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When you work online from home, it is a necessity to keep your computer system up and running at all times. Any time your system is down, it could be costing you money… and should something tragic happen, like an electrical spike or lightning strike, it could easily fry your entire computer. The last thing I want to do is lose all of my work-related data, so last night, I picked up an APC Battery Backup system.

Truth be told, I have had my eye on a battery backup for some time now, but the high price had always kept me away. A battery backup is similar to a surge protector in that it protects equipment plugged into it from surges, spikes and such, but it also has a built-in battery system, so if the power does surge or goes out completely, the system switches over to the battery, allowing you to safely shut down your components without any damage or data loss.

After recently getting a new TV (something else I want to protect), I decided it was time to go ahead and pull the trigger. The unit I went with, APC’s BX1500LCD, was originally ~$200 but happened to be on sale this week for $160 at Circuit City, and I also had a $30 gift certificate, so I paid $140 with tax and all - not too bad.

This is one of the higher end home models, with 865 watt 1500VA capacity, 8 outlets and even an LCD screen that displays more than 20 status notifications.

We hooked the unit up behind my computer workstation and purchased a 25′ extension cable for my TV so I could connect it as well. As is, I am running the computer, both of my LCD monitors and my TV on the battery backup system.

One of the coolest features of this battery backup is the real-time power consumption monitor. This will tell you exactly how much power is being used by the components plugged into the system. Josh and I experimented with this for a bit, and here are some of the numbers we found.

- With everything off, there was still about 15 watts being drawn. This is called phantom energy and is common with all electronic devices.

- My (aging) computer and monitors pull about 165 watts at idle and right about 200 watts under full load.

- My TV pulls a whopping 300 watts when watching a brightly-colored show.

- The max draw we could pull with these components was 500 watts total, still leaving me over 300 watts of headroom on the UPS.

So far, the UPS has worked great and I have no complaints. If you are like me and work from home, work with valuable data or simply have a lot of nice electronics / home theater equipment, you might want to consider protecting your investment with a quality battery backup system. A few dollars now to protect a lot of valuable equipment is money well spent, and certainly a better bet than those ripoff extended warranty offers!

A lot of people will say that you can’t train a cat to do anything; they do as they please. Not true! In the video below, you will see that I have trained my new kitten Jacinta with the word “hungry”. When I say this, she instantly knows it is time to eat! She can even be dead asleep and if I say “hungry”, she will wake up and start looking around for food.

It only took a single day for her to associate this word with food. Pretty impressive!

Another common myth is that cats don’t like water. While it is true that some cats don’t care much for water, that is not the case with Jacinta.

I had to give her a bath a few days ago because she accidentally stepped in some #2 in the litter box. I was dreading the procedure but to my surprise, she didn’t go crazy at all and even seemed to enjoy the warm water!

I was attempting to feed Jacinta earlier this morning when all of the sudden, some random bug dive-bombed me! I reached over to see what it was and it stung my side and finger before flying off to the other side of the room! Jerk, cause that hurt like hell! I attempted to crush it with my shoe but he flew behind the mini-blinds and when I returned with bug spray, it was nowhere to be found.

That is, until I went in the bathroom a few minutes ago and noticed him on the mirror. Revenge is mine!

Now the question remains, what kind of bug / wasp is this? I originally though it was a mud dauber, but the body is different from what I have seen on Google. A friend suggested it might be a tiphia wasp but I am not really sure. Any ideas?

As I mentioned, the stings hurt pretty bad and swelled up nicely but that has since went down. I have a mild headache now but that is most likely due to the fact I haven’t ate lunch yet heh

Another month, another UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Pay Per View event. Instead of going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch this event like we usually do, we decided to just invite everyone over to my new place and order the fight. We ended up with nine people total, and charged $10 per person to cover food, drinks and the price of the PPV.

By sheer coincidence, I ended up with three full size couches the day of the event - talk about good timing! Keith’s boss was selling two nice couches (not thrilled about the color but they are in great shape and very comfortable) so we picked those up earlier in the day. After that, it was time to hit the store and get snacks and such for the evening.

Yeah… so we went a bit overboard at the store and doubled our original food / drink budget. I think the problem was, we were in the mindset of shopping for a LAN party, which is typically 24 hours or more, and not a 3 hour UFC event. Oh well lol…

At least the food was a big hit - and props to Josh for making some killer Rotel!

Don’t think Jacinta liked people food too much.

Kinda weird, half of the room was hot and the other half was freezing cold!

Still eating! She def. got her money’s worth hah!

Somehow I ended up braiding Astrid’s hair… although I didn’t do a good job.

Overall, a pretty successful night. I think most everyone enjoyed this more than going to Buffalo Wild Wings. The atmosphere was much more laid back and comfortable and you could actually talk to everyone, not just those sitting beside you. I’m game to give it another try but not buy near as much food lol.

As for the event itself, I was satisfied. Brock Lesnar completely dominated his fight, only his 3rd ever MMA bout. Georges St. Pierre retained his title by pretty much battering Jon Fitch for five rounds. Good fight, good night!

