The world is abuzz about the pending iPad and it’s pre-orders. Everyone is talking about the Microsoft Courier. You love your iPhone/Droid/Blackberry. You constantly search around for bigger, better devices that will do almost everything in the world. In this “buy-buy-buy” haze, have you forgotten the love for your laptop?

A laptop is a versatile tool. When people talk about user experience on new gadgets, they distract people from an important point – you already know how to use a laptop. A laptop can fit in a small bag and go anywhere you want it to. It’s never as flashy or as impressive as one of these new gadgets, but are you just paying for the flashiness? The status? Aren’t we over that in this country?

Over the past few years of developing into the Nerd that you see before you today, I learned how to push a laptop to do almost anything. It boasts an impressive array of features that we’ve all forgotten about. Today, I want to remind you of all the things your laptop can do, and hopefully inspire some of you to hang on to that relic instead of swiping that credit card for another gadget purchase, or dipping into your hard-earned savings. But first, here are the specs on my laptop, so that you know I’m not talking about some super-laptop that you can’t afford:

This is a dual-core, 1.60GHz Toshiba Satellite laptop with 1.5GB of RAM. It has an 80GB hard drive. I bought it with Vista and downgraded to XP about a year and a half later. This setup cost me about $700 when I bought it in 2007, and a quick search on Newegg.com pops up a computer with twice as much memory and a hard drive FOUR times as large as mine for under $400. Honestly, this computer blows mine out of the water, and it cost almost half as much as I paid for mine.

So here’s the list, in absolutely no particular order. I sat down and jotted down all the things I can use my laptop for, so this is a “stream of consciousness”-type list. A quick editor’s note: I’m not dumb. This list assumes moderate maintenance (i.e., running CCleaner about once a week, having a free antivirus application running at all times), Windows XP (though you don’t need XP for most of this stuff), and a decent internet connection.

1. An e-reader

It’s the flashiest feature of them all right now – read books on a screen! The iPad will have books! Well, you don’t need to buy a new gadget for this necessarily. Barnes And Noble and Amazon both offer free software for reading books on your computer, so if you want to buy ebooks, go right ahead! Better yet, visit Project Guternberg and download over 100,000 free ebooks from the public domain if you want.

This is probably the feature I use the least, since you can’t compare the ease on the eyes of a book compared to an LCD screen. This is one place I think the iPad will fail, and why, if you’re a heavy reader, I actually would recommend getting a dedicated e-reader. The e-ink technology is much, much easier on the eyes.

2. A portable television

I’ve written at length about how you can use your computer as your television, and even hook it up to your TV. But also, for quick show-watching on the go, just visit a site like Hulu. I subscribe to a lot of shows within Hulu and they post to my queue the morning after they air. So, all I need to do is log in, go to my queue, and click “Play”. Boom.

If you’re looking to watch live sports, start getting to know TVAnts and StreamTorrent. Plus, this method ensures that you get out-of-market games, too.

3. A pretty good gaming machine

You hardcore gamers looking to play graphics-intensive games will probably want a powerful desktop, but laptops can handle quite a bit too. Plus, if you’re a casual gamer (like myself), you are just looking for simple games to pass the time, in which case, there are plenty of great gaming sites out there like this one.

4. Your new teacher

Miss college? Want to learn a new skill? There are lots of great places online to see and hear lectures and lessons taught by fine professors from all over the country. Looking for something a little more fun? Learn guitar (see link above) or build something cool at Instructables. There are endless possibilities for what you can learn through your laptop.

5. Your complete photo album

When I go to my grandmother’s house, looking through pictures involves emptying a cabinet full of old albums and sitting at the kitchen table while everyone crowds around them and tries to see what’s going on. Nowadays, all those pictures (and more!) can be stored on your laptop. Back them up to a site like Picasa (my favorite) and tag, organize, and share them with everyone forever.

Bonus tip: set your screensaver to pull pictures from the folder on your computer where you keep all your photos, and your monitor becomes an instant digital photo frame when not in use.

6. Your radio

Talk radio, comedy stations, music of all types and genres – internet radio is fantastic. Set up a Pandora station for customized listening goodness, or listen to hundreds of live radio stations on iheartradio.com. Take it with you.

7. Your complete music library

The local version of the previous tip. Imagine: no CD towers to buy, no cases to spend half an hour opening. Download music from iTunes or Zune Marketplace or Amazon. Store them on your computer (and back them up, of course). Rip your current CD collection and then pack away those discs in a bin somewhere. You can listen to any music at any time, anywhere. It’s a beautiful thing.

8. Your map command center

It doesn’t matter if you are biking, running, or driving a car – sometimes you just need directions. Now, you can type in any location or address into sites like Google Maps or MapQuest and you know exactly how to get anywhere. You no longer have a need for a big paper map that takes up half the front of the car. Just search, print, and move on.

9. Note-taker and organizer

If you want a laugh, look at my notes from high school and college: they’re messy and smudged (I’m a lefty), completely disorganized, and a total failure. Today, with services like Evernote, you can organize and tag your notes, and they won’t be smudged or unreadable. Heck, you can even just use a word processor to get the job done if you want. Just pull your laptop out of its bag and get to typing.

10. Complete database of knowledge, regardless of usefulness

Remember how embarrassing it was to go to a bookstore or a library and pick up one of those stupid “For Dummies” books? Now, you don’t need them. I’m amazed they’re still on the shelves at all. There is no longer an excuse for not knowing something. You can Google it, you can Bing it, you can even Ask Jeeves if you want. Get your plumbing/cooking/health questions answered just by typing your question into a search engine. For facts (mostly accurate), hit up Wikipedia.

11. Your calendar of events

I use Google Calendar, but you can use whatever you want. All the things going on in your life can be chronicled, and you can have reminders sent to you straight from your calendar. Stop missing those anniversaries/birthdays/whatever.

