Matter, Energy, and Life of Michaela A. Castello.

Category: Energy

Hobbies and creative pursuits that re-energize me.

  • Graduate Productivity

    For me, digital task management began with Microsoft Outlook somewhere in my “tween” years. By the time middle school came around, I was syncing it with a Windows Mobile PDA, awkwardly carrying it around wherever I could. Today, I find myself using Producteev to try and wrangle the myriad of to-do items that come with being a married…

  • Another HTPC Build

    I spent the first couple of evenings this week putting together a new home theater PC for J, our friend, classmate, and neighbor. I wanted to give her enough power to smoothly play 1080p content on her TV, while leaving some headroom for upgrades down the line (and space for extra internal HDDs). All the…

  • Victoria Cousland

    I have been meaning to post this character for months now (literally, I started this draft back in October), but I kept thinking I would finish her story. I beat the game the first time with Selene, and for Victoria I spent a lot of time learning about how to mod Dragon Age: Origins to…

  • Custom Chucks (or, Best Wife Ever)

    Rachel’s Christmas present to me was a pair of customized Converse All Stars. I’m clearly not an impartial observer when it comes to handing out the Best Wife Ever award, but you’ve got to admit these are some sweet shoes. I especially like the “party on the inside” lining and the perfectly matched navy laces…

  • Home Theater PC: XBMC on Zoe

    Home Theater PC: XBMC on Zoe

    My new computer setup has an older machine, Zoe, serving media to my TV. Before this, I used TVersity to stream content from my desktop to my XBox, a solution that worked decently well for standard definition content. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 doesn’t like a lot of the popular containers for HD video, like .mkv,…

  • Storage Management

    Building a new computer has given me another opportunity to reevaluate how I arrange files on my various hard drives. Significant changes to my system this time around include my decision to give up RAID and my inclusion of a 60 GB solid state drive. The challenge is to decide how to manage my various…

  • Wolf Pumpkin Carving

    I love carving pumpkins. I’m not necessarily that talented at the practice, but I put in a good effort and I can generally follow a pattern. It’s turned into one of those things my brother Mark and I do together every year, only now I’ve spoiled everything by moving to California. This year we had…

  • Hallowe’en Doggerel

    We’re kind of old But still polite! We visit you This rainy night. Although you laugh At this funny scene, We wish you happy Hallowe’en! Our rhyme is done So please be sweet: You’re never too old To trick-or-treat! Performed door-to-door last year (2009) by Mark and I (alternating lines until the final one, said…