November 2005 Archives

I was reading this article today and it just amazed me. There is another article on it here as well. SBC owns 60% of Cingular and Bell South owns the other 40%. SBC acquired all of AT&T other than its cellular wireless division. The cellular portion was merged into Cingular. This process has been going on for at least 12-18 months. Now that it is almost finally done SBC has decided to take on the old AT&T name since they believe it has a better history behind it. I am not sure if I agree with that or not.

The more interesting part is the potential that Cingular will also take on the name of AT&T (with or without Wireless in it). After countless millions of branding dollars have been spent to merge the Cingular and fromer AT&T Wireless business and customers the idea of this is just amazing. To just totally waste the brand awareness that has been built would to me just appear to be stupid. I guess I don't make enough to understand how to waste millions.

I did indeed recieve my 360 on Wednesday before leaving for my parents house. I decided that rather than have it sit unopened in my house tempting me for the next 2-3 weeks I took it up to my brother. We unpacked it last night after I braved the snowstorm on my way to Pittsburgh. It was about 11 PM when I got there so we decided to hook it up in basement rahter than my brother's room next to where my dad was sleeping.

The TV we hooked it to in basement is a 20+ year old 19 inch TV. It doesn't have composite in so we had to route it through a VCR first. Let me just say that playing it this way will allow me to enjoy it that much more in 720p glory at 101". We played each of the games a bit. Mostly split screen. Call of Duty 2 and Perfect Dark Zero aren't a whole lot of fun with only two people playing deathmatch. PGR3 was pretty good split screen and I could even tell the difference a bit between PGR2. The one we played the most was Co-Op Kameo. It seemed to survive the most on this display device.

There were points that the text was so small and fuzzy that we couldn't read the menus to select options. Playing this way you don't really get the feel of the next generation gaming glory. I also didn't have it hooked to the Internet so I couldn't see what live could do. One thing I did notice is there is only 12 GB free on the 20 GB drive out of the box. I guess I will have to investigate what is on there later.

Now I have even more incentive to finish my basement and get my 360 back to play.

According to UPS they were estimatiing a Monday delivery of my XBox. This was odd since it was sent Monday via 3 Day select which should have gotten to me no latter than Friday. However it has made the journey KY to OH to PA to MD as of yesterday. It shows as out for delivery now as well. I will be home shortly to retrieve it so no ideas.

I am not allowed to play it however until I am done with basement. No distractions, which it would be a major one of.

Last night about 5:30 PM Lindsay called me and said they were going to replace both the front and rear seals, but I wouldn't need an entire new transmission. They said last night the car would be done Friday. Then today at 10:30 AM they called and said it is ready. Apparently they weren't busy this morning and fit it in. I guess I will go get my car back and head up North tonight.

Well I got my shipping update from EB today. It is shipping via UPS from KY. Most likely it will be here Friday, but maybe Wednesday. I will track it tomorrow once it is moving. I have made the deal with myself that I am not allowed to play it until I get basement done. Maybe if I am to a point that I can do no more, like waiting for drywall then I can open. Just have to wait and see.

Ok so when last we left our intrepid hero (that's me) his car was left in Chantilly in hopes of rapid repair. Today's journey began at 10:45 AM. I got a call from Mike my helpful service dude. He said API the provider of my extended warranty had rejected the claim. Pohanka had diagnosed the problem as a faulty front seal and as a result wanted to replace the transmission. I called API to try to get their side of the story. They said they wanted further diagnostics to prove that it needed a new transmission and further they would prefer a rebuilt or used transmission. Pohanka said they don't do rebuilt transmissions only new, which I must say I would also prefer. The two options API suggested were to take it to an Aamco shop or to go to the dealership that I originally got it from and who sold me the warranty. I wasn't too enthused about the Aamco option so I started by calling Lindsay where I got the car and who has done all the major work on the car including the 90K checkup recently. I explained the situation to Lindsay and they thought most likely they could just replace the front seal. Lindsay wanted to look at to make sure of course and they thought they could deal with warranty company.

At this point I had to get my car from Chantilly to Alexandria and I of course couldn't drive it. I left work at about 11:30 AM and headed home to grab a few things. I then headed down to Chantilly from home about noon. On my way at about 1 PM I called AAA to get my car towed from Chantilly to Alexandria. Luckily I have a Plus account that allows for up to 100 miles of towing. I got to Pohanka close to 1:30 PM. I had to of course turn in my Pohanka loaner and hope to get one from Lindsay. The tow truck showed about 2:30 PM. He hooked me up and then said he had to pick up an explorer. We went to get the explorer in Fairfax. He had originally planned to take me off the flatbed to tow and put the explorer up. He figured out he could tow it though so he just but it on the rear skids. The owner of the explorer took about 30 min to show. We then towed the explorer to the auto shop in Manchester Lakes. After that we headed over to the Lindsay Lexus Service Center. We got there about 4:30 PM. I checked in my car and got a loaner. This time it is a Chevy Trailblazer. I left Lindsay at 5:00 PM.