12. An address book

My mom kept an address book for years. When I needed a phone number, I needed to go to the closet, pull it out, flip to the section with the first letter of their last name, navigate through old, crossed-out addresses and skim through until I found what I was looking for. Now? I just sit at my laptop, open up Google Contacts, and use the search box to find the entry with the person I’m looking for. You can use Outlook or something else if you want. But have a backup of all your contacts, and you can search them easily at any time.

13. Your weather station

Hop on Weather.com and enter in your zip code at the top of the page – severe weather warnings, detailed forecasts of the next couple of days, and extended 10-day forecasts all come up. You can watch the live radar if you want. Do this stuff for monitoring the weather of your next vacation destination. Turn off the Weather Channel and put down the newspaper.

14. Your professional presentation tool

Ever notice how you don’t see presentations done with big poster boards anymore? That’s because you just need to load that PowerPoint presentation and plug your laptop into a projector. It looks slicker, makes you look good, and was easy to do with your laptop.

15. Your new checkbook

Wave “bye-bye” to adding and subtracting errors. A complete money management system can be had on any laptop. Need to share it with your husband/wife? Use a free online service like ClearCheckbook or share a Google Doc. The math and tracking is done for you – all you need to do is enter in those transactions.

16. Call anybody, anytime – even by video

VoIP technology continues to advance. I run a Skype phone line with a little headset for business. Want to video chat with somebody like you see in the movies? Get a cheap little webcam and you can all you want. I used to video chat weekly with my then-girlfriend while she was in Taiwan. You can now talk to somebody and see them, regardless of where they are. Powerful stuff.

17. Keep in touch with all of your friends, all the time

High school reunions are becoming obsolete with sites like Facebook. We all know what we are doing, all the time. That’s lame sometimes, but it comes in handy. For example, I have friends all over the country, and I can stay a part of their lives through my communications on Facebook. When done correctly, Facebook can enhance your personal relationships, and you can share joys, sorrows, and laughs with people every day.

18. A retro gaming system

Here’s where the fun starts! Do you miss the Super Nintendo? How about classic Nintendo? Sega Genesis? Hop over to your favorite search engine and type in “SNES emulators” to find a program that will play old Super Nintendo games. Download it, then search for “SNES roms” to find and download the games. Plug in a USB controller and you’ll feel like you’re 8 years old all over again!

19. Sports/News Central

Whether you do it in an RSS feed reader or you just visit a site like CNN or MSN, the headlines are always updating and keep you in the loop at all times. Hit up ESPN for live scores of all of your games. Then, cancel your newspaper subscription. I mean, like, NOW.

20. Your recipe database

When I cook, I just put the laptop on the kitchen counter. I don’t need a shelf of cookbooks (although I do still have a few). You can store recipes in Evernote or use a service like Supercook to manage your inventory of recipes. It makes your cooking life a lot easier, and you never have to remember which recipe book that breaded chicken recipe was in.

21. Track your workouts

DailyMile lets you map and save your runs. DailyBurn allows you the ability to track any type of workout, and even track your nutrition levels. You don’t need to keep a paper notebook or print out a spreadsheet. Type it in, submit it, and move on with your life. Slick, slick, slick.

22. Business-builder

Build a website, run a blog, connect on Facebook/Twitter, design brochures, write copy… the list goes on. Take notes during your meetings with clients. A laptop computer offers the flexibility to work anywhere you choose, provided your business can pay those bills. A laptop, in my opinion, is an absolutely essential tool for business-building today.

23. Create CDs and DVDs

I remember back in 2000 when I first learned how to burn a CD. It took forever. Now, I use CDBurnerXP, but you can use just about anything. Put those home movies on a DVD. Make that mix CD for your friend (or that girl you like). It only takes a couple of minutes, and you can do it right from your laptop.

24. Stream home media anywhere in the house

XBox Media Center, now on the original XBox, PCs, Macs, and Linux machines. All your movies and music on any TV in your house, from your computer.

25. Portable CD/DVD player

Again, another invention that I am shocked is still on shelves: the portable DVD player. Instead, play this stuff on your laptop when sitting on the plane or when you’re supposed to be paying attention in class. Chances are, your laptop can handle any kind of DVD, too.

26. Your to-do list

Google Tasks or Remember The Milk, or about a dozen others. Ditch the paper to-do list and type it up in your laptop. Want to keep it simpler? Open up a little Notepad document and bang out your list.

27. The answers to your minor medical questions

I’ve always been a big fan of WebMD, but there are other ways to get medical questions answered, too. This is not a substitute for a doctor’s visit, of course, but it can help you diagnose minor situations instead of paying that co-pay to be told those lumps on your throat are just leftover food scraps. [Note: this is not a good tip for hypochondriacs.]

28. Your shopping mall, all the time

Want to buy anything? Put your shoes down. Stay in your pajamas. Open up your laptop and get to Amazon. Search for whatever you want, and they’ll have it. Oh, and it’ll be cheaper, too.

Okay, so some of these are obvious, but it helps to have them here. Your laptop is a remarkably strong piece of technology. I would think twice before you ditch it to use some fancy-looking thing that only does two or three things on this list.

What do you use your laptop for?

In today’s podcast, I take a look at the Green Bay Packers’ heartbreaking playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals from Sunday night and compare that to my past dating life. Don’t worry, I bring it all together for you. Are you doing the “If Only” Dance? Lend me your ears and I can help!

[Note: if you do not see the player at the top of this post, click on the title of the post and allow the page to load.]

It was one of the biggest games of the season. Any season, really. Any time my Green Bay Packers are dueling with the Chicago Bears, it is must-see television. Regardless of standings and divisions, the Packers-Bears rivalry is fierce. And to be honest, it was bigger than usual, because the Packers are trying to push their way into the playoffs. Every win counts.

At my church, we were having a pot-luck lunch. I was eating a little shredded beef and watching Ryan Grant take it to the house on the first Packer play of the game. We were having fun, and the Packers were winning.

Then I had to go to work.

I sat in the car at the office parking lot while listening to the last precious few minutes of the game that I could hear. I didn’t have a radio at work, so this would be it. After this, it was going to be word-of-mouth.

Thank God for Google.

