As we all know, life throws the occasional curve ball, and boy did Iever get a few in the technology department this week. As said in an email this morning, moving to Ukiah to be a goat farmer has it's merits. Read on for a laugh at my expense.The festering techno-evil began last weekend when my 9 year old DVD remote (still running on the original set of batteries that came with it) died. One minute, it was just fine, the next, nothing. While the 9 year old Pioneer DVD player still worked fine, a remote is just nicer to have. We'll come back to this part in a few.
Next, one night I was awake at 1 am and decided to update my Blackberry Curve software, since one of the improvements added video recording. Said update that I thought would take maybe 15 minutes lasted over an hour. While this was going on, the top part of my desk (lower right corner of picture) was slumping to the left. Yep, it had broken and my laptop was about to slide off. While Blackberry update progressed, I moved laptop, Xbox 360 controller, mouse, and pad. The 360 controller slid off the notebook, smacked the netbook, snapping 3 keys off it, narrowly missed my Blackberry, and then hit the floor. Controller seemed ok, and left shift, control, and FN keys all snapped back into place on the netbook, however, control key is now sketchy at best.
After getting all the computer gear off the broken desk, I moved a book case from the bedroom to the living room as a temporary fix. While turning it around, the sharp corner dug into my foot and left a 3 inch scrape. You know the old saying "Karma's a bitch"? It's true, but I can't for the life of me remember who's dogma I ran over with it.
An hour later (2 am), and the book shelf is in place, the computer gear is set up, and the Blackberry is finished updating. I would find out the next day, that moving Quicktime video clips to Blackberry would have problems. The go between software would either refuse to convert the videos or it would copy them over, only to play back the audio and not the video. Still sorting that one out.
Remember the DVD remote? In order to fix that problem, I bought (after some careful research) an Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote, thinking it would control the DVD player, or, if not, my Media Center laptop. It successfully programmed to my Magnavox tv (with an already perfectly working remote) and that's it. Now, you would think with the title "Universal" the remote would work with about anything. Guess again. It wasn't until the package was open that the instructions said it only worked with a 360 console, tvs, and a Media Center PC CONNECTED to an Xbox 360. Great. Just great. Well, I'm keeping it anyway, since a 360 is in the cards later this year and may just replace the DVD player.
Don't even get me started on the 360 chat pad that doesn't work with anything on a PC, even MSN chat, yet the headset is recognized and works just fine.
Am I trapped in a Chevy Chase Vacation movie? Seriously? Should the moose out front have told me something?
Ok, I'm not about to spout doom and gloom without pointing out some GOOD things here. The Blackberry update yielded said video camera, a sharper web browser, and access to it's App Store. The book case wound up being a better desk than the real desk it replaced. Also picked up a Memorex 2 gig Mini Travel USB drive at Target for $7, giving me an extra backup option for travel pics and vids on the netbook.
Like I said, Ukiah. Goat farmer. Yeah...
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