Revue Review Part Deux

So for the first time in my life I won something with a retail value greater than something found in the quarter machines my 4 year old is obsessed with. I was one of the 10,000 people selected by Google to take the Logitech Revue for a spin (I am pretty sure they don't read my blog and see the bashing I gave it one step down, but then again I am pretty sure not many if any people read my blog).

I decided (by the coaching of my lovely bride) that if I was going to do this, I should just go 100% and see how it stacks up to my (now in a pile in the middle of my living room) Windows 7 Media Center. I am just going to boil this down to the pros and cons:

Pros:

1. Intuitive: some people have said other wise, but I thought from hook up to navigation I felt like I didn't have to use my degree to get around. Once again I am comparing this to setting up a W7MC PC.

2. Potential: how can you list potential as a pro?, and list it so early? Well right away I see the promise when I see the "Gallery" app from my android so prominently displayed on the screen. It works the same way as on my phone, integrates with my Picasa account (which I still need to do a write up on), and is just a work of art on the big screen. Similarly the Netflix and Pandora apps just work and are easy to setup. I do have to say though the Pandora app has no where near the sex appeal as the Boxee variant, but this whole device suffers from that.

3. RF Keyboard and Android Remote App: Very well done, however the keyboard has a con, see below. Side Note - great IR blaster.

4. Integration with Google Reader: My "Queue" shows up in my Reader account, which means if I find an interesting Pod/VodCast I just add it to the mix through my browser from anywhere.

5. Browser:  It works really well with the keyboard, has flash support, and even "incognito" browsing if you so desire.

Cons:

1. No Apps: I am just going to say Google has at least stated this is coming. However, this has to be stated early since most of the following cons (sans keyboard issue) are related to a single app's failing, and there are already apps on the market available for my Android phone that resolve all of these issues, but I still have to list it as it sits now.

2. Sorting (app Logitech Media Player): Only alpha sorting, this is horrific for somebody like me that downloads a lot of their shows. I have to say though this failure is pretty common, I have had popcorn hours and wdtv's with this same issue, amazing something so simple being overlooked.

3. No SMB only DLNA (app Logitech Media Player): This was my first time using DLNA and it was horrific. My opinions about DLNA is it is a cheap work around to lazy manufactures for not just throwing in more support for codecs. I tried Windows 7 "Play On" and "Mezzmo" for the PC to get my content to this device. When transcoding kicked in I could hear my fans on the downstairs PC kick into high gear and the output on the TV upstairs was grainy and double compressed, not to mention audio sync issues. Google and Logitech say more format support is coming, but if it comes through DLNA forget it. An SMB browser is sadly needed.

4. Keyboard Backlight:  Or lack thereof.  Really Logitech?  Really?  This thing costs $300 and you can't backlight the keyboard?  Do you think most media viewing areas are well lit?  This one chapped my hide.

5.  Reliance on another "box":  Most of the features I am just not using in the Google TV because I don't have satellite (this has integration for Dish Network) or an external cable or even over the air tuner box.  I think they should have bundled in something for the price point, at least over the air.

New Setup:

So the final question, Mr. W7MC, what is in your rack now?  Well, I honestly don't know if I am going to go back to the a full fledged PC.  To get rid of con #3 I hooked up my WDTV Live, because it has a great SMB browser that plays all formats without transcoding.  For live TV browsing I moved my antenna up to my TV and ran the optical out it provides to my receiver.  I don't have a guide now, and I can't record live tv, but those were 2 items when you are mainly grabbing your shows from "other soruces" that aren't much of an issue.  It also turns out my TV has a better OTA tuner than my TV Tuner card in my PC had, so I get more stations (namely PBS Kids, so the toddler is happy).  Those 2 changes combined with the Google TV for Netflix and Pandora and a future app platform down the road are all I need.  I have my hopes I will again be able to retire the WDTV Live after a future firmware version.  We will have to see what Q1 of 2011 brings.

Side Note:  It wouldn't be impossible to pull off this switching nightmare and remain wife approved without a Logitech Harmony remote, if you don't own one, go buy one (link below to a cheapo entry level).  

Would I buy this device?  Nope.  A single WDTV Live Plus would do what I want and more.  I do think though at some point after apps are released that something like the Sony version with an integrated BluRay player is going to be veeery promising.

I will miss Windows 7 Media Center + Boxee for the sex appeal, but I am guessing not running that beast 24x7x365 is going to bring some savings to the power bill.