My computer at work blocks just about everything: email, Twitter, Facebook, ESPN, whatever. But it doesn’t block Google, and I can’t think of a workplace that would. So, when I want to keep up with a game, I type the team name in the search box, and the first result on Google’s results page is a scoreboard with a game clock. I just hit “refresh” every time I check in to see the score, and I’m okay.

This game was different, though, as the Packers were up 13-0 when I left the car. After a few refreshes, it was 14-13, Bears. I was stunned. I had no idea what was going on; who was in? Who wasn’t in? Did anybody get hurt? Did we give up a big play? WHAT?!?

Then I saw a little box that was updating with Twitter results down the page. It wasn’t blocked because it was google.com, not twitter.com! I moved to the options section (see above picture) and clicked “Updates”. Up came a scrolling, constantly-updating commentary on the game from the Twitter universe.

There’s no game on as I write this, so you’ll have to imagine it.

It was beautiful. I could just keep checking, and any big play was commented on by plenty of people! It was like having a crowdsourced play-by-play of the game (and the Pack won, too!). I could see when somebody missed a field goal, when Jay Cutler threw an interception (or two), or any big defensive stand.

If you’re at work and you want to keep track of the big game, just search for the team name on Google and click “Updates”. Then you can see what the world is talking about as it happens.

This has other great implications, too:

• Monitoring big news developments. Want to know the latest on Tiger Woods having sex with people? Type in “Tiger Woods” and watch everybody comment on stuff that isn’t their business all day!
• Keep tabs on your fantasy football players. Search for the player’s name and you can see any big play they come up with, so you can monitor performance (and thank you, Quinton Ganther!).
• Watch other live event happenings in real-time. The Oscars. An Apple convention. A big press conference. People are tweeting about this stuff all the time. Keep up with it all at work!

Anything you can search Twitter for, you can use this for. Obviously, you want to work hard and make sure you’re getting things done, too. But if you can’t miss the big news or game, Google’s new real-time search is a killer way to do it quickly and easily.

Last night, my Green Bay Packers beat one of their toughest challengers this season, the Baltimore Ravens, 27-14. It was a fun game to watch, and it feels good to watch a team that lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers only a month ago put on a streak and rejuvenate their hopes for the playoffs.

But boy, was it ugly.

Between the Ravens and the Packers, there were over 300 yards of penalties in this game. It was in the top-3 most-penalized games of all-time. Ouch.

But after all is said and done, they won. They overcame the penalties, and won the game. When people look at the 2009 season, they’ll see a “W” on that one. They won’t see all the penalties, they won’t see the sloppiness. They’ll see a victory. Do you treat life like that?

Are you focusing on the penalties of life? I do sometimes. It’s easy to get down on yourself for the mistakes you make. But they don’t tell the whole story. At the end of the day, did you get a victory? We make mistakes. Everybody does. Just like every NFL team gets charged penalties, we all screw up. It’s a part of life. What happens next is what matters. Did you pick yourself up and dust yourself off? Or did you wallow in it and feel sorry for yourself?

Mistakes DO tell part of the story – you need to watch them and learn from them. Post-game press conferences all indicated that the Packers were happy to win, but they need to learn from all those penalties and fix those problems. It’s time you did the same.

No, this isn’t going to be another debate on why I like my Zune better than the iPod. Today, we’re all together: we are owners of portable media players. And it’s not just limited to us: there are those who were more economical and chose simpler, non-brand-name media players, and even some that use their mobile phones, such as their Blackberry or Droid, to carry around music and video.

In any case, the main reason we got these things was music. We love us some music, right? Heck, even the option to carry around some video is pretty cool too (if we can). But our little media players can do us one better, and I learned it while I was sitting at a desk.

Recently, I took upon a rather boring desk job to pay a few bills (one being this giant party I’m throwing next October). This job basically entails staring at a computer screen and answering customer service emails for 8 hours a day, second shift. It ain’t glamorous, I’ll tell you that right now. But while there, I realized that I needed brain stimulation if I wanted any chance of surviving this job.

As I’ve stated before, I’ve got a Microsoft Zune. While putzing around on the Zune Marketplace, I started perusing the podcasts. I’d always thought about grabbing a podcast – after all, they seem to be pretty popular, but I never really knew anybody that listened to them. I figured this would be a good chance to try a few out.

Holy cow. I should be kicking myself for not trying this years ago.

Podcasts: Knowledge, Entertainment, and The Rejuvenated Love for Radio

Think about all the time you spend doing mindless activities: driving a car, sitting at work (for some of us), cleaning the house, working out, etc. There are about a billion different times of day when we could be putting our brain to good use. Enter the podcast. Here are a few cool reasons to start loading up:

• Constantly new content: Most podcasts update at least once a week, if not more often. That’s a steady stream of new stuff to listen to, all the time!
• Automatic updating: Adding new ones is as simple as plugging in your media player (and in some cases, you don’t even have to do that). Just subscribe and forget about it!
• Something for all interests: You’d be surprised at just how many genres you can take advantage of and enjoy.
• Any podcast feed can be used: If you can find it online, you can add it to your subscriptions, regardless of what you are using.
• They’re free: Even if you just want to listen to them on your computer, you can load up on podcasts to your heart’s content.

A podcast, for those of you who have gotten this far and still don’t know what they are, is essentially a radio show. For some podcasters out there, it’s adapted from their actual radio show. For others, it’s like their blog on steroids – interviews, audio clips, and special content can be found on their podcasts. What kinds of stuff can you find out there? Anything.

