Skip to main content

A Weekend in the City

Apologies for being AWOL the last couple of days. We were back in the city over the weekend - Cubs v. Red Sox on Saturday night, and The Hold Steady at the Taste of Randolph last night. 

That was fun, but exhausting. Back to work. In the meantime, I have an uninterrupted week in the suburbs - it's time to take a look behind the entertainment center/fireplace mantle wall and figure out how we're going to run HDMI wires. 
The "before" image. We're picturing built-ins on both sides.
In other news, I managed to pick up 2 additional pairs of Sony 3D glasses on eBay for about $33 each. Still expensive, but having 4 glasses will make 3D something that we can occasionally actually do, instead of 2 of us watching a movie while the third gets a seizure from the flickering TV.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not All AirPort Extremes are Created Equal (UPDATED)

I'm looking for a used AirPort Extreme. In all the usual places - eBay, Craigslist.  I'll probably get one this week. Why? It's a long story.  A while back, I picked up an AirPort Express A1084 router on Craigslist, and found that it was incompatible with my AirPort Utility and wireless-n network, even though it looked *identical* to the current model of AirPort Express.  So, I wrote a post on this blog about the different types of AirPort Express routers, noting that if you're looking for used Airport Express routers to extend your AirPlay network, you'd better seek out model A1264. In the months that followed, Apple updated the AirPort Express again, changing the form factor (it looks like a little white AppleTV now), adding simultaneous dual-band support, and giving it model number A1392.  ASIDE: I'm not totally convinced that the form-factor change was an improvement. The A1264 plugged directly into the wall, which was incr...
46 comments
Read Full Article »

Review - WOW Ultra TV vs. DirecTV HR34 Genie

Here in the Chicago suburbs, we had two options for whole-home DVR services. We initially went with WOW Ultra TV, and after about 4 months, we switched to DirecTV's HR34 Genie system. (Neither Verizon FIOS nor AT&T UVerse were available in our area, so we can't review those. I haven't used Dish's Hopper, either. This is a straight compare/contrast review of WOW vs. DirecTV.) Both Ultra TV and Genie have their plusses and minuses. Both offer 1080p output, but that's primarily for the menus, as most TV content is provided at lower resolutions.  Both systems have a similar design architecture - a central hub, with multiple tuners and a large hard drive, recording and storing all TV shows, and distributing them to televisions around the house upon request.  Both systems also bring a number of "add-on" apps and have ways of accessing "on demand" content.  We've had each system for enough time to really put them through...
14 comments
Read Full Article »

Review: NuCore Flooring from Floor & Decor

This NuCore flooring review will also function as a Basement Update: We're finally, officially moving forward on the Phase 2 finish work.
23 comments
Read Full Article »