Revue Review

Logitech announced their Revue with Google TV today.  I can't get excited in the least with the information they presented.  The box itself is $299, upgraded remote is $129, living room video conferencing is another $149.  So for the "basic" full featured setup you are looking at $450.

On price alone (in typical Logitech fashion) the device can be eliminated.  For that price you can almost get a full featured Windows 7 Media Center setup going in your living room, or the Boxee box due out soon ($199).

After some digging on the Logitech site I discovered another gigantic failure:
Supported Media Formats
Notice MKV?  No?  Neither do I.  I am speechless on this one.  I guess I will wait for legit reviewers to get their hands on this one to pass full judgement.  I see lots of full HD formats, and I know MKV is just the wrapper for some of these, so this might just be a horrible typo.

Update:  MKV supported, discussed during Q&A
Live Engadget Feed

Do I want one of these?  Yes.  But this thing SCREAMS early adopter all over it.  I think I will wait for others to get their hands on the platform and see what they can do.

Oh yeah, no app store until 2011 either.

This is an amazing leap forward though and there are things I am very happy to see.  Once apps start flowing into this thing and the price comes down (i.e. somebody else makes one) I will be be lined up with cash in hand. I am praying for either a NHL or NFL app, then I could even kiss my antenna goodbye.

Final verdict:  Pass/Wait.

If you have the itch to buy something, here are some alternatives.  I personally have a WDTV Live and love the little guy.  I hear amazing things about the Roku box, and as always, the Apple hockey puck hits the price point a lot better than this device and will most likely have apps eventually.

Mucking About with Shaun the Sheep

So now that I have my media center setup I can focus on watching content, and I stumbled across one that will have everybody in the clan yellowing their shorts with hysterics.

Shaun the Sheep is from the maker of Wallace and Gromit (Nick Park) and is only aired on the BBC (from what I can tell), however, both are widely available on Netflix streaming or DVD.

The show has everything except the spoken word.  The characters have the best expressions and sounds from the flock's side stretching smile to the dog's eye rolling at the farmer's stupidity.  Most of these clips are short, 7 to 10 minute long so they fit perfect into a hectic night or that last pre-bedtime show for the little one.

I think my favorite character in the show aside from Shaun and Bitzer (the dog) is "the fat" sheep Shirly.  They use this character to achieve so many physics bending scenarios every time she shows up in the scene you don't know what is going to happen.  The next runner up goes to the hardcore heavy metal pigs on the other side of the fence, every show needs a common protagonist, the pigs do it with amazing brutality. 

I am not sure how the BBC continues to find and produce such great content (if you haven't seen The IT Crowd, do so, and I can't forget to mention Monty Python or Faulty Towers).  I would say it has to do with living in such a gloomy place you have to have a sense of humor, but I live in Minnesota and all we have produced is Louie Anderson (although he is hilarious also).

There is also a spin off show my 3 year old can't get enough of called Timmy Time (Timmy does show up in most Shaun episodes).  It basically expands on the barnyard animals, but of course they are attending pre-school and learning to share, be good sports, solve problems, and such.

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_the_Sheep

Official Site:

http://www.shaunthesheep.com/

Shameless Plug:

Media Center Happy Times (and cable cutting)

So my life's outside goal for a while has been cable cutting, figuratively and literally.

A while ago when my wife and I received our android phones, we did away with the high taxes and very little used home phone line and went to Vonage, which after that was taxed to almost $30/mo.  We now use a $5/mo phone number parking service for our original home number which just emails us received voicemails (which thanks to our fancy phones, we can return those calls almost instantly) (http://www.family-phone.com/ for those interested).

A LOOONG while ago (almost 5 years now) we did away with satellite because we just weren't watching enough tv to justify the cost.  I was transfixed by a certain online game (which I haven't touched in almost 6 months now) and my wife usually fell asleep at 8pm.  We tried Tivo + Antenna, but slowly the house was filled with old Xbox's running XBMC (http://xbmc.org/).  The main TV bounced from media center to Tivo to media center a few times.  Recently as part of my recovery from said game I occupied my time by solidifying what was going to go in our main room.  I first tried a WDTV Live, and while it was well worth the price, I still needed the ability to view live tv for sports, news and weather.  I decided to dust off some of my now several year old media center hardware, slap a lower end graphics card in it capable of 1080p decoding, and a shiny brand new antenna card. After a little trial and error I was sold on the new version of Media Center for Windows 7 that comes with most versions.  It picked up the hardware decoding, a few easy hacks and codec packages and viola, it was a thing of beauty.

