Bah! something went wrong with my Media Center scheduled record of a few shows tonight!

I managed to get Alias, so all is well, but I didnt get Lost or West Wing recorded.

Obviously there is some more tweaking to be done here!

Sorry for the short blog, I’ll post a more entertaining one later in the week.

I’ve come to a disturbing realization … actually a few of them.

I have realized that I have been for the past two years, every single day, growing angrier … and fatter. In fact each has been getting worse and worse and a pretty astonishing rate.

I’ve crunched the numbers and if my calculations are correct (and they very nearly always are) I predict that by the year 2008 I will have become the ever present embodiment of rage, despair, and all things dark.

While I’m not sure sure if being the center of darkness is necessarily something I want to avoid, I am pretty sure I want to get away from being ever present thanks to shear girth.

Something has to be done about the growing larger and larger issue … but lets face it, if you’re going to be a center of darkness you really need to be THE center of darkness … otherwise you’re just some angry and depressed guy.

This is however a problem. I’m pretty sure I know what I have to do (however painful) about the girth problem, but solving it and it alone will leave me only a minor force of evil (and I don’t do minor things … it’s just not my style).

Besides both issues are starting to take their toll on my health … so I have to … get … happy or something as well as less fat. How do I shed the growing darkness, while shedding the pounds?

This is a harder issue to solve.

I’ve thought about moving. Someplace warm and sunny maybe? I’m not sure this will help however as I am currently convinced the world is made up of two types of people: 1) complete idiots, and 2) Me. I doubt I could escape that no matter the climate.

I’ve thought about quitting my job and becoming a sage religious philosopher living as a hermit somewhere … but I’m far to fashionable for any of that.

I’ve thought of taking a vacation someplace nice … but Fat Forces of Darkness^(tm) don’t really do well on vacations … it’s alot of wasted time … and I’m not rich enough to waste time abroad.

Hmm … maybe being a lesser force of darkness isn’t so bad … it’s just so exhausting.

My uber new laptop comes with a duel TV tuner usb thingy and Microsoft Media center … it makes my laptop work like a Tivo-like device.

It’s AWESOME!

The interface is very slick and it’s really easy to use – even comes with a remote … and … the computer will wake up out of standby mode in order to record! So I should never miss Alias again. I can even with the touch of a button burn a recorded show to DVD.

The only downside is I have to watch the recording on my laptop (which isn’t a big deal because it’s got a huge very nice display … but I have a very nice TV too which I’d love to get this going on). I could display it on my TV, but I like the setup I have with the laptop in the other room.

Anyhow, I can setup a recording of various series and watch them on the laptop should I miss them on the TV. Woo Hoo!

Well, for those of you who may not know, I took this week off from work, and went home to Rochester.

It’s very late Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) and I’m writing this blog from my brand new laptop. That’s right, I got it … and yes … it’s uber. 3.4GHz, 1gig of ram, 256MB of dedicated video memory (ATI card), and a 17inch screen that puts desktop displays to shame. I didn’t expect the laptop to become my “main” computer … but it just might.

I’m not in Rochester through the weekend – I have to go back on Friday to make sure I make it back to Kimberly’s going away party. But I have a few more days here. I’ve actually got alot of things on my “to do” list while I’m here believe it or not.

One thing I’ve got done on my free time is fixing a few problems on DavidMeade.com. Among other things, I’ve installed the FireFox browser on this laptop (and I LOVE it), and I got the site looking correct in FireFox (Taylor, I haven’t noticed any login issues with FireFox). Thanks to the other fixes, I have now been able to add a feature for you registered users … you can edit your comments now!

Tomorrow I hope to get the redirects working correctly on the site, and Thursday I’d like to finally get the News and Guestbook sections fully migrated over to the new phpBB system. Once that’s done I’ll be adding some RSS and XLM site feeds.

Anyhow, all is well here … I’ll be back in Chi-town this weekend.

You can now edit your comments and posts to davidmeade.com! (You must be a registered user) So if you make a type-o or misspell something … you now have the power to fix it!

Hi all, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve fixed some bugs that were being seen on the site after my hosting company made an upgrade to the phpBB systems on their servers.

I also have been using the Firefox browser lately – it’s AWESOME. Watch for some style enhancements for those of you using Firefox.

Thanks for putting up with the bugs.

The hotel was dark enough to mercifully disguise how dirty it was. It was large and well out fitted … and probably at one time had been a nice place, but it wasn’t anymore.

I walked down to the small bar near the lobby and took a seat two stools down from Sydney. Vaughn was next to her on her right; they seemed to be having a good time.

They noticed me when I ordered a drink and each prolonged their smiles while they evaluated how to react to my being there. I let them off the hook and shot them a smile.

“Hey” said Sydney.

“I didn’t think you were on this.” said Vaughn.

“I’m not,” I smiled “I’m here … on business.” I explained with a sideways nod. They gave a nod.

I knew what their mission here was, I’d been at the briefing – but they didn’t know why I was here. Vaughn looked perplexed and pressed the issue a bit. “It’s unrelated?” he asked.

I shrugged as I turned back to my drink. “So it seems.”

Sydeny indulged in a playful and wry smile and raised an eyebrow. “So,” asked Sydney “what’s your mission? Is it Hot?” (“Hot” is the new “Cool” or “Sweet” … “sweet” is so five minutes ago).

I really wanted to tell her, because it was cool (I can’t say Hot … just can’t do it… a gorgeous female super spy can do it…but I can’t). I wanted to tell them all about the amazingly cool and dangerous mission I was on and would in a matter of minutes begin. And I knew they wanted to hear it. But I also knew, as did they, that all of that would have to wait until we were all back home and had been debriefed. I turned to her and smiled. “It’s just a mission.”

In the distance from the corner of my eye and through the large ferns in the seating area I saw a man walking past the front desk. He was important to my mission. I took a final swig of my drink and put it back on the bar as I quickly turned from the two and distractedly offered “I’ll see ya’ later”.

Unfortunately, this is when my alarm clock went off and I woke up. I really wish I’d gotten a chance to find out who that man was, why he was important, what my mission was that I was so excited about, and how Sydney and Vaughn would inevitably be involved. Why was I, an operative, REALLY in the same shady hotel half a wold away as two others? What was it about my mission that I so wanted to tell them?

DAMN ALARM CLOCKS!!

DAMN THEM ALL TO …. ALARM CLOCK HELL!