INDEPENDENT STUDY: NEXUS 6P Glass replacement. It didn't go well.

INDEPENDENT STUDY with Andy Cowen from OrlyRadio.com

I broke my phone. I was in a rush, and the phone fell face first into the pavement. The case didn't help. So I used some tape and removed the shards that would have my fingers run red with sadness, and blood. Then I laminated it with another layer of clear packing tape to protect me and it while figuring out my next steps. I didn't have insurance on the phone, nor would a warranty replace the screen though it is only 7 months old. So I opted to try to replace the glass. This was my attempt to replace the glass on the NEXUS 6P. It didn't go well. 

INDEPENDENT STUDY: Swapping drives in a Synology Disk Station

Independent Study With Andy Cowen

Synology Disk Station DS2415+

This time on Independent Study,  swapping up from a 2TB disk to a 6TB disk in a Synology Disk Station. The OS is the latest DSM 6 for October 16th, 2016. Before the video, a 2TB drive was removed and a 6TB drive put into it's carrier and inserted and a S.M.A.R.T. short test was run to verify the drive wasn't going to immediately fail and the system would accept it. 

Wedding Bells for the Robinsons

I thought I would share the wedding ceremony that I made and performed for my friends, whom you can see on many episodes of the ORly Radio show. 

Here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.

Good Evening! We are gathered here, not to witness the beginning of what will be, but rather what already is. Today they have been gracious enough to let us, their friends and family celebrate with them the love that has advanced them to the next level.

Marriage is a supreme sharing of experience; an adventure in the most intimate of human relationships. It is the union of two separate lives; forged in friendship, passion, love, understanding, and trust - flowered into romance and now commitment. Today, Michael and Jessica, proclaim their commitment to each other to the world, and we gather here to rejoice, with and for them, in the new life they now undertake - together.

Marriage is to belong to each other through a unique and diverse collaboration, like two threads crossing in different directions, yet weaving one tapestry together. The secret of love and marriage is similar to that of religion itself. It is the emergence of the larger self. It is the finding of one's direction by becoming lost in someone else; something greater. Such is the privilege of husband and wife - to be each himself, herself, and yet another; to face the world stronger than before, with the courage of two. It is a mutual enrichment, a give and take between two personalities, a mingling of two elements which diminishes neither yet enhances both.

Please note the vessels before us. In this "Sand Ceremony", each of these flasks represents the past of our bride and groom. Of course we are wrapped in symbolism today and sand has long been part of our traditions. Sand flowing through the hour glass. If we look closely at sand we will find amazing things from our planet's past. Sea creatures, tiny fossils, bits of gems, metals, the remains of mountains. As we fire sand we create glass: the amalgam of all these tiny components into a unique solid. Glass can be fragile while some glass is stronger than steel. Glass is often characterized by it's transparency and it's functional ability, like the simple task we have set before it today, holding sand. Rather fitting when thought of in this context. coming full circle to be fired and tempered, as we are in our own individual lives.

The individual containers represent Michael and Jessica. Every grain of sand is a symbol of your memories, experiences, friends, family, burdens, joys, hopes, and successes - All that you are today. All that is contained within each of you, is represented in these containers of sand.

*Each will take their container and  exchange back and forth filling the third larger vessel, while Andy talks.*

As each of you pours your life into the larger vessel, you are sharing yourself with the other. Every grain of your pasts will become a single future, strengthened and enriched by each of your pasts. And as you can see, you will never be able to separate the two sands from each other again.

Through this co-operation, you give yourselves, your lives and love, into the hands of the one we love. You do so trustingly and generously and so, each of you receives a gift: the life and love of the other. You receive this gift, not only from the one you love, but also from our friends and families as well.

Michael and Jessica, this celebration is the outward token of your union of hearts, which the church may bless, and the state make legal, but which neither can create nor annul. It is a union created by your loving purpose and kept by your abiding will. It is in this spirit and for this purpose that you have come here to be joined together.

Do you, Jessica Horgan, take Michael Robinson, to be as your friend, your love, your husband, in laughter and in tears, in conflict and tranquility, asking that they be none other than themselves, loving what you know of him, trusting what you do not yet know, in all the ways that life may find you?

YES

Do you, Michael Robinson, take Jessica Horgan, to be as your friend, your love, your wife, in laughter and in tears, in conflict and tranquility, asking that they be none other than themselves, loving what you know of her, trusting what you do not yet know, in all the ways that life may find you?