The Practical Nerd’s Favorite Podcasts

After some trial and error, I’ve hammered down the podcasts I look forward to listening to every day (links go to the RSS feed address to add to your podcasting software):

• Bob and Brian On Demand – This is the morning radio show from 102.9 THE HOG, based out of Milwaukee. Sure, there’s some definite Midwest charm in here, but there are plenty of hilarious news bits and sports coverage with Steve Czaban to keep anyone happy. Best feature: any of their "listeners write in" stories, including Father Knows Least (funny/horrifying experiences with your dad), Smashed In The Face (your story of getting hit in the face), and Holiday Horror Stories (bad experiences with holidays). Best of all, they’re not tasteless shock jocks, either!
• Radiolab – Easily the best of the bunch. Radiolab is an NPR radio show from WNYC. They generally run an hour long, but they contain some of the most thought-provoking and beautiful stories out there. It’s a science show about human behavior and other stuff about nature, but done with sound effects, music, and storytelling that sucks you in completely. What a wonderful program – one of the few places you can find science-related content that is unbiased, entertaining, and completely accessible for everyone. After one day of listening to the three podcasts I had downloaded, I went back and downloaded their entire archive of over 60 shows.
• The Dave Ramsey Show Podcast – Dave is the author of The Total Money Makeover, which is highly-regarded as one of the best personal finance books around. Dave opens up every show by saying that this is "where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off mortgage has replaced the BMW as the status symbol of choice". He takes callers, emails, and tweets, giving solid and real-world financial advice to his listeners. He has a no-nonsense approach that I totally respect, and his main goal is getting you out of debt. Great program.
• ESPN Football Today – Some things just need to be entertaining. Jeremy Green takes you inside football every weekday for analysis and opinion. It’s like having ESPN in your ears.

There are tons more out there, from comedy to Christian, food to music. Go search around, either in your iTunes, Zune Marketplace, or even Google. You’ll find some good stuff.

Okay, so how do I get this stuff?

One way is through your media software. The iTunes Store and the Zune Marketplace both have dedicated sections to podcasts. If you don’t use either of those, there is another very popular option: Juice.

Juice is a cross-platform podcast subscriber that organizes your podcasts and syncs them up with your media player of choice (or, if you want, you can just play them through the software).

Podcasts give your brain a little food to work with. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. After all, learning is an ongoing process throughout your life. Why not give it a try? Do you have any favorite podcasts you want to recommend? Let’s hear about it in the comments!

I’m no doubt endearing myself to the dozens of you Practical Nerds that happen to be New England Patriots fans, but I don’t like Tom Brady. I haven’t for a long time. My biggest beef with him was his attitude that he was just flat-out better than you ever will be. I pay enough attention to football and other major sports that I know you have to have a swagger about you that makes you great. No problem. But I always hated the Patriots for running up the scores during their undefeated* season when clearly they had games in the bag. No need to throw a 30-yard pass to Randy Moss when there’s 3 minutes left in the game and you’re up by 21 points.

Anyway, I was sitting back watching the Baltimore Ravens and the Patriots do battle last Sunday (my other option was watching the Bears-Lions which, while being a division matchup, was boring as sin during the second half). It was a fun football game with lots of back-and-forth momentum. Oh, and then this happened:

I’m not a big fan of Ray Lewis, but he scores big points for me here. And Rodney Harrison has single-handedly made NBC Sunday Night Football worth watching with his comments, because guys like Keith Olbermann just make me want to throw my laptop through my television.

Brady was grazed by a lineman that clearly was just falling in his general direction and he yelled at the referee to throw a flag for roughing the passer. For those not familiar with football, it is illegal to hit a quarterback with full force after he’s thrown the ball. It’s a big penalty. Tom Brady went down for the season last year after a lineman crashed into his knee during Week 1, so now he’s paranoid about getting hit again. The call was not justified, in my opinion. If the guy gets bumped, he gets bumped. It’s football.

That aside, what can we learn from this? Life, like football, is full of hard hits. No matter what you do, you’re going to have to take a few. Like a helmet and shoulder pads, you need to protect yourself to take the full force of life with things like a positive attitude, a strong moral compass, and taking personal responsibility.

When you get hit in life, do you start looking around for the referee? When life throws you a little hiccup, do you cry “foul” to whoever will listen to you? Sometimes you won’t see them coming, as Brady didn’t see the guy crashing into his knee last year. And yeah, the consequences could be huge. But you can’t go through life trying to avoid all the hits. It will just make them that much more devastating when they land.

And they will land. It’s not a matter of “if”, but a matter of “when”: loved ones die, you lose a bunch of money, you get laid off, the love of your life can leave, your car can break down, etc. These things happen. You need to prepare yourself for these problems and be able to pick yourself back up quickly.

Need some more similarities between the game of life and the game of football? Here are a few:

• You don’t have all the time in the world. In football, it’s 4 quarters. You don’t have forever on Earth either. Start making progress now.
• You don’t always get the first down on every play. When I was younger, I never understood why teams would make plays for 4 or 5 yards if you need 10. But what they are doing is setting themselves up for success. They’re taking steps to reach their goals. You should, too. Instead of going for that “Hail Mary” pass all the time, try taking smaller steps. You’d be surprised how effective it can be.
• Take some time to “review the game film”. Every week, coaches and players watch footage of their last game to see what they can improve on and learn from. You should be always reviewing and analyzing yourself and your actions and learning from them. It’s the only way you will get better.
• You can’t play the game alone. The quarterback is the most important position in the NFL, and it is highly scrutinized. I live in Wisconsin – nobody understands that better than we do! There are tons of Brett Favre-Aaron Rodgers debates around here at all times of the day (especially since the just played against each other). But what many people fail to realize in these debates is that there are a LOT of other guys on the field! You can’t win alone – you need friends and family to help you out in life.
• Taking a big risk can payoff big, but it can also hurt big. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. Want to make up a ton of yards downfield? Throw a bomb up and try to get it to your top wide receiver. But if you underthrow it even a touch, it can be intercepted. Taking risks in life are what makes it so great, but be prepared to deal with the consequences of your actions.
• Not everybody’s playing for your team. There are people in this world who just want to bring you down, just like the defense. Fight them head-on and you will have some success. Grind out a few yards at a time.
• Everybody’s got a role to play. Peyton Manning is a great quarterback, but I wouldn’t trust him kicking my field goals. Ray Lewis is a top player on defense, but he’s not going to return kickoffs. Everybody has something they’re good at and you need to have a wide variety of people in your life that are close to you. That teamwork will pay off.

