If you want a full, DIY Mac-head-tech-whore DVR entertainment system, and you happen to have a Mac Mini, a G4 tower, and a few hundred dollars or more to spend on electronic accessories, by all means run along and check out Engadget's deluxe DVR system breakdown ... I, on the other hand, mostly just wanted something to act as a glorified combo MP3 server/DVD/MPEG player.

I was starting with a Kenwood component stereo tuner and receiver set that are probably as old as I am (over 30, in case you were wondering ... my stereo does not have a remote control), a pair of Cerwin-Vega speakers, and an external hard drive with a load of MP3s and video files on it. I wanted an excuse to buy a Mac Mini, figured it would make a great entertainment system, and wanted to control the whole thing from my MacBook Pro laptop.

Hell, I don't even have a monitor to use for watching movies yet, but the audio system is set up, and I am sitting on the other side of the room running it wirelessly as I write this. Good enough for me. Then a friend asked me to document the whole jury-rigged mess so she could do the same. So here I goes ...

Well, that's what it feels like anyhow. Sunday morning, while trying to out-stubborn the dog about whether or not I needed to get up on her schedule, I was coaxed out of bed by the sound of her vomiting in her crate.

Today she let me sleep in 'till seven, but then ate one of my seatbelts while I was letting her get used to being alone in the car.

Sunday afternoon, I got my finger chewed while trying to fish a chicken bone out of her mouth, but yesterday she politely sniffed her new chew treats, and waited until I set them on the floor to pick them up.

In, around and through all of this, her vocabulary has been steadily improving. You can (if you're bothered, heh) keep track of all the commands she knows on the Nisby's Commands glossary page. Eventually, I'm hoping it will grow into an A-Z of useful obedience commands and gestures.

My new computer has a built-in web cam. That should NOT be allowed. Especially when I'm bored...

43 Things is a neat little website where you list things you want to do, and rate things you've already done... The idea is to have 43 things on the list, I guess. I got 18 entered before I forgot all about it for a while. So I'm putting it here to remind me...

So, instead of trying to write a non-bullshit "about me" page for this site (which I have thought about doing...), I'm filling out this fabuloso-cheezy "About Me" list I found on Crazy Aunt Purl's blog today. (Dec. 12, 2005: Updated and expanded with the ubiquitous "100 Things" list!)(Dec. 19, 2006: Updatd and expanded with a much shorter and easier "5 Things" list!)

I designed a 4-up bookplate for BookCrossing.com, which you can download here. You can see a preview image below...