. We both enjoyed seeing the mountains and sunset from home.

Cool. Nice lunch.

A short driving day. The Ramada Inn in Bowling Green is kind of dumpy — in spite of their claims to being "newly renovated". We "explored" the Kentucky countryside northeast of the museum - it was fun.