When your Directv HD DVR is connected to the Internet

• DIRECTV Cinema - Access to 400 of the newest releases, plus over 6,000 movies and shows at no extra charge. Get started at channel 125 or visit directv.com/cinema.
• Watch YouTube Videos on your TV - Use Smart Search to find YouTube matches and watch videos right on your TV. For more information go to directv.com/youtube.
• Use the DIRECTV iPad App - The DIRECTV iPad app works with your receiver to search the guide, manage playlists, access favorite channels, sports scores and more. Find out how at directv.com/ipad.
• Free TV Apps - Share all of your favorite shows using our Twitter and Facebook apps. Visit directv.com/tvapps to learn how.

Blair's Death Rain Habanero Kettle Chips

I love spicy food. To me, the spicier the better. I like to go to Thai restaurants and order an 8 out of 10 spicy level, half of the time thinking it's not spicy enough. Anyway, one day I was eating some Fiery Habanero Doritos chips and thought to myself, these aren't hot enough. So I started to google "hottest chips." This is how I discovered Blair's Death Rain Habanero chips.

On the very first chip my tongue felt warm. Yep... WARM! Not only do these crunchy chips have a good smokey flavor to them, but they can also heat up your mouth. I ate about 10 or so chips before I thought I had to drink some milk to cool down the heat. The next day I finished the rest of the 5 ounce bag with sweat forming at the top of my head. The day after, I spent a lot of time on the throne. I love these chips, minus the side affects.

What's your favorite spicy chip?

Ubuntu 10.04 Screen Resolution Does Not Keep After Reboot

Lately I have been having a problem with the screen resolution for Ubuntu defaulting to a lower resolution than the 1920x1080 I want it to be. This starting happening after I stop using a dual display with my LCD TV. I kept having to change the lower resolution to 1920x1080 every time I logged in. However after a shutdown or reboot the screen would go back to being a lower resolution.

I tried using:

gksudo nvidia-settings

in a terminal to make sure I was setting the resolution as root and then saving it to the x-config file, but that still didn't work.

The solution to my problem dealt with having navigate to:
System -> Preferences -> Monitors and saying "No" to the prompt about "using your graphics driver vendor's tool instead?"

After that prompt, you can set the resolution to of the monitor to what you want it to be, for me that would be 1920x1080. Kind of weird, but this fixed my problem.

My Issues With Android 2.2 On My Nexus.

I recently upgraded my Nexus from Android 2.1 to 2.2 (a.k.a. Froyo) and there have been a couple of problems with 2.2 so far. One of the problems was carried over from 2.1.

Issues while using Android 2.1:

1. Random deletion of all my text messages. This issue happened to me twice while running 2.1 (and once today while on 2.2) I'm not the only one who has encountered this problem. Other people with Nexus headsets have experienced this and even Droid users. At first I thought it had to do with the "delete old messages" option so I disabled it. Then it still happened, so I set the msg limits and multimedia msg limits to 999 while still having the "delete old msg" option turned off. This didn't help as my msgs were all deleted again while I was on 2.2 with these settings.
2. The Nexus will all of sudden turn off and I have to pull out the battery to restart it. This happened to me while I was on the phone with someone, and while the phone was just idling. I couldn't start the phone by just pressing the power button, instead I had to yank out the battery, reinsert it, then press the power button. It only happened to me twice, but still I'm not sure what the heck is going on here. I'm hoping it's not a hardware problem and a software update will fix it.

Issues while using Android 2.2 (Froyo):

1. Random deletion of all my text messages. See above, same problem only now on 2.2
2. I am now having problems receiving picture texts! This was not a problem before. Now I get a big square play button when someone sends me a pic txt. When I press that "play button" I get a black screen with just the txt msg. What the heck?? I read somewhere online other people have been having this problem since 2.1.
3. Wrong name shown for conversation. So after all my txts got deleted. I was trying to text my friend Ha, however every time I went to back to the main txt screen which should list all the conversations, it shows that it went to my friend Cindy. Upon selecting Cindy's name and going back to the conversation, it shows that I'm txting my friend Ha. It's weird. For a second there I thought I had txt the wrong person, and that could get messy. There is actually a reported problem about txts going to the wrong person.

