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New Media Center, Windows Vista
I decided to build a new Media Center because our old one (Hewlett Packard) was sucking air. I’ve been slowly buying the parts over the last several months as I saw things on sale. The new one is pretty swank – A terabyte of storage (4x250MB SATA2 drives), 2 GB of RAM, three HDTV tuners, dual-core AMD 64 4800+, a sweet Asus motherboard, and Windows Vista Ultimate (yes, we bought a legal copy). It rocks, and we finally get HD channels on it. It’s been awhile since I built a new machine (I’m married with mortgage now), but I had forgotten how fun it is. 
Vista is taking a bit to get used to, and I’m not sure I like the new Media Center interface as much. However, as with any new OS, I’m sure I’ll get used to it and it will be old hat in a couple of months. I’ve found a fair amount of annoyances with it, but again, I’m sure I’ll get used to it. All-in-all, Vista runs very smoothly on the new machine (it really makes our old Media Center look pathetic).
March 18th, 2007 
Tags: Black Friday 2006
So, was everyone able to get everything on their shopping list today? We didn’t see much in the flyers this year that we were interested in. We did score two 22″ Westinghouse and one 19″ Samsung LCD monitors from Best Buy. Wanda and I both wanted a new monitor. The reason we bought three is because Wanda couldn’t decide between the 19″ (higher quality) and the 22″ (bigger size, more video ports), so we will probably end up returning one.
Let me tell ya’, a 22″ widescreen LCD monitor gives new meaning to the term “desktop”.
My parents also scored a Lenovo (formerly IBM’s PC division) desktop computer with a 19″ widescreen monitor from Office Depot. It has some pretty nice specs, and it was a great deal. I hope it turns out to be a good machine.
No More Printed Maps
We finally joined the ranks of the rest of the world and bought a GPS device (and I remember when I considered myself an early adopter!). I did a lot of research and asked all my friends who have one, and I ended up getting a Garmin iQue M4. I was looking for a device that would be suitable for driving, geocaching, and possibly boating. I also wanted one with voice-prompted directions, which rules out most of the handheld models. Most of the automobile models were clunky to carry. After some solid advice from my friend Kevin Roth, we decided to go for a PDA model. I had been stalking eBay for the last month or so, and I finally found an amazing deal on a used one.
We haven’t gone treasure hunting yet, but it works great in the automobile. It’s a nice little unit. By the way, ignore the MSRP on the web site, we didn’t pay nearly that much for it!
Convection Microwave
We received our tax return money recently, and didn’t fair too badly. The great majority of it we put towards the home equity loan, but we thought we would spend a portion of it to treat ourselves on a new over-the-range convection microwave oven. At first we were looking at an Amana, but we ended up getting a Maytag convection microwave. Our other applianaces are Amana, but they don’t make a convection. Being that they are the same manufacturer, the Maytag matched very nicely.
Although it’s a bit like programming a nuclear device, it works very well and looks hella sharp. Hanging the thing was quite possibly the worst thing I will ever do, especially since I don’t have to physically go through child birth.
Since our existing cabinet hung too low, we had to replace it with something more appropriate in size. We found an unstained cabinet at the Home Depot that looked very similar. The next step was to find some stain that matched. Since the polyurethane on our existing cabinets had yellowed with age, this didn’t turn out to be as easy as picking up a premixed can from the hardware store. We ended up going to a local paint and stain place and have them try to match the stain. It didn’t turn out perfect, but the average person probably wouldn’t notice unless we pointed it out to them.
Wanda did the staining (sweet), and once it dried our next step was to hang it. Before we could do so, I needed to install a new outlet in the upper cupboard, since the new microwave required the power cord be installed up through the bottom. The outlet turned out well, although I mismeasured where the hole should have been in the cupboard. Fortunately, it still lined up enough to work well.
Once the cupboard was hung and the outlet was installed, it was time to hang the microwave. Long story short – after messing around with paper templates, brackets, stripped and inadequate screws, misaligned holes, and instructions that seemed to be poorly translated to English, we finally got it hung. It looks very nice, and works even better. It was well worth the trouble.
New TV
I’ve been wanting to buy a new TV for several years. We finally went out and bought a 50″ Sony Grand Wega DLP HDTV this weekend, as our big Christmas present. It’s simply amazing. I was surprised to find it only weighed 72lbs! When I picked up the box, I thought the TV was missing because it was so light. I’ve had tube units half the size that weighed as much. The picture is quite impressive, and it has a really nice zoom feature that shows 4:3 video in wide-screen, and it actually looks good! We did a channel scan and it even found some local HDTV content. You can actually see the picture well from very acute angles. It’s the first new TV I’ve had in 7 years.
Now all I need to do is hook our DVD into the TV through the component video ports so I can get progressive scan, and maybe invest in some HDTV programming, the wife permitting, of course. For now, we have it in the entertainment center upstairs because we don’t have anything to set it on downstairs. Once we do, I’ll be able to hook it into my receiver and get some media center with Bose speaker goodness.
Wish List
My birthday is coming up. If anyone is looking for ideas, check this out. Don’t be fooled by the price, it’s close to half that price at local retailers. Yes, still expensive, but I will have this TV. Looks like I’ll need to increase the deposits in my Christmas club. 
Off-Road Segway
Check out this swank 4-wheel Segway, called Cantaur. It will be interesting to see if it’s vaporware, whether it can make it up a modest hill, and whether the average American will need to take out a second mortgage to afford it. Cool, nonetheless.
My New Computer
Christmas is just around the corner folks! I can’t wait to try out my new case, new Gigabyte motherboard with 2.53GHz P4 processor, 512MB PC2700 DDR RAM, Mitsubishi 18″ flat panel monitor, and 160GB striped RAID. What are y’all getting?
HP 200e DVD-RW
I just got myself a new external HP 200e DVD-RW drive with USB 2.0 and Firewire support. It rocks. I got it for about $30 after a $350 mail-in rebate I received from hpinfolab.com for being an employee of Best Buy. Sweet.
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