AtomicInternet - News

RAID Fail Imminent

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

Today I was greeted with a Drive Failure(0)" alert as I booted up my main machine. Despite the warning, I booted up with no apparent issues. Curious, I started up the Intel Matrix Storage Manager to discover one of my four year old RAID drives was finally showing its age. I can only guess the error in question is a SMART alert signaling impending doom for one of my 4 drives. Daily backups from my home server eliminate any concern, so the mystery is afoot as to when it will actually fail. With SSDs still not affordable, Ill probably just dial back to a 3 drive configuration and make due with 74GB less space.

Enorymification

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

During my visit to Enorym, it was Philippine tradition that the guest get the best bed in the house. Unfortunately that was the same bed Enorym and his wife perform ciotus, so I declined after using the "Guest is always right" rule to override the bed rule. My recent entrapment of Enorym with an Xbox had him feeling a need to equalize the gift defecit refusing to accept his participation in Xbox parties as more than sufficient repayment. The resulting (attempt) to gift back yielded this jewel created by Stavos. It's nod to achivement point addiction, of which I suffer, and not so subtle gay reference immediately followed by an awkward "not gay" proclamation makes it an instant classic.

Frost Light Go

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

Every year the world holds it's breath, wondering when my frost warning light in my Cougar will illuminate. Well today is that day, and on a positive note, it's the latest it's turned on since I started keeping track. Whether this means we're in for a mild winter, or if it's another sign of global warming I can't say, but I did exercise caution for possible ice on the road as my manual dictated despite the bright sun and lack of any kind of moisture.

Halloween Bowling

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

With Senator Kelleys house cleaned for showings, his annual event was transferred to the same bowling alley Enorym had his birthday party 6 years ago. While Enorym has since moved on to California, Whiney Ho and Schwartz returned, along with Tigerbomb, Gina, Morlock and Arizona. A generous helping of $1.75 games and $2 beer contributed to the perfect mix of intoxication and shenanigans that carried over into the after party. Fun was mandated and confirmed to have occured for everyone involved, despite a showing of the crappiest Halloween movie ever. Thanks to the Senator and Lisa for all the planning, and to everyone else who showed up and prevented me from spending Halloween on my Xbox.

Focus RS is Mine!

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

Thanks to Forza 3, I finally own a Focus RS of my very own. While it's only a virtual version, it helps fill the hole created by the announcement it will not be arriving in North America in the real world. Camping trips, picnics, and long relaxing drives are all planned around the tracks in the game using my unequalled imagination. I've even set aside some time for Lisa to tell me I'm driving too fast and have some syrup of ipecac to simulate her motion sickness. NFS: SHIFT had a nice Focus ST but without the bigger engine and revoknuckle it just wasn't the same. Yet another reason to never leave my basement has arrived.

Ridin' The Google Wave

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

While much of the hype around Google Wave has died down, I was still tickled pink to find an invite in my email this morning. Enorym made good on his promise to send an invite to the beardless Senator and I and now we're riding the nerd wave of exclusive preview. So far it's just a glorified chat window as we're still ignorant of all the features, but the wow factor of seeing text appear as it's typed made a big impact. Almost like 1997 when normal BBS chat occurred real time, and like 1997 you can still out-type the transport method as it tries to "sync" the wave from time to time (bursts of text). Make no mistake I'm still happy with my golden ticket, just got too hyped up ahead of time.

Xbox Update: Facebook/Twitter

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

During a heated (and lengthy) game of co-op Borderlands I was presented with a "you've been disconnected from Xbox Live" message. On reconnecting, a dashboard update that could only be the preview program downloaded and installed. After rebooting, I tried out the facebook and twitter apps only to be mildy disappointed by their simplicity. Almost half the facebook status posts contained web links or videos which were not accessable on account of no browser included on the Xbox (you win this one, PS3). Twitter was equally simple but there's less to miss with the service. Last.fm was almost identical to their web interface, but since I can't play it while doing other things I'm sure it's use will be rare. Overall some neat additions but hoping they update each with additional features in the near future. My need to kill scrags approaching a critical level, I re-joined the game I got booted from and savored the sweet release of scrag death.

