Running -

As you know, I am in training for another marathon. I feel to be in good shape and I am feeling healthy.

I’ve just started the training.  I am in week 4 that just happens to be a bi- week.  So far my training has had me run 88.92 miles.  I will be doing most of my training on the treadmill (as I prefer it).  I am attempting to get my pace on the treadmill to just under a 9:00 minute pace.  I figure that should get me a marathon pace of around an 11:00 pace.

Marathon of Choice?  Seattle Rock and Roll on June 26^th!

Why one of the Rock and Roll?  Bling!

Around my neck are 3 medals.  One is for the Vegas RnR half, run in December of 2009. One is for the PF Chang’s Half, run in January of 2010.  The third is a customer appreciation medal for running the both of the half-marathons.  Called the “Desert Double Down” it is a nice thing to get for just running.

Next race?  Probably the Colfax Marathon (Half) in Denver!

Life, Entertainment, and What I did About it! -

Television entertainment can cost a lot of money.  I was a DirectTV customer for over a decade.  I liked and appreciated their service for a long time, but recently I haven’t liked them.  They are expensive, but are willing to drop the price if you call and complain.  The latest price hike was 9%. That would have placed my monthly bill at about $80.  I called to complain and was offered $200 off for 2010. It would have required a new commitment.  I didn’t want that so I cancelled their service.

I had to think about it first.  I looked at what I actually watched on their service.  I used their HD service. I watched mostly local TV channels. I did watch a lot of BBC America, some ScyFy channel, some History, and some Discovery channels. I had their program guide and DVR service and used it.  That was it.

About a year (or so) ago, I shared a build on a HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer).  If I was going to get a program guide, HD and a DVR/PVR, I’d have to look at it again.

The HTPC was in an entertainment center type of case.  It blended in well with the other components of the entertainment center.  But to do an up grade, I would need to find additional or replacement cards in a low profile assembly.

I started out with just adding an additional gigabyte of system memory. I added 1GB of DDR2–667.  That brought the system up to 2 GB. I’d have liked more, but it is an HTPC system without the demands of a gaming system.  I also added an outside UHF TV antenna for digital TV broadcasts off of the air.

The basic build was a micro ATX motherboard (MSI K9VGM-V) with an AMD Athlon 3800+ Dual-core CPU in an Antec Minuet case.  The graphics card was a Nvidia 9400GT. I couldn’t use the old tuner card as it is not a low profile.  So, I added a Hauppage USB 950Q tuner card, and an ATI TV Wonder PCIe (1x) card. Those would bring in HD off of the HD TV antenna.

I used the SageTV software that I already had.  That provided a DVR/PVR and a program guide. It also provided a media server for music and household videos, and access to some online media sharing websites (YouTube, Google Videos and the like).  It also provided new HD content from other online providers.

I had Mozilla Firefox on board to provide yet more services, such as Hulu.com, Clicker.com and the like.  I would use the household 7mbps DSL service to access the Internet with.

I assembled the revised system.  It worked!  I could record TV shows and even translate them into portable player modes, so it could be taken with.  It looked and ran like a provided service. I thought I had everything I needed.

Practical use proved otherwise, though.  The video/graphics card could not keep up with the signal.  I needed a new video/graphic card.

More research was necessary.  I wanted to make this change with the least amount of hassle possible.  HD video is not as demanding as gaming, but it would need more than I was giving it.

Most SD (Standard Definition) video is easily viewed using a 256MB card.  Win Media HD (High Definition) requires 512MB card. Those are the 2 basic standards that had to be met.  I also wanted to use an HDMI connection with 7.1 surround sound audio pass through.  Further research showed that the ATI graphic system chips are being used in Samsung TV systems.  I had an AMD CPU, an ATI tuner, and a Samsung LCD TV.  It made sense to go with an ATI graphic card. So, off to the store!

I explained what I wanted to a sales representative in the “peripheral” section.  I bought an HIS HD 4350 PCIe 16x DDR2 512MB graphic card with everything I wanted except the amount of GPU memory that I wanted. 

I got it home, put it in the machine, and turned the HTPC on!  Amazing, colorful HD video ensued!  I had a system that does exactly what I want it to!

A definite plus is that I rebuilt the HTPC with the updates at less than I would pay in a normal month for the satellite system that I dropped.  All input was free and working great at this point.

The splurge!  I have to admit that I did get the Netflix streaming video service at the lowest rate it was offered at.  I don’t necessarily want the DVD sent by mail, but the option is there.  The streaming service is amazing on the revised HTPC!

The only trouble is…  There is often times that there is just nothing on TV to watch!  (But that was always true!)

 How About Some “OK GO” Fun Now?