Author: James Asher

Free Mini Mac and Free iPod Shuffle

James Asher8 Comments

If you haven’t heard, which you should have by the way, Apple announced two new products at their annual MacWorld conference: the Mac mini and the iPod shuffle. I won’t go into great detail about either one of them, as there are already tons of reports on them. However, I will quickly explain what they are.

The Mac mini is a Mac computer that retails at $499, the cheapest Mac to date. It comes with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor, however. If you don’t like your current PC, all you have to do is buy a Mac mini and replace it.

The iPod shuffle is a flash based iPod. It comes in sizes of 512MB and 1GB. Unlike the regular iPod and the iPod mini, there is no display to speak of. Thus, it is quite tiny.

That’s about that. Now, I want one of each, just because. So, from the people who brought you FreeiPods.com, Gratis Internet gives you:

Now, hook me up! Thanks!

Insanity, The Ride

James Asher5 Comments

Last spring break we, meaning the boys and I, went to Las Vegas. One of the attractions we found through Vegasguy.com, which was well- reviewed of course and we ended up visiting was the The Stratosphere. Not a bad little place, well, unless you ask my dad, who went with us. He would say some not-so-nice things about it. Nonetheless, not too bad. One of the things we did was go to the top of the tower. It’s the tallest U.S. building west of the Mississippi River. We did the X Scream and the Big Shot. We heard the High Roller was kinda crappy, so we didn’t do that ride. I, and the rest of us I believe, would highly rate the Big Shot, not so much on the X Scream, but to each their own.

Now, to the point of this post. While watching tv, the precious time I do get to watch it that is, I caught this show about new stuff in Vegas for 2005. And what happened to come up, but Insanity, the ride. Looks a lot more thrilling than the others. Wooo doggy. Just figured I’d let everyone else know it exists.

This would also be a cue to the boys to start planning for our next trip back to Vegas!

My Up-coming DVD Collection

James Asher14 Comments

Ah Kansas City (Overland Park, really, but whatever). I have but one real friend here. I work all the time – at least 9 hour days, usually a little more. After dinner and maybe a trip to the gym, I’m usually reading a book on Access Programming. I guess that would make time for work or work-related things increase to around 12 hours. Nonetheless, with the little amount of free-time I do have, I don’t really do much. This coming weekend I’m going to Manhattan and Wichita, for picking up my mail and to a wedding, respectively. Odds are, I’ll be venturing back to KC on Sunday. So that leaves me one day to get little stuff done, like go to Wal-Mart, Target, etc. So, what can I do to during my down-time?

Oh, you had to ask, didn’t you? 😉 The answer is two-fold: NEC ND-3500A and Netflix.

I’ll briefly detail why I made the choices that I did.

First, the NEC ND-3500A. This is, arguably, the best DVD burner on the market today. Really, it was a toss up between this one, which is featured in Ars Technica’s November 2004 God Box and the Sony DRU-710A, featured in Maximum PC‘s Best of the Best. It should be noted, however, that Ars Technica tends to make recommendations for hardware prior to it being widely available. Also, Maximum PC is a magazine, so things are a little slow. The only difference that I can see between the two is that the Sony has an 8x write speed for DVD-R, whereas the NEC has a 16x write speed. Everything else is the same. Oh, I guess the NEC is also $26.00 cheaper.

Now, Netflix. This was a toss-up between Blockbuster and Netflix. If I were still in Manhattan, I’d have gone the Digital Shelf or Hastings maybe route. But, I’m in KC and I don’t have much free time. You may have heard about the little battle / price war / whatever between Netflix and Blockbuster. As far as I know, it ended and the result is that Blockbuster’s monthly rate is $15.00/month and Netflix is $18.00/month. Not a big difference. Also, I should note that Blockbuster also gives you two free in-store movie or game rentals each month.

So why did I choose the more expensive one? Well, Netflix has been in this business a lot longer than Blockbuster. And by this business I mean the DVD through the internet/mail thing. Netflix is known across the board for getting you movies very quickly. As in, usually one day. Plus, I’ve heard from people who’ve used both and are going back to Netflix. They cited a bigger catalogue of movies. So that’s nice. Plus, Blockbuster just seems very Corporate and I’m very not. Well, when I can be.

And that’s about it. Pretty soon my DVD collection will rival that of Barrett and even, dare I say it, Collin. W00t.

5°F, Feels like -6°F­

James Asher4 Comments

­Ever since I moved here completely, last Saturday, I haven’t seen sunshine. It’s been overcast the whole time. What started that Saturday is only now – Thursday – starting to end. I’m glad too. Apparently this was the winter storm of ’04 – ’05. This is in comparison to the big winter storm of 2002 ( I think ). I was in that storm too, ironically also in Kansas City.

Yesterday morning I had almost a solid inch of ice on my windshield. Glad I woke up a little early to start the car 20 – 30 minutes before I had to leave for work. Today I did the same routine, however the second I walked out of my door, I realized it was much colder. The wind was what sent the cold to my bones. Geeze! When I got back inside, I checked the weather to find out what the actual temperature was: 5°F, feels like -6°F. Yeah, cold.

Thankfully the next few days are all starting to get warmer and there is no more rain / sleet / snow.

I Am A Genius, Really

James Asher2 Comments

I completed my move to KC on Saturday. For the rest of that day and the next, I spent all my time unpacking. During this laborious task, I came to realize that I am, in fact, a genius. There were three notable genius-moments:

Fixing my desk
During the move down, my desk got a little beat up. My dad strapped down the pieces so hard that it ripped some of the boards right off the screws. Hmm, how to fix this problem? I mean, I did just buy this desk a few years ago, it’s still perfectly good. The solution: Liquid Nails. Fill up some of holes with that, and you’re golden.
Agglomeration of all things entertainment related
Now sitting in the corner of my living room is my big TV, with no inherent RCA jacks, my five disk DVD changer, a Nintendo 64, and a regular 8-bit Nintendo. Oh, and a 2 channel RCA switcher ( I also have a 4-channel if I need it ).
Agglomeration of all things food related
What do you do when you really don’t have that much space for food? You become a genius, like me, of course. It seems that most of my pots / pans / cups / plates / glasses / etc. take up most of my cupboards. I also have no pantry to speak of. My solution: just put all my food in the refridgerator. Can’t hurt it.

And that is the list so far. I’m sure there will be more, I am a genius and all.