Jason Pearce

Seeing that I am now a Windows Media Center user, I’ll likely become a fequent visitor of The Green Button, a site that offers tips and hacks.

Now that I have an iPod, I’ve been wanting to clean up my mp3 tags. Thanks to TechTV, I think I just found the right tool for the job:

TechTV: Edit, copy, and convert ID3 tags across an entire folder of MP3s

To fill in a missing ID3 tag, you can use Winamp or another MP3 player to manually enter the info, track by track. Or you can try today’s free file. MP3 Tag Tools lets you label a multitude of MP3s quickly and easily.

After nearly three-weeks of waiting, my brand new, custom-built computer has arrived. This is the fastest machine I’ve ever owned. I really treated myself on this one. How nice is it? Well, glad you asked. Here are the details:

Processor:

Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.0 GHZ CPU [800MHz FSB, Hyper Threading Ready]

Memory:

1024 MB Dual Channel DDR-400 [512MB X 2] PC3200 MHZ

Motherboard:

AOPEN AX4C-MAX with 10/100 LAN, 5.1 sound, IEEE-1394, and USB 2.0

Operating System:

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004

Case:

Black/Silver Raidmax A268 mid-tower

Power:

450 watt power supply with three case fans and LCD controller

Lights:

Sound activated blue neon case lights

Optical Drives:

16X DVD-ROM dive and a DVD-RW/DVD+RW + CD-R/RW drive

Hard Drives:

120GB Maxtor 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-133 for programs and a 250GB Maxtor 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-133 with 8MB Buffer for files

Monitor:

Perfect-Flat Viewsonic 19-inch SVGA .21H DPI

Video Card:

ATI Radeon 9200 128MB W/ DVI + TV OUT

I bought the machine from iBuyPower. I’ve never heard of them, but they received a good review from C|NET. I haven’t even booted it up yet and I’m already thrilled. Stay tuned, for I’m sure I’ll be spilling my excitement into upcoming posts.

I grew up online with Webmonkey, an e-zine with excellent tutorials and how-tos on web development, layout, design, and programming. Sadly, the site has reached it’s end. Rest well Webmonkey, we’ll miss you.

Wired News: Webmonkey, RIP: 1996 – 2004:

“Webmonkey, the site that turned humble Web developers into attention-grabbing authors, said last week it is closing down following a round of layoffs in the U.S. division of its parent company, Terra Lycos (also the parent company of Wired News). “

I spend Valentine’s Day weekend in NYC with mom and her Sassy Classics (a dance club) friends from Raleigh, NC. They flew up to take some lessons from a former Radio City Rocket. So I took the train down to hang out with them and a few of their husbands that were dragged along for the ride.

On Friday, we all went to see “Never Gonna Dance,” a musical based on the motion picture “Swing Time”. Though the musical is clearly miss-named, for there is nothing but dancing, it was quite good.

After the show, we spotted Neil Patrick Harris coming out of the theater. You know, Doogie Howser. We also spotted several actors from the show at the restaurant we ate at across the street. It was a fun evening.

On Saturday, mom and I went to the Rose Center for Earth and Space, a fantastic museum and planetarium. We saw two planetarium shows and one Imax. I thing our favorite part, however, was The Scales of the Universe, a 400-foot-long walkway that hugs the glass curtain wall along the second level of the Rose Center for Earth and Space. It illustrates the vast range of size in the universe — from the enormous expanse of our observable universe to the smallest subatomic particles — by using the 87-foot Hayden Sphere as a basis for comparison.

Saturday night, we saw “The Boy From Oz,” which tells the story of Peter Allen, who won the Academy Award for the theme song from the film Arthur, as well as having been discovered by Judy Garland, marrying her daughter, Liza Minnelli, and his record-breaking runs at Radio City Music Hall. The lead was played by Hugh Jackman. Seeing Hugh play the role of Peter Allen really changed my image of him as Wolverine from X-Men. Yet, it does show his capabilities as an actor. Neither mom nor I enjoyed the show, despite the great performance of the cast and crew.

On Sunday, mom and I visited the International Center of Photography, New York’s predominant exhibiting and educational institution in the photographic arts. This, too, was a little disappointing. We then did a little shopping before I had to catch a train back to Norwalk and she had to catch a flight back to Raleigh. It was a fun weekend, mom. I enjoyed it.