The game of life has considerably more “plays” than football, but your approach should be very similar. Your thoughts?

A while back I wrote an article detailing how I have set up a free system to watch TV without sacrificing a whole lot. I made the argument that cable/satellite TV was a broken system – why pay for a bunch of stuff you don’t watch? Even more: you don’t get to choose when to watch something, except for rather limited “on-demand” stuff, in which case you might even wind up spending more money to watch.

My original setup consisted of my laptop, a Netflix subscription, a VGA (monitor) cable, a decent antenna, and a cord to connect the headphone jack to the television. I have a rather nice Dynex 32” HDTV, which is plenty big for my tiny apartment, and puts out a very nice picture. In that setup, I kept my laptop continuously plugged in to the TV by running a long cord behind my furniture. The only drawback is that I never felt like I had an actual laptop – plugging in a laptop all the time kinda defeats the purpose.

I have an XBox 360 that I’ve had for a little over a year now. It’s a great gaming console for the few games I play on it (like Madden NFL 10, as seen above, next to my avatar that looks nothing like me anymore since I shaved the beard, grew my hair out, and stopped wearing contacts). I was excited when I heard that Netflix “Watch Instantly” streaming movies and TV shows were coming to the XBox 360, but I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. See, I share my internet connection with my landlord and connect via the wireless. The router is in her apartment. My XBox 360 had no wireless router, and I didn’t want to drop a then-$100 to buy one. So I plugged the computer in directly.

Well, I recently was given a wireless adapter to borrow, and I’m planning on buying it from the guy, because this is the best non-cable experience I’ve ever had. The interface for the XBox 360 is intuitive, easy-to-use, and with a little set up, it will be a completely integrated solution that has even MORE functionality than my previous setup.

Without cable: On-demand high definition streaming

You may not be able to see it, but it says “Presented in HD” up there. For some reason, the folks over at Microsoft do not really push the advantages of the HD streaming: there’s no “HD” category when looking for Watch Instantly content, and they only place a tiny icon that says “HD” next to the titles of the videos. That said, it looks fantastic. To test it out, I bought a month of XBox Live Gold (more on that a little later), and played an episode of Grey’s Anatomy that was available. I hate the show, but the video quality is excellent!

You can almost see the angst in Meredith’s eyes.

Tons of great on-demand content!

When Netflix first debuted the Watch Instantly feature, the content was pretty sparse. They had seasons of The Office and a handful of movies nobody cared about. Since then, they’ve strategically developed new partnerships, including one with Starz, that has literally brought thousands of titles to the Watch Instantly line.

One thing I’ve missed about cable is networks like the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel. Lo and behold, we’ve got content from there – great shows like Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Survivorman, and Mythbusters. And the standard content is also pretty good quality. Here’s a shot of Mythbusters that I watched on my lunch break today:

Very nice! Movies that recently came out on DVD find their way to Watch Instantly, and TV shows are being added all the time. Some movies are in HD, but the majority of HD titles are television shows. Before setting this up, the only true HD content I could enjoy was through over-the-air network television. It was still good, but it was not on-demand.

In addition to the Netflix feature, you can also purchase from the XBox Marketplace. They do, however, use a lousy purchasing system called “Microsoft Points”. But if you are looking to rival iTunes for your need to have the latest episode of Heroes, you can buy them here too.

Extend functionality by sharing media with your computer

This is where things got wonderful for me. Without a dedicated DVR, I’ve used torrent downloading to automatically download the latest episodes of certain TV shows to watch them on my own time. To watch them quickly and easily, I used to just hook up the computer to the television (and I still can, if I so choose). Through the XBox 360, however, you can share that library of movies and music with your television wirelessly. Google around to find your situation. I will either be sharing movies through my Zune software or through Windows Media Player.

Above is a picture of my downloaded episode of The Office, streaming from my computer through the Zune software and to my XBox 360. It uses up none of my computer’s resources.

And if you are using Windows Media Center, you can very easily connect that wirelessly with your XBox 360 – and share your DVR library with your television seamlessly. I decided not to go this route, as my laptop just isn’t that powerful to handle the software.

And, of course, the price.

You’ll have to have a computer and an XBox 360 on the same network, either wired to a router or connected wirelessly. Microsoft has made setup a simple procedure, you can just follow the step-by-step instructions they provide to connect. To enjoy high-definition content, obviously, you need a high-definition television!

So, outside of equipment (which is a one-time expense), what price are we looking at? My old cable bill was $70 per month, just for television service. That included a few HD channels, and the networks. So, for a year, I was paying $840 for cable.

This new setup requires a Netflix subscription that allows unlimited access to the Watch Instantly feature. I have a subscription that includes that, plus unlimited DVDs in my mailbox, one at a time. That’s $9.49 a month. In addition, you’ll need an XBox Live Gold subscription, which is currently retailing for $50 a year. [$9.49 x 12] + $50 = $163.88 a year, or annual savings of $676.12. That’s HUGE savings!

What else can we add?

There’s a service called PlayOn, which brings more streaming content, like Hulu and YouTube, to your XBox 360 or PS3. I have not yet tested this, but I plan to this evening. They also have a growing library of plug-ins, to watch ESPN and NFL Network videos on your television. If you are a fan of watching streaming television channels like TVAnts for your sports needs, do a Google search for sending those streams to your XBox 360 to be watched on your TV.

What I love about this service is that it eliminates more cords and integrates everything to one remote control. It’s user-friendly, attractive, and has great functionality. Did I miss anything? Do any of you employ this method or something similar? Share in the comments!

When you sit on the internet for long periods of time (a la yours truly), you look at people’s attitudes towards each other and you wonder where things went wrong. Spend some time looking at the mainstream media, and it becomes really apparent: society thinks you should be miserable.

Don’t believe me? Think about your workplace. For most of us, the focus is just on the wrong stuff, especially in the customer service world. If employees are treated like human beings, the quality of customer service is greatly increased. A happy worker will treat customers with a fantastic demeanor. If you hate your job, it shows through.

