Welcome to Orcmid's Lair, the playground for family connections, pastimes, and scholarly vocation -- the collected professional and recreational work of Dennis E. Hamilton

Recent Items
 
Pictures from Home
 
Seeing Double
 
Candling Phish
 
Pent up Blogophilia
 
All-Clear #1
 
Microsoft Scores for Respecting Its Customers
 
Difficulties of Wireless Mesh
 
What Is RFID Technology?
 
Hark, Is That an Arphid That I Smell?
 
Lady Bugs for RFIDs?

Simple Geek Pleasures

Microsoft Windows Media - Windows Media Player 10.  I know there is all of this fuss about competing with Apple's on-line music service.  I don't care about that.  What I do care about is enjoying MSN Radio Plus over broadband.  Except it has been intolerable to use because it operates in a browser window, colliding with my other browsing, including for blogging as well as research and study.

That all changed today.  I can stop fretting about convincing MSN to give me my money back.  (Radio Plus was also crashing IE6 on the adjacent computer that I was using for a glorified radio, always while I was on my rowing machine when I didn't want to stop the reps to go fix it.)

  Relief at last.  Now I can pretty much have it all my way with Media Player 10 right where I want it.  What a joy: fingertip audio while I work away with speakers cranked up, basking in the broad-band improvement of my favorite content.  A new tune buffers up and I become squirmy/wriggly with this idiot grin and a soaring heart.

Such a simple thing.  I don't even care about the beta aspect of the experience.  It will only get better.

Listening to

beta.radio.msn.com Classic Rock via Media Player 10:
    Journey "Don't Stop Believin'";  Rush "Fly By Night / In The Mood";  Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine";  Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb";  Genesis "Seven Stones";  T. Rex "Electric Warrior";  Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe";  Allman Brothers "Melissa";  Cream "I'm So Glad";  Quiet Riot "Cum On Feel the Noize"; Boston "Smokin'";  Aerosmith "Walk This Way";  Lynyrd Skynyrd "Simple Man";  Bachmann-Turner Overdrive "Roll on Down the Highway";  Tom Petty "Learning To Fly";  Yes "The Gates of Delirium";  Allman Brothers "One Way Out";  Van Halen "And the Cradle Will Rock"

Preparing for

Vacuuming the basement and cleaning up the kitty litter so we can dine and then watch a DVD in the lab (we only have computers, no TV) with Vicki's friend Anna Maria, who called to let us know she's here from Los Angeles visiting her family.  It will be great to see her.

Working on

enjoying the U.S. Labor Day Weekend by backing up Vicki's system and installing XP Pro, SP 2, and Office 2003 while she's busy throwing pots for The Puyallup Fair, starting September 10.  I've not seen ZZ Top before.

Watching

Something's Gotta Give on DVD (last night), a film that we missed somehow and I finally brought it home.  I am wary of comedies almost as much as musicals, wondering if I will sit through something dumber than sappy.  Then I enjoy myself anyhow.  I loved this movie.  Tonight's selection is The Butterfly Effect.

Have a great weekend.  It's back-to-school time.  For me, it is time to get cracking on my M.Sc in IT dissertation project, so I guess I had better come up with a topic [;<).

posted by orcmid at 9/3/2004 07:48:52 PM