Updating XP to MCE

I used a XP to MCE converter. I didn't follow the directions exactly in that I didn't burn the disk to a CD and boot it, but rather just ran the CD off of MagicIO. The problem occurred when I went to do the Step 4 Roll Up. It claimed it will only run on a verion of MCE, which I wasn't...

Turns out you have to modify a registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\MediaCenter\Installed <ref> and change it from a dword to a string... (at least for my setup, installed XP from a VLK build...).

Well of course you can't just go into regedit and change it. So I had to dl Offline NT Password and Reg Editor. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but it did eventually work. I had to delete the existing key and create another one with the same name, but a String. Then edit the value to 1.

It appears to be working now, yeah!

Baby names and politics

Couldn't help but put this up.  Pretty interesting correspondence, not that surprising though.

Red and Blue Baby Naming: Inauguration 2009 Edition | The Baby Name Wizard

Good advise on resume writting.

Make your resume not suck!

Vadim's Wedding

Recycle bins at a responsible company

hddhackr 120gb drive for xbox

Purchased a 120 GB drive for the XBOX and used hddhackr to modify it. Very nice software. Had some issues though.

First I had to boot to DOS from a usb stick, used this tutorial to do that: Link. I ended up downloading the ODIN 2880 version... Not sure what the differences are between the versions.

Ran into the problem where it was displaying: Error in the DJ mechanism!
Found this solution: http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/newsitem/173.html

Then I ran into the problem where hddhackr wouldn't find my drive. Solution is in the readme of the hddhackr. Had to change the I/O ports that it was using to find the drive. Got to use a hex editor wow.

After that it worked. I haven't attached it to the Xbox yet, can't find my srewdriver set at the moment...

Install WinXP x64 from USB

I recently purchased a new motherboard and CPU for an old computer, and was looking forward to trying it out. However, I recently gave my parents my only DVD drive (I might have others, but they are packed away at the moment). So I looked for alternatives. Seems like there is pretty good support for installing OS's from flash drives now.

Looks like I closed the website I found this program on, but it is called WinSetupFromUSB. This is a great program that has everything you need integrated into it. I am not sure what the other options do.

I just mounted a winXP x64 iso, put that in the source, and selected my USB drive and hit GO. It warned me that the iso didn't look right, but it worked.

Then I had problems with my BIOS booting the USB, it wouldn't do it from the boot menu, I had to change the boot order so that USB was first. But then everything went normally... Pretty cool.

This is pretty funny, too bad there isn't a picture...

Oh my fucking God. I just spent the best 20 dollars of my life. On a bet, anyway.
After school, me and my friends went to the drug store.
And my friend brought a box of condoms to the counter.
And she scanned them.
And he acted like he didn't have enough money.
He was like, "Shit, I'll be right back."
So he puts the condoms back, and comes back with a bag of rubber bands in one hand and a box of plastic wrap in the other.
Oh my fucking God
Until the day I die
I will never forget that lady's face.
haha
Best bet I've ever lost.