Category: Observations that no one else cares about

Windows 7… Mac… and You!

So if you haven’t been keeping up on the Apple Blogs, bootcamp finally supports Winders 7!

I decided to jump in head first into this fun little adventure this evening…. and things…. well things didn’t go as well as I thought they could have gone… and there are more then a few landmines.

So here is the setup…. I’m running Mac OS X 10.6.2 on a Mid 2007 Mac Book Pro (2.4 GHZ Santa Rosa) bootcamped with Windows XP 32 Bit (20GB Partition)

If you read all of the docs from Apple they tell you to boot into Windows and do the upgrade from there… and just like a real Windows XP to 7 upgrade you have to do a “Custom/Advanced” upgrade to make the jump.

So I reboot the Mac and when I reboot I boot off of the DVD drive and select the Windows 7 x64 DVD and hit enter… I’m then presented with a option

“1.

2.

Select CD-Rom Boot Type:_”

OH and just to make it real interesting my keyboard doesn’t work… nor does my USB keyboard.

I do what any logical IT person would do… I reboot 4 or 5 more times… all with the same result.

So when your a IT guy and you have these issues there is really only one thing left to do… GOOGLE THAT SHIT!’

A couple of other folks have run into this same problem…

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/servervirtualization/thread/a8ae28ed-daf8-4e47-a356-84fb57cf9016/

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=467704

The basic cruxt is that there is a format mis-match between this MBP and a file in the EFI boot folder on the disk… A bit more googling and following links the best method to fix the file problem in the EFI folder is to extract the DVD to a ISO file and then reburn it to a new disk.

And the easiest way to do that is here…

http://sergiomcfly.blogspot.com/2008/04/select-cd-rom-boot-type-when-installing.html

At this point you have a burnable disk and should be able to proceed with the upgrade.

Stupid Mac…

Proof….

The Universe Hates Me…

1. My Football team loses on the last play of the game on 4th down by 3 points.

1a. The 49ers won today…

2. After running my dishwasher, I found a leak in the wall behind sink… how do I know this? The flooded utility room was my first clue.

Or the universe is just screwing with me….

1. My football team actually did really well using the backup quarter back.

1a. The 49ers may still have a winning season.

2. The leak is temporarily resolved by shutting down hot water to the house. Thus preventing further damage…

Or that the universe really does care…

1. My football team will probably have another winning season…

1a. The 49ers may still have a losing season.

2. A certain person that I’m happy is in my life.

NCC-17OHYES

Star Trek movies have a rule that they are pretty good on following… the odd movies are bad(ish) the even movies are good(ish)… The 4 Next Generation movies were able to pretty much kill that streak (they were 3 bad to 1 really good one).

In the past I have measured my like/dislike of a Star Trek film based on my reaction the first time I watch it at home with no one around. I knew that “First Contact” benefited way to much from the big screen when I watched it at home and wasn’t nearly as interested as I had been in the theaters 6 months earlier.

JJ Abrahams must have done multiple things right… not only did I purchase Star Trek the day it came out, but when I watched it at home I have the same feeling at the end of movie as I did when I saw it in the theater. I once again state…. “Star Trek has no business being this good”

Extra Geek cred for the following…
Where is Paul McGillion (aka if you don’t know where he is from you can’t play)
Where is Wil Wheaton? (aka you have to look very hard)

In this perfect weather….

The high gaming season is on us once again, and once again just about every game that I have any interest in buying is coming out in the span of 3.2 seconds (ok not that quick but close enough). So as a community service I present to you Tom’s gaming guide for holiday 2009…. This guide should only be used as a tie breaker if your on the fence about something otherwise you are just being dumb.

Batman Arkham Asylum – Run don’t walk to get this masterpiece.
Halo ODST – Let me know how it is, I’m waiting for it to hit the $20 mark
Teken 6 – Like random button mashing? Like lots sparkles? Like a minimum of story? If you answered yes to two out of three then this game is for you.
Left4Dead2 – The only reason you’re reading this blog and didn’t buy this game is because your name is Curtis and your being difficult.
COD:Modern Warfare 2 – I hear it’s great… I’m waiting for it to come down to $20 then I will buy it used to screw Activison out of their money for making the PC version $60 and taking all control away for multiplayer.
New Super Mario Brothers (Wii) – How could you deny “It’s a me Mario!” ?
Brutal Legend – It has Jack Black and way to many Metal guys… how could you say no? (Probably because the game play has gotten thoroughly trounced in every review of the game)

The Fat Lady Never Sings….

So last night it was pointed out to me that it was 10 years since a particular event… I don’t remember the event, but I do remember thinking “Christ where did the last decade go”?

And then I think about everything that has happened in just my personal life and it boggles my mind…. Not the amount of stuff going on but the minutia of detail that has been lost to the fog of time and probably one or two too many beers. And it’s the minutia of detail that I take the most pleasure in. So as I was thinking about this I also realized that this pile of drivel is going to be 9 years old in just about a month.

I will admit I have questioned whether it was time to mothball this long running hobby more then once in the last year or so. It seems redundant with Facebook, Flickr, Instant Messaging, Cell Phones, and this little thing called getting in a car and going to someone’s house. In the end though this serves two purposes that most of the previous technologies fail miserably at.

