Homemade Magic

INTERNETWORK TRESPASS
Spent most of the day trying to get my son's computer to see my shared iTunes library, to no avail. My DSL comes in through a 2-Wire router/modem which broadcasts wireless to his Mac Mini. My router acts as the modem's DMZ, absorbing all requests and handing them in turn. I pointed the ports iTunes uses (3689 TCP/5353 UDP) to my host for outside inquiries - All the computers this side of the router can see my library - but his cannot. He can ping past his router, and ping my router, but he cannot ping boxes on the other side of my router. I even tried manipulating his routing table with no effect. The wireless clients simply cannot see boxes on the other side of my router. FAIL.

YES, LORD?
While I was secure shell'd into his mac, I had the computer call his name, then tell him, "Your daddy says you can leave your room. He wants to see you. He's in his office. Go now." He comes running through the house giggling, admitting that when the computer first called his name, he looked around, spooked. EPIC WIN.

LESSONS LEARNED
Finished Season 2 of NCIS and have all four seasons ready to go out Monday for galinda822 (I even pre-made her an avatar, just in case). When I was ready to send a package of laserdiscs, I sat in my floor and cut styrofoam with my pocketknife for two days, crafting a secure mold in which to travel. Once they were secured, I placed the entire bundle into the styrofoam's original container (my wife's widescreen monitor) for secure traveling. Then I went to the FedEx store where they packaged that box themselves in their own box which was the only way to have the contents insured. Not falling for the same ruse twice, I intend to show up at the FedEx store with only the box sets and let them handle the entire process in-house this time. As an aside, Season Five is released Tuesday. WIN.

TRILOGY
When swashbuckler332 released his tracklist for his newest mix, Sandcastles & Breadcrumbs I read the liner notes to each track as I followed along in iTunes, later popping all three scores onto my iPod to began a journey across the sands of Africa and into the Far East. Rousing, adventurous scores which kept me company all week at work, but I must admit, the cohesiveness of the album brings out the richness of the individual scores. The best of themes across all the films is integrated in such a way that you don't miss any of the lesser tracks and he even managed to (once again) so smoothly piece together disparate selections in such a way to miss title changes. In fact 2,3,4 & 5 were so flawlessly stitched, that until the beating of the kettle drums in Night Boarders (Sandcastles & Breadcrumbs' fifth track) I was unaware I had listened through three selections. MAGNIFICENT.



The subtle beauty of the cover art masks the stimulating contents