GEEK-O-RAMA

Geek-boy-Bob persists, wins two out of two, after twin long bouts.

I had done it, but only accidentally, merging parts of two photos together to create a fake reality in Photoshop Elements 6 (see Mars Lander, two posts below). Finally, yesterday, I hit upon the magic combination of understanding and skill to now KNOW how to do it. So no pictures will ever be safe from me. Until Saturday I could improve single shots, even merge panoramas, but I couldn't assuredly clip this thing from this picture and put it into THAT picture there... and now I can. What fun! I plan real photo-anarchy!

My second success, minutes ago, was getting music played downstairs UPSTAIRS to the central control for the house (a.k.a. Home Theater amplifier/receiver) then back DOWN to the outdoor speakers or the ones in the living room. This receiver has possibly the worst interface in the history of all electronica. And, having not been on site while the house was being built, and not thinking it all the way through, we omitted a single wire from the central CD player (located just outside my listening room (downstairs) to feed the amp upstairs.) The player location was chosen due to the proximity of the CD collection, which sits in my listening room. Yes, you could schlep a CD upstairs and play via DVD player, but then the CDs are all over the place. Also, schlepping increases exponentially.

I found a bluetooth transmitter/receiver pair with really good range - said to be 100meters! (After I tried and discarded a cheapo-hyped up FM transmitter of questionable fidelity.)

Only today did I figure that the receiver had been blocked by several metal boxes in our new home theater stand... moving it and then trying various configs within the rat-bastard amp finally brought a Madonna test disc upstairs wirelessly, then downstairs on the distribution system. Madge is dizzy, but sounds like a very rich 50 year old.

Since these were the twin outstanding electrical issues in my life, I am now ready for another challenge, but have an electrician coming tomorrow for the dead switch box in the attic. I know if I get it wrong I can burn down the house. (Yes, I checked all circuit breakers --- I even have a tool that shows the power gets into the switch but doesn't leave it.) $73, and the guy will remove two screws, twist two wires, and that's that. We'll have him install another switch elsewhere just to amortize the visit into something more useful.