Because even gamer geeks have rear-view mirrors...

20-Sided Fuzzy Dice - Gizmodo

Fuzzy dice are no longer reserved for the rock and roll lifestyle. Latest to land over at the Thinkgeek store is this revised pair of the classic car accessory—the fuzzy 20-sided dice.

(product page) ( image )

I love it when a plan comes together!

After looking unsuccessfully for an isolation transformer at Guitar Showcase over the weekend, I ordered a Rolls "Buzz Off" from Musician's Friend on Monday. Since the box was $60 and they have free shipping on orders over $99, I threw in a couple of other items including a mic stand bag, low profile mic stand base, and a couple of Swirlygig SwirlyBigger drink holders, which fit larger-diameter stands like guitar stands and music stands. (Added: and they even threw in a couple of free microphone cables.) They arrived today.

The Buzz Off was everything I had hoped for: with an isolation transformer on each end of the line, 100ft of Cat5 sounds, at least to my ageing ears, just like nothing at all. That means that I can leave my fast, quiet recording box in the bedroom and, thanks to X11 over gigabit ethernet, edit in comfort on the 17" monitor in the office.

In other news, much of the flinging of trash into the dumpster seems to have been done already by my hard-working, helpful (??!) kids. Or their hard-working, helpful clones. I'm not complaining either way.

Looking for bandwidth (in all the wrong places)

With the Fiancé (selkit) coming down soon from the frozen North for an extended stay with the Wolfling, the question of upgrading our miserable 384Kb/s DSL line once again comes up, this time with some urgency.

( the alternatives in detail )

OK, so I seem to have convinced myself that Sonic is the way to go. So the main choices are:

1. Switch to Sonic on my existing DSL line and take my chances with how long I'm without service during the transition.
2. Add Sonic on my primary line, then drop the secondary. Take my chances on how long it would take, including the possibility of AT&T putting roadblocks in the way like they did last time. Smoothest transition -- only one DNS change.

Any advice? There are additional questions, like how to bridge my email and locally-hosted websites if I go with option 1. But we'll go with this one basic choice for now.

I really don't have the time to be messing with this, but that's another matter.