After I left Lindsay I got stuck in some really nasty traffic. It took me 2 hours to go this 1 mile from Quaker Lane to Telegraph on Duke St. To give some idea I stopped for gas and got a Subway sub at gas station. While I was doing those two things the truck in front of me didn't make it the length of the gas station. It took me a total of 3.5+ hours to get home to finish off the day. It was so much fun.

The worst part is Lindsay may find they same thing and get same result from API tomorrow. At that point I will probably go ballistic since the dealership talked me out of Lexus extended warranty and into API one. Updates will come as needed.

I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with Karen today. We managed to make it to the movie in spite of my car trying to stop us. We went to the Fairfax 14 theater and the theater we were in was huge. Even with the huge theater it was sold out I would imagine.

This is the 4th Harry Potter book adapted into a movie. One of the things that was done in this movie was to skip over a lot of the back story that has been in previous movies. Things like showing Harry at his Aunt and Uncle's house and his arrival at the Weasleys. The first 13 chapters or so were done in the first 15 minutes of the film. While some would argue accurately that these points are an important part of the story there is only so much that can be fit into a 2:30 long movie. It enabled the movie to focus on more of the core story. I really liked the movie, possibly the best yet. I would say if you liked the other Potter films you will like this one, however if you haven't seen any potter movies yet you won't be drawn in by this one.

Today I went down to hang out with Karen and watch a movie. I had a couple or errands to run before the movie so I went to pick her up about 11:30. She came out and said "your car is smoking". I was like nah it is just steam or something. I have great faith in my car's internal diagnostics they often seem to be even over protective. We left and headed to the first errand. Every time we stopped at a light the smoke returned, which seemed bad. I pulled over and we couldn't figure out what it was. We started driving again and then shortly stopped again. This time I immediately looked under car and could see the smoke was coming from exhaust and there was a liquid dripping rapidly and pooling on ground. I moved car back and saw that the liquid was red. Called Roger first as he is the most knowledgeable car nut on my speed dial. He said it is most likely transmission fluid. This is bad especially considering the speed it was leaking out. Luckily I was within a few miles of Pohanka Lexus. Even more luckily their service department is open 7 days a week 6-11. They set me up with a loaner RX330. They called while I was at movie and said I would need a new transmission. I have an extended warranty until 100,000 miles and they are double checking that I am covered tomorrow. Most likely I again will be driving a loaner RX330 to my parents for Thanksgiving. Karen pointed out that it could have been much worse if it had happened on way home later this week, I still could have lived without this complication. We even made to the movie on time after all this drama.

I actually didn't work much on basement on Friday night. I went shopping to gather supplies for the weekend. Most of it was wire straps. On Saturday I went and got some more insulation. I also made some random trips to get more wire straps. I am doing my best to keep the wires in place and out of the way when doing other work.

On Saturday and Sunday I mostly worked on wiring. I got all the conduit run on Saturday and then fished the speaker wire through the conduit. I also got all the electrical runs back to the panel. At this point all the electrical is done except for individual lights. Once I get the lights in I will run those lines, but they don't have to go to the panel which will make them easier. I ran the satellite and Ethernet wires as well. I decided to run some lines to the area where the sump pump and refrigerator is, just in case. Never know what I might think of in the future.

I spent easily 20 hours working on the basement this weekend. This time all alone, I almost finished a complete book on my iPod. It helped to keep my mind of other things. I also had to go into work a bit both on Saturday and Sunday.

I don't think I am going to make Thanksgiving completion date, but I am accelerating and making progress every day. For sure I will make Christmas.

My dad showed up about 4:30 PM on Friday. We started by going over my list of what I wanted to do this weekend and making sure what we needed to get. We then made our first of the seven weekend trips to Home Depot to get some lumber and other odds and ends.

We started Saturday morning by disassembling the existing sump pump. We dug out the bottom of well to make it a bit deeper. We drained the well and quickly realized that the pump doesn't only deal with rain water. Apparently the well is below my houses very own sea level. Water just seems to bubble up from the ground at a pretty constant rate. We kept having to drain it with my dad's wet dry vacuum. We assembled and glued the remaining pipe pieces.

While we waiting for the PVC cement to dry we started building the final wall section. It was a normal wall with no windows or anything. It worked well except for one small problem. The water pipe that goes to the outside hose outlet came down a bit at the corner. My dad had to chisel the corner down to make it fit below the water pipe. After the wall we went back to the pump.

