This currently is my network closet for my new home. My roommate and I spent countless hours running Dual Coax Cable (DirecTV) along with cat5. Each bed room has Dual Coax for DirecTV DVR access and 2 network drops. Addition to that are 4 dedicated drops for the Home theater on the main level. The Router is a Buffalo WHR-G300N with DD-WRT and 2 netgear gig switchs. Not shown is a homebuild Amahi server(Bottom of Closet) to provide DLNA support to all connected network devices.
It has been a few weeks since my last post and much has changed. I recently purchased a brand spanking new Canon 7D! 
Exciting right? well it gets better.. I decided to get away from work, and take a nice trip away from the day to day madness that is Northern VA. So my girlfriend and I took a road trip to Myrtle beach SC. I think this is a great way to embark upon my photo-phase addiction craze.
“Pano – Ramo”
Well here is a quick panoramic shot with the 7D.
Here are some random shots from the beach/walking around.
I am not all that efficient with Photoshop or any of the Adobe suites but Timmay over at DigitalTimmay.com said I should take a look at a class he was attending. How bad could this be for a noob like me, right? In this all day class, taught by Scott Kelby, I was tossed into an in depth look at different way on how to clean up images, how to correctly bring out the color in a photo and much more. It was extremly informative and well above my level of skill. All the simple questions were answered by Timmay as different topics came up and boy did I need answers. So as the day went on and we approached another break from class, we decided to fill out the questionnaires that they passed out. It was a simple way for the Scott and his team to understand where they could have improved in there program. (I think a buffet would be a great addition)
As I became more comfortable with what was being taught, time began to fly by. Before to long it was over and they had began to draw names from the those questionnaires we had filled out earlier. We decided to stay and see what was given out. Books, CD’s and DVD’s and the grand prize, a Trip to the World’s Largest Photoshop event in Orlando FL. Sounds cool right? They called names left and right for this small prizes and people went up and got there prizes, one after another. Then they got to the main prize, they called 2 people for that. Now wouldn’t it be awesome if Timmay got the main prize, the one who uses adobe CS4 daily? I know, it would be to cliché if he did but he can dream. So they call the first winner, not timmay. They call the last winner of the main prise… and shit, they called my name! I was alittle bit shocked but I was more inshock at how ironic this was for me. Not ever touching photoshop before and for not having much interest in the class at first. Timmay’s reaction was priceless, should i rather say, more then a little disturbed that i will be getting into this $700 Adobe World event for FREE! Maybe if he’s lucky they will give me 2 tickets 
Below is a photo taken at the Autoshow in DC. ( After using my new found photshop skillz)
To put it simply, this is what I found on the web as i was browsing around. Take a look at this youtube video. Its about Google Chrome OS. Yes thats right, a complete Operations system developed by Google.
Durring the Autoshow in DC this weekend, Timmay and I happen to stumple appon a protest infolding right before us. Timmay has already created a great discription of events so check them out at his site. I have dumped all the video we have gathered to youtube. check it out:
A few weeks ago, Tim over at DigitalTimmay.com, told me about this. A Ivar side unit from ikea that that was used for a cinema dolly. We needed something like this for the upcoming filming we were planning on, so I thought I would try to build something of my own. I choose to go with the 20×49 side unit as apposed to the 20×70 due to the fact that I could pack up the smaller units into my car. It was a bit difficult finding a way to join the rails together AND only using parts from the local homedepot didnt give me many options. Well here is some simple footage of it being setup and used. Thanks Tim for tossing this video together.
Would anyone be interested on a full DIY video Tutorial?
Defraggler
This is one of my favorite defragging utilities. I put this on every PC I touch and recommend it for everyone who has or has had a slow PC. They even have a portable version that is loadable to your usb stick for easy use at a field tech (or family IT guy). The website has support via forum and a full set of detailed documents. You can check it out at www.Defraggler.com
Every want to make your own program? Ever want to automate an installation that you install over and over or automate your machine to clean up old files, even custom make a backup application? With AutoIt v3 you can do all of this and more. I stumbled upon this while at work one day, trying to make my job a bit easier (more automated). I found the tutorials over at XenoxComputers.com to be the easiest to follow. I even found myself posting on the forums for quick detailed answersand example scripts. I highly recommend this to all the hardcore techies out there looking for a simple way to automate there lives. Oh and you can get the applicatin here although I do highly recommend to look at the first few short tutorial videos over at XenoxComputers.com.
I have started my work on building a Dolly/rail setup. I have used an Ivar side rail, shelf from IKEA and a few pieces of hardware i got from home depot. The only thing I have left to do it to get the cart to stay on the rails. I’m thinking of a simple metal brace that keeps them in line while rolling down the track smoothly. Any thoughts on what I have so far?
Hirens Boot CD is like an all-in-one utility CD for any hardcore techie out there. It combines the best tools both DOS and windows based. It even has it own built in LIVE mini XP. After you download and burn the ISO you have 2 ways to start playing. You can simply let the autoplay take over in windows or you can boot from it. If you do decide to boot from the CD you are lead the down the path for some more choices. I always select mini XP, doing so basically loads up a simple version of XP right off the CD. Now you have access to that nifty auto-run portion of the CD and have a pretty wide range of tools to choose from. Hirens Boot CD 10.1 is by far my only choice for troubleshooting and fixing any PC i work on. Check it out for yourselves.
Gallery
