Izod/Hot Wheels Indy 500 Truck Jump

Ok, now this is pretty darn cool!  If the embedded link isn't working for you, you can watch the video on YouTube.

Thanks to G. Rei for the tip.

Best Buy and Target: Which is cheaper?

I like watching TV dramas - just not on TV.  I like to watch my favorite TV shows as either digital download from iTunes (good for a quick fix) or on DVD when I want to watch a full season several episodes at a time.

Recently, I watched the pilot episode of The Good Wife which I downloaded as a free episode from iTunes at some point.  The show was pretty good, so I bought episode two, and now three.  With three episodes down on my hard drive and loaded into my iPad, it's time to start thinking about buying season one on DVD.

Interesting thing about pricing, I have a Target and a Best Buy in the same shopping complex, both of which have the season one DVD box set in stock.  Best Buy is $10.00 cheaper than Target which is literally, right next door.  Consider this:

Amazon: $37.47 (with overnight shipping)
Best Buy: $29.99
Target: $39.99

To be fair, Amazon is selling the DVD set at $25.49 for the box and next business day shipping is $11.98 which brings us up to $37.47.  You might be calling "foul" since I put overnight shipping on the Amazon order.  I don't think so.  I want instant gratification, which means I'm going to drive to either Best Buy or Target to get the DVDs.  The Amazon order with overnight shipping is the closest thing to that experience.

So, what did we learn here?  Not that Target is out of touch of what their competition, the Best Buy right next door in this case, but, rather, it pays to be an educated customer.  I would have walked into that Target and purchased The Good Wife season 1 for $39.99 blissfully unaware that it will be $10.00 cheaper if I buy it next door.

I think to save myself some time searching the Best Buy for the DVD box, I'll order the set online and then go pick it up.

Windows 7 And IPv4 Ping

"Ping" is the IT go-to tool for testing basic network connectivity.  In Windows XP and earlier, the default TCP/IP protocol is IP version 4, or IPv4.  In Windows Vista and Windows 7, the default TCP/IP protocol is IP version 6, or IPv4.

If you ping a Windows 7 workstation from another Windows 7 workstation, the default behavior is to respond with the IPv6 address.  That's great, unless you're still working in an IPv4 shop.  To force Windows 7 boxes to respond with the IPv4 address, use the following ping switch from the Windows 7 command prompt:

c:\> ping -4 [localhost]

Where [localhost] is the machine name of the PC you want to ping.  When you type the command in, don't type the left or right brackets.

You should get a result similar to my example below:

(Click the above screen shot to see a larger version of it.)

The first ping command above is the IPv6 response when I ping my local Windows 7 workstation.  The second ping command, the one with the "-4" switch, returns the IPv4 address for the same Windows 7 workstation.

For more help with the Windows 7 ping command, type the following in a command prompt window:

c:\> ping /?

Blogger Templates Upgraded

At some point, I'll have to do a rant on whether or not Facebook has effectively killed the personal blog (like this one) or not.

In the meantime, I'm just having fun playing with the new templates and trying to find something that will work on my smartphone blog, Smartphone Fanatics.

Happy Memorial Day

During all of today's parades, picnics, and all sorts of summer kick-off merriment, don't forget to take a minute and remember all of the brave men and women of our armed forces who have given then their lives in the service of our Great Nation so that we can all live free.

Thank you!

That Kicked Ass!

I just had a chance to see Kick-Ass the movie and it was awesome! If you are a comic book fan you need to see this movie.

WARNING: This is not a movie you take your kids to see! I was kind of appalled to see a kid of no more than 12 or 13 in the 10:25pm showing of the movie!

Was it violent? You betcha. Was it full of gun play and graphic violence? Check. Was it a comedy and summer super hero action film rolled all into one? Hell yes!

"24"

To the writers of FOX's "24":

THAT TOTALLY SUCKED!