I’ve been trying to record some clips of Jacinta playing, but it seems she knows the camera is rolling and is less active when I am shooting. Hopefully I will be able to get some better video soon (and some lamps of some sort, its super dark in my living room), but for now, enjoy…

As some of you know, today was my birthday. I didn’t really do a whole lot out of the ordinary for most of the day. I started the day off by spending a few hours doing some random website work, then Keith and Airica came by to hang out for a few hours. After they left, Astrid and her cousin Dinorah decided to stop by to check out the new pad. Around that time, I got a call from Molly so I invited her over as well. Then, Sarah was in the neighborhood and came by too.

We spent some time playing with Jacinta who was a big hit.

For someone that claims to be allergic to cats, Astrid didn’t shy away from playing either!

I’m usually not one to make a big deal out of my birthday, but Molly wanted to take Stephanie and I out for dinner (Steph’s birthday is Friday). We eventually decided on Logan’s Roadhouse. On the way there, I got a call from Josh so I invited him as well. I originally thought it was just going to be the three of us (Steph, Molly and I), so I didn’t invite the whole gang - my bad.

You can’t go to a steakhouse without ordering a nice steak, which is exactly what I did. This 12 oz. Rib Eye was delicious, as was the mac n cheese!

Don’t you just hate those embarrassing birthday dinners where everyone comes out and sings to you? I know I sure do.

All of us, sans Josh who was taking the picture.

After dinner, Josh, Astrid, Dinorah and I went to Baskin Robbins (with Jacinta lol) for dessert then back to my place to hang out a bit longer.

Overall, a nice birthday spent with some great friends. Thanks to everyone for everything, and to Molly for picking up my tab at Logan’s

I went and picked up a new baby kitten today at a local veterinarian. I had been searching online at PetFinder.com but it seemed everything I found online required an $80-100 adoption fee and loads of paperwork. I decided to call the old vet we used to use and sure enough, their adoptions were free!

When we first entered the vet, they had a cage beside the door and Jacinta was the first one to notice us and started climbing the cage trying to get our attention… and as you can see, it worked! After filling out a few papers, we were done - how easy! She has had her first round of shots and I will be returning on the 15th for her spaying surgery, again, free of charge. The only money I will have to spend is like $8 for a booster shot.

On the way home, Keith remembered that one of his coworkers was giving away a litter box, litter, food, a scratching post and a few toys - score! We stopped by and picked up those items before making it back home.

So far, everything is going great. She was a little timid at first but seems to be adapting to the move rather quickly. She is fast asleep in my lap as I type this

It has been a busy five days or so, but things are finally starting to settle after the move. Everything pretty much went as scheduled come move day. The big surprise was that it only took two hours to get everything out of the old place and cleaned up; nice!

We spent the weekend unpacking, shopping, unpacking, more shopping, etc. I ended up scooping up a new TV and also got the hookup on a FREE couch. I still have a lot of stuff in storage that we are going to try and get taken care of later this week. Below are some pics of the new place. But first, a few things to keep in mind:

A) I’m a guy, so I go for practicality over an HGTV-style fancy layout.
B) As a guy, I would rather buy cool things over fancy furniture, etc.
C) The walls are very plain, again everything else is in storage as of now.

Again, free couch with a slipcover over it. It’s comfy so thats all that matters. I can see the TV from my computer desk, so that’s a plus. Also, that table in the far corner works great for photographing review items.

Workstation area…

Kitchen with bar area, all low which is a plus. The dining room on the right is kinda small and there’s some stuff there that I am waiting for Adam to pick up.

Nice size bathroom (tub is on the right behind the door)…

Bedroom… pretty plain. There is a TV in front of the bed against the wall.

The closet is HUGE!

So far, everything is working out very well. I finally have fast internet and real cable, woohoo! Not having roommates means I can control the A/C how I want and even lounge around in my boxers if I want. There are only a few things that are less than favorable so far. The first is the water pressure in the shower, which is incredibly low. Also, I need to adjust the hot water temp. as it is really low. At the hottest faucet setting, it is only just “warm” to me. And finally, I will need to get a land-line phone or change my cell number, as the access gate to the complex has to dial my number to let guests in and my number isn’t local.

A huge thanks goes out to Keith and Airica for helping with the move and also Matt for the free couch and Josh for helping out as well. Couldn’t have done it without you guys!

It always seems like time slows down when you are anticipating something big. For me, that is happening right now, as I will be moving in only five days!

I have been “stuck” here in Oxford for the past 15 months in a lease that I kinda screwed myself into. I could have gotten out of it, with a penalty fee, but I would have had to sub-lease the apartment and that would just be asking for trouble. It seems like its been an eternity, but my lease is finally up at the end of the month and I will be moving to my new place this Thursday.

The new place is just outside of Memphis, TN which means I will be close to all of my friends again. I am currently an hour away from everyone, which as you can imagine, isn’t much fun. I will be getting my own place (no more roommates, woohoo!) which is MUCH nicer than my current apartment. Also gone will be the ridiculously slow proprietary internet and slacking cable. Oh, and the new place allows pets, something you aren’t suppose to have here… yet many do anyway. I want to adopt a baby kitten

The only thing I will miss here is going to the home football games. But I’m sure I’ll still make it back for a game or two this season, and catch the rest on TV or the radio. Oh, and I hope I get better cell phone reception at the new place. 0-1 bars in my room here = fail.

I spent most of today packing things up. The good thing is that most of my stuff is still in storage, so I don’t have much here to move at all.

Anyway, my next update will be pics of the new place, so until then…