March, 2004

First experience with a LAN

Posted by Evan at 1:38 pm

I was bored this Saturday. Very bored. I had spent most of the day playing Warcraft III by myself and I was getting pretty tired of it. That’s when the idea hit me. I had been poking through the menus in Warcraft and noticed that there was a LAN (Local Area Network) option. This sounded fun. I would be able to battle against someone in real life… The only downside is that they would have to be at my house and they would have to have their own computer… That’s where my brother-in-law comes in. I went over to Jamie’s house and we gathered his computer hardware (including a huge 50lb monitor, we were dedicated) and brought it over to my house.

I did a little reading online but wasn’t able to successfully connect the two computers together using a cable between our network cards (as a couple of articles stated this was possible). So, after several hours of frustration and fruitless labor, we went out to buy a hub or switch. After having no luck at Wal-Mart (not my idea to go there in the first place) we decided to go to Office Max. We found a D-Link switch for $30 and that was a wonderful purchase. We got home, plugged it in, hooked both of our computers to it and voila! It worked. We were now able to play against each other. It was pretty cool.

So this got me thinking. Since I didn’t pay for the switch it isn’t mine, but I know that I want a way to do home networking (not necessarily for now, but later). I had some money in PayPal from some stuff that I recently sold on ebay so I got on ebay and got some equipment. I purchased a router/switch (so I can have multiple computers online at once) and a newtork card (because mine doesn’t work and I’ve been using a USB to ethernet converter).

I’m mostly looking to the future. Kristen and I are both online a lot and we plan on buying a Mac later this year or so. Once we have the new computer I’d like to have them both hooked up so we can be online at the same time and also be able to play games and other fun stuff like that. So, I’m taking steps.

I’m sure that I’ll have some other things related to this once my hardware comes in the mail. I’ll write back soon.

This past week

Posted by Evan at 11:36 pm

This past week has been a real doozey. I haven’t had a car all week, which has created a unique kind of stress. I spent yesterday evening and most of the day today watching as my car was worked on by my father-in-law and my brother-in-law. It has been really tough this week. I am so thankful to have them around to help me in the time of trouble. They are great.

I also found out that my mom and step-dad found a new house out in the country. They are very excited about it and I can’t wait to see it. It will be a very nice surrounding and I think it would work wonders to relieve stress.

I’m still selling stuff on eBay and I think I’m in the phase where I really enjoy it again. I found out that PayPal (the online payment processor that I use) offers the ability to purchase postage right online using PayPal. So, I can print my shipping labels and put the item in the mailbox and it’s done. It’s great!

My car is fixed now and I’m ready to start a new week. One that will hopefully be much less stressful than the last.

New youth group website

Posted by Evan at 3:39 pm

I spent this weekend setting up and tweaking the new Youth Group website. It’s quite amazing as it is now and I’m very excited for us to have this website. There are many things that we’ll be able to use if for. We’ve got a calendar, a chat room, a message board and lots of other cool stuff. Hopefully everyone will get a kick out of it. I’d post a link to it, but it’s currently setup so only youth group members can access it. Sorry.

On another note, my car broke down last night… I think the starter is bad. My father-in-law and I are going up to the church (where it’s parked) tonight to try and see if we can figure out what’s wrong. There’s a place in Ohio that has a starter for it for $10, so it isn’t that big of a deal… hopefully… I rode my bike to work today (which was nice for a change).

There’s not a lot else going on right now. I’ll probably post again tomorrow.

Some site changes

Posted by Evan at 7:48 am

Those of you that visit EvanAgee.com on a regular basis may have noticed some changes that have been happening lately. I’ve been taking some time to do minor improvements to the site so that it will be more enjoyable for you to browse.

One of the changes I just made yesterday was converting the gallery from a frame-based navigation to a one-page system. I found a way to do it very easily with PHP so I converted it. You’ll know what I’m talking about once you see it. It’s pretty cool.

Another recent change (a day or two ago) was the addition of the most recent journal entry on the front page of EvanAgee.com. I thought it would be good if visitors could see the latest journal entry without having to visit the journal section. There is also a listing of the 5 most recent posts underneath the most recent entry for quick navigation to posts you might have missed.

Another neat item you may have noticed on most of the pages on my site is the addition of the “What am I listening to?” box on the top right of every page. I spent my entire day at the computer and most of the time I’m listening to music. This box gives you an up-to-the-minute listing of what song I’m currently listening to as well as a listing of the 5 most recent songs I’ve listened to. I know that most of you probably aren’t that interested, but I think it’s neat.

There have also been some minor design changes to the site. They’re not that special though. Most of the design updates have been made to the front page.

Well, that’s it for now!

First day back

Posted by Evan at 8:29 am

Well, I just got back from the gym and it was wonderful. I did a half hour of cardio and then spent some time in the sauna (metos). I feel great and I can’t wait to go in tomorrow. There also weren’t very many people there, so it was very easy to get work done without talking to a bunch of people.

I plan on doing a 5-day schedule. Monday through Friday. I’ll workout on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (cardio after workout) and do just cardio on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That should be a good schedule. I’m also going to be watching what I eat. Not a diet, because diets don’t work, but I’m watching what I eat.

I have some items for sale on eBay. It’s the last chunk of my VHS horror movie collection. There are currently 23 auctions going and they all end on Saturday. IF you’re interested in taking a look at my items, check out this page. I’m trying to find some other items I can get rid of so I don’t have so much junk.

Well, I guess that’s it for now.