How to burn a Xbox 360 Game the easy way!!!!!!!!

One thing I didn't know was that youtube has tons of videos like this, how to's for all your computer needs which is awesome.

I bought an Xbox 360 on the weekend. I had held off as I'm not a traditional gamer. I have the feeling most people gaming are sitting at home with headsets and playing online games. I like puzzle and strategy games I play by myself.

One negative is that this thing really sucks your time. I kept saying "Go to bed. I should go to bed!" and 5 hours later, I was like "Crap!".

Internet

Have internet now. Still too slow, on the phone to tech support, but 10 times faster than that DSL I had.

I found out I can record programs on my laptop so I want to set that up and the Xbox can use the net too so I need several splitters and faster service.

Still working.

London - October

There is so much happening in London right now I have to go back. Right now I'm looking at going in October so I can catch the "Gay Icons" exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery, which I am seeing on October 7th. Need suggestions for a cheap flight.

John Barrowman in La Cage Aux Folles. Fri Oct 9, 7:30, 54 pounds.

Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. Thurs Oct 8, 2:30, 62 pounds.

Prick Up Your Ears, Thurs Oct 8, 7:30 pm, 49.50 pounds.

Billy Elliott, Sat Oct 10, 7:30, 61 pounds.

Sister Act, Sat Oct 10, 3:00, 65 pounds.

Avenue Q with the amazing Daniel Boys, (if extended).

Wicked, Wed Oct 7, 2:30 pm, 60 pounds.

Planning to travel around, leaving London on the 11th and flying back to TO on the 18th.
Thinking London - Cardiff on Oct 11.
Cardiff - Birmingham on Oct 13
Birmingham - Manchester on Oct 15.

Crappy flight times get the best prices. If I wanted to fly when I want, it would be over $2300.
AC Oct 6, 8:50 am direct to Heathrow
AC Oct 18, Manchester to Heathrow to Toronto, 6:30 am departure!
$938.26
plus I have 10% off.

Staying in London, Oct 6, leaving the 11th.
YHA looks good. Book on hostelworld. $199 CDN for 5 nights is awesome.

Train to Cardiff Oct 11. 60 pounds

Stay in Cardiff Oct 11, leaving Oct 13 This place looks good. $68 CDN for 2 nights.

Cardiff -

Train to Birmingham Oct 13. 39 pounds.

Stay in Birmingham Oct 13, leaving Oct 15. This place looks good. $45.50 CDN for 2 nights through Hostelworld.

Evita is playing in Birmingham. I could go the evening of the 13th.

Train to Manchester Oct 15. 28.50 pounds.

Stay in Manchester Oct 15, leaving Oct 18. This one. $97.94 CDN for 3 nights.

Man United game Oct 17. On sale July 1.

Will check out cool stuff to do later!

Bridge Taps

Stupid internet.

I can't get DSL at my new house due to "bridge taps".

I hope to have cable internet and VOIP set up by next week. This will give me a temporary 2 week phone number of 647-427-6325 apparently, although I don't know when.

Info on bridge taps below, I don't understand a word:

"Bridged tap or bridge tap is a long-used method of cabling for telephone lines. One cable pair (of wires) will "appear" in several different terminal locations (poles or pedestals). This allows the telephone company to use or "assign" that pair to any subscriber near those terminal locations. Once that customer disconnects, that pair becomes usable at any of the terminals. In the days of party lines, 2, 4, 6, or 8 customers were commonly connected on the same pair which appeared at several different locations.
There are no active components in a bridge tap, just a “T” (or branch) in the cable. This T causes an unwanted Signal reflection (echo) as the signal travels along the unused branch.
Digital subscriber lines (DSL) can be affected by bridged tap, depending on where the tap is bridged. The farther from the customer's location, the better. DSL signals find an impedance discontinuity at the unterminated end, which reflects back through the cable pair, much like a tennis ball against a brick wall. The echo signal is now out of phase and mixed with the original, creating, among other impairments, attenuation distortion. The modem receives both signals, gets confused and "takes errors" or cannot sync. If the bridged tap is long, the signal bounces back only in very attenuated form. Therefore, the modem will ignore the weaker signal and show no problem. One method of fixing this problem is to ask the tech to "cut dead ahead" your line. This removes the extra cable past your house and can improve DSL performance and stability."

Strangers in the Night

When I checked in here, I noticed the mini bar and thought "What a scam! Who would pay $4 for a chocolate bar???" and didn't give it another thought.
I woke up at 4 am and somehow Homer Simpson took over my body.
I was like "Mmmm.... forbidden chocolate...."
D'oh!

Started playing "The Sims 3". It's addictive. There's almost too much to do. Your characters age, they can catch fish and eat them, pick apples, get pregnant, I was in the park and I saw a woman having a baby so I took her to the hospital. You can go to the bookstore and there's about 100 books, and if you read business books you can advance your career, you can take your boss out to dinner and suck up, loads of stuff. Quite fun until 2 am.
D'oh.

Sunday in Ottawa

Woke up late and went over to Parliament. Had to wait an hour for a tour so I hung out in the cat place. Some very cute raccoons were there so I watched them for a while.


Tour was good. Was a bit worried about security but I was pleasantly surprised. I remembered in America where they give you a pat down, go through your bag, metal detectors, scan your bag and swab it for explosives. Here, my bag went through a scan as I walked through the metal detector, was allowed to take in a drink, no problems.
Tour was good, we started out in the legislative section which was kind of dark, hence the stained glass ceiling:

The walls were lined with former Prime Ministers:

I really think we need more women PM's. It seems crazy there was only one.
As it was the weekend we got to see the library which was amazing:

And then the Senate part, I have no idea what the difference is, and there's much more colour in there.



Finally a hand written book with everyone who died in WWI and they turn the page every day at 11 am.

Then dinner and back to soak up the internet before I get back to my crappy home internet. Grrr....

Pride

Pride activities are heating up in Toronto and my calendar is so full, many nights there's so many things I can't get to them all.
Here's a roundup:
June 19 - Fritz Helder and the Phantoms play a free show at Woody's at 7 pm for the Pride launch party. RSVP at rsvp@pinkmafia.ca
June 20 - "Deathwatch" a play by Jean Genet, tickets at TO TIX booth.
June 21 - Sky Gilbert in drag at "Free Jane", free, Buddies at 8 pm
June 22 - Joe Orton's "Loot" at Soulepper. Missing seeing Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Bloor.
June 23 - I have tickets for "Homogenious", a comedy show at Buddies, but I'm going instead to another event at Buddies at the same time, the cast of "Bare" singing Broadway songs, with guys singing the girls parts and vice versa. They do this in NYC every year and I've always wanted to go.
June 24 - Cheap Queers, a variety show at Buddies at 8 and Porn Pride with Pierre Fitch at 10 pm at Goodhandy's.
June 25 - Gay day at the Blue Jays at 7pm. Missing another Cheap Queers show at Buddies.
June 26 - Keith Cole hosts "Cheap Queers" at Buddies, $6 entry, 8:30 pm, last year his show was the best I saw all year.
June 27-28 - concerts and the Pride parade.
June 29-30 - Tampa Bay plays the Blue Jays at the Sky Dome.
July 1 - 12 - Fringe festival. There's 190 shows, there will be one for you.
July 17 - Bare opens. Get your tickets now!
July 19 - Tour the Don Jail with my parents.