We assembled the final pieces of pipe and set the pump into the well. My dad then started filling the well with water to get it to run. It ran once without issue, and then we filled it again. The second time became this weekend's water incident. The pipe strap on one of the rubber couplings wasn’t quite tight. It worked its way loose and the pumps very sufficient water pressure began spraying like a sprinkler all over the basement. My dad unplugged the pump and we figured out what happened. I mopped the floor to remove the majority of the water. Then my dad went back and tightened all the pipe straps. After that the pump as worked perfectly as far as we can tell. No leaks anywhere along the piping.

After the sump pump we made the framing to go around the gas meter that is conveniently placed in the middle of the wall in the basement. Not too much to it, just two 12" wall pieces. The last thing we built was the frame for my rack. I ordered it last week to make sure we got the sizing right. It is a Middle Atlantic SRSR-X-24. We made sure to make a solid floor for the rack to mount to, since it will hang out and have some serious leverage.

Sunday morning we started on the riser. The riser is 5'x9'x10" with a 10"x8'x7" step on the front of it. Let me just say, when drawing up the plans for this and imagining it somehow the size didn't come across. Once it was built it is far bigger in practice. We built it with 24" O.C. supports and 3/4" plywood on top. I bounced up and down on it so I am pretty confident it will hold chairs and people. The last thing we built was a square base for the sump pump well. That way I can put a lid on it and make it as unobtrusive as possible. Especially now the pipe that was 5 ft in the air is now gone.

The last thing we did Sunday was to go to Home Depot for the last of the seven weekend trips to get some lumber. This time I got some medium grade lumber to make some shelving out of. I am going to make some recessed shelving to hold DVD's. I am going to have some shelving for TV DVD and then a new arrivals shelf for visitors.

My dad left about 12:30 to ensure he could get home before dark. At this point all the major construction is done. I will be able to do everything else by myself until the drywall. I will have professionals come in and do the walls and ceilings for drywall. The last piece I will need help with is mounting the Linacoustic and fabric on the walls. I think both my parents will come down to help me with that in 2 weeks or so.

My dad is returning again today to hopefully finish up the items that I need help with. I will update later on progress.

A little over a month ago I was chatting with Karen online and we were talking about Busch Gardens. She mentioned she would like to go, so I said we should. Thus a plan was born. We decided on a weekend and she booked the hotel. We went down last weekend.

I met her at her place about 4 PM on Friday and we started down. We tried to stay of 95 due to traffic and that worked to a degree. Anywhere within 100 miles of DC on a Friday afternoon is trouble though. We got down to the hotel about 10 PM and checked in. One of the requirements Karen had was a 24 hour pool and hot tub. We took advantage of it before going to bed.

We got up Saturday and headed over to the park. We got into the park a few minutes after opening at 10 AM. We started with a 4D show of an R.L. Stine story. After that we went on the Loch Ness Monster and continued with many roller coasters. It was a little chilly and only was a high of about 50. After the sun went down it cooled off even more. We wanted to get some knit beanies. We couldn't find any we really liked the most basic and normal was a Budweiser one. Yes I support Bud as well it seems.

We rode every roller coaster at least once if not more. The best was Apollo's Chariot I think. We were able to ride it three times. The second best was Alpengeist, which was our longest wait of the night. The newest ride was the Curse of DarKastle, which was an interesting combination of a roller coaster and 4D effects. We passed on all the water rides.

Like many amusement parks Busch Gardens does an end of season Halloween setup. It is called Hallowscream at this park. Most of those attractions started at about 4 PM. The attractions were rated 1-5 pumpkins as far as scariness. The first one we went to was an alternate show in the Oktoberfest hall. It was rated 4 pumpkins, um not quite. It was more cheesy than scary. After that we walked through one of the haunted houses which weren’t too great either. We finished the night at their Halloween version of the magic show. It was pretty good.

At the end of the magic show Karen took pity on my chilly wimpy butt and ended the evening. Once we got back to the hotel we again took advantage of the hot tub, which really helped after the cold day.

Sunday after checking out we went to Colonial Williamsburg. We walked around the area for a few hours. We didn't get tickets and go in because I was a little tired, and Karen saw I wasn't really up for it. Maybe next time. It was a really fun weekend.

After not going to any amusement parks for almost 10 years I managed to go to Disney World MGM Studios and Universal Studios with Jess and Six Flags and Busch Gardens with Karen this summer. Kind of amazing. Wonder if I can keep up the trend next year.

Apparently on some of the latest Sony CD's they are installing a RootKit to ensure their DRM is enforced. This is just as bad as some of the viruses that are out there now. If Sony infects my machine and allows other things to infect it can I sue them?

Check out further technical details here and here. Oh and I believe the two sites I linked to far more than I would ever believe Sony on this one.

One more tidbit I found in the comments on Mark's blog. This is the author of the rootkit asking for help. Scary stuff.