The Chinatown Herbalist

I guess the stress of work, and my recent workout routine has caught up with me.  I fear that my irregular sleep, and work stress has given me canker sores, as well as a tiny bumps under my tongue, that have the texture of sand.   After doing a little research online, the general consensus is that no one knows what they are ( the bumps not the caker sore ), but that they go away after a few weeks by themselves. 

Well, I didn't want to just wait around, normally if I get canker sores on my tongue, I just use Listerine and they heal up after a couple days.  ( which I'm doing anyway )

However, it was recommended that I go to a Chinese Herbalist and get a diagnosis. How fun I thought...  so we went down to Chinatown to visit Dr. Dahn.  She took my pulse, and basically said my sleep patterns, and unhealthy western diet is bad for my liver which might be manifesting itself as sores.   So another vote for the effects of stress, and diets.

So she proceeded to subscribe all manners of herbs to be boiled down into a 'tea' to be ingested in 4 doses.  Apparently, the concern was how bitter it was, so then I was given some Haw Flakes, which is a sweet chaser to the concoction.  I was also given some floral tea and recommended to drink ginsing tea every morning that I plan to have a long, stressful day.  So basically, sleep more, don't eat fried food, don't drink beer.. and drink lots of various teas.  Sounds like good advice no matter what.  Will it cure canker sores and strange under-the-tongue bumps has yet to be seen.

Upon further inspection of the herbs there are lots of dried flowers, ginsing, bark, roots, dates, and other unidentified things I can only describe as black tar. 

I'm to use 4 cups water, soak the herbs for an hour.  Then bring to a boil, and then reduce on low heat until it is just 1 cup left.  So I'm doing that now.

The whole trip to the herbalist and Chinese dry-goods store was pretty exciting.  It's definaly been a unique experience.  I'll let you know after a few days how it worked.  :-)

The New Home Theater Setup

This Christmas I decided it was time to upgrade my home network to finally include HDTV, MP3, Web, Netflix, and any other conceivable form of media I would ever want.  All from a central server, fed through my speakers, and HDTV with WiFi access.  This entire setup of course would need to be controlled via remote, and of course iPhone.

For the brains of the new system, I decided on a Apple Mac mini Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce 320M, as the HTPC hub.  I hardwired it directly to the router to maximize bandwidth.  In the short-term the system is controlled with wireless trackpad, and keyboard.  Eventually, I'll get a programmable WiFi remote to make it more TV-like.   The first thing I noticed was that the entire system is silent.  I mean, seriously, no sound.  Insane.

Next, I wanted to be control DVR from my HD Cable signal with the system.  The plan is to cancel HDcable eventually, but for $170 I'm able to use the eyeTV as a DVR and pipe it through the Mini Mac. 
The Jury is still out on the eyeTV, it seems a bit glitchy, but for TV on the Mac, its working for now. There is also an iPhone app available which give control and remote viewing capabilities. 

For the Front End, I'm currently evaluating Boxee, and Plex.  Both are based on the XBMC protocol.  They both interface with Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Vimeo, and have literally 100's of custom apps that allow for media to stream in for Audio and Video sources like MSNBC, or Comedy Central.  They present all the media using an attractive interface.  Both Boxee and Plex, make the media streaming a pleasurable and clean viewing experience. Both Boxee and Plex have iPhone apps that allow for remote control. 

For Audio, I'm using Itunes, mainly because, well its Itunes.  It interfaces with both Boxee and Plex, uses my already existing library and playlists, and allows for movie rentals, and purchases etc. So for me,  iTunes works fine...

So there are a few things I'd like to add.  For one, a large multi-terrabite media drive.  Also, I'm going to find some 5.1 surround speakers that'll run off the Mac Mini's optical audio.  This is the next priority, so I can enjoy all this media with awesome audio.

I'd also like to figure out how to pipe the Xbox through the system to take advantage of the audio without having to buy an audio tuner.  One thing I'm looking at is using the TV for that reason.  Seems dooable, so we'll see.

Finally, I've seen several options for a programmable WiFi remote.  I think it uses Applescript protocol to launch/close apps based on a touch screen.  

I'll post updates as I make upgrades. 

Mile high post

So due to some silliness and drama, the plans have changed.  Instead of Mexico I'm heading to   Vegas baby..  Vegas.
Staying at the Venetian,  and plan on spending some quality time by the pool soaking up sun. 

Sitting on the flight, with in-air wi-fi  I figured I'd drop a quick blog from 30k feet.     I really don't have anything worth posting..  but I hope that'll change in the city of Sin.

I'm planning on being money.  Money baby.

Dexter is heading to the spa

While I'm in Mexico I've made arrangements to board Dex with the Happy Dog Walkers. She loves him and takes him into her home and treats him like her own.

It's expensive. But the mutt is worth it.

Templates Galore!

Blogger updated it's stuff with a new Template engine.  It's actually pretty nifty, and powerful.   I've just slapped on a quick template they had..  so it looks pretty lame and generic right now.    I'll get around to making it "designy" for all of my friends who care about that.  ( Jimmy, I'm looking at you ).
For now, I'll deal with the Blogger-esc look, until I get into the engine and layout and typeset it all up to look nifty.    Good job Blogger.  I approve.

I'm heading out to Mexico for a week.  Just wanted to brag.

A First Class View.

So ya. Wrangled a first class seat from Dallas to NYC. That doesn't suck.

Bring on the Beer!!

3 Weeks in 2010

I forget I can blog from my iPhone.