DVD to VCD?

Having a 2 year old who is capable of opening the DVD player around is a dangerous thing. We now have at least 3 DVDs that have scratches so deep that they affect the playing of them. Monsters Inc. had become so annoying that I searched the web looking for tips on scratch removal. I read a couple of reviews of the "CD/DVD scratch repair systems" that are available at our local electronics store and was somewhat intrigued. I also read an article about using toothpaste to "buff out" the scratch making the disc playable again. So being the cheap bastard that I am, I opted to try the toothpaste. I followed the instructions carefully; damp cloth, small amount of paste, inside outward motion and all that, and hoped for the best. Well, in short, it didn't work. Infact, I think now it's worse. I don't recommend the toothpaste method. I am probably going to try one of the store bought remedies, although I read somewhere about using car wax...hmmm. Anyway, the DVD is so far gone I figure I can't hurt it any more.

All this has led me to try to back up a DVD we own on to VCD. I download the application called "Forty-Two"and it has been working upstairs, on Rosie's iBook, encoding the video for about 7 hours now. It said it should take about 23 hours total. I know that is a lot of processor time, but if it works, what the hell. We've lost too many DVDs to care about that. I update later to let you all know how it worked (if it did). Just for the record Forty-Two has a very slick GUI and is quite easy to use. It is donation-ware, so it is basically free, if it works I think I could probably afford to donate the price of a DVD to the cause.

I may have to get a G4 sooner, rather than later, although for this kind of stuff waiting for a 64-bit processor might be worth the wait.

Just Like Everything Else...

Well, it's official. Just like everything else, I have let the weblog decay to nothing in only 2 weeks! I thought it would be a little longer before I lost interest but it turns out things were conspiring against me. The main reason is that I am having problems with Safari (my brower of choice) not refreshing properly so that I have to use IE to do any entries (like this one). Therefore, it isn't likely that I will, on a whim, whip off an entry because it would involve the arduous task of launching a second browser. I know that it is only a few seconds of my life, but I find that those few seconds are enough to rob me of any motivation that I may have had.

I am really going to try and be a little more disciplined about the blog. I may set aside a few minutes a couple of times a week to at least make some sort of effort. Maybe, if for no other reason than to practice my typing.

How Much Pain Do We Have To Endure?

The Vancouver Canucks dropped a 5-1 decision to the Minnesota Wild tonight. It was a pathetic effort, only slightly better than the 7-2 loss a couple of nights ago. This, of course, sets the stage for a "winner takes all" game tomorrow night in Vancouver. I can't believe the stress that this team puts on all our lives here on the west coast. Nothing comes easy and every second is a life-time for the nail-biting, bullet sweating, pants soiling Canucks fan. Why can't they just win without all the dramatics? I know it's nice to get revenue from home games in the playoffs, but come on! The only thing I can figure is that they are making a mint off of the newly added Buspirone kiosk at GM Place.

Well, let's try and keep it positive.

Only in the USA You Say...Pity!

As you may have read online, Apple's new iTunes Music Store sold over one million songs in its first week of operation. At US$ .99, that is US$ 990,000 or C$ 1,394,119. I don't know about you, but that's the closest thing to a licence to print money I've seen since, eBay. I am kind of glad that the iTunes Music Store isn't available in Canada yet, I don't think we could afford it. Plus, Rosie's first-generation 5GB iPod is certainly not big enough so we would have to get a bigger one.

I found this cool link for streaming music through iTunes 4. It's called iTunes Music Database. It is a list of servers that iTunes 4 can connect to. One I check out had over 2000 songs on it! Pretty much every Beatles song you can think of, which is nice, considering they aren't available to purchase at the iTunes Music Store!

Speaking of iPods. We are desperately waiting on our iTrip. It's an iPod powered FM transmitter, that lets you listen to your iPod on your car stereo, home stereo or any other FM stereo you may have. It is an incredibly beautiful design that complements the iPod beautifully, although I'm not quite sure they will work as nicely with the new iPods, since Apple has moved the Firewire port to the bottom of the unit. They started shipping them May 1st, but still no word from the computer store.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Hola, and buenos dias, everybody! It's Cinco de Mayo, a special holiday for our Mexican friends. Not their Independence Day, which is September 16, but an important day in the history of Mexico.

The story of the Battle of Puebla is an interesting one, and you can read all about it here

So I recommend you take some time today learning a little history and maybe drinking a Corona, while watching a soccer (pronounced "hockey") game. Go Canucks Go!!

Strong Bad

I came across this website while searching for some insight into a Safari refreshing problem which makes me have to do my blog using IE. It is not at all related to Safari, IE or blogging for that matter but I got a little laugh out of it.

http://www.homestarrunner.com/

Check it out.

Picture of Me

This is what I look like.
Actually, more of a test to see how pictures work.
Cool. Take it up to 20000 ft.

P.S. Brent, sorry for the rather large jpg file.

Prepare For Take Off

Hello and welcome to my Weblog. I'm not exactly sure what a weblog is for but I have one and I'll be damned if I don't use it.

I'm hoping that, perhaps, over time it will evolve into something useful, that I can share with the whole wired world, although the chances of anyone other than myself or my brother reading this is miniscule.

I also find that I usually start something like this with good intentions and then quite quickly cast it aside so I can play solitaire or something.

Anyway, I hope this becomes interesting to you or at least useful for me. The more I think about it, the more I think my weblog will probably serve as a virtual brain, where I can store information that my regular brain would be prone to forget. Not my PIN or anything like that but just reminders to myself, kind of like phoning your own telephone answering machine and leaving a message to yourself. Well, fasten your seatbelts, return your seats to their upright and locked position, and extinguish all smoking materials, were in for a rough flight...