Here are the pluses:

1. Built in antenna card support, recording, live tv pausing, channel guide, etc.  Extremely easy setup compared to some of the other linux/windows TV capturing packages, especially the channel guide.
2. It is part of Windows 7, probably already running on your machine and you just don't know it.
3. One of the better Netflix integration packages out there.
4. Just plain pretty, the interface is amazing and wife friendly.

Here were my largest cons:

1. No Pandora, or other assortment of services (but it did have Netflix, which is a tough one to find for free).
2. No good RSS video updating services.  A few built in but they never seemed to update on time.
3. Out of the box menu layout.  Once you are in a function, it is perfect, but before that getting around wasn't obvious.
4. Source material.  Antenna alone is limiting.

So while I had already trumped most of these issues, Friday I finally sat down to get this tool perfected, and I found 4 solutions (all free):

Media Center Studio (http://www.adventmediacenter.com/):

This tool allowed me to do a few key things.  First is customizing the menu labels and showing/hiding items I never used.  Lastly it allowed me to seamlessly link outside programs to Media Center (namely XBMC, Boxee and HULU Desktop).  As you can see from the graphic at the top of this post, now the menus are much cleaner, narrowed down and personalized to just my needs.  When I select Boxee, Windows Media Center closes, Boxee fires up, when I exit Boxee, Windows Media Center returns full screen.  This gives me access to great Boxee apps, but mainly, Pandora.  Solved #1 and #3

Hide Menu Strips (http://mikinho.com/wmc/start-menu-plus/):

This tool allowed me to hide certain menu strips the above mentioned program would not.  You have to run it as an administrator, but it is very straight forward.  Solved #3

Juice (http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/):

Juice is simply a RSS reader and downloader.  I placed all my Revision 3 and Twit shows I know and love into this and presto, it sits in the background and saves dated shows to a folder Windows Media Center can see.  Solved #2

Vuze + Status Mailer + Custom code (http://azureus.sourceforge.net/plugin_details.php?plugin=azstatusmailer):

For the source material you can find many sites out there that cover this well.  I was just after TV having a Netflix account to keep the more illicit activities at bay.  And I am sure even grabbing TV this way is leaving "gray area" and entering the red zone (something the Vikings couldn't do today), but for now, this works.  If you are wondering which service, I wanted to get TV TORRENTS, you should be able to figure it out from there.  Either way I had a few issues.  The site I used allowed me to manage my favorite shows and get an RSS feed of those shows as they were posted.  However that feed contained both nicely compressed copies I could play on my old Xbox+XBMC hardware anywhere in my house that looked great and were a third the size, and the huge HD uncompressed MKV files of the exact same show.  So if I were to simply sick Vuze on the RSS feed, I would be grabbing 2 versions of the same show AND all "full season" torrents that get posted to that list as well, not acceptable.  Here is where a little custom code, local web server, and visual studio 2010 come in, but here is also where a lot of people probably will still have a problem not having the ability to execute this, although, everything I mentioned is still free, and I can provide you with the code if asked nicely (would have posted it, but blogger isn't a fan of the elusive code block, looks like that requires some tinkering also). The code basically sucks in the RSS from said service, checks the enclosure size and file format, and eliminates all mkv and files over 800mb, then spits out a cleaned RSS I can use in Vuze.

Next comes Status Mailer.  A nice Vuze plugin I can use to email me when a show is downloaded from the service via email, which having my phone next to me at all times I can be notified while mucking about the house when a show is ready for my viewing pleasure.  I use my gmail's SMTP settings to do the heavy lifting, send a message from me to me on their servers.

Finally I set Vuze to auto-download this code cleaned feed, and I have a system that outshines anything Tivo or anybody else for that matter has to offer.  All files are downloaded and saved to a central media server that can be viewed from any TV in the house, just in time for the Fall seasons to begin.

This has been a several year project, I won't lie.  It shouldn't be that hard to get setup since others can avoid the trial and error, but it honestly is where TV should be by now.  I actually miss ads a little, and I do wish broadcasters would get their head out of their respective ends and offer a service that is ala-cart and fee based, but the nice part about this setup is it is very cheap, and highly adaptable as things come around.

I also finished tweaking a home power monitoring setup and wrote another program to sort and backup all my pictures to Picasa, but I will save those for another day.

Feel free to comment, ask questions, etc. (yes I know nobody reads these, I am not delusional, well....)

