Sunday, January 30, 2005
Got back from Mendocino. Nice getaway. We left Fri around 2pm and arrived there around 6:30pm (hit some traffic when leaving the bay area). Played Carcassonne Fri and Sat night in our room at Joshua Grindle (Nautica). Got recipe for their chocolate & cherry scones. Mornings were blinding at sunrise and made it hard to sleep in. Covered window with thick blanket on night #2, hehe. Fri dinner in Fort Bragg at the harbor, through the trailer park; the restaurant closes at 8:30pm, on a Fri night. Pretty much stayed in Mendo on Sat. Shopping around town. Bought nice long-sleeve tie-dye shirt made by Theo & Carolyn Wojack (Fort Bragg, CA). Walked along the cliffs. Dinner at 955 Ukiah was excellent (reservations mandatory). Sun drove up to Fort Bragg to look for the Mendocino Cookie Company (closed on that Sun) and Glass Beach. Picked up some nice glass stones from Glass Beach. Drove to MacKerricher State Park: Walked to the point to see sea lions and tidepools. Overall, a nice weekend.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Got back from the ski trip last Friday. A couple Tahoe driving tips:
a. When going through the Benicia bridge toll plaza, take the rightmost lane. There are two toll booths for the rightmost lane, so it goes faster than the other lanes.
b. Gas is expensive in Tahoe. Fill up in Auburn before making the drive up the mountain. I like to exit I-80 at the Hwy-49 exit in Auburn, go left at the end of the offramp and head North. Past the In-n-Out burger, there's a Shell station on the right. Doing this, I can drive around Tahoe and reach home/South Bay without refilling the tank.
a. When going through the Benicia bridge toll plaza, take the rightmost lane. There are two toll booths for the rightmost lane, so it goes faster than the other lanes.
b. Gas is expensive in Tahoe. Fill up in Auburn before making the drive up the mountain. I like to exit I-80 at the Hwy-49 exit in Auburn, go left at the end of the offramp and head North. Past the In-n-Out burger, there's a Shell station on the right. Doing this, I can drive around Tahoe and reach home/South Bay without refilling the tank.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
The Sea Sonic power supply is in now, and is indeed quiet, silent, almost no noise. Pretty happy with this guy as long as it stays operational for a decent length of time. Not sure about the Super Silencer, but this Super Tornado lives up to the review/recommendation on www.silentpcreview.com
Unplugged the agp fan that came with the Gigabyte motherboard. It's getting old and noisy. The 80mm Pabst fan on the Athlon XP 2100+ is taking care of cooling that area.
The noisiest sources are now the two small (40mm?) fans on the removeable hard drive racks. Potential plan: non-removeable mounting of c: drive and use external enclosed hard drive case (aluminum, usb type) for the removable mass storage drive.
Unplugged the agp fan that came with the Gigabyte motherboard. It's getting old and noisy. The 80mm Pabst fan on the Athlon XP 2100+ is taking care of cooling that area.
The noisiest sources are now the two small (40mm?) fans on the removeable hard drive racks. Potential plan: non-removeable mounting of c: drive and use external enclosed hard drive case (aluminum, usb type) for the removable mass storage drive.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Purchased a new quiet power supply today at Fry's. Seasonic Super Tornado 300W, #SS-300FB. Good reviews on silentpcreview.com and good user reviews in general. $59. About the same price on the Net but you have to pay some serious shipping fees; much better to just pick it up, drive away, and install that day.
The previous power supply was junk. Fanless, which sounds nice, but in reality isn't ready for primetime. Died in less than a year. Other users report problems too. Brand: Silentmaxx. Supplier: Silicon Acoustics. Quality: Sucks. I intend to contact SA and get some kind of warranty/refund.
This quiet PS goes into the HTPC that recently had an X-Arcade and MAME added to it. It rocks.
The previous power supply was junk. Fanless, which sounds nice, but in reality isn't ready for primetime. Died in less than a year. Other users report problems too. Brand: Silentmaxx. Supplier: Silicon Acoustics. Quality: Sucks. I intend to contact SA and get some kind of warranty/refund.
This quiet PS goes into the HTPC that recently had an X-Arcade and MAME added to it. It rocks.