Home Server Add-On: Lights Out

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

With my home server running 24/7 except for vacations, it felt like a waste for the 80% of the week I wasn't using it. As a die hard hippie, it was with great sadness I finally accepted all things home server revolved around constant uptime. Well that sadness is finally over after I discovered the lights out add-on. Now it only runs when I need it, saving power as well as wear and tear on the system (only cycles 4 times a month). If you stumble across this and actually HAVE a home server, you'll need to disable the SBCore service first, and the easiest way I found to do that is here.

Jeffordswoofer

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

After 2 years of asking for a subwoofer install, the cosmos finally aligned during a pumpkin smashing trial at the Morlocks and put Jeffords in close enough proximity to my barn during a warm enough day to activate the event. Although a full hour over my initial estimate, the Jeffords is now fully bass enabled, at least to the limit of his 150 watt subwoofer. Thanks to the Morlock and Canada who both lent a hand during the ordeal. Despite the lack of a dedicated subwoofer output on the radio head unit, it was a relatively straight forward procedure and the result is clearly the work of professionals.

Red Dawn in Detroit

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

After cheering my sister on in her 26.5 mile marathon I strolled through Fort and Griswold and stumbled upon this puzzling scene. Knowing there was no real police station in the area I immediately concluded it was a set for a movie. After asking a construction worker at the site he confirmed it's a set for the new Red Dawn with Chinese and Russians in the new version (instead of Cubans and Russians). The set looked awesome, and I'm proud to say my tax money helped pay for production. I just better get a free ticket out of it.

Desk Desecration

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

A week vacation gave my co-workers plenty of time to desecrate my cube, but I never expected it to reach the degree that greeted me on my return. From pink purses to a pink poster board castle border, there was clearly over an hour of time invested in it. Respectful of the art, I continue to work at the desk as-is until it falls down on it's own.

On a Boat!

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

Last week Lisa lost her cruise ship virginity on Carnival Victory during the 2nd anniversary of our legally binding contract. The week long cruise included St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Kitts. It was a magical mystery cruise of waterfalls, rain forests, beaches and monkeys stuffing my face with food the entire time. Even though it wasn't a Disney cruise, we spotted Wall-E loading shipping containers in Barbados and a tree monster in Dominica. We also met Chris Rock and Kanye West while at the beach. Who knew celebrities were so accessible in the Caribbean. Our return trip was far more exciting than the cruise as a mad dash to the airport resulted in missing our flight by one minute and resulted in a $800 return flight that I thoroughly enjoyed paying.

Enorym on Xbox

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

After shipping a refurb Xbox 360 to Enorym, along with a follow up care package of my old HDD, HD cables and Stavos' old DiRT game I was finally able to add Mnstrtq as an Xbox friend. Words cannot describe the elation I experienced finally having a virtual representative of the friend who left me over 6 years ago back in my living room. His conclusion that the Xbox was a gift is amusing, and he seems to genuinely believe it. Clearly the subliminal programming from Microsoft was the real cause, and I've simply spread the disease like a virus to his house. Just another minion in the growing Xbox LIVE zombie army Microsoft is breeding for world domination.

In The Wrong Hole

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EST

My inability to laugh and move on when it comes to these types of music videos must be a neuron firing deficiency deep within my brain. The normal response is to watch it once (maybe twice) and move on with your life but I'm now on the 45th listen and can't stop. Same problem with on a boat, yip yips and hundreds of other memes intended for one or two playthroughs. On the plus side if I come up with a name for it I can use to get out of just about any responsibility.
He Puts It in the Wrong Place - Watch more Funny Videos

More bigger hard drive

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EST

My inferiority to Duane and Stavos with regard to Xbox 360 HDD capacity is a thorn in my side no longer. Knowing a 20gb would have been fine for many more years, the need to feel equal to Duane and best Stavos became affordable at $60 for the 120gb drive. While the auction listed it as *new* I quickly discovered why it was $60, and am pretty sure it's just an old 20GB HDD case with a 120GB HDD thrown in. Despite the warning signs, I went ahead with the content transfer using my previously obtained content transfer cable and a little over an hour I was relevant again. With all the pirate signs on this adventure I'm sure I'll be in Xbox jail soon, but for now I have 80GB free for whatever strikes my fancy.