AtomicInternet Archived News

Archived News starting from 11-29-2011 and earlier

The recent projector wars prompted an official measurement of my equipment configuration. It was witnessed by the Senator himself, so these can be counted as independantly verified. My Epson 8100 projector and Yamaha RX-V467BL reciever currently pump out content from my Samsung BD-C6500 blu-ray player and Xbox 360 Slim. The projector throw distance is 13.5 feet, diagonal screen measurement is 118" (9.8 ft), with a width/height of 103" x 57" I only have lowly Killz paint for my screen as well, no fancy screen goo like the Senator.

While I did not participate in the waffle riot for black Friday, I did find a fantastic deal on a king size bed. The Sears outlet had "remanufactured" Sealy posturpedic mattress with "titanium luxury satin pillowtop" which essentially means really comfortable bed that dropped out of a truck in transit. The total $700 price tag for mattress and box spring (supposedly 75% off) was realistically 30% lower than any other pillow-top price I could find in a few other local mattress shops I perused. After sleeping on it I can confidently say those still stuck with Queens or smaller are not living your life to the fullest. If you can't find your own dropped mattress, swerve into a Sears truck and if a mattress falls out follow them to the store. It's worth it.

While turnout at this years November LAN was low, it did feature Battlefield 3 which is quite possibly the perfect game. Keeping with the trend of the last LAN, this one was exclusively Xbox 360. With little distraction, we powered through conquest and decided to go ribbon chasing in squad and team deathmatch. We also had remote Myrn who participated in the event with enough catch phrases to make up for the lack of actual people present. Here's to hoping the Jan LAN has more heads up for better attendance.

Today Senator Kelley purchased an Epson 8350 projector. After helping with the setup I realized I was bested on multiple levels. The 8350 is 250 model points better than my 8100, throws a screen 5" larger than mine, has 14,000 more contrast and 200 more lumens. He even has screengoo paint to make a better wall. My brief years of superiorty have been crushed, which can only mean I must now buy the 3D projector everyone at his work is ranting about. Only then can the universe be in order once again.

The only single-digit palindrome day I'll see in my lifetime, unless we all end up getting digitized into a retirement matrix or find a way to harness the immortality of cancer cells without the drawback of dying.

Even though I'm not allowed to talk about fight club, I want to shout about it from the top of the highest hill! After getting into the latest Xbox LIVE beta (every one so far, this post might jinx that) I was excited to post a beacon and brag about the life defining achievements I have via built-in social sharing. Aside from that not much else changed, I'm still waiting for the Windows Phone companion app that will help me feel better about being an outcast.

At 6:00pm today, minutes before I arrived home from the wasteland of Detroit, our crappy power grid succumbed to the high winds. While not surprised, I was a bit annoyed at the timing having hoped to get a few hours of Battlefield in. The wife demanded her television be returned to operation, which became my immediate priority. Once the generator was up and powering the TV and refrigerator, we watched "Cedar Rapids" while our neighbors enjoyed the stone age. More importantly, Lila didn't have to spend one minute doing something other than watching TV. The power eventually came back around 8:30pm, but the cable modem refused to come back in time for any Battlefield action.

One of the many pleasures of living in a northern climate is the annual leaf pickup required to keep grass from suffocating and landscape rocks from turning a deep brown. This year, however, I had the assistance of baby which made the task entertaining. Between fits of giggling and attempts to eat the leaves, she commented on how unnecessary this task is south of Georgia, and that we might consider moving to that area if we truly loved her. I made sure she understood the reason we don't live there is because Lisa loves her parents more than her, and if I had my druthers we'd be living in sunny Florida selling beach rental equipment by the ocean. Satisfied, she let out a celebratory fart.

After 12 years of reliable operation, my Cougar finally found itself in a completely immovable state. Only 15 minutes after informing my carpool I planned to drive the Cougar through the winter, all transmission shifter operation ceased. A firm believer in the personality of inanimate objects, I'm convinced the Cougar simply did not want to drive in the snow. A quick check of the cables under the shifter and visual confirmation of movement on the top of the transmission was all I needed to call the tow truck while TomTom stood watch as rape guard. Three days later, with a $900 estimate I told the dealership where to shove it and towed it home with the obligatory bumper destruction that always accompanies my tow-dolly adventures. Further inspection revealed the problem to be inside the transmission, which means the Cougar gets its usual winter slumber as I wait for warmer weather to properly fix it.

Enter a word or words to search for:

---

Find articles posted by month: Jan (1) Feb (2) Mar (3) Apr (4) May (5) Jun (6) Jul (7) Aug (8) Sep (9) Oct (10) Nov (11) Dec (12) 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

1549 Total Articles
4361 Total Comments
Top 10 Commented Articles
Your Xbox 360 Wants 802.11N	45
Jan LAN Dual Core Part 1	37
Comment Party Great Success	31
Gravatars	28
Deflowering of a Morlock	24
Cougarfest 2008	23
Plasma Lives!	22
Sonic Update	21
Verizon WinPhone7?	20
Gutting My Cougar	19
Top 10 Commenters
Stavos	1346
MorlockPrime	552
Excelcier	487
tim	235
R1OT	195
AtomicInternet	166
enorym	164
Senator Kelley	131
E1	114
Duane	94