If you're here, then you can see that my website has a new look! However, I have not changed any other pages except those containing my weblog, so if you go looking at pictures or wishlists you will still see my old format. I will get those done as soon as I can. Let me know what you think about the new look, personally I'm digging it.

I have also changed the way you comment. My comment section has been getting spammed for quite some time now, and as a result I have had to use filtering programs to weed them out. That got to be a pain in the but so I decided to go with an authentication system that requires you to create an account with a 3rd party. I apologize if this creates any problems, but now I don't have to deal with the spam.

Today is my birthday, and so far it has been a good one. I took the day off of work (although I still ended up doing a job for 5 to 9 today), and I'm looking forward to see what the rest of the day brings.

Tomorrow Heather and I are going to the state fair. Holly's rock band is going to be playing in the evening at the fair so we thought we'd go ahead and make a day out of it. Also, tomorrow night there is supposed to be a halloween party, so that should be cool too.

I finally got my MythTV box working last week, here are some pictures of the new setup:

From the couch

Closer look

At an angle

Heather's new desk

Shelf, angle 1

Shelf, angle 2

I've been busy on the home front. We have re-arranged our house a bit. Our "media room" is no longer the media room, it is the computer room. The big TV was moved from the media room and is now in the living room (family room?) with our big sofa. Our old couch that was also in the media room is now in the front family room (living room?) on the carpeted area. All of this was done mostly to create room to set up a second desktop computer for Heather. We bought her a new desk (we shopped around quite a bit before we found the right one at the right price). I also have installed a shelf underneath our wall-mounted television in our bedroom to hold A/V equipment for the TV.

I also purchased a new case for our MythTV computer, but that has been a horror story. The case I bought was a Silverstone LC11 (silver). First, I had problems with the power supply in the case (I just received the new one in the mail but haven't tested it yet). Until the new power supply arrived, I connected an old power supply to the case and attempted to re-install the MythTV software. The next ~24hours were spent in futility. For whatever reason I cannot get the TV-out to work on my video card. I am guessing the problem is with the new motherboard I purchased, so I ordered a different motherboard. That arrives on Thursday, and hopefully will fix all my problems. As it is right now, Heather and I are going through MythTV withdrawals. It's been so long since I've watched commercials.

I still have stuff I need to do around the house. I need to wire ethernet for the MythTV box in the living room and for the computer at Heather's desk. I also want to install outlets level with the shelf in our bedroom to improve cable management. And, of course, I need to get our MythTV box working again.

I'll post pictures of this stuff later today.