My First Google AppInventor App

So I finally got my beta invite to AppInventor.  This tool allows you to build apps for the Android platform through simple drag and drop tools through your browser.

I have to say, this is amazing to say the least.  I was able to drop a label and orientation sensor on the screen, and write the orientation angle of the phone to the label.  A few button presses later and I had the application installed and running on my phone.

While it doesn't have the power of the native API, Google is setting out to use this to teach high schoolers how to program.  This is a lot more visual than the Basic they made us do on the Atari 400's back in middle school, but none the less I think it is a great tool for very basic applications and education.

http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/

Blog Templates For All

Short post, just noting the new blog template designer Google put in place today.

This is a pretty good start.

OS Heaven

So after a previous blog post I had a fully functional Ubuntu install with a running LAMP server I could talk to from Windows.  Recently it was requested I begin filling in the brain pan with iPhone app development however.  So I eliminated a machine, then immediately had a need for another.  All previous iterations of running Mac OSX on a PC were the PowerPC variant, which you could not install the developer tools to.

Thanks to a particular LifeHacker article:

http://lifehacker.com/5583650/run-mac-os-x-in-virtualbox-on-windows

(if you try this, the article neglects to tell you that you have to format your drive with disk utilities for the drive to show up, and also forgets to mention you should check one of the chameleon boot loaders on the install options screen along with the updates)

I was able to get OSX (Intel) working in VirtualBox which just happens to be what I was using for Ubuntu.

Browser testing, iPhone development, LAMP box, all from Windows 7 without rebooting.

Bonus:  VirtualBox machines are pretty dang portable.

Side Note:  Yes I have the license for OSX.  When it comes to operating systems, try to stay clean.  The cost of Mac OSX is a much better deal that what they bend you over the table for on their phones (still an Android lover).

Update 7/19/2010:

Just found this little beauty, update your virtualbox's from a web browser:
http://code.google.com/p/phpvirtualbox/

Droid 2.2 Notes

So before the great VZW locks me down in 2.2 I decided to get off the can and flash a custom rom.  Timing seemed right since Bugless Beast just released his stock 2.2 final source version:

1.  Installed all app updates I could find.

2.  Use the free version of MyBackup to backup apps (be selective, fewer the better imho), call logs, sms logs, etc.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.rerware.android.MyBackup

3.  Followed the instructions to get root on my stock 2.1 Update 1 here:
http://www.droid-life.com/2010/05/06/guide-to-rooting-android-2-1-on-a-motorola-droid/

I had problems with Step 1 on one of my PC's, Flash would just error right away.  Tried the netbook and took first try.

I did both Step 1 and Step 2, those that are brave can probably use Step 2 to do a custom rom directly, I wasn't brave and wanted to use Rom Manager.

4.  Use Rom Manager to load bugless beast .3 (Update:  .4):
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.koushikdutta.rommanager
http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/28/release-bugless-beast-v0-3-froyo-frf83/

Just get whatever bugless beast's latest/greatest is, they feel pretty close to stock but have some nice bells/whistles.

5.  Restore select apps/settings using MyBackup.

6.  Install Flash - Just use the .apk here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=686578&page=2

Download it and use Astro File Manager or the like to run it from the SD card, will have to allow "Non-Market" apps.

7.  Configure Chrome to Phone (so far my favorite feature by far):
http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/08/tip-use-chrome-to-phone-in-froyo/ 


8.  Redo my launcher screens (hopefully last time, Titanium will back these up next time).

9.  Wifi Tether:
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/downloads/list

I could only get this working with both WEP and Access Restrictions turned off, so take it as it is, but it works.

-----------------
SKIP THIS:
-----------------
And since I wrote this, I will also have to try out this rom instead of Bugless Beast next:
http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/29/download-new-motorola-droid-froyo-frf84b-leaked/

Update: Scratch that - "I loaded it....and immediately removed it. I was tethering my laptop and it came to a Verizon subscription page to signup for the verizon tethering plan..."
-----------------

My Apps: wolfie's Apps on the Droid

That is all.

Laffer Curve

Today on the way into work I fired up Google Listen, my replacement to XM radio with the new phone.  Every day I listen to Dave Ramsey's free one hour podcast which 99% of the time is purely call in advice. So when he has a guest I get kind of giddy and worked up inside.  I don't listen to political shows, right or left, they are way too emotional for my tastes and I don't agree with a lot of points on either side of the fence.  About five years ago I ditched these shows and just started focusing on money talk.  Eventually they cross and blur their lines, but I think this is the one instance where it was educational and introduced me to an amazing concept I never knew was behind a few of the stronger financial eras in American history, the Laffer curve.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve

I don't want to go into much detail or debate on the subject.  The topic has been called trickle down economics and drug through the mud a few times, but basically to me it boiled down to balance.  The more you tax, the less there is to collect on, the less you tax the fewer revenues you receive.  Where is the middle ground?, Where are we currently on the curve?, etc.