On weekends, I bartend for a little extra scratch at a local hotel. On my first Saturday shift, I worked from 11:00am until about 4:00pm. Now, especially with nothing going on in Milwaukee this particular weekend, it was dead. As a doornail. I mean, I went about two hours with no customers whatsoever. I was told by one of the managers that, when the bar is empty, I can sit at the bar and watch the big TV on the wall, just as long as I jump up when a customer walks in. Seemed like a great idea. I sat down and started relaxing my feet a little bit.

About ten minutes later, the other manager on duty walked past me and ordered me to get up and stand on the other side of the bar. Then he walked away. No reason given. No explanation. I stood around, craning my neck to see the TV and pass the time for another 45 minutes before a customer walked in.

Is it necessary to insist that customers think you were standing for the last 3 hours, waiting for them to come in? Is it supposed to make you look:

• Stupid for standing around.
• “Superhuman” for your endurance.
• So dedicated to making their Jack-and-Coke that you’re willing to stand in one spot for hours on end until they come in.

If not, then what’s the point? At the end of the day, the customer will buy the same amount, tip the same amount, and be just as happy. I’ve worked several customer service jobs, from bank teller to waiter to cashier, and I’ve never met a customer that cared what I did when they weren’t around. In fact, if they saw that I was having fun with my coworkers, but dropped it the second they walked up so that I could help them, they almost always laughed and discussed the activity with us.

See, everybody’s human, and everybody needs to have a good time at some point. As long as work is getting done, why not enjoy yourself a little bit? What is this obsession with breaking down people that are just trying to have a laugh? Are we not allowed to have fun until we are 65 years old? I value hard work as much as anybody, but there’s no sense in making it worse just because you feel like you have to. And in the age of political correctness, everybody’s got to be offended by something.

Case #1: The Milwaukee Brewers

On Sunday afternoon, I was watching my Brewers play the San Francisco Giants. It was pretty unremarkable for a while – the Brewers are wayyyy out of playoff contention, and after a great spring, they tanked. It’s been a big bummer for us Brewer fans. But we crept into the bottom of the 12th inning, and Prince Fielder belts out a walk-off home run. It’s a fun moment, and the crowd goes wild (and so do we!). As Fielder rounds second base, he points the dugout, and the players line up in a half-circle around home plate, awaiting Prince’s entry so they can celebrate. Then what follows is a pretty funny celebration. Observe:

Now, we thought it was hilarious. But as I watched ESPN today, every freaking pundit and show was debating this little act. The Giants pitcher went on ESPN Radio and complained about how disrespectful it was. On “Around The Horn”, one guy was saying that it was a ridiculous celebration because they’ve played so poor. Since they were losing a lot, they weren’t allowed to enjoy a rare dramatic win, apparently.

How ludicrous is this? Disrespectful? Did they get into Giants players’ faces? Did they moon them or something and we missed it? It looked like a bunch of kids playing baseball and having a good time to me. I would say the Brewers’ recent woes mean it’s okay to celebrate some good news for a change! People who are complaining about this have clearly forgotten what it was like to play a hard-fought baseball game with their buddies. If you ask me, it’s poor sportsmanship to walk around complaining about how the other team celebrated that they won.

Case #2: The Zero-Hour Work Week

I think you all know Jonathan Mead from Illuminated Mind. I reviewed his ebook, “Reclaim Your Dreams”, a couple weeks ago. He’s topped himself with his new, FREE ebook that he released yesterday, entitled, “The Zero-Hour Work Week”, a play on Tim Ferriss’ “Four-Hour Work Week”. Click on the link to download it.

Jonathan’s case – and I agree – is that we are conditioned to think that we can only be miserable, and then retire. The problem with this thinking is that it cripples you into limiting what you do. The subconscious mind is a horrible demon if it’s conditioned improperly. If you tell yourself you’ll never be able to do something, you never will be able to do it.

Obviously, you have to eat, and you need a roof over
your head. And you have to have a source of income
to pay for it. The problem arises when you realize that
everyone else has an idea of what you should be doing
with your time. In other words: if you don’t choose a
purpose, someone else probably has one for you.

So true. And the biggest problem is that nobody knows what you’ll enjoy more than you. If you are working a miserable job to stay afloat while you pursue your dreams, that’s one thing, but if your career is sucking the life out of you and giving you nothing back (see Office Space for further details), then what’s the point?

The Value of Having Fun

Okay, what does this all have in common? Fun.

Life is short. Heck, 4 people from my high school graduating class are already dead, and it’s only been six years. You never know when life is going to be taken from you. I’m not saying ditch all hard work and only do stuff that’s fun. I’m not saying life should all be about sitting on the beach sipping goofy drinks with umbrellas sticking out of them. I am saying that your life is too short to purposely allow yourself to be miserable all the time.

An often-repeated quote is “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. Are you doing that? Are you reporting to that office every day, going home, eating crap food and going to bed early, constantly thinking about how you wish things were different? You need to grab life by its, well you know, and start doing something about it! Here’s why:

1. It’ll make you a more pleasant person to be around.
2. You will strengthen yourself – you never know how strong you are until you accomplish something you set out to do.
3. Your outlook on life will improve, rather than getting crushed by the weight of the world.
4. You’ll be more productive – when your brain is relaxed, it can concentrate and focus better.

So let’s do it: block out a little time every day to do something strictly for fun. Play a silly game on the computer. Rock out to a few tunes and play that air guitar. Putz around on YouTube – I recommend Lonely Island for mindless entertainment. Forget about what people will think. This is about you for a change. Find that passion in your life, whatever it may be, and pursue it. Work some fun back into your life. We’re not stiffs in suits here. We’re human beings. Don’t forget that.

I’m not great at sports. In fact, over the years I’ve developed a reputation of being quite lousy. And that reputation is not without merit, either. Watch me throw a football once and you’ll see. For this reason, I ran cross country when I was in grade school and high school. And even then, I was remarkably average.

