We caught a bit of flak for going through so many zip ties. Of course, part of the problem was that we lost a bag for a few days, which caused Drew to have to make an emergency zip tie run that turned out to be unnecessary....

Rockbox; it turned my new Sansa e260 mp3 player from a pretty good value unit, into a goddamn-fricken-fracken-fantastic value unit. The only reason I've avoided buying anything like that is not the money but the lack of support for FLAC and other decent lossless formats but it turns out the only impediment was software and Rockbox fixes that. I can now play FLAC, APE, SHN, or a host of other lossless formats. I can now also play some simple games on the thing. :)

Works on certain types of iPods, as well as a host of other brand portable music players.

Using duct tape to stick telephone lines out of the way shouldn't cause any problems, right?

Well, to your paint, maybe. It shouldn't cause a problem with your line. Tack-in cable stays would be better, and pretty cheap.

I've attached it to the bottom of my desk (an all-steel desk.)

Do we know anything about Windows XP Service Pack 3? I'm suspicious of just letting it loose on my computer.

I've heard people have problems with it sometimes. But I don't know very much.

I need some webhosting assistance. Webhosting for dummies as it were. So please be nice to me if I ask really stupid questions.

I have dreamhost hosting right now, which is just dandy, but all my email is handled through google through google apps.

I don't really use my dreamhost or my website very much. I'd like some file storage, but that's about all I need (1 GB or less at this point). In fact, I only want to be able to use email through google apps and register my domain. That's about all I need to do.

question 1: do I still need to pay for webhosting? I had to have a file reside on the acct to forward email to google apps, but since that's already done, do I still to maintain a website?

question 2: any recommendations for cheap webhosting? dreamhost is a bit too expensive for what I need.

Awwwww, crap. Last night my macbook gave me a spinny beachball and refused to forcequit anything. I turned it off and hoped things would be better in the morning. They often are.

This morning, I plugged it in, turned it back on....and got a flashing question mark over a file folder as it refused to start up.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Please wish me much computer-ma at my Genius Bar appointment in an hour. I really can't afford to lose everything on my hard drive. Or even have to recreate it. Or get a new computer. Or any of that jazz. ACK! I know I should back up more often, but...waaaaah!

I'd like some file storage, but that's about all I need (1 GB or less at this point).

Not sure what you mean by "file storage." Would dropbox work for you?

question 2: any recommendations for cheap webhosting?

I love my current provider, HostAffection, who are remarkably cheap. I think EvilJimi uses them too: [link]