Friday, August 27, 2004
TGI Friday
I never knew authoring a DVD took so long. By "authoring" I basically mean converting a file to DVD format. To convert a *.AVI file to DVD format takes roughly the same length of time as the run time of the video clip. And so far I only can convert one if its going to disc after conversion, I havent found out how to just convert one not as a part of the burning process. Oh, yes that means I have a DVD writer now, the Lite-On SOHW-812S 8x DVD+/- R/RW. Works nice.
But anyhow, maybe there is a function of NeroVision Express2 or Sonic MyDVD that I havent discovered that will allow me to just convert a file to DVD format.
Yes, I still have pics from Iowa I havent posted yet, but they dont really have anything cool on them. Just pretty much show our stores space all empty-like, then during construction, then finished. Thats all.
Looking forward to Synergy3 in a few weeks. Been a few months since my last LAN, time for another. Then there is a GRLanparty on Oct 9. So w00t! for that.
That is all.
changed the GRLan date to Oct 9 from Oct 2.
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But anyhow, maybe there is a function of NeroVision Express2 or Sonic MyDVD that I havent discovered that will allow me to just convert a file to DVD format.
Yes, I still have pics from Iowa I havent posted yet, but they dont really have anything cool on them. Just pretty much show our stores space all empty-like, then during construction, then finished. Thats all.
Looking forward to Synergy3 in a few weeks. Been a few months since my last LAN, time for another. Then there is a GRLanparty on Oct 9. So w00t! for that.
That is all.
Monday, August 16, 2004
...and I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter..
Yeah, thats from Tim McGraw's new song "Live like you were dying"
Easily one of my most favorite songs.
And now for something completely different...
DooM3.
Yes I have gotten it. Yes it is good. Yes the graphics are Holy S#!t good. Even a little scary in parts. Unless Half Life 2 has a really good story behind it, it will not be as good as DooM3. Or Far Cry for that matter.
That is all for now.
Take care, have fun, and be safe.
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Easily one of my most favorite songs.
And now for something completely different...
DooM3.
Yes I have gotten it. Yes it is good. Yes the graphics are Holy S#!t good. Even a little scary in parts. Unless Half Life 2 has a really good story behind it, it will not be as good as DooM3. Or Far Cry for that matter.
That is all for now.
Take care, have fun, and be safe.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Im Back!
Well, have been for a few days now, but yeah.
Iowa was well, there. If you ever drive there, be prepared to see a whole lot of green on the way. And not much else, once you get west of Chicago basically. I-80 is a long straight piece of highway that takes you through the middle of nowhere. And then Des Moines pops up out of a corn field.
I have some pictures to post sometime. Most are of the mall and the store, but a few are of the road. But hey, when you work 90+ hours per week, that doesnt leave much time to go anywhere else.
OK, I just lost my train of thought. So I will write more when I remember what it was...
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Iowa was well, there. If you ever drive there, be prepared to see a whole lot of green on the way. And not much else, once you get west of Chicago basically. I-80 is a long straight piece of highway that takes you through the middle of nowhere. And then Des Moines pops up out of a corn field.
I have some pictures to post sometime. Most are of the mall and the store, but a few are of the road. But hey, when you work 90+ hours per week, that doesnt leave much time to go anywhere else.
OK, I just lost my train of thought. So I will write more when I remember what it was...
Friday, August 06, 2004
Closing Time James...
Well, actually the mall (and subsequently my store) is open out here in Iowa now. The store is about half the size of our store in Grandville (MI that is), but it doesnt feel small because its so open. The mall itself is about the same size, about 1.2 Million square feet, but when they add the other buildings on the property the number goes to the 1.9 Mil Sq. Ft. like I had thought the Mall itself was.... Either way, the "employee" parking spots are about 1/4 mile away. No, I'm not kidding.
