Monthly Archives: April 2009

TV Problem

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I just got this new Samsung television and already I’m having a very odd problem. It seems that whenever there is white text on a black background, which you see quite often in the “bumps” on [adult swim] and during the credits for King of the Hill, the screen actually darkens and lightens depending on how much text there is. If there is a lot of text then it appears white, if there is not a great deal of text then it appears gray, because the screen darkens. I have already turned off anything in the settings that was dynamic and the power saving feature, and it still is doing it quite actively.

I asked Rick, since we have the same television, and he said that it doesn’t do that for him, and when we compared settings they came out the same. He suggested I call Samsung and to be honest I probably will. I don’t have any DVD’s or games that really create the same environment, but admittedly I haven’t looked very hard, so I don’t know if it just does this with the cable or with other devices.

Wireless [Update]

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I tried the suggestion on assigning the Xbox 360 a static IP and the problem is that the Xbox 360 detects the network as being “moderate”. I don’t know what the classifications are, but basically if you test your connection to Live and it comes back as “moderate” then you have a problem and it will affect download, game, and chat. Honestly, if I had to guess at what is causing it I would say that while UPnP fixes this problem, because I am giving the Xbox 360 a dedicated IP the router isn’t doing the DNS for it, so it also doesn’t do UPnP or anything else. That’s just my theory. If I could find a way to enable all the features of the router for a device that is not hitting the DNS then maybe it would work.

Cable is Back

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Time Warner Cable came out, I believe the technicians name was Mike, and replaced the splitter. All the technicians that have come out were nice guys, and Mike was no exception. The splitter that he replaced quite literally was full of water, and he brought it inside the house and shook it around to show me this. Apparently water does not kill the splitter it just severely drains the signal so that the higher the station the less likely you will get it. He said that the guy before replaced it the right way and everything and that he felt it was more of a fluke. This marks the third time in a month that the splitter was the cause of the problem.

Random

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The wireless gaming adapter that I’ve been playing with doesn’t seem to like holding an IP for more than a day, so I’ve gotten the suggestion that I should go with a static IP on the Xbox 360, because that might help. I am not sure that the problem isn’t really that I’m using a virtual network on my router, because the adapter only does WEP and my network was WPA. I was told that WPA is better security. I will have to wait and see if this fixes the problem. Right now I can’t suggest this setup to Renee, because while I incorrectly said she bought an Xbox 360 when in fact she exchanged one she got for her birthday and got one with a hard drive, she needs a wireless solution, but this isn’t really stable enough for right now. Lucky for me her television is basically rubbish so she isn’t in any real rush for this solution.

The kids went to the doctor’s for their physicals and everything seems to be fine. We are still waiting for some routine tests to come back, but so far the only problem is the kids are slightly overweight. I was already aware of this fact though, so there wasn’t any surprises that have come of this physical yet. I believe the kids have been losing weight, and when the school year is over and they can spend more time riding their bikes, which I still have to find a bike for Patty, then I’m sure this problem will resolve itself. The Easter candy isn’t helping the situation any in the very present. Hopefully they slim down enough to make it easier to fit them for uniforms for the new school year.

I have the Praxis II content and PLT test on the 25th and I’ve been reading some books to help me get prepared for them. I picked up two AP history books at the Akron public library, because to my surprise the University of Akron library did not have any world history books that would be of value to me. I need the history books for the content part, which is about 130 multiple choice questions that can be pulled from world, American, geography, economics, and politics. I have made it to about the 15th century for the world history, but I feel that the next four centuries are going to be more important to me. On the PLT side of things I’ve made it through about a dozen people who have contributed theories that have shaped the modern education system in the United States, but I really have to go back through and read them all again and finish these books. These tests could not have come at a worst time, as the semester is winding down and I have a lot of assignments due in all my other classes.

Speaking of assignments what I have due is a final draft of my Historical Methods paper, which I got the rough draft back today and there are quite a few corrections I have to make to get a better grade. I need to put together another paper for my Advanced Teaching Instructions class, along with a Curriculum Connections paper, a rough draft of the unit plan, and I have to finish the observation hours I’ve been doing at North High School. I have a big paper and a possible presentation coming due for Measurements and Evaluation, which I sadly have not even started on. I have to finish up about 6 online quizzes for Family Financial Management and start thinking about the final project that is due on finals week. I have the final paper and a presentation due in History and Film, which while that is actually not that difficult is still more work piled on. I would like to finish all these books I got for the Praxis II tests.

I have so many assignments and appointments lately that I forced myself to learn how to use the appointments and tasks feature on my phone. I was keeping all these things written down in a notebook, but I need a more constant and ready reminder of what needs done. It wasn’t hard to learn and I feel more confident about keeping track of what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. I don’t have any reminders or anything set, because I’m constantly in there adding or checking something so I don’t think I’m going to forget what’s due next.

Everywhere I go anymore it smells like fresh mulch. This is both a blessing and a curse. Sure everything looks better and eventually the smell settles down and it is fine, but in the very present it is a very pungent smell. Sometimes I feel as though I’m carrying the smell around me if I walk too close to it.

