Greater Satellites

For a long time, I’ve considered going the route of scooping up a fairly recent, possibly refurbished Intel Mac mini and using it as my DVD player, DVR, audio streamer, DivX player, and all around Home Theater PC. There are even several friggin websites dedicated to helping people set up their dream system.

That dream was shaken at the core when I bought a PS3, which plays Blu Ray movies, upscales DVDs, and handles most video formats I’d want to play on it with the most recent firmware upgrade. Sony recently released a bad little MF’er by the name of PlayTV, which is an additional component for a PS3 that allows you to watch and record television directly to your console. This is pretty friggin sweet. What’s more is that the files it records (in high def or standard def) are DRM free. That’s right — you can record ‘em on your PS3, move them over to your computer to re-encode them for an iPod/iPhone, or burn them to DVD with no icky rights management debacle. What’s the catch? It’s currently unavailable in the US as it’s only compatible with PAL. You can bet your ass I would scoop that up the minute it’s available here in the states.

On a kind-of related note, there a really interesting media server being announced by a company called Conceptronic. The specs seem pretty decent and if the price is right, maybe this will grace my home entertainment setup:

• Built in analog tuner (blah, but I’ll take it)
• 1TB internal storage (saweeeet!)
• Component, composite, and firewire inputs
• HDMI (woot!), component, and digital audio out
• Optional networking adapter
• Codec support: DivX, XviD, WMV9, SVCD, and VOB

Hopefully the price will hit the sweet spot.

This is some pretty cool news. I finally knuckled down and purchased, in my humble opinion, a bangin’ automobile: a 2006 Jeep Liberty Renegade. Up until today I think I had an identity crisis with it; Sometimes I’d call it a car, sometimes I’d call it a truck. Now I’ve just decided to call it my Jeep (good call, Jackie).

I purchased it this past Tuesday after looking at a few different SUV and pickup trucks. One of my pre-requisites was that I wanted a car that I didn’t have to duck into. Example:

So I was looking into a few different rides, including but not limited to: Ford Explorer, Jeep Cherokee, Chevy Equinox, Chevy Trailblazer, and the GMC Envoy.

In the end, after a few test drives and reviews, I ended up loving the feel and sheer sex appeal of my Jeep. The Renegades have a pretty unique look about them, both interior and exterior. I’m glad I didn’t opt for the regular Liberty or the Liberty Limited.

So here I am, the proud owner a sweet new ride.

Road trip, anyone?

I held off writing a post about the death of Heath Ledger for a few reasons up to this point, the primary reason being that I wanted to know about his cause of death before throwing my hat into the ring.  Using uninformed opinions to jump to illogical conclusions is a job for the associated press which, over the past few days, I’ve come to loathe.  Their outright disrespect of the deceased is utterly astounding and incomprehensible.  It’s obvious from footage shown over the past few days that he was never one for interviews or press junkets, and it seems to me that the media is compensating for his lack of participating by exploiting him now.

My condolences to his family, especially for his daughter who may only vaguely remember him as she grows up.  I’ll admit I was never a huge fan of his career, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen of him.  Whether he was regaling A Knight’s Tale or facing off against The Dark Knight, Heath will most probably go down as a talent that was taken from us too soon.

Well, after a lot of saving, spending, saving some more, paying bills, saving yet some more, and ultimately having money stashed aside. I’ve started the process of getting my web site up and running. I’ve purchased two domain names (with a possible third on the way), signed up with a very decent (and affordable) hosting company, and got started on some possible designs. Here’s how I’m hoping things go down in the next month:

1. Get a solid, standards compliant design installed on a WordPress installation
2. Transfer all Blogger entries over to new website
3. Upload all samples of work that I am pleased with including:
   • Photos
   • Videos
   • Illustrations
   • Previous Sites I’ve Designed
   • Possibly random rantings
4. Decide on and start marketing one or all of the following services:
   • Web Design
   • Logo Design
   • Video Editing
   • Video Encoding
   • Search Engine Optimization
   • Print Design
5. Get some fancy business cards printed
6. Relax as the cash rolls in

There are probably a few more steps that I’m missing, but those are definitely some short-term, doable goals. The next time I check in… it’ll be on a new domain name. YAY!

Alternate Titles For This Post: “You Haven’t Updated Since November 7th”, “I’m Hungry”, and “Woo Bang”. I reserve the right to use those blog titles in the future.

