Read The Nerd Handbook

Thanks to Ron at Pint'N'Tome for this link to the Nerd Handbook written by Rands In Repose. A must read if you have a nerd in your life. (hey, I wrote a 2 line post!)

Two years later, Trackball still on track

For those who have read this blog for some or all of it's 2 year existence, you know that it started with a bit of a bang by bashing Thanksgiving and by laying down a sort of guiding philosophy for life - be true to oneself and it's how you live, not how long you have lived.

Put this all together, and I thought it would be a good exercise to reread that Thanksgiving basher from 2005 and see if it still held true. Had a good Thanksgiving this year, which was more of a dinner party at some friends' house, so I want to stick the hypocrisy meter in the wind and see what happens.

Result: I haven't deviated at all from my earlier take on the holiday. In fact, I've found that as I reread it that I am quite taken the post. I've found this when rereading other posts: I enjoy reading some of them and if it's been long enough, can surprise myself with an idea or a turn of phrase I forgot about.

Some people who review their own creations, whether they be cooking, writing, children, painting or woodwork, always turn away in disgust. Sometimes that happens for me, but I think it's because usually I can tell what of mine sucks or doesn't suck.

So I'm feeling some pride in my ability to self-critique, stay true, and of course, not have a bloat-out on the pigout holiday.

Playstation 3

Went and got a PS3 to upconvert DVDs and play Blu-Ray DVDs this weekend. I got the 40 GB with Spiderman 3 Blu-Ray disc for $400. This includes another 5 Blu-Ray DVDs for free as a rebate.

I had been contemplating upgrading the DVD viewing experience on my 1080p Sony TV and this was the right fit. I do a fair bit of DVD watching due to Netflix and it makes no sense to do that in standard def. Tested out the Cars standard def DVD and it looked phenomenal on the PS3. Now I just need to get my surround sound back online.

I don't plan on playing many (for now, any) games on the PS3. The Wii has it beat in the fun factors for a gamer like me. The PS3 games are also a lot more expensive. Supposedly it will take developers years how to figure out how to make games for the PS3, if at all. Currently, the PS3 is a bust as a console, trailing the other next gen models, but it is the best Blu-Ray player on the market. Sony is betting that once the game companies come around that they will have a system that will beat the other two for the next ten years. We'll see. The developers may just slink away and get caught kissing Nintendo and Microsoft's butts.

The PS3 is also a supercomputer, with a chip a dozen times faster than the highest PC processor. You can allow your unused PS3 to help do medical research or if you are an astronomer, use a series of PS3s to do your supercomputing.

A Kiss for HoCo Public Libraries

ToT has always been a big fan of public libraries. Until I moved from My Shire to Prince George's County, MD, I had no idea what a good public library was. In the Shire, I ended up checking out the same book on the War of 1812 for about eight years in a row because there wasn't much better to be had.

Now that I live in Howard County, MD, I have inadvertently treated myself to one of the best public libraries in the country. It was #1 in 2005 and is #2 in 2006 for areas with between 250,000 and 500,000 people. The parking lots and the shelves are always full and I can't walk out of there with less than three doorstoppers.

Tonight, we hit the central library branch with the little Trackballs in downtown Columbia and I cleaned a whole bunch of books off my reading list. The kids loaded up the canvas bag we use to carry them and Micro got himself into the pajama time story hour. Here's what ToT will be reading:

Thirteen - Richard K. Morgan
Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Peter Drucker
The Watchmen - Alan Moore
Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki

When you come home from the library with an armful of must reads, it's like your birthday - but for free (or, for very well spent tax money).