Time Warner Cable will be out to fix my cable for a 3rd time in a month. I know 3rd time is a charm, but I’m really just hoping they get it right this time. I don’t even know what went wrong this time. The cable box isn’t working and now the kids are telling me that some of the higher channels are scrambled on their televisions. This problem seems to be brand new. I don’t know what’s going on. I even talked to Rick and while he probably knows what the problem is there isn’t anything I can actually do myself to fix it.

My Grandma helped me with dinner tonight and she made the pork chops better than I do. I learned how to do it from my Dad and the recipe is dip them in Italian dressing, then breadcrumbs, then in the oven for an hour at 350. Grandma did them with egg instead of Italian dressing, and I have to say that I like it better that way. I’ll have to start doing that.

Easter

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The kids got dressed up and went to Easter mass. When they came home they got their baskets. They immediately starting eating the candy in the baskets, and the sugar led to a marked increase in activity, so much so that I had to get them to change and go outside to play. It’s not real warm outside, but it’s warm enough and it isn’t raining or anything.

I had to take Michelle home and the kids mother had another basket of candy for me to take home to them. Just what they needed.

14

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Michelle’s birthday was on the 8th so she really needed to come over so we could do something about that. She came over today. I took her out to the mall and let her pick out a shirt and she found one of Alice in Wonderland, the Disney version, at Hot Topic with the Cheshire Cat on it. The mall closed so we had to go to Target and I got her Guitar Hero II for PS2, because it was in the budget section of video games. I told her she could pick out another item of clothing or a toy and she decided to get something she could play with. I think that’s cool.

We went to Apple Bee’s for dinner and for a change it wasn’t really bad. I gave her the choice of three restaurants, which was Apple Bee’s, Olive Garden, and Steak & Shake. I’m really glad she didn’t pick Steak & Shake I go there too often as it is. The server was really awesome and brought extra sauce for the boneless wings and my chicken salad without me having to ask for it. Michelle got chicken penne and we learned that it is pronounced the same as “penny”. Learn something new every day.

We came home and played Rock Band 2. Patty and Eddy came downstairs to watch. They had to go to bed after midnight though, which I didn’t know how late it was, because the cable box is actually broken. It just gets stuck on boot up and the message on the screen says “APP”. They will be out Tuesday to fix that. Michelle is getting really good at guitar. She’s up to Hard, and getting 90% on all the songs we played, so she might just be ready for the expert difficulty real soon.

Tomorrow is Easter, so all the kids will be getting a basket. I have to drive Michelle home after that, so the weekend will be cut extremely short. I didn’t know she was going to have to leave so soon. I thought I would get more time.

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Spring Break

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The kids are on their spring break and wouldn’t you know it it’s been snowing for the last two days. I don’t believe it is supposed to snow tomorrow, because according to the weather widget I have on my desktop it is supposed to be 44 degrees tomorrow, but this is still a crazy way to begin a break. Not that this weather is unfamiliar for Ohio. I was just talking to the principle at a Catholic middle school and she said that it’s snowed on their Easter egg hunt for the past 3 years.

Speaking of which the kids are probably going to be going to non-public schools next year. I signed them up for this program that allows them to receive some help towards the tuition of private schools. My cost is only a few hundred dollars and at one school I believe I have to volunteer at some events to offset more of the cost, but overall that isn’t really that much to pay for the kids to be out of public schools. If they continue in this plan for the next several years they will be able to go to a Catholic high school. I’m pretty happy about this plan, even though driving the kids to school is going to be a bit of a pain.

Wireless

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Jo came over and helped me set up a Linksys gaming bridge that was sitting in his parents basement so I could see if it would work for my Xbox 360. Jo actually got this thing refurbished for about $25 and I wish I could find one for that price, but I’d prefer version 2, since the one he has version 1 doesn’t do WPA. I had to set up a virtual network on my router so that I could have WEP running to get it to work. I’m not even sure if the Linksys router I have does virtual networks or if that’s a feature that I got with DD-WRT.

It is working pretty well. I streamed a video and downloaded something. I probably should try using Netflix, because that’s probably a real test to see if it’s fast enough for me to recommend to other people. I’d already recommend it just based on the fact that it works, but I’d really like to try this one, because it actually does WEP and WPA and you don’t have to worry about which version you get. The whole reason I decided to play around with it was because I know someone who bought an Xbox 360 and eventually they are going to want to take it online, after they get a better television and some other things probably.

Weekend Stuff

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The kids learned to make “flubber” and “play doh” from some recipes they were given at school. I’ve seen the “play doh” one before, it’s flour and food coloring and some other household things, but the flubber one is a new one. We needed borax, which to be completely honest I don’t remember ever using that before for anything, to make the “flubber”. I like the “flubber” better, because while it seems to be a little slimey to the touch, it doesn’t dry out near as quickly as the “play doh”.

Some bad news for this weekend. Patty’s bike was stolen. She claims she left it in someone’s driveway while she was playing over there and when she went to leave it was gone. I’m not particularly surprised. It is something we will have to work on replacing.