Day two with my WD TV HD Media Center has proved very useful in my hard drive cleanup. I now have all of my music on my portable HD synced with the music on the server. I have also gotten all of my movies sorted. I did find one problem with my .mkv (Matroska) files. If the audio is setup with dts surround sound, the audio will only play through the optical audio out. So, if you are going to be using .mkv files with dts surround sound, make sure your system can handle it (through a receiver usually).

The difference in quality of my .avi files and my .mkv files is substantial. The .mkv files are absoultely gorgeous, while many of the .avi files are a little less than the stellar beauties they had once seemed to be. I guess I will need to go through and encode eveything as .mkv files now. Future project.

Last night when Josh finally decided that he was fed up with his computer not being fast enough, we went shopping. I of course was happy to tag along. I managed to procure a WD TV HD Media Player.

For $100 I can now play all of the videos, music and photos I have stored on my external HD on my Entertainment center. So far in the first 24 hours, I’m happy with it. HDMI and 1080p output, I’m happy. I’m learning lots of new tricks about it and I am forcing myself to organize my files. I have procrastinated on this particular task a lot. We won’t talk about that. I managed to get all of my videos organized. I realize now that I need to get folder images so that it can display them when I am browsing over the media center.

I am still keeping my archos 605. It still works great and I love that I can access internet video and music streams from it. The media center is strictly for my external hard drive files (which is essentially a backup of the server).

Ooh, I think I need a nap after all of this tech fun.

The past two times I have had x-rays done at the dentist I noticed that everything seemed to vibrate horizontally when they actually took the x-rays. The first time I had my glasses on. The second time I did not. Tomorrow I am having x-rays done at a different location, so I will be testing to see if it happens again. Has anyone else experienced this? Just curious if I am losing my mind. I swear I am not. The dental assistant had never heard of the vision shaking/vibration. I’m not sure I will like whatever results I find because it is either weird or bad.

So work is a bear and by the time I get home, I’m too tired to do much of anything. Go figure.

I have been visiting my parents on the weekend. Helping my mom get out of her packrat ways. She went through a patch where she was constantly getting things that someone “might need” down the road. She inherited that from my grandmother. She’s breaking out of that habit, but there is a lot of cleaning to do.  I’m chipping away a little at a time until I find the right spot to just crack into. A couple more weekends hopefully.

I am bringing back my love of skirts. I found some really gorgeous ones and bought them. My only problem is getting my shoes to coordinate. Who would have ever thought that I would worry about coordinating my clothes. I’m growing up I guess.

Other news. I’m waiting on my cupcake! I’m waiting for Android 1.5 with cupcake to magically arrive on my phone. I am very curious about the new system. I’ve seen it, but not played with it. I have avoided downloading any new apps for my phone to see what comes with the new upgrade. I know the official list, but who knows what little eggs we might find.

Well that was a ramble if I’ve ever written one. Sorry about that.

I have the hiccups. That’s been a while.

I have been gainfully employed for over a year now. It feels good. I know going back to school was worth it, but I did feel bad about being in school and Josh being the only one bringing in an income. Now I am too and that makes me happy.

I like my job. I am pretty busy and sometimes a little stressed, but at the end of the day, I know I have laughed more than I have frowned. The people I work with either in my department or my employer as a whole generally make me happy. There are the Debbie Downers but not enough to keep me down. So it is all good. I’m glad that I get the opportunity to work with new technologies or to do things that I normally wouldn’t if I worked anywhere else.

I’m going to try to start posting more of the things I discover in my searches for work. I’ve been bad about it, but I have folders on my machine at work and here at home full of links related to things I have had to research. So, sometimes it might get technical around here or I might post something crafty here instead of in my craft area. I do get the opportunity to be crafty while I am at work. Thank goodness!

Ah, the hiccups are gone, so perhaps that means this post is done!