I think I've found my hero. First off, how I found him.
You know me. You know my absolute inability to leave something alone. I need to satisfy my tinker urges.. When I see something, I have to take it apart... if it's electronic, if it has screws on it's plastic casing, then for absolutely no reason at all I Need to take it apart.. and if it doesn't have screws? the challenge becomes finding out HOW to take it apart.... "hide screws under a sticker, Mr. Manufacturer? HA.. I'll show you.."
it's something I like doing.. even if I have no idea what I'm looking at, it's just fun to look inside of something..
So in my newest toy (read: porsche), I started thinking about what I could do with it... Sure, I could put a body kit on it and be just like everyone else.... OR.. I could find out some way of bringing my two favourite toys together... a coming together of two of my favourite loves... my car, and my computer.
"oh god no..."
I can hear you saying it now.. but, my only response is.... oh god yes.
I have a spare laptop sitting in my room here.. not really doing anything but collecting dust... and then I thought....why not put the laptop in the car???
No, not mount it on the dash like a police car... (Although that'd be pretty kickin'..) I'm talking about putting it somewhere... under the drivers seat... in the trunk... somewhere... load the mofo up with mp3s, and have my own personal car mp3 deck :)
On top of that, run a remote to the dash that would allow me to control it from the dash... that'd be kick ass....
Anyway, I was searching around google for a way to do this because, how do you run a 15V laptop off of a 12V car battery? Surprisingly, it can be done!
I came across this website, www.ghettohardware.com - right off the bat, from the name, I knew I had fallen in love. This is a blog of a gentleman who logs silly little hardware things that he accomplishes, one of wich being a laptop in a car.
In reading through his past entries, I came across one where he took an xbox controller, attached an LCD video screen to it.... ran it into the wall of his bathroom, through his house, into his media center computer in his living room... the LCD displays the contents of his media center monitor... and he can then control music that plays through speakers in the bathroom that also run through the walls... He could also, if he wishes, fire up a dvd and watch it on the tiny LCD...
Could you not picture me doing something like that in my first home? god that'd be beautiful.. this just proves that he truly is my hero...
something funny that he wrote about as I came across it on his blog was about things being "premium this" and "premium that"... I was just thinking about this the other day - when did everything reach the premium status? Are premium potato chips on par with premium gasoline? He writes...
"Today, I drink premium juices (7$/half gallon vs 1$ for the frozen concentrate), choose from a variety of premium breads (3$ for a ciabatta from a local bakery vs 50 cents for the grocery-brand white spongy crap), surf the web on a premier connection while watching a variety of television that shares in it's luxury. I can enjoy premium local beer and make my own on occasion with ingredients bought from a local homebrew shop which specializes in premium ingredients. If that's not all, I share the road with a plethora of premium cars ($$$) on my way to see the cups from the coffehouses (where customers daily order their "personalized" double white chocolate mocha with space in the top of the cup to add additional cream, just to make sure they are different from the person behind them in line who wears the same clothes from banana republic, drives a Jetta of the same color to the same job where they fight to climb a ladder that never ends....) overflowing out of garbage cans near the cities premium apartment complexes."
It's true, if you think about it.. Society is so wrapped up with "premium" status that it's bleeding throughout everything.. Even the eggs you get, the meat you eat... clothes you wear, and the air you breathe (that only counts if you live in Toronto and own an Ionic Breeze air purifier... everywhere else is fine without the purifier)... it's all premium..
anyway, now if you'll excuse me from my premium rant, I should go to bed so I can wake up tomorrow and sign the ownership papers of my brand new 22 year old premium german automobile.
Until next time....... *fade to black*
:: Eldorado ::
Friday, April 15, 2005 ::
12:51:00 AM
