Well, since my parents just sold their house in Jensen beach it was exciting for me to see them buy their next house in Miami. Now I was hoping for a more glorious house, because they deserve it for working so hard these last 29 years, but regardless my parents bought their new house cash which alone is very inspiring. It was definitely a huge fixer upper, but a great investment in a great area. It’s been fun to hear their stories about seeing the house transform into a great livable space. The house they bought was a foreclosure short sale dump that everything was ripped out of the house and stopped being taken care of. I couldn’t believe how easy the transformation was and how great my parents handled it all. I unfortunately don’t have any photos but hope to take some real soon. I also hope they get to start really enjoying the retired life they deserve. In addition to eating right and staying as healthy as possible. I hope one day they get to see some grand kids, even if it is seeing Taylor some more.
Lately, I’ve been trying to purge my life of things I don’t need or use. It’s been really good to sell or give away things we don’t really truly use. It’s clutter, and we have enough storage problems with a wife that packs things worse than a rat (BTW, please help with Mandy’s Fundraising for her Marathon). Anyways, we have gotten rid of the following things: A treadmill, patio furniture, a sofa bed, an external hard drive, an airport express, a large dog cage, comic cards, 35mm film camera, a portable dvd player and DVD’s. I’m still working on a selling my comic book collection. It feels good to get rid of things that are just laying around not being used to their full potential or often. I’m a huge fan of the site Unclutter.com and enjoy reorganizing areas, and storage because our house is small enough as it is. We’re also trying to make our design style minimalistic, which in general just looks better.
I’ve also realized the importance of “less is more” (I also finally get the linux joke in that too). The less you have the easier it is (period). A smaller car is easier to wash, same goes for a smaller dog, less house less storage, no trees no lawn maintenance, etc. I appreciate the size of our house, it keeps our mess under control.
We’ve also been trying to realize that we don’t need ‘things’. Things are just things, you can get more or less of them. It’s funny growing up, all these things you were advised on make sense.
Apple TV has been a great investment for me/us. I was never using it to it’s full potential till Take 2 came out, but it has eliminated the ‘need’ for a DVR, Tivo, Sling-box, or Home Theatre PC. Let me break it down.
Music first; I love making playlists for parties, or for music I want to jam out to. I enjoy being able to play music videos easily as well. Sound quality is more than adequate for our needs. Mandy also jams out to her Jimmy Buffett from a playlist I’ve created.
Pictures; Another great feature because I can load it up with pictures and show it off on a beautiful big screen so everyone in the room can enjoy. I can set an album as a screen saver during a party (ie, this is what I did for our last party with pictures from Sydney) which people can enjoy. Pictures also make great conversation pieces!
Movies; This is my second favorite feature. I download a number of movies and put them on the apple TV for Mandy and I to enjoy! I also rip DVD’s of Mandy’s favorite movies which watches repeatably (ie. The Italian Job, Any of the Pirates, The Holiday, The Incredibles, National Treasure 1 & 2, etc.). This is very convenient because she doesn’t have to pop in a DVD and we don’t have to buy a 5 disc DVD player, we’re only limited to the amount of storage it can hold! Also being able rent HD movies from Apple is also a huge convenience for a wife that loves renting movies from Blockbuster and On-Demand.
TV Shows; This is my first favorite feature! Again I download TV shows (don’t ask how), and put them on the apple TV for Mandy and I to catch up on. This is great because I don’t have to worry about fast forwarding through commercials! That convenience alone has made this device priceless! We are usually one day behind on TV Shows, but if we can’t wait, we’ll just watch it live. This has eliminated the need for a DVR type device (although I do have a software solution on my macbook pro for how I get tv shows).
The interface is very easy and beautiful, and not having a techy wife this makes her life a lot easier and more enjoyable to watch, and listen to things on the Apple TV. We currently have the 40gb version, but I plan to hack it with a bigger drive.
So while on this aggressive travel schedule, I’ll download a whole bunch of movies, music and tv shows and then when I’m home get them on the Apple TV for Mandy to enjoy while I’m away. It’s a win win for the whole family! So if you’re on the fence between a netflix streaming box, HTPC, or other home media device, research what your needs are, because Apple TV is a sure winner for us.