#hobbies
11 posts tagged hobbies. All tags
My Ambilight, My Obsession, My Curse
A long, rambling dump of a year's worth of obsessing over my DIY ambilight: every way people build them, why none of them do what I actually want, and the 4k HDCP wall I keep hitting. No TL;DR, sorry.
Nanobox Hybrid Review and PAR Analysis
A full review of the Nano Box Hybrid LED/T-5 fixture over my reef tank, plus PAR readings I took across every region of the water. The output surprised me, and not in the direction I expected.
Reef Aquarium 3.0
My third attempt at a reef tank, and the first one I actually planned. The full build — tank, sump, lighting, aquascape — plus the lessons the first two beat into me.
Building a Linux HTPC
Building a budget media center PC and trying to run Linux on it, until Blu-ray DRM and Silverlight streaming forced me to scrap the whole install for Windows. As much as it pains me to admit, Windows just does this better.
Electronic Cigarettes for Smoking Cessation
After failing to quit smoking with Chantix, patches, gum, and everything else, I switched to an electronic cigarette and stopped calling myself a smoker. My experience, the vaping community, and the health reasoning behind it.
Leadership in Gaming
Leading a World of Warcraft raiding guild sounds silly, but recruiting, setting rules, distributing loot, and keeping 25 people happy is real management practice. Here is what running one taught me about leadership.
Vonnegut on Style
My favorite author left behind seven rules for writing with style, so I grade my own blogging against each one, in public, and ask you how I am doing.
Only people who have blogs, read blogs
A hunch I can't shake: the only people who actually read blogs are the people who write them. I used to think blogs were stupid, then started one and immediately subscribed to thirty others.
New Design Launched!
Over 200 hours went into this deliberately unconventional site design, my first WordPress template. A walk through the hand-coded HTML, CSS, and jQuery, and why I expect people to either love it or hate it.
Web development sucks
Building a site that works across every browser, resolution, and busted old version of IE turns into a pile of hacks I am not comfortable with. A perfectionist's case for why web development just sucks.
Designing for you.
I can code any mockup but I have no creative vision of my own, so redesigning this blog meant scrapping 30 hours of generic work and leaning on a designer friend. On building a site that actually reflects you.