My church is in a softball league. Every summer, from April-August, a bunch of the guys in my church get together and play for the team. My brothers have all been on the team for years. Every year, I got the same thing: “Why don’t you play, too?” My response was always: “I’d just embarrass myself.”

Now, after a year of working out of my apartment, I start looking for ways to get out and socialize with people. So I joined the team this year. So far, it’s been fun. We’ve played a handful of games, won some, lost some, and enjoyed the camaraderie. Oh, and I don’t embarrass myself because I don’t play. Ever. I don’t consider myself to be a bad player. Softball was always one of those games where I was kinda-okay-average when I played. But outside of pinch hitting in the last inning of a game (and never when it was a close game), I just sit on the bench with my glove collecting dust next to me.

This past Tuesday was the same routine: I get there, I throw the ball around with the guys, share a few laughs, and do a few mock stretches, as if I’m going to play. Then I notice there are less guys there than usual. Next thing I know, I’m playing right field! There was nobody to be on the bench. Everybody had to play. This was my chance!

Once I was up in the batting order, I knew I wanted to pad my stats a little bit. After all, I had been a decent pinch-hitter up to this point, so I should be able to get a couple of hits today, maybe even drive in a run or two! Then our coach would notice my numbers and maybe put me in more often, right? I grab the bat and step into the batter’s box. The first pitch comes down about a foot in front of the base, but I very nearly swung at it. I was so excited! The next pitch probably wasn’t great, but I swung with all my might. I came over the top of the ball and grounded out. As I ran past first base and turned around, a sharp pain rocketed through my lower back. I tried too hard to be the hero, and my back was victim. I spent the rest of the game trying to keep it loose, and I only got on base once (and got thrown out on a double play).

As I laid in bed last night (which, as I said, is where I get many ideas for posts), I thought about the lessons one could learn from this type of experience. Here are a few that I came up with:

In major situations, you need to keep a level head.

When I was ever at-bat, I wasn’t thinking about waiting for a good pitch. All I could think about was how great I was going to hit it. I kept getting too anxious and swung at bad pitches. All I did was hit easy ground balls. In batting practice, when nice and relaxed, I can hit some good line drives. But because I was so concerned with how I was batting, I couldn’t hit it square on the mark like I know I can do.

On an airplane, or during fire drills, they always stress how everyone should stay calm during an emergency. There’s a reason for that: as long as you stay calm, you can think clearly and keep yourself from making stupid decisions. Heck, you can apply this knowledge to anything! Think about serious financial situations. If you are overly stressed about your bills, you prevent your brain from really analyzing the situation and finding opportunities for you. In every situation in life, a clearer head will help you get yourself out of it safely and, in most cases, quickly.

If you make a mistake, just deal with the consequences.

After the game, everybody got together for a little cookout. No chair could keep me comfortable for very long. My girlfriend gave me some ibuprofen to help get me through the night. The next morning, when I woke up, I could barely put on a pair of pants. I couldn’t even reach my feet to put socks or shoes on. I slipped on sandals and hobbled down to the car to go get some more ibuprofen. Sleeping is still mildly uncomfortable, and I keep fidgeting in my chair as I type this.

We all screw up. We make poor purchases, or we misplace our priorities. Any time we do that, we pay for it, in one way or another. Do you whine about it? You put yourself in the situation! You set yourself up to suffer these consequences – own up to it, accept it, and take the fall. You’ll learn from it, and you won’t fall into the habit of victimizing yourself.

Put others ahead of yourself – if you are just worried about yourself, you will fail.

I wasn’t thinking about how the team could band together and come back from our 10-2 deficit (or whatever it was – it was a lot, that’s all I remember). I kept thinking about my stats. I kept thinking about “being the hero”. I wanted the feeling of crushing the ball and the cheers from the guys. It was selfish.

What motivates you? Is it money? Are you just trying to hoard as much cash as possible? Is it bragging rights? Do you do things just so that you can tell people you did that? Those are really selfish reasons to get you through life. If you follow them, you are doomed to fail eventually. Let your family and friends motivate you to do your best. Help them and take care of them. That’s the way to get through life!

Feeling sorry for yourself won’t fix anything.

When I woke up the morning after the game, all I wanted to do was lay in bed. I felt like that’s all I could do. But, when back muscles are tight, I know that the best thing to do is stretch them out and loosen them up. So I try to stretch every chance I get and walk around and do things. It’s the only way to get through it. If I sat around and moped about it, I’d probably still want to just lie in bed. My back would never get better.

When bad things happen to you, it’s tempting to sit around and cry about it. And don’t get me wrong: it’s healthy to have that emotional release. You don’t want to bottle up bad feelings. But get the crying out of the way, and then start to do something about it. In nearly every situation in life, you can do something about it. Get up, dust yourself off, and start taking steps towards healing!

Next Tuesday, I’m sure I will be back on the bench, cheering for the fellas and enjoying my one token at-bat that I get every week. But if I get the opportunity next time, I’m going to slow myself down and work with the team. Maybe then I won’t be hobbling back to my car.

[Editor’s note: How weirded out do you think the cable guy was when the guy snapped this picture?]

My name is Tom Meitner, and I’m a television addict. There, I admitted it. Let’s get that out of the way first. Why am I telling you this? Because it’s easy to write off an article like this if you think the person writing it doesn’t watch NEARLY as much TV as you. But I will guarantee you, right here, right now, that I probably watch more TV than you, and I know a ridiculous amount of television trivia. I grew up watching television. When some kids were out throwing the football around with their buddies or hitting home runs in Little League, I was sitting inside next to a fan, keeping me cool while I watched old reruns of Webster and The New Leave It to Beaver. I was a loser, and I’m okay with it.

As I’ve grown up, my love for television has grown. When I bought a TV/VCR for my bedroom, I started to tape repeats of shows as they aired. And so, my videotapes of Friends, Boy Meets World, and Whose Line Is It Anyway? were worn out. Oh, and when they released DVD collections of shows? Forget about it. I went crazy. I now have DVD collections of Friends, The Cosby Show, The Office, The Simpsons, and Home Improvement. Boy, I love TV.