I would also suggest listening to other episodes of the podcast since this is normally a financial advice show.  We have paid off everything but my Taylors Falls real estate stupid tax (which I did before I listened to him) using his advice.  It isn't much different from the mathematical way of paying off the highest interest item first and snowballing the rest forward, he just sorts the debts by amount owed from small to large and factors in the addictive qualities paying off a debt can have.  It really does get you hooked to paying stuff off and keeps you on the fast track.

Anyways, I will state if you are 100% pro-Obama save your time, this is a middle to right leaning conversation.  I have very left leaning friends that may read this (the advantage of not caring about politics too much) and I don't want this to appear to be a trick.  I think it is good information either way and presented very well but neither of the people talking are fans of the current administration (I maintain my fence sitting attitude).  At the same time they aren't bitching and moaning about the current administration in the conversation either, so if you are only 80% in favor it is still worth a listen.

Podcast Link:
http://www.daveramsey.com/media/audio/podcast/podcast_itunes.xml

Direct Link to 5/26 episode:
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/a1611.g.akamai.net/f/1611/23422/9h/dramsey.download.akamai.com/23572/audio/mp3/itunes/05262010_the_dave_ramsey_show_itunes.mp3

I promise my next post will be properly nerdy.

Ubuntu install for proper WordPress development environment in Windows 7.

Weekend Project #1:

So I have wanted to dabble in WordPress for a while now, I did a little default project a while back converting a DotNetNuke site over to WordPress to cut down on hosting costs, for that project I used XAMPP. Don't get me wrong, XAMPP is great, but if I was going to delve deeper I wanted to have a full dev environment (and it also gave me an excuse to try out Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx).

I didn't want to lock myself into Ubuntu though. If possible I wanted to still develop inside of Windows, just using Ubuntu for the server. Here is what I did:

1. VirtualBox + Ubuntu 10.4 = Happiness.
   http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
   http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
   
   Yes, I tried Windows 7 Virtual Machines, but I found out really fast they have it locked down now to only Microsoft OS's, spank you very much.
   
   Key step: when configuring the virtual servers network connection, choose "Bridged" so it will grab it's own ip address from the network.
   
   I am not going to go into details of how to set this up as I won't with most of these items, google is your friend and this step was cake. I am sure the will work with VM server as well.
   
   
2. Install LAMP.
   https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP
   
   This link has a metric f-ton of information (actual unit of measure), so bookmark this, you will be back often. I will leave it to the experts once again to tell you how to configure php, etc. I used sudo tasksel install lamp-server and then proceeded to the steps for "After installing MySQL" noting to comment out bind-address since I was using DHCP for my server.
   
   
3. Install Webmin
   http://www.webmin.com/download.html
   
   Nice little front end config for apache, choose the Debian Package option in Ubuntu for those n00bs like me that didn't realize that.
   
   
4. Install PHPMyAdmin through the Ubuntu Software Center, search install, done.
   
   Once installed do these steps for your ip address:
   http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?35,38653,253722#msg-253722
   
   
5. (DON'T) Install MySQL WorkBench on your Windows 7 box:
   http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench/
   
   Make sure to install 5.2+, 5.1 has nothing you need. 5.2 should be a major release not a minor upgrade as it has the server browser and query editor. The old tools have been abandoned I guess.
   
   Test your connection, etc.
   
   =======================
   UPDATE:
   http://www.heidisql.com/
   
   Use this tool instead.
   =======================
   
   
6. Create Host Entries on Ubuntu and Windows 7:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file#Content_and_location
   
   Ubuntu you are after 127.0.0.1 www.sitename.com
   Windows 7 you want UbuntuIPAddress (use ifconfig -a in a terminal) www.sitename.com
   
   I recommend doing this before configuring apache to avoid errors.
   