1. Long form composition of thoughts and ideas (even if those have been severely lacking for a while now) (and to those who would say cell phones and being social full fill this requirement I say come hang out with me and certain friends who won’t let you get a word in edgewise after alcohol has passed their lips)
2. It’s a vanity project that it’s limited to 140 characters.

So where does this all lead? I don’t know but I’m thinking that their may be a return to some roots and maybe trying out a few different things.

Who knows but the fat lady just got bitten by a zombie so I guess I’m committed now.

There are no answers here…

Not that anyone expects great things out of a Cardinals fan but I just thought I would clarify what kind of answers could be found here.

The total number is Zero.

What you will get is a crap load of observations just like the one I’m about to drop on you right about…. NOW!

In 2005 I was aware of football… I understood there were 7 points for a touchdown and 3 points for a field goal. I could tell you who the West coast teams were… I knew that the Raiders were to be hated the Bronco’s loathed the Cardinals couldn’t win and that was about it. I could identify the major positions of the game but couldn’t tell you what any of them other then quarterback did. I could name the one year up to that point the Cardinals had done something in the playoffs only because I was living at NAU in the same dorm as the team the following summer and my brother was very jealous.

In 2009 I scream at the TV on a regular basis for teams I have no vested interest in other then one particular player because of a purely stats based pursuit I’ve taken up. I can tell when the Cardinals are going to run the ball vs throw the ball based on how they are lined up on the line of scrimmage. I can tell you what teams are in what divison and what their chances are of going to the playoffs. I can identify a team that is good and and team is just pretending to be good (for the most part).

Honestly it’s a little weird to basically going from knowing nothing about football to actually understanding 95% of what goes on at any given time. And I wonder why my brother calls me the rain-man of football….

I know that having a team is not a marriage I can walk away at any time and choose to follow another. But everyday Sunday in the fall and first week or two of winter there I am either cheering or screaming at tv or in the stands while watching my team The Arizona Cardinals…. whether they be up by 20 or down by 40 I’m there supporting them.

It’s always a ride… maybe not the most fun, but it’s always a ride.

Bigger faster stronger?

I don’t know if I would use those words to describe me as of late… for sure faster and somewhat stronger pretty much the same size though.

A while back I wrote about turning 30 and my new found motivation for running… Well the running went the way of the dodo about a week after that post thanks to a couple of long weeks at work and the arrival of some oppressive heat (that and a what can be described as mental block of time vs distance vs what I believe my own capabilities were). That was all at the start of July. Somewhere toward the middle of July Two unnamed individuals convinced me to come to the gym with them one Saturday morning. At worst I would lose a Saturday… That was just over a month ago and so far I’ve lost 18 mornings/evenings to that place.

So what was different then the failed attempt two years ago? First thing I did was I found a somewhat willing victim friend to go with once a week and break up the routine. Second I put down the cash for some personal training time. While I do chalk up a fair bit of this new found gym fleetingness to certain people I find the personal motivator is my own self. Though knowing if I flake out I’m down a bit of cash is surprisingly motivating as well.

It’s interesting seeing the differences between gyms this is my third one in 5 years. The Wellness center in Kingman was by far the nicest but it was also the most expensive, and they weren’t big on changing what you were doing (which changed right towards the end with one fitness trainer but I left before she could do alot for me) 24 Hour was the cheapest but also the pushiest and I just couldn’t get into it which I chalk up to a distinct lack of motivation and a case of the “fuck it’s”. The current one is probably the most frugal but it’s seems to work well with my demeanor I guess the real trick will be will I keep it up after the personal trainer and my elk hunt or is this just another flash in the pan?

Also certain other individuals need to stop enjoying Rocky Mountain air and write something anything!

The more things change….

So I was digging around the old website that was the historic beginings of the this wordpress type blog looking for a picture of my brother with either Chip or Dale to post on facebook and just to generally be not nice…

I found the picture but I kept scrolling through and I found this little gem from December 8, 2002…

The Lions played the Cardinals this week… the Cardinals won in Overtime… the fact the Cardinals won is a miracle… but it is only a minor miracle since they beat the Lions… The only team worse then the Cardinals.

It’s nice to see that at least one of those things hasn’t changed… the other one well we are still waiting to see if the change is permanent…

And I guess if you really want to see the photo of my brother with either Chip or Dale…

Little brother be happy I had a change of heart on the whole facebook thing…

Tom… in North Carolina… A Match Made in Heaven?

So I’ve talked at length over the last 10 years or so about my love of participating in all things redneck… you know the little things in life.

Beer Brewing

Hunting

Nascar

And not quite redneck but I’ve also talked about football at various points.  Pretty much everything under the sun.

I’m in Charlotte for a conference and I knew it was NASCAR country  but I had no idea….

I turned on the evening news and about half way through the news cast they talked about a NASCAR driver who’s been suspended and getting his mansion forclosed on.  And when they hit sports the lead story was a NASCAR story, a couple of local sports stories, and another NASCAR story.

And on top of that my hotel room is across the street from NASCAR headquaters!

How cool is that?!?

Oh and I can see the “Bank of America” stadium home of the Carolina Panthers….

And you know what it still smells of defeat at the hands of a team from Arizona.

Of course I would be all to familiar with the smell of defeat and football.