greyduck.net

Looking For Quacks In The Pavement

Author: Karel Kerezman

  • MediaMonkey (x 2) + QNAP = Fun

    I know, that’s not a mathematically correct subject line. I apologize right up front for this.

    The last “big purchase” for my tax money was a QNAP 219p II 2-bay NAS device to replace the aging, slow, finicky Western Digital single-drive NAS. To feed the QNAP I picked up a pair of 3-terabyte Seagate drives. What am I doing with triple the storage?

    I’m using it to play music and movies, of course.

    Stage One in this project involved synchronizing the living room and bedroom copies of MediaMonkey. You can point the software to a database file on a UNC path and a music library on a UNC path and as long as you don’t go crazy trying to run both copies at once it seems to work. Mind you, it took several tries to clear out the “local” parts of the library on each computer. MediaMonkey hates to let go of a directory once you’ve ever used it as part of your library. Three times I had to clear out the “duplicates” between the two machines. Also, while you can export a playlist to M3U out of the MediaMonkey library just fine, it takes a special add-in script to actually import an M3U.

    What was I doing with M3Us? Exporting them, using a text editor to replace the paths, then importing so I’d have both of my “game night” playlists for downstairs and my portable-device sync playlist upstairs, all in the same library. Now I can update the game night playlists from upstairs any time I want. Sweet deal, eh?

    Next up: Figuring out how to organize and present TV shows and movies.

  • Sufficiently Screened

    I have four mobile phones charging on my desk right now. This is part of the impending migration from Service A to Service B for myself, Kylanath and the rugrats.

    My “current” phone is also perched on the desk, as per normal when I’m not out-and-about.

    That’s five mobile phones on one desk.

    Okay, that seems excessive. It’s also temporary, so while I’m amused at this little pile of technology on display I also know that this, too, shall pass. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m not that geeky…

    Wait. In my backpack you’ll find one 10″ full tablet and a Nook Color. (And a camera.)

    And in this bedroom there are two full computers plus my laptop.

    …They say that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Ahem.

  • Aw, dagnabbit.

    So much for once-per-week posting.

    I utterly, completely, and totally missed last week. Sorry about that. It was busy! Work was nuts! I got my tax refunds and spent lots of money! The fruits of that spending arrive today (probably)!

    What did I get? A QNAP 219p II home NAS device with a pair of 3-terabyte Seagate drives to fill it, and… new phones for everybody. My first smartphone in many years, Kylanath’s first full-on smartphone, plus new feature phones for the kids. It’s going to be a fun week getting all that set up, and I’m sleepless with excitement about it.

    No, really. I’ve been so keyed up for the last few days that my insomnia has run rampant. Ugh.

    At any rate. That’s the news, and there’ll be more to come as things progress. And hey, I’m taking Thursday & Friday off from work to celebrate my impending forty-first natal anniversary, so there’s that…

  • Paleo-what-now?

    I can’t add anything to this, so just go read the whole darned thing: Misguided Nostalgia for Our Paleo Past

    Here’s a pull-quote, if that’s what floats your boat…

    To think of ourselves as misfits in our own time and of our own making flatly contradicts what we now understand about the way evolution works””namely, that rate matters. That evolution can be fast, slow, or in-between, and understanding what makes the difference is far more enlightening, and exciting, than holding our flabby modern selves up against a vision””accurate or not””of our well-muscled and harmoniously adapted ancestors.

    Seriously interesting stuff, I kid you not.

  • Tidying Up Loose Threads

    Yesterday’s Quacked Panes comic doesn’t include a punchline. It is, instead, the end of a nearly-four-year running joke which popped up from time to time: Roger, the glib and witty punster, is tongue-tied when it comes to the object of his affections, Rei.

    Early on I thought I’d be doing story-type things with the comic. That didn’t pan out, but I went back to the well of story ideas from time to time for humor value. With the four-year run coming to a close I realized that I wasn’t going to get a more appropriate time than Valentine’s Day to put that particular story thread away for good.

    I don’t have a lot of other loose ends to tidy up, mind you. (Maybe the Commandos need to make an appearance before it’s all over…)

     

  • One Flu Over

    At least, I sure hope it’s over.

    A nasty bug’s been going around the office, and I worked hard at avoiding it for as long as I could. I don’t know if I ended up with that one or something else entirely, but early Monday morning I started feeling moderately awful, escalated to fully awful by mid-afternoon. I had my wool coat on in the office, I was so cold. Yesterday morning the alarm went off and between the splitting headache and intense fever with chest congestion for extra fun, I decided to bail on work and go back to bed.

    I slept until eleven, when sunlight stabbed me right through the eyelids and insisted I get the hell outta bed.

    All that extra sleep screwed up my sleep schedule, though, since I just spent most of last night… awake. Wide awake. But the fever’s gone down and my head doesn’t hurt nearly as much, so back to the salt mines I go. Stuff’s gotta get done, I’ve gotta earn my keep.

Calendar

February 2026
S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728

My Links