The debut of DVR and Tivo changed the way we all watch TV. Us connoisseurs of television loved the idea of “setting it and forgetting it”. We didn’t have to set VCR clocks. We didn’t have to remember to set up the videotape at the proper spot. We didn’t have to worry about the deteriorating quality of tapes after a certain period of time. All we had to do was tell our little magic box what shows we liked, and they took care of the rest.

But then, I started paying my own cable bills.

When I moved out of my brother’s basement, I began to become more aware of what I was watching on television, and how much I was paying for it. As I discussed with others, there are a lot of things in common among TV watchers.

• We all wear out our DVR on network television shows.
• We all tend to watch cable TV simply because it’s there and we’re paying for it.
• We all hate commercials.
• We all hate paying our TV bill.

Subscription TV means you pay for a long list of channels that you don’t watch. Ever. The only channels I watched on a regular basis were ESPN, occasionally the Travel Channel, and… well, that’s about it. Maybe some repeats on TBS once in a while. My epiphany happened when I realized that all the stuff I had been DVRing was on network television – free TV. I was paying $70/month for functionality that I could get elsewhere.

So, after much trial and error, I eliminated subscription television from my life. And you know what? I’ve never been happier. My TV enjoyment is free – and it’s wonderful. The beauty is that I’m not behind on shows, I don’t necessarily have to watch them live, and I still have high definition television. Here’s how I do it:

Figure out how to hook up your television to your computer.

In my case, I’ve got a laptop and a Dynex 32” LCD HDTV. The beauty there is that I can use a VGA cord (a monitor cord) and run it from my laptop to my television, and the quality is just as good as an HDMI cord for HDTV. Then I run a cord from the audio-in port next to it on the TV to the headphone jack on my laptop. Bingo. All set up.

For others, it could be an S-Video cord, too. An S-Video cord plugs into your computer on one end and then plugs into the TV via the composite (red, white, yellow) plug. Unsure of what kind of plug you need? Go to a store like Best Buy and ask. Make sure you take a look at your computer beforehand, just to make sure. Just tell them you are trying to hook up your computer to your television.

Your first need: new episodes.

You can’t step up to the water cooler at the office without knowing who got kicked off American Idol last night, can you? Let’s save you the embarrassment right now. The first – and easiest – way to watch television is to watch television. Without anything fancy, just sit down and enjoy your favorite show when it actually airs. Strap any antenna to your TV and away you go. Don’t have an HDTV? Get a converter box so that you can handle the digital feeds over-the-air. I have an antenna hooked up to my TV, and the HD is crisp, clean, and wonderful. It’s the best way to watch TV. Plus, there’s something nice about watching something as it’s happening.

What about commercials? Who says you have to watch them? Plenty of people told me they can’t get rid of their DVR because they love being able to pause their TV to go do something quick (make a sandwich, go to the bathroom, etc.). So why can’t you do that during commercial breaks, just like the old days? Time everything right, and you won’t miss anything. You could even spend a couple hundred bucks on a Tivo box that will work with over-the-air television, but that won’t save you nearly as much money.

And your sports fix? If you are just watching ESPN for SportsCenter, you can get most of what that offers you online. There’s plenty to read, you can watch highlights and Top Ten lists, and everything else. If you want a slightly-less-legal way to go for live sports, consider looking into TVAnts or Sopcast. Both let people around the world stream live TV for you, and you can find current games airing on My P2P (consider it TV Guide for TVAnts and Sopcast). I use TVAnts to watch my Milwaukee Brewers play, because most of their games only air on cable (LAME). In the fall and winter, I can catch Monday Night Football and any NFL Network games on TVAnts as well.

Another great route to get your sports fix is to get together with friends to watch games. It gets you out of the house, and you both can enjoy the subscription TV that they are wasting their money on.

What about your DVR needs?

That’s where your computer comes into play. The easiest way to watch TV through your computer is to watch the new episodes online. New episodes generally hit network websites the morning after they air. Need to see the latest episode of The Office? Go to NBC.com and find it. Watch them fullscreen and you’ll barely notice a difference. Easy as pie. Most network websites even offer HD episodes of their shows online! Many cable stations also have full shows on their websites. Browse around your favorite networks’ websites and see what you can find.

Or, if you’re looking for a slightly more complicated, but even better quality version, consider downloading the episodes through torrents. Wait, isn’t that illegal? Technically, yes. My argument in court someday will be that downloading network TV shows, watching them, then deleting them is no different than DVRing them. I’m just having someone else do the legwork. Chances are, if you are just downloading an episode of something and then getting rid of it, you’ll be fine. Most agencies trying to catch people are gunning for those who are distributing these shows, especially in bulk. You can go to a site such as TV RSS or Show RSS where you can find shows to download. Not only that, you can subscribe to shows as well, just like DVR! They usually start downloading a couple hours after the show airs. Instructions on how to do it can be found by Googling it.

And repeats of classic shows?

Well, there is a variety of websites out there that host tons of old TV shows. For example, Hulu remains the most popular, and it is sponsored by pretty much all the networks. Another great source is Surf The Channel, which has every show under the sun. I’ve gone there for my classic Ninja Turtles cartoon fix on more than one occasion.

And of course, Netflix remains a great option as well. My subscription offers me one DVD at a time, but I can exchange it as many times as I want in a given month. It also includes all “Watch Instantly” content that Netflix offers online, which I can watch on my TV thanks to my laptop hookup. After taxes, my monthly Netflix bill comes to $9.49. That’s a far cry from the $70/month I was paying for cable. And you get access to tons of movies on top of that – bye, bye, expensive, “premium” movie channels!

That’s pretty much all there is to it!

It takes quite an attitude change to get rid of your subscription TV and DVR. However, it frees you from wasting your time on shows you don’t really want to watch. Plus, with a little upfront legwork, you can save HUGE money. Think about it: if I’m saving $60 every month on subscription television, I’m saving $720 annually. I can do a lot with that kind of money!

Do you have your own ways of saving on cable? Possibly buying shows on iTunes or something similar? Share in the comments!