People often ask my about my home network... what's on it?  How did it come about?

My background is in networking and security.  I'm a husband, father and I have sons. If put this all together, you get a few interesting situations:

• Sons, as wonderful as they are, are curious.  In their early years, that curiosity is usually translated in to banging objects against over objects or the floor or tasting it.  You can image how well a DVD survives this kind of "examining".  Later on, they'll start to take thing apart.
• Wives like to have things clean, put away and safe for children to explore around.
• To keep our sanity and "recharge", men need an escape, den or better yet... MAN CAVE.

There is nothing overly exciting or extremely high tech about it.  I have your standard internet connection which then connects into a wireless router.  This router feeds the rest of the house either wirelessly or hardwired based on the system.

I started ripping the DVDs to a harddive, and then put them away for safe storage.  No more drool cover coasters. Although, having a PC sit in the family room doesn't really work with with children or fit the aesthetics the Wife would like.

So, here we go... On the network:
-Wireless Router
-Wireless Bridge
-3Com Switch
-Game Systems - XBOX 360, PS3 and Wii
-Server (MBX)
-Network Harddrive
-Windows based PC
-Several other wirelessly connected laptops, phones, etc.

The cable modem plugs into the wireless router.  This handle the external DHCP negotiation and NAT'ing.  The router connects to the switch and the wireless bridge.  All other devices connect in through these or wirelessly directly to the router.

Yes, I have the holy trinity of game systems on the network.  These all sit in the family room so they can be used by all...sort of. The XBOX is for myself and the Wii is for the family.  If you think about the games that are made for both, this makes sense.

The XBOX 360 and the PS3 are hardwired to reduce any lag during game play.  However, the PS3 acts as a media delivery interface for another old "retired" PC. Besides running Blu Ray movies, that is all the PS3 does.  Why do you ask? My response: what else would I use it for? Games? Yeah right... it's not worthy of games .  I have the XBOX for that.

The PC, MBX, serves up movies, music and photos that sit on a networked harddrive.  It does this via PS3 Media Server. This is an EXCELLENT piece of open source software.   For anyone that has a PS3 and any PC, I highly recommend you get this.

Movies and photos taken of the boys are always served up this way, this equals happy Wife.

As I mentioned, both the XBOX and PS3 are hardwired.  What about the Wii? It needs a network connection too.  Well, yes it does but I don't see the Wii has a hardcore gaming system.   So, it gets bridged over my wireless bridge along with the TV and cable box.

I have another PC that came are part of a bundle that I hooked up to the TV in the bedroom.  This has access to the network harddrive and can serve up any content on it.   This is great for having kids programs on one, and adult on the other.  Everyone is happy

Keyboard and mouse don't really look all that great in the bedroom, so I use my iphone with the pro mouse application on it.   Works perfectly to wake up the PC and has a built in keyboard.  I do keep a mouse connected to the PC, as Win7 always pops up those security warning when installing new software.  This block the connection to any controlling device outside the PC.

In my MAN CAVE, i have a DLP projector that connects directly to MBX.  And yes, this has access to the network of movies.  From my first son's exploring, I have a DVD player that he pulled the tray out... then jammed it back in. It was replaced and I was later able to fix the gears in the tray motor.  To top it off, there is an additional, refurbished, XBOX 360 that connects to the projector.

That pretty much wraps it up.  Driven by necessity and designed for ease of use.

3) Carbon Copy (Cc) – Be careful with this one. Somewhere along the way the initials Cc began to mean “copy carelessly.” Let’s review some email basics:

* The “To” line represents the primary recipient(s) of the email. This line also indicates who must take action, if action is required.
* The “Cc” line is used for any secondary or tertiary recipients who must be informed about what is in the body of the email. Think of the cc line as sending an “FYI-Only” email to these people. They should not be expected to take any action on the email, nor even be required to read it.
* The “Bcc” line, which stands for “blind carbon copy,” is intended to allow the sender to mask the list of recipients. To see the acceptable uses of this line, check out Number 12 on this list by following this link.

The Cc line is not a license to copy the world. Too often, business people get carried away and include a dozen or so colleagues that couldn’t care less about the email. Unfortunately, the overuse of the Cc line grows the amount of email we all receive exponentially; and it slows down the real productivity of all who are “Cc’d.”

The most egregious instances of Cc occur when it’s used to throw someone under the bus (by copying their boss) or to make you look good (by copying your boss). We’re hopeful that the great business leaders of the world do not reward the use of Cc for personal gain. (If you’re so determined to grow your career, buy a book on career development rather than over-copy your boss in emails – if your boss has half a brain, she sees through it anyway.)

Of the 4,000 emails we examined, 3,013 (a whopping 75%) included at least one recipient in the Cc line. Of these, the editors determined that a Cc was only required in 210 – the other 2,803 emails were basically manual SPAM, created by business people with no business email etiquette.

I bought my GF these shoes for Christmas a few years back. I thought they were the sickest shoes I had ever seen. Yeah thats how I roll…HARD!

You know your broke when your only pair of Prada Shoes, you bought in Milan, before the Euro took effect.

not really, but you get the idea…

And what is with these people that think they are better than you because they had a version of windows they paid for? Really, your better than me because you spent $60 on some software? That helps you sleep at night? OK, never mind you live at home with your folks, are over 30 and have never been laid, you cant drive for sh1t, and you will never do anything with your life…but hey, your better than me because you spent $60 on some software…

Im going to reinstall and turn off auto-update, and you may still be better than me, but I will be $60 dollars richer than you, and I will spend it on some good cubans..(which are also not purchased legally).

OMG!!!
MICROSOFT SUCKS!!!!
I might even hate Microsoft more than I hate AT&T!!!

Last night, while shutting down Windows 7, I noticed 3 updates being installed. They finished installing, and the computer shut down.

Today my computer won’t work. It starts up and immediately gets a error “Startup Repair Is Checking Your System For Problems”. It ends up saying cannot be repaired, and the issue is caused by “patch”. The only problem I have is I was dumb enough to instal another MS Product.

WTF MICROSOFT??? Seriously???

I have only been running this clean install of Windows 7 for a month and a half, and already the sytem won’t work!!!

Microsoft = Crap
Redmond = Hell
Gates = Devil

Anyone want to go with me to the Apple Store tomorrow?

Wow…MIcros

So you know how AT&T has all these commercials about how you get to keep your minutes, right? Dont throw them out, they are as good as new. Unlike those other carriers we get to keep our minutes.

Well, I have 3,500 rollover minutes on my 1,000 minutes a month plan ($100.00), so I wanted to lower my plan, use some rollover minutes and save some money. I called AT&T. They told me if I switch rate plans to use my rollover minutes, I will lose my rollover minutes!!! If I switch to the 700 minutes a month plan ($70.00) I can only keep 700 of my minutes, I lose the outstanding 3,500 rollover minutes I have accumulated and paid for.

TALK ABOUT FALSE AND DECEPTIVE MARKETING/ADVERTISING PRACTICES.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4632991n

I don’t think I could even finish a triple bypass. I’d be up for the challenge though

http://www.heartattackgrill.com/