Author: Tommy

Jennifer and I returned home from our honeymoon last week, we have most our stuff here under our own roof, but quite a bit is still boxed up - though we're making headway. School starts up for her very soon, and I still have about 3 weeks until the fall semester begins here at LeTourneau University.

You may have noticed there hasn't been much activity on the main page here, well, that's because all the cool kids are out back in the forums. If you haven't checked them out, you can click on them here, or at the top of the page. I posted some pics from the honeymoon (we went to Niagara Falls) in the forums. There are also pictures from the wedding that Valt took.

Most recently, Jennifer and I acquired a fish tank that we saw advertised for a good price in the local paper classifieds. I cleaned it yesterday and the day before and set it up last night. Right now I just have it circulating the water and we'll probably populate it with a few guppies and some cleaning fish. Hopefully the guppy population will boom and the tank will be teeming with life within the next few months.

update: Just added a female guppy and 3 ghost shrimp to the tank, just to kick things off. (Cost: $1)

I was just reading an article at the Austin Chronicle about AMD's plans to relocate from the lower east side of town (Just off Ben White) to the southwest edge of town (Just off Mopac).
The article explains AMD's reasoning. They claim it will create a shorter commute for the majority of it's employees. They have a map, by ZIP code, of the concentration of it's employees, and AMD claims their proposed new location will slahes 10,000 miles of commuting per day.
The plan isn't without it's opponents. Critics argue that AMD is breakin a traditon of major manufactures by building on the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. (The aqafer being a major source of water for the city) Many argue this is a potentially harmful move, but City Council is powerless to do anything about the relocation, due to zoning laws currently in place.

An interesting affair to say the least. Having not seen the proposed location myself, I can't say for sure, but I would guess that the new area is probably a bit more scenic than the current location.
And I'm sure Skaven is thilled at the prospect of a move.

I just got back from the local Target where I picked up a JuiceBox. (warning: annoying Flash on that site!)
What the crap is a JuiceBox? It's a kid's portable media player that Mattel released for Christmas '04. They didn't sell very well at their retail price of $50, so stores like Target and Walmart cleared them out at huge discounts. Walmart cleared them out months ago, and according to one source, was selling them for as cheap as $6!
Target, just this week, dropped their in store prices from the already discounted $24 to $12.

"Okay, so why did you buy an unwanted toy?"
Recently, Slashdot ran an article about hacking your JuiceBox into a picture frame. This is my current goal, as it is for several others. The key to the mods surrounding this little gadget is that it runs a version of uclinux. We'll see how this goes.

update: Pfft, well that was cake - no real "mod" involved. The "MP3 Starter Kit" that I bought for $11 at Target includes a CD that converts pictures to a proprietary format (.jbp), compressing each image down to 57k. You can tell the image quality has been lost, but on a screen this small, you don't really care that much. I'm sure as the hacking community grows, there will be more options available. For those interested, if you have an SD card and USB adapter for your computer, you can play MP3s right out of the box. The software kit gives you the image conversion software, as well as an adapter to allow the SD card to be plugged into the media card slot on the JuiceBox unit. (I believe a few people have tried to make their own adapters.) Aside from the JuiceBox card adapter, the kit doesn't actually do anything to the Juicebox.

Ok, well I haven't made a personal post on here in while. One of those posts to let you know what's going on in my life. (Like you care, right?)
Well, as you may tell from the countdown on the left, I'm getting married soon. Yeah, that's the countdown to my wedding. It's cool though, I'm really excited. We're planning on going to Niagara Falls for our honeymoon.

Right now I'm living in Nacogdoches, waiting for word back from LeTourneau University, my first alma mater. (You know, I started this whole collge thing there right out of high school.) So, I applied there about a month ago, and I'm awaiting my acceptance letter. Once that goes through, we will be given a housing assignment. Jennifer, through her crafty ways, landed us an on-campus apartment. On campus, you say? It's much cheaper that any other apartments available, all bills paid, and very convenient for your's truly. It should save us a considerable amount money versus living off campus.

My admissions counselor at LeTourneau said they're awaiting my transcript from SFA, which should have been there now - so it should be any day now that I hear back from LeTourneau. After that, I'll move my stuff there and try to find an on campus job that I can do while I'm in school, register for fall classes and prepare for the wedding.

I just learned of Freecycling today. No, it has nothing to do with bicycling. It's a play on the word "recycle". You know that old TV set in your garage? or that old ratty golf bag your dad gave you when you were 12? Get rid of it finally! You know you can't ebay it.

Rather than throw it away, which you hate to do, give it to someone who wants it. You post your items that you have up for grabs on the Freecycle group near you, and people call dibs or email you about how to get it from you.
Tim, KD5ING, had an old, crusty bicycle at the office. A lady was to come by and pick it up, because she wanted a bike, but not enough to shell out the cash for it. He needed it out of his garage and, rather than let it go to waste, was happy to give it to her. "One man's trash is another man's treasure."
Check it out, you might find something you've been wanting for free! (Pack rats steer clear.)