   
7. Setup your virtual hosts in Apache2:
   http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/412
   
   Plus some of the information in step #2. Not kidding here, you just have to read. The thing that screwed me up was that by default apache2 acts more like IIS6 than IIS7, meaning you would have to use different ports (80, 81, etc) to do multple sites, so read the link here first, but refer to the overall lamp install instructions in the apache section for some useful commands (such as the guy in this step forgets to mention you need to use "sudo" to enable/disable sites and restart apache. Also the directories in this article are dated, I created a public_html directory in my /home/UserName/Public/ directory and created a folder www.sitename.com under that so I can expand this to more sites later on by simply starting from #6 down.
   
   The tool Webmin from #3 comes in handy here also, but I only found it useful for "read only" purposes just to double check my work.
   
   Key step: After you have everything done and go to re-enable the site you will get an error message along the lines of "Virtual Hosts and NameVirtualHosts are not compatible", like I said the "default" for Ubuntu is using multiple ports, so in summation you have to disable the default site, change it's config to match the format you used for your site in this article (give it a ServerName, ServerAlias, etc), then re-enable it. When done you shouldn't have any config files that specify a port (*:80) and every site in sites-available should just specify * and use ServerName/ServerAlias. That one took me a while to figure out and I couldn't find it documented anywhere, you are welcome.
   
   p.s. your default document should be index.php not index.html if you are going to be setting up WordPress and almost any other CMS on these sites.
   
   
8. Setup sharing:
   http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=290653
   
   I initially tried to do everything out of /var/www, which I ran into some issues. Sharing items in your public_html directory you created in #7 above though is easier. I shared the root so I could get at all of my sites as I add more. You will probably get a few errors here but I didn't run into a lot of problems with this one that weren't readily documented. Once again Google is your friend.
   
   
9. Install WordPress:
   http://wordpress.org/download/
   
   I did this step entirely from Windows 7 to make sure I had everything perfect. I copied the files from the zip via the share, I renamed and edited my mysql connection in the wp-config-sample.php via editors/windows in the share, and created my database through the MySql Workbench installed on Windows 7 (phpmyadmin through the browser would work just fine also). I fired up the browser from Windows 7 and put in www.sitename.com, poof, a working wordpress install.
   

I am sure I missed a few details, and I have to say while Ubuntu Lucid Lynx is a lot better, you are still way to reliant on the terminal for it to be ready for prime time. Every time I come back to Linux I hope "this will be the version where I don't have to hit up the terminal", and every time it isn't, but I am a Windows person, of course I think no terminal is superior. I did my time on the Vax/VMS system in college and my first job, I just don't want to go back to that 15 years later (although I still have a soft spot for ISCA BBS, which is amazingly still around: http://www.iscabbs.com/).

However, now I can fire up my virtual Ubuntu, open up MySql and my editor of choice (currently Dreamweaver or Notepad++ for php, I am a n00b, suggest away), all from the comfort and safety of Windows 7.

This isn't as portable as other methods, but since I am using host file changes for my site names, deployment is going to be a breeze.

Total Hassle Factor: 7/10

Total Time Spent: 3 to 4 hours including posting the details, on/off over 2 days is why it is so scatter brained. I need to take better notes if I am going to post these, noted. I would bet it can be done in under an hour with this post.

My other weekend project was much more manly, but I am sick of looking at this computer right now, so it will have to wait. Suspense: It involves ladders and PVP pipe (huh huh, he said "pipe")

Is this thing on?

I am really writing this just because I remembered "holy $hit, that is right, I made a blogger account a year ago" when adding connected sites into Buzz.

Since I don't know what to do with a blog, I will just list some of my current projects:

1. Make some sort of super gutter cleaning tool out of PVP tubing and hose for the last 20 feet of gutter I can't clean from a ladder (damn split level houses!!).

2. Write a wordpress add on even though I am a ASP.NET developer (and using a Blogger account).

3. Write an android app even though once again, I pricked my finger and shook Bill G's hand ages ago, I guess it is the all might Balmer in play now.

4. Figure out how to setup an LLC, file quarterly taxes, and all that happy horse crap. Just want to play with my auto broker license some.

5. Finally setup my personal website, how long have I been coding websites? 2010-1995=Wow, that is lazy....

6. Get better at Kayaking this summer, good enough to fish from the kayak, and no, I can't even type the word Kayak without hearing the "Celine Dion" version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjYABkvSiTI

7. Find a replacement to the gigantor (28') trolling poles we use for northerns at my dad's cabin. These have promise:

http://www.allfishingbuy.com/Fishing-Pole/Pole-A1-65-2-8615.htm

His are all from the 70's, all breaking, and can't be replaced.

That is it for my summer, I still have to sit on a beach and drink a beer from time to time.