I got a Spanish-language call from 509-362-9994 today. Other sites claim it says the callee has won $500.
It was a nice reminder that one of my goals this year is to sue a telemarketer.
January 2010
Myth clues
I’ve been resigned lately to having my Myth Frontend not keep pace on playing back HDTV content. My theory has been that the laptop PC I’ve set up for this task is just not peppy enough.
Well, today the kids were watching the latest NOVA episode and I noticed that the every-two-second blip seemed to sometimes stop for 10 or more seconds at a time. The content, however, seemed to be just as intense as before. This seemed to tell me that the frontend hardware is capable of keeping up with the HD stream but something else is keeping it from doing so.
I’ll have to investigate all the little performance tweaks for the frontend to see what might be the magic step.
Highlights of 2009: GPS talks at Conn Elementary
One of the most unexpected joys I had during 2009 was my series of GPS talks for fifth graders at Conn Elementary. It was October 2008 when I stumbled into this unusual speaking gig but January 2009 was when I finally tried it. Soon the accolades poured in and I felt like a star.
It’s hard to stay away from the spotlight once you’ve had a taste of fame, so I signed up for repeat performances again, again, and again. Each time my presentation seems to improve and the kids seem more engaged. I’ve also used my connections to find neighborhood speakers for other topics, too.
The GPS talks have allowed me to see what teaching is like, if only for an hour every other month. I’ve found that it suits me. There is nothing like seeing a kid light up when learning is taking place and he or she discovers the answer. It’s addictive, and just one of the many ways I choose to give back to the community.
Highlights of 2009: Municipal internet
I got a whole new education in politics in 2009 with a few visits to the North Carolina General Assembly. Now-Former Rep. Ty Harrell sponsored H.1252, a bill written by Time Warner Cable that would effectively prevent municipalities from offering Internet service. Because this was the second time in two years we’d seen this activity and it happened right as Time Warner Cable was moving to cap its users’ Internet usage, I felt I had to get involved.
What did I do? I teamed up with others to get the word out about how bad a bill this was. When word got out that Chapel Hill would officially oppose this bill, I successfully convinced Raleigh to do the same. With a lot of hard work, a little luck, and some big friends, we got the bill shelved. For now, at least.
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Netflix streaming with the Samsung BD-P1600
For Christmas, my parents gave us a gift card to apply towards a Blu-ray player that could stream Netflix. I did some research on models this morning and picked out what I wanted: the Samsung BD-P1600. I don’t own any Blu-ray discs and may not ever. All I wanted was a player that would excel at streaming Netflix movies. If it could play discs too, well, so much the better.
I spent the evening playing around with it. How does it perform? Fantastically. On the first power-up, it took several minutes for the system to download an apply a firmware update. After that, though, it’s worked very well. I was stunned at the picture quality when I tried streaming some movies: it’s amazingly good. So much so that I’m not at all surprised now that the big cable companies are shitting bricks over this technology. The writing is on the wall for cable TV: I have 12,000+ titles of movies and television shows available for watching anytime. Why would I want to saddle myself with a costly cable subscription?
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Highlights of 2009: Elections
There was a city election this year and once again I found myself in the middle of it. I pitched in with the campaigns of Rodger Koopman and Russ Stephenson.
Kelly and I hosted a meet-and-greet for Russ that had to get moved to a friend’s house when our daughter suddenly got sick. I also recorded a robo-call on behalf of Russ that went out to the neighborhood. We were happy to help Russ as he’s been helpful to our community. Then there was the all-day poll greeting I did, which I find is an odd combination of being exhausting and yet strangely energizing.
Unfortunately for Rodger, a reelection was not to be. In spite of my efforts he was defeated. I believe part of his undoing were the Wake school board elections, which brought out the angry voters. Still, Rodger may not be at the table now but he’s not through with politics. I’d like to see him take one of the Wake County Commissioners seats that will undoubtedly go Democratic this year. We’ll see.