I don’t know how many people who read this keep blogs or journals themselves, but I’m just a few entries shy of 300 posts. Not too shabby, although I can’t help but think that number should be quite a bit higher considering that this journal is now five years and 11 days old (wow). But if you break it down and play the numbers game that roughly averages out to an entry a week. There were a few months where I wrote nothing at all, so I guess my current game of catch up has leveled the proverbial playing field.

SO, some major developments in the Gormley world recently. Let’s start from where we left off, eh? Since the time I smelled Windex at Glendale and Erie I’ve secured my place in the working world once again, had a great weekend with a great lady, caught up with an old friend, and coerced said femme into a mutual, exclusive relationship. I gotta say, I’m feeling pretty good about the way things have been going recently. The job is pretty self explanatory. I discussed payment and responsibiities last week and came to a happy medium. I actually start later today (it’s close to 3am as of this sentence). I’m still searching for something better (see: more pertinent), but to pay the bills and get caught up, not to mention finally have a little extra spending money, is going to be nice. Now to the meaty parts…

On Friday Jackie and I went out to Paddy Whacks for some drinking and brief stints of in-your-chair dancing. We talked about everything and anything, joking around and cracking up when we noticed how white girls always grind up on each other while dancing. I got a little loaded, I’ll admit, and it was nice of her to be the designated driver for the evening. Afterwards we came to my humble abode (her first time here, as a matter o’ fact) and watched… wait for it… wait for it… Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead. That’s right, I’m an awesome host.

On Saturday during daylight hours I did very little other than clean up, do some laundry, shower, eat (I think), and get a bit of writing done. That night I agreed to accompany Jackie to Top Dog over in Jersey for some drinking and dance (although I didn’t) along with her friends Sylvia and Paul. It was a great time and I got to return the designated driver favor to Jackie, who wasn’t so much drunk as she was pleasantly buzzed. After Top Dog we hit a diner that I can’t quite recall the name of and then shot home. Two great nights in a row, who’da thunk it?

Sunday was the Lords day. The weather sucked, the Eagles played, Denise woke me up, I ate a Wawa hoagie, I drank a Lemonade Tea, I talked on the phone for a bit, pirated many softwares (Photoshop CS2, Windows Vista, Office 2007, among others) and ended up getting an old friends phone number. I decided to call and see what he’s been up to and how life has been treating him. He told me he just moved into a house with a couple guys from grade school / high school and invited me over to party. I’ve heard some crazy stories come from those guys, but I’m feeling like maybe that’s something I would like to do, so who knows?

Monday: Monday, ’nuff said.

I stopped up the Excel office today to see one of my favorite people. I brought her some pirated softwares as a peace offering (which makes us both nerds, I believe) and hung around for a few hours. Came back home, took a nap, and then talked to Jackie on the phone again until just a short while ago. I asked her something that, to me, felt a little overdue but was graciously accepted and returned in kind. I won’t go into too much detail, but let’s just say my status has changed. Woot!

I haven’t felt this way in a while… I was almost positive that I never would again. Reinforces the old “never say never” addage, I suppose…

I’ll keep this terse. Promise.

I received an email yesterday in reference to the resume I post on craigslist.org every seven days. It just a small paragraph saying, more or less, “I like what I see, please call me today.” So in typical Andrew fashion I call back a few hours after receiving the email and inquire more about the position. The name of the store is TNS Diamonds and it’s located, surprise, on Jewelers Row. 109 South 8th, to be precise. Anyway, I didn’t actually say much about myself or my qualifications, but the conversation went something like this:

Me: “So what does the job entail? Is it sales?”
Him: “Nah, nothing like that. I need some help from a design standpoint, so you’d be helping with the web site, possibly making banners, and taking nice photographs of the new merchandise.”
Me: “Sounds good.”
Him: “Your name is Andrew, right?”
Me: “Yes it is.”
Him: “That’s my name too. It’s a good, strong name.”
Me: “Yes it is.”
Him: “Alright, I’ve heard enough. How about you come on by HQ Monday, maybe around 1pm. I know you design guys don’t like waking up early.”
Me: “Heh, ok.”
Him: “See you then.”

Now I’m sure you’re all aware of the old addage, “When something seems too good to be true…”, and that’s exactly how I’m feeling about this job. It seemed too easy; I’m wondering what the catch is. Worse case scenario is that the pay sucks, and if it sucks bad enough I can just fall back on one of the other three phone numbers I have yet to call for employment. But the promise of loose hours is very appealing to me. Who doesn’t want a job where they can just come and go as they please. Granted, I’m not talking about coming in at 3pm and rolling out at quarter after, but showing up when it’s convenient and working until your job is done. That would be fucking sweet. Either way, I’ll keep everyone posted.

GORMLEY, OUT!