Published on
September 30, 2007 in
General.
One of the reasons I’m a proponent of taking the bus, aside from not needing to deal with parking and the health benefits 
from walking more, is that it’s helpful to the environment. Metro is using biodiesel (20 percent biodiesel mixed in ultra low sulfur diesel) and filters to cut pollution and environmental impact. Plus, the fact I’m on the bus rather than in my car takes one vehicle off the road.Â
But I should do more, so I’m taking another step. Today I signed up for Green Power from Puget Sound Energy. PSE 
allows customers to enroll either for 100 percent green power, or a specific dollar amount of green energy during each billing cycle. I opted for 100 percent green power, as the price increase is 1.25 cents per kilowatt-hour, which if were applied on my last energy bill, would increase it by $8.12. I think it’s well worth it.
I’ve also started looking at my energy usage both at work and at home. My main workstation at the office now goes to sleep, and I unplugged a few things that I’m not using on a regular basis here at home (you know, those vampire appliances that keep pulling lots of energy even when “off”). But, I do leave several computers on which draws a lot of energy, so I think it’s only appropriate that energy come from renewable resources rather than fossil fuels or nuclear power. If you’re curious, PSE gets its clean energy from wind power (97%), solar (1%), and biomass (2%), and while the actual feed to my home may or may not directly get its energy from these sources, the main power grid sees this purchase shift.
Published on
September 27, 2007 in
General.
The home theater PC! It arrived last week, and I installed it Monday night. After a few initial, “How do I get X to work,” moments, I have it hooked up to the TV and the cable TV is connected. Comcast will be out on Wednesday to install the cable cards, and I am ready ready ready. It’s also hooked up with Windows Home Server, so it’s now backed up automatically every night.
I don’t have the cable cards yet and I’m already loving the Windows Media Center experience with the analog cable feed. I can’t wait for the digital feed to be what’s used. Such a wonderful way to view my recorded TV shows, as in look through at what I have. It shows a frame from the show as the tile one clicks, a much quicker way to look through the recordings than need to read titles.
I need to rearrange my entertainment stand now. Currently the PC is at the bottom, and I’d like it higher, although I’m not sure I can do that. The PC is just a tiny bit longer than the stand can hold it seems, except the bottom can barely hold it. I’ll mess with it over the weekend. Even if I can’t move it, the cables are very tangled and chaotic now, and I can at least get that organized back there.
As dumb as this sounds, I’m thinking of rearranging my home network equipment again. We’ll see, but one computer near the TV is ok, and two is kind of noisy. It’d be nice to move at least one of them further away.
Published on
September 1, 2007 in
General.
Seems it’s that time of year when the geese fly south for the winter months, which means the rainy season isn’t that far off (boo!). And Cedar Point will close soon (boo!). I bought my airline tickets for closing weekend and reserved the rental car, but haven’t booked a hotel room yet, but there’s still time.
Although it seems early… I don’t remember geese flying south in August. I might not have paid attention as well last year, perhaps. I can tell, though, the weather’s changing. We’re seeing cooler days and rain now and again, so I suppose I understand why they’re flying south. It just seems too soon.
Otherwise nothing new really to talk about. The Media Center PC is still not here… it’s “Staged For Assembly” and hasn’t changed status for a few weeks. I still hate my cable box (do I really need three copies of the same episode of The Daily Show?).
I’d write more, but I need to take off – going to Fry’s for some stuff and then to a stand-up comedy club. TTYL.
