We picked up a Zagat guide and took our rental car and GPS and made our way to some of the best restaurants that I’ve ever visited. We were gone for a week and every single meal we ate (except maybe 1) was at a non-chain restaurant, and that one meal was at In-N-Out, so it’s justifiable. Among my favorites was a softshell crab sandwhich at Point Loma Seafoods, a HUGE double bacon cheeseburger and the best onion rings I’ve EVER had at Hodad’s on Pacific Beach and the amazing Peanut Butter and Banana French Toast at Cafe 222, featured on Food Network just this week!

Thanks to the sleepover in line, I got great seats

Of course the primary reason we were there was the 40th Comic-Con, where LOST was holding it’s last-ever panel. LOST fans from around the world made their pilgramage to San Diego in hopes that LOST creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse would give us at least a minor hint about what we can expect in the next, final season. To hear a complete recap of my LOST experience at Comic-Con, including the overnight camp-out in line for the panel, check out episode 99 of the LOST Mystery Podcast with Anton & Evan. I also got to see an amazing panel with Peter Jackson and James Cameron talking about the future of filmmaking. Amazing stuff!

We’re back in town now and getting back into the routine. I’m back to work today and enjoying the feeling of being plugged back into the online-world. For some photos from our trip check out Flickr.

A quick audio update! (right-click and choose Save Target As to download)

• Removing a large amount of wood paneling from the walls and replacing with drywall while also re-insulating the walls to make them more energy efficient.
• Removing the acoustical tiles from the ceiling and re-insulting it as well and refinishing it with drywall.
• Installation of recessed lighting in the ceiling
• Removal of poorly executed built-in cabinets
• Removal of faux brick surface on the fireplace and replacing with slate tile
• Adding a few additional outlets
• Installing a new 5′x3′ window to allow more natural light into the room
• 3 new exterior doors, 2 with new screen doors
• New baseboard heaters
• All new trim

It’s a big project but well worth it and I can’t wait to see the end result. The entire project is supposed to take around 3-4 weeks and hopefully it’ll get finished within that time. In the meantime I’m setup in the dining room and working from there, which is a nice change of pace and much brighter.

Just recently I acquired a few pieces of video-related gear including Final Cut Studio 2.0, a 2 piece soft box lighting kit, backdrop support as well as black, white and green muslin backdrops and a high quality lapel mic. It’s basically a movie studio on a budget and though I’m still in the process of learning the ins and outs of the process I’ve finished my first green screen test and I’m happy with the results (don’t adjust your speakers, there is no audio).

It’s not perfect, there are a few little artifacts and lighting/reflection issues, but what’s cool is that I only spent about 10 minutes setting up this shot. I didn’t iron the green screen and it wasn’t lit perfectly, but still you can begin to see the potential of this simple setup. Below is a photo of the setup I’m using. In case you’re interested, here are links to the eBay auctions where I purchased the gear.

• Softbox Lighting Kit
• Black/White Muslin Backdrops
• Backdrop support w/green screen

I called up AppleCare and after they walked me through many of the steps I had just tried again for good measure they made me an appointment at my local Apple Store so they could have a look and, if need be, send it in for repairs. I show up at the store a couple of days later, give them my laptop so they can have a look and eventually the guy tells me that he’s going to order a new hard drive and logic board for me and send it in for repairs and that I should have it back within a week. Much to my surprise I find out that I wont have to drive an hour back to Indianapolis to pick it up either because they now ship repaired products directly back to the customer!

Six days later the FedEx guy shows up and I have a very carefully packaged 17″ MacBook Pro that has been cleaned very thoroughly and more importantly works like a brand new computer. The best part about all of this is the fact that were it not for AppleCare these repairs would have costed me nearly $1300 for parts alone!!! With AppleCare it was completely covered.

Extending the network reach

We’ve got a large wireless network setup at the house currently but the signal wasn’t quite strong enough to reach to the back end of the garage, so I took one of the Airport Expresses I had lying around and plugged it in out by the receiver and a 2nd Airport Express towards the front of the garage to bridge the gap between my router and the one hooked up near the receiver. I set the “bridge” AE to extend my existing wireless network and the receiver’s AE to join my existing network and enabled AirTunes. I had a nice strong signal so I used an 1/8″ stereo to stereo RCA cable it hooked it from the receiver’s AE to the AUX input on the back of the receiver and was able to setup iTunes to play my music from my MacPro through my receiver in the garage, which was cool enough but I wanted a way to be able to change songs from the garage without going inside to interact with iTunes, and then it hit me.

The iTunes Remote Control

If you’re fortunate enough to have an iPhone you have access to one of the most amazing apps created for the device. It’s called Remote and it’s probably the best example of a sleeper app I’ve ever seen. I had downloaded it (it’s free) from the App Store but never really had a use for it until now. With Remote you’re able to connect to your iTunes library (as well as your Apple TV) and control the playback of songs. What’s amazing is that is also gives you a wonderful artwork view, ability to control AirTunes speakers, search your iTunes library, edit playlists and more. So instantly I had this amazingly powerful remote that allowed me to access and playback music sitting inside on my computer and hear it outside in the garage through my receiver and the sound quality was excellent.

The other bonus is that I now have wi-fi access out in the garage should the need ever come up

We’re going back to the very beginning of season 1 of LOST and making our way through to the very end of the series. While I myself have been addicted to LOST since the beginning, Anton has just started watching the show and is getting more hooked by the day. So far it’s his unspoiled views that have made the podcast so entertaining to recent and long-time LOST viewers alike.

So, check out our website, subscribe to the show and let us know what you think!