Been having some "fun" out here these last couple days. Before we opened, we had everything working right. On opening day, things were still working right, for about 20 minutes. Then, one of our scheduling computers decided it had enough. More precisely, its hard drive said adios. That was one of the few NEW pieces of hardware we had, a 40Gig Maxtor(crapstor) Hard Drive. The rest are all old <8.4 Gig drives. Problem was, the 40G had bad sectors, and we used it as a master to copy our program over to the other registration machines. And some of the program info was on the bad sectors, therefore, the other machines had little quirks to them . Eventually, the other live machines refused to print. Luckily we were able to have the store out in LA send us a HD with the stuff on it overnight UPS early AM drop off. So we got here at 7am (mall opens at 10) and cloned over 4 hard drives. That was yesterday. And it went OK, until the cable internet went out in all of West Des Moines. So? So our cash registers use the 'net to communicate to a 'master' site. Luckily that was with like an hour left in the business day. But still. Today no problems. Yet.
Yesterday I also was out and about getting some used HD's, to make up for the one that died, and to make clones so we have spares. Got 5 used 5Gig or smaller drives, 1 was bad, so I took it back and traded for a used 40x CD drive. Also bad. Took it back today, and went to DIT Computers and got a NEW 52x CD drive for $18, while the used 40x was $20....
Today also was frustrating in so much as I was trying to get new video drivers for some old video cards we use in some of the machines. Trident 9685's . No these dont run the graphics. Couldnt even if they wanted too. Had to decide if the cards were bad or just the driver. After I got the right driver, it turned out the cards were still crap. They only have 1 megabyte of RAM. They are from 95-96, but still. (My GeForce FX 5700 Ultra has 128Megabytes of RAM). Anyhow, that means they cant display 1024x768 screen resolution at 16 bit color depth (65,535 colors) which is what out scheduler needs.
On a different note, Doom3 is out! I was at Target the other night and saw a boatload on the shelves. Gotta get it when I get back. Git 'R' Done! errr, sorry for channeling Larry the Cable Guy for a minute...
Hehe, should probably go do something work like now...
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Been having some "fun" out here these last couple days. Before we opened, we had everything working right. On opening day, things were still working right, for about 20 minutes. Then, one of our scheduling computers decided it had enough. More precisely, its hard drive said adios. That was one of the few NEW pieces of hardware we had, a 40Gig Maxtor(crapstor) Hard Drive. The rest are all old <8.4 Gig drives. Problem was, the 40G had bad sectors, and we used it as a master to copy our program over to the other registration machines. And some of the program info was on the bad sectors, therefore, the other machines had little quirks to them . Eventually, the other live machines refused to print. Luckily we were able to have the store out in LA send us a HD with the stuff on it overnight UPS early AM drop off. So we got here at 7am (mall opens at 10) and cloned over 4 hard drives. That was yesterday. And it went OK, until the cable internet went out in all of West Des Moines. So? So our cash registers use the 'net to communicate to a 'master' site. Luckily that was with like an hour left in the business day. But still. Today no problems. Yet.
Yesterday I also was out and about getting some used HD's, to make up for the one that died, and to make clones so we have spares. Got 5 used 5Gig or smaller drives, 1 was bad, so I took it back and traded for a used 40x CD drive. Also bad. Took it back today, and went to DIT Computers and got a NEW 52x CD drive for $18, while the used 40x was $20....
Today also was frustrating in so much as I was trying to get new video drivers for some old video cards we use in some of the machines. Trident 9685's . No these dont run the graphics. Couldnt even if they wanted too. Had to decide if the cards were bad or just the driver. After I got the right driver, it turned out the cards were still crap. They only have 1 megabyte of RAM. They are from 95-96, but still. (My GeForce FX 5700 Ultra has 128Megabytes of RAM). Anyhow, that means they cant display 1024x768 screen resolution at 16 bit color depth (65,535 colors) which is what out scheduler needs.
On a different note, Doom3 is out! I was at Target the other night and saw a boatload on the shelves. Gotta get it when I get back. Git 'R' Done! errr, sorry for channeling Larry the Cable Guy for a minute...
Hehe, should probably go do something work like now...
