David.Blackledge.com

I finally took some time last night to upload the current state of my TiVo software, so it's now available to download at http://David.Blackledge.com . I haven't taken the time to make it easy to install, though... you currently have to install Galleon as a host for the software. And, it ends up, if you want Tivo Solitaire, you have to download all the files that I've uploaded since it depends on the Solitaire Engine and it depends on Multitasker which depends on all the other files to do all its features. Maybe I'll make a non-Multitasker version (trivially done) just for quick setup. Anyhow, go to my TiVo page and you'll find everything to download. Feel free to ask if you need help.

I sometimes forget that I seem to have above-average luck in giveaways... I happened to notice the TiVo Blog was doing one, so I "entered" (by posting a comment ) and lo and behold, I am now the proud owner of a TiVo plush, some TiVo coasters, and TiVo "ears." Total retail value almost $22! 1 out of over 80 posted comments... that's pretty good luck, I'd say. Not a bad day's haul for a school snow day / 2 hour work-delay day.

We got our first Sukkah up this year! We got a kit and it went very smoothly...until the heavy wind and rain storm the first night of Sukkot :-/ That's a lesson in "just barely enough isn't enough." Hardware store had 6' and 8' boards to use for the roof structure... I wanted 6.5' so I went with the 6' ... which left no room for shaking in the wind. We rebuilt with the 8' the next day. Here's the time-lapse of our Sukkah building! Messy Yard: Prepped Yard: Hard at work: Roofless, but standing: Roofed: Roof collapsed and soaked after first night it was used. :[

Ok , bad joke... On 10/4 my son happened to be in the living room and called out "there's a bird in the fireplace!" ... I came over and heard the chirping and saw some flapping myself. (Get it now? Fireplace...flu ...told you it was a bad joke) Not much to tell except it was so dark that we could only really see it well in the flash pictures. When we opened the cover, it just hid behind the fake logs, so my wife Tricia started dismantling (hey, another pun!) the log stack. She eventually got hold of it so we could release it out in the front yard. My uneducated guess says it's a thrasher... a confused one.

... like I did. My daughter accidentally set the password on the only administrator account on my Windows XP computer, then promptly forgot what it was. That was an interesting delimma... many sources said not having another administrator account or any other protective measures meant I was stuck and would have to reinstall Windows . A little searching found a method to clear your password if you have your Windows XP install CD and your product key (I have no idea where mine are... got it from Emachines, so I might not even have a proper install CD, just a "recovery" CD). It ends up there are also a number of "less reputable" products (in that they are something the bad guys probably use) that can either clear out your passwords, or actually crack them for you. I ended up using Ophcrack (on SourceForge, so I felt more comfortable with it, even given its name) which was able to crack a few passwords, including my daughter's, but not all of them. It only ha...

Why not... Google/blogger.com just made it too easy not to do it ;] Ok, so my real website is http://david.blackledge.com/ , but this place is more likely to have recent content. I just finally updated my website after 6 years of stagnation because NetIdentity sold to Tucows who sold to domaindirecthosting who screwed up the transition and made my whole site go "under construction"... I had been working on a new front page, so I finished it, added a quick and dirty thing on my current TiVo software obsession and threw it all up there. I just created a group to talk about the TiVo stuff , too... not that there weren't enough already, but I like Yahoo Groups and it's easy to do...and I already had an account there unlike the other discussion boards. I put some screenshots there, and posted a description of most of the stuff I've done. A few things are "already been done" things as I look a little harder at www.tivocommunity.com and the like, but I know th...