Some details that I must add because I'm an engineer and I like details to help troubleshoot problems:

1. My Nexus was an unlocked version but it was not modded or rooted.
2. The upgrade to 2.2 was done through the upgrade option under the OS settings, so this is the one that Google wanted me to get, not one I built myself.
3. Country: USA
4. Carrier: T-Mobile

The Nexus is a cool phone hardware-wise, but software-wise the iPhone is better. (P.S. No one start on the iPhone 4's antenna problem, I know and am still using my iPhone 3G).

Flow Flite 3 Binding Review

I recently bought a pair of Flow Flite 3 (White) bindings because I thought it would be nice to get in and out of my bindings quicker. I chose white because I currently have of pair of black bindings and wanted my bindings to look new and different. I purchased the bindings from Seirra Snowboard during their end of the season snowboard sale and got a very nice deal. I was very pleased with my purchase and couldn't wait to try them out.



I have read many reviews where people commented on the extra amount of time it takes to set up Flow bindings. As I was reading reviews before I received my new bindings, I thought to myself, "They're just bindings, I don't get why it would take that much longer to set up." I actually experienced this long set up time myself. If you have never setup a pair of Flow bindings, there's a lot of different things you're not sure about when you're setting up a pair of Flows.

I think the way Flow printed their manual is very stupid. They make it unnecessarily complicated because they have the explanations of how to setup all their different model bindings interwoven together but broken down by steps. What they should do is 1) print different manuals specific to the binding models, or 2) divide the setup steps by binding models instead of by steps. After reading the manual about three times and picking out all the sections that applied to the Flite 3, I finally was done binding my snowboard.

The Pro's:

1. Very quick "strap in" time. Like everyone says, "You'll be waiting for your friends!"
2. Evenly distributed pressure. No painful pressure points on your boots.
   
3. Comfortable snug fit. I felt like they weren't even there when strapped in.
   

The Con's:

1. Very quick "strap in" time. Like everyone says, "You'll be waiting for your friends!"
2. Setup time takes longer than traditional strap-in bindings.
   
3. Don't want to mess with your bindings once you're set up. This is a con because you can't put down the Flow's highback without messing up your setup. And the reason you might want to put down the highback is because you're trying to fit your snowboard and 4 other people's boards into the back of an SUV.
4. These bindings are heavier than my traditional strap-ins.
5. May not work with all boots. Unless you have Flow boots, you don't know if your boots will fit properly.
6. Flow's logo sticker on the right binding is gone after 2 trips to the mountain.
   
7. Binding unbounded as I was sliding down the mountain head first on my back.

The last con is why I sold my Flow Flite 3 bindings on eBay. I "ate it" on a jump and was sliding down the mountain head first on my back. Somewhere along the way, my snowboard was no longer attached to my feet and was sliding with me only because I had a leash on. I have read about people having their Flows unbound from them before and that's why I was using a leash. I never thought that I would experience my bindings coming off as I was snowboarding. I talked to one of my co-workers about this and found out that he had a set of Flows too. His also unbounded as was sliding on his back. The board came off, flew, and almost hit his head! Wow!

I read somewhere online after the incident that the trick to prevent the Flows from unbinding like this is to cover the latch mechanism with your pants. This prevents the snow from catching the latch and unbinding. Either way, I know that every time I ride these Flows I will think of them unbinding on me. So because of Cons #2, #3, and #7 I sold my Flow Flite 3.

Flows are nice, but I guess they aren't for me yet.

PS. While selling my Flows on eBay, I did find of a site that showed the quick rundown of how to setup the Flite series bindings. They also have "How To Videos" for their NXT and M series bindings on their site.

Why I Hate Shopping At Vons

I hate shopping at Vons because I have to carry a Vons card. Without it I feel like I'm getting totally ripped off. Albertsons also makes me carry a card, but at least they provide a keychain version. I don't mind putting my keys on my groceries as much as I do having to shuffle through my wallet for my Vons card, what a hassle. Since the Albertson card is attached to my keys, I have less of a chance of losing them. I did however seem to have misplaced my Vons card. Grrr... Guess I won't be shopping at Vons for awhile.

Google Wave Invites

To me Google Wave is just a fancier version of email. Well, it's more like a hybrid chat-email thing. As of right now, I can't really think of a reason to use Wave over Gmail. Anyway, if you do want a Google Wave invite, leave your email address. I have about 20 invite as of right now.