YES

RINGS

These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Love freely given has no beginning and no end, no giver and no receiver - for each is the giver and each is the receiver. May these rings always remind you of the vows you have taken in happiness.

(Each places the ring on the other’s finger and repeats this simple vow: or add your own here.)

"With this ring, I thee wed."

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be the shelter for each other.
Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth for the other.
Now, you are two persons, but there is only one life before you.
Go now and enter into the days of your life together.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

Michael and Jessica, in so much as the two of you have agreed to live together in Matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, and the giving of these rings, I now declare you to be Husband and Wife.

Congratulations, you may kiss your bride.

It is my privilege to present to you Mr. & Mrs. Robinson.

Amazon Fire TV Review.

Amazon Fire TV  vs. ROKU 3

For $99, if you do not already have a ROKU 3, I would say it is a buy. However... I have one. Let's graze the surface at what it offers
It has a quad core processor and is damn snappy.
I am very impressed with the build quality and out of the box performance.
Like the ROKU it did not come with an HDMI cable, which is typical.
It has all the features I generally require, with a cat5 network jack, optical out and a USB interface that accepted a Logitech wireless keyboard without fuss.
PLEX is available and ran superbly with all my locally stored media. The PLEX interface was a little more to my liking than on the ROKU as well.
Amazon Instant Streaming with my Prime membership is beautiful, as expected and snappier than on the ROKU. They manage to get the video to start and start very fast. I was staggered at that and left wondering what voodoo they had performed on my network.
The voice searching feature is great, as long as you are searching for an Amazon property. If you are searching for something on YouTube (yes there is an app for that, just not pre-installed and it's clunky) or one of the other data streams, you are out of luck, which is disappointing but not unexpected.
While I was writing this up and letting it sit idle, it went to a pleasing collection of pictures as a screen saver. A few minutes later, it went black. I thought it put the TV to sleep, but rather it rebooted and performed a software update. This kind of behavior and the overall out of box experience complete with frustration free packaging tells me quite a bit about the audience for this bit of kit.
The tutorial video that played automatically, the way it was already connected to my Amazon account out of the box, the way it didn't ask me to perform that upgrade; these are the telltale signs of a device geared almost completely for non tech savvy users. It's great for the living room because of this, and it's slim sleek black box profile. To purchase anything, it's already connected to my account so it's a cake walk to spend money on the associated credit cards.
My 4 year old would be able to figure out how to watch all the kids programming very quickly.
Honestly... This is the box to give your parents, especially if they already have a Kindle. Speaking of that, you owe it to yourself as a parent to check out the Amazon Mom (or Dad) program.

As far as gaming:

I did not shell out the extra money for game controllers, but given the snappy performance, my similarly prices OUYA would likely never be turned on again. It can handle whatever Android powered game is thrown at it, easily. Like a good little console, you can pair up to 4 controllers over Bluetooth 4.
My problem, and its problem, is I already have a ROKU 3. The major difference in that device, for me, is the headphone jack on the remote. Easy watching of the loudest flicks on the best TV in the house without waking up the kids. It does everything else perfectly well and has more "channels" than what is offered, even if it does have completely pathetic gaming functionality compared to the Fire TV...


Sorry Amazon. It's going back, but just barely... Add that headphone feature, and we'll talk!

Deck chairs on the titanic

Ok, that may be a little overly dramatic. BUT IT DIED! Okay, let me explain. Since this new podcasting endeavor and my new job at work require a bit of useful computing area, I decided to rearrange my office. This is no small task being a geek, and going though a divorce with 2 young children. And a clever kitten that loves to be in whatever pile of anything I just moved. 

This is all well and good and things are going fine. I have it where I think I want it and connect everything up. Moment of truth. I turn on the beast of a PC that I run and.... nothing. not even a whimper of a whine or a puff of magic blue smoke. 

Crap. 

So I do some basic trouble shooting, since that is what I do... and I have diagnosed it as a power supply malfunction. not total, but enough to not take a load and power the machine. 

Since I would like to get a show out to you all this week, to Amazon I go! (Prime is awesome.)

Since this post would be boring without links, here is the Power Supply I picked up.

Hopefully some of the other items I decided to get, to improve the show quality, will arrive before Friday, too.

Hello World

Oh looky! Another place for me to rant about the state of the world.

I'm just getting comfortable now so I'll get back to editing the rest of the site and getting the show ready. Make sure to check out the CanWeFixIt blog. I do Topic Tuesday, where I... it's pretty self explanatory. Go read them :-) I'll be back later.