How Tacky is That?

ZDNet's all-in-one LCD PC

So what exactly is so special about this thing? 2 pieces of hardboard, 2 1x slats with some cheap computer hardware screwed to the back of an LCD, held together with what looks like drywall screws. Looks like something a high school kid would make as a "look at my cool custom PC" project or a slightly cleaned up version of the "pile of junk I was trying to fix" that you can find in every IT guy's office from time to time.

If he was going to publish this on such a well known site the least he could have done is maybe cut a ROUND fan hole (or any regular shape that the fan would fit in), made some straight cuts, maybe extended the sides to cover the gap between the back and the box so it really looks like it was meant to be one piece…

Though it does give me an idea. Skip the LCD, spend a little more on the video, make the case look like it was built by someone with more talent than a 3y/o using the claw end of a claw hammer (maybe bend a nice steel or aluminum cover with a plasma cut detail/plexy window or at least finish the wood nicely) and you have a nice, component sized multimedia PC to plug into your TV/stereo (I know, "home theater").

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In The Beginning

There was nothing.

Isn't it amazing how with all the sound and fury that appear to be part of life how it often amounts to heaping piles of nothing?

For a long time there was nothing, I setup this space a LONG time ago... but why?  No car guys read blogs.  People who play with metal don’t read blogs.  I don’t read blogs.

What will I put here?  Why bother? Hell, it didn't even seem to make sense to sit down and consider what to put here.

Well, it wasn't quite nothing, there was a little something, there were mumblings:
“You really should write some of this down and arrange it in one place”
“Man, you have some of the best stories”
“The cat has to go fast, really fast… do you think she needs a helmet?” (This was a real conversation, I'm not making this up)
“What did you do and why is it on fire?”

(you’ll learn, my life involves fire, explosions and twisted little bits of metal… really I don’t understand why more people’s lives don’t, it just seems to happen naturally around here)

And then it happened, a week or so where I had something to comment on almost every day and worse, my wife is out of town. My coworkers are also. The dog… well she’s trying to pay attention, but she’s really just hoping that somehow this turns into a game, and the cat, well that freeloading beast, she’s actually snoring. Cat’s aren't supposed to snore.

So that’s it. I’m here. Let’s see how this goes. For right now the plan is to blog about things as they happen, and then maybe pad those things with older stories, and even occasionally with notes on how something works, how to do something or how I did something if someone asks.

We start with a whimper…