After trying to rent two movies I realized there was trouble in paradise. When I try to sync via iTunes I get the following error.

The Apple TV “Apple TV” is not responding. Check that any firewall software running on this computer has been set to allow communication on port 3689.

A quick Google search reveals I am not the only one and there is no known solution. Thanks Apple!

I have never done much backing up, and I have never had any major failure of a critical drive. A good backup plan seems like a good thing for me to have. It seems as though I must be due for one.

Here is my plan, based on the advice found here.

A good backup plan must be redundant and automatic, therefore I am purchasing two hard drives, and two external enclosures. One 250gb which will back up my iMac’s internal drive, and one 500gb, which will back up my external media drive that holds my music and photo collection. I will do a SuperDuper backup each night of each drive, which will essentially mirror the drives. The idea being, that if my iMac’s drive fails on me, I can just add in the drive in the enclosure and pick up right where I left off.

This is in addition to backing up off site to Mozy and Time Machine.

Next month I will buy two more of the exact same two drives so I can do the exact same thing, only I will take them to work every month and switch. That way I always have a drive off site in case of a fire.

Again, this is addition to my off site backup to Mozy. Like I said, I am due for a major failure.

I was in a band awhile back called The Las Vegas. We were together long enough to record a CD and sell 100 copies.

I wanted to archive the MP3s on the web, so here they are.

And here is a zip for your downloading pleasure.

Monica and I drove to Washington DC this weekend to see She Wants Revenge at the Black Cat. Their live show didn’t dissapoint. The singer had great stage presence and seemed to act out each song while singing or playing guitar. I can’t say the same for the guitar and bass players as they both seemed a little bored. The show was well worth the five hour drive and $100 hotel room to see. They will be in Pittsburgh in April I think.

Before the show we spent a few hours at the National Zoo which was pretty fun, the pandas were really cool and seemed more active than your average sad zoo bear. Not bad for free, but I still love the Pittsburgh Zoo and Busch Gardens Tampa.

Qdoba Vs. Chipoltle

I had my first Chipotle burrito this weekend as well. The comparison to Qdoba has to be made since the two restaraunts are the same concept. Fresh Big Burrito Action. So, how was it? Pretty good. Was it as good as Qdoba? In my opinion, no. I prefer Qdoba’s rice, beans and sour cream to Chipotle’s. But would eat either any day of the week.

I am not sure I understand the hype behind this band. On one hand I really dig the guitar player/singer, I think he has a great style both musically and vocally. But the drummer sounds like he just started playing, and there is a huge hole missing without a bass. I saw them maybe two years ago and had no idea who they were, I thought they were decent, but like any other local blues outfit missing something.

I just bought their latest CD “Rubber Factory” because it was receiving really good reviews. It sounds like two white guys playing blues music in an Akron basement.

Whats the hype all about?

There are a number of things that irratate me about the iPod. One of them is when I am using “Shuffle Songs.” Shuffle songs is cool when you are listening to your entire library, or a play list but when I go to listen to an album it still shuffles the songs so now the album is out of order. So I have to click five times to get back to the main menu and find the Shuffle option and shut it off.

Thats annoying to me. Maybe a double click action that would take me to the main menu would be enough?

Another thing that annoys me is when I go through the above situation and continue listening to my music and want to go back to my Playlist, I am all the way back at the main menu. It seems like once the “Now Playing” screen comes back on I should be able to hit menu and go back to the playlist that is playing.

Pretty annoying.

Ever since iTunes there has been number of other music download services that have launched. Besides the file format they use and what software they can be played in, they are all the same and I will not buy music from any of them. What if I decide to buy another MP3 player three years that isn’t an iPod, all that music I purchased from iTunes would be useless. Thats a big problem for me.

The only exception is Bleep because you download MP3s that you can play anywhere and electronic music is more difficult to find in stores.

This is the service I want and I will use iTunes as an example since I own an iPod.

You buy an album like usual for $9.99 but when you purchase you would have the option to add on the actual CD for an additional $5. This way I get my music on demand and get to have it right away. I know I would buy more music this way since its very easy for me to fire up iTunes and buy on an impulse.

Until then I will continue to shop at record stores for my new music and none of these music services will be getting any of my money.

I dont know, it makes sense to me.

I picked up the new Eminem CD today, its damn good. I have always liked Eminem because of his emotional lyrics…

How could we allow something like this without pumping our fists
Now this is our final hour
Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply by six…
Ten million people, Are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they’ve been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
Cause I told you to fight.