Merric Reese

Lately I’ve been looking for a bit more bandwidth in my home network to be able to stream HD video over wireless and moving to N seemed like the logical choice.

For the last 3 years I’ve run a Linksys WRT54GL with DD-WRT firmware and it has been solid as a rock – best wireless I’ve ever had and will be a very hard act to follow.

My “new” work laptop supports Wireless-N and I get about 150MB/s at the office (which is faster than my wired lan at home) so I thought it could be a potential solution to my bandwidth problem.

So needing a bit more wireless bandwidth – the search was on for a new DD-WRT compatible wireless solution.

I’m currently considering the ASUS RT-N16 – seeems to have excellent specs – plenty of grunt, 2 USB ports and supports either DD-WRT or Tomato firmware.  From what I’ve read the ASUS firmware is flaky and results in wireless dropouts but those on Whirlpool that have upgraded to either Tomato or DD-WRT are reporting good performance.  In addition the RT-N16 has a fast processor (480MHz stock + ability to overclock), 32 MB Flash (which is huge – even the biggest installs of DD-WRT are only just over 8MB) – to me this seems like a really fast piece of kit capable of running DD-WRT.  The 2 USB ports bring into play usage as a torrent box plus a printer hub.

The ASUS RT-N16 seems to have a hugh amount of potential – I think I’m going to have to get one and see how far I can stretch it.

Anyone else have experience with this model? Other thoughts?

So… my TV has cracked the snots and doesn’t want to show a picture any more.  Yes, like most others we have more than 1 TV but this is the one in the living area and the one that is usually always on.

The kids still watch TV up stairs but they don’t watch as much TV as they used to.  I’ve also seen them spend more time doing other activities – reading, playing, games etc and this is a really good thing that  I want to encourage.

I don’t usually watch TV when it was actually on and Read more…

Which of your hats have been gathering too much dust lately?

The last few weeks at work have been extremely hectic, lots of late nights / early mornings, project planning and re-planning, bubble diagrams, gantt charts and technical strategy along with the many other daily distractions that make life in Information Technology very interesting to say the least.

Finally, I’m sitting here at 11:00pm waiting to verify some new changes in production after midnight and I’ve finally found time to sit down, open Google Reader and start to catch up on the multitude of blogs and alerts I’ve been neglecting lately.

I came across this one post that really resonated with me.

• RIP Dr Seuss (Mark Cohen) – It’s not just about missing out on finishing your book – it’s also about making the most of the time you have.

That got me thinking about what I have been doing lately, how caught up in work I’ve been and then I remembered.

A wise mentor once told me that each day we all wear many hats – manager, employee, mentor, supplier, customer, educator, student, husband, father, son, and many, many more – some hats will always demand to be worn more often than others, some hats we don’t want to wear, and some hats we should wear more often than we do.

I still remember my mentors words of wisdom to this very day – “No matter how many hats you have, don’t let any of them be too demanding or gather too much dust – and pay special attention to the ones related to family”.

Time for me to dust off some of my less worn hats – how about you?

I’ve had a few days to play and in that time I’ve built a MythTV player and started to understand a few things about setting up a Bose surround sound system – yes, speaker placement is evereything… I’ll post some more info soon – both are challenging topics and require unique posts… stay tuned…

When I turned 21 my Nanna gave me a gift – I appreciated it but I didn’t think too much about it,  at the time.  She gave me a proper bottle opener – you know – the ones you need to use when they put a real cork in the bottle smiley because they are mostly screw tops now… but every time I open a bottle that has a real cork, I always use the bottle opener my Nanna gave me and I always remember her.

What do you remember?

In each of our lives there are things we need to do every day, things  we are required to do.  It’s part of or lives, our jobs and who we are.  It may keep the world turning, but doesn’t make it a better place.

Christmas is a time – in fact the best time – to challenge all of that – to take the opportunity to do one of the simplest things we can to make a difference… share.

Sharing is in our nature and it feels good to share.  We enjoy a meal more when it is shared with others, an experience is more fulfilling when shared with others and we feel most fulfilled when sharing with others…

So far this post has written itself, I’ve really not had to think to much about it… the next part is more about what’s next, and to be honest – I don’t think I’m able to write that part on my own… it’s up to each of us to determine how we can best share.

I’ve put it out there – Christmas is about sharing, sharing with others and the joy of sharing.

How will you take the opportunity to share this Christmas?

Question: What does it really mean to be a man?

The Perfect Gift For A Man

The Perfect Gift For A Man goes a long way towards helping us understand this question and a fair way towards answering it.

Personally, I think, the book is a must read for every man.  If you don’t believe me – just start to read the first couple of stories in the book - then decide.

Where did it start?

Gavin Heaton (@servantofchaos) and Mark Pollard (@markpollard) put a call out asking for help to compile a book about “becoming a man” after their efforts around the Inspire Foundation’s #Manweek campaign and the feeling that they both wanted to try to do more to make a difference.  The result is an outstanding book that contains 30 stories straight from the hearts and souls of everyday men and women like you and me.

Is it a good read?

Reading through the text, I became thoroughly engaged by the openness,  honesty, emotions and insights that each of the personal accounts bring to the book.  Each of the stories bring something new; a new or different way to think about a situation, something that you can relate to or the realisation that sometimes Read more…

In a world where almost every event is accessible online, if it was captured in visual format, you can search for it on YouTube – but should you believe the result?

I’ve been using YouTube for years and regularly watch everything from people being catapulted over pools to 2hr long conferences that I wasn’t able to attend.  I also regularly share YouTube videos with friends, but I’d never really thought much about YouTube as a search engine.  Using a very quick – non scientific test – based on my semi random input, I thought I would put this to the test and see what I was able to find. 

The Non-Scientific Searches
First up – the band Kiss and the song God Gave Rock and Roll To You – This is what really kicked off this random thought Read more…