If you are looking for Dave’s photography website, it’s over here!
Okay people, this is far from our usual posts on this site but it’s a good way to get back into posting! While we were in Houston for Easter break, Rich (and Trish) bought a 7.1 Onkyo surround system for his home theater upstairs. Now, I have been on the hunt for a cheap subwoofer for a while now. It became clear to me through helping Rich set up his rig and watching a bluray action movie that I needed wanted the bass sooner rather than later.
So I read a couple of posts about using computer speakers on a A/V receiver. I have had the Logitech Z-2300 2.1 system connected to my computer since 2004. Love it, always have. It has an 8″ cone woofer in a huge and heavy cabinet that has resided under several of my desks over the last six years. There is a wired remote that sits on the desktop that connects to both the sound output on the computer and down to a proprietary pinned DB15 jack on the back of the sub. The left and right channels use typical RCA jacks and connect to the sub as well.
Knowing that my Insignia A/V receiver has an RCA pre-amp sub out, and that I have an RCA to 1/8″ stereo splitter, and the strong will to make this work, I set out to hook my computer speaker system’s subwoofer to my home theater system. Finally I would have 6.1 surround sound gloriousness.
So I pull everything together and get the cables I need (not without having to dig through stacks of boxes to find my cables packed away), and find out that the splitter I have has the wrong gender RCA ports. So I grab an old standard male-male RCA cable, strip off one of the lines, connect it to the pre-amp sub port, get the splitter setup inline, turn on the sub channel on the amp, turn up the Z-2300 sub, put in Transformers DVD (no bluray yet), and BOOOOOOOM.
The hodgepodge compilation of speakers that has always been my style of home theater audio and video is complete, at least for now. I am worried about overheating on the sub since I have to turn up the volume to compensate for the lack of crossover or separate LFE audio controls. But I am also thinking about it this way, I have had these speakers for six years and they have done their job consistently and reliably every single day–if they blow, I have certainly gotten my money out of them. The moral of the story is this: hacking is not a nefarious or anti-culture activity. Hacking is taking something and finding a new and creative use for it, developing ways in which it might work even better and even longer than the manufacturers and designers ever imagined for it. I have a hacked home theater system with 20Hz response in the low end. And that makes me happy!
Hello hello!
We were assigned to the North Carolina Synod for first call! We are excited to be assigned to such a wonderful, highly-regarded synod. And the bishop is fantastic, too. Though I (Lauren) am not going to deny that it’s been sad to realize that we’re not going back to TX anytime soon (Texas is a significant piece of who I am. “You can take the girl outta Texas, but you can’t take Texas outta the girl.” On a funnier note, as Dave says, the hardest part of this process may indeed be stripping that Texas license plate off of my Honda. 
Boo hoo!) . .or that we’re both realizing that we’re not venturing outside of NC or even Region 9. . .it’s still going to be a blessed experience. That much we know, because God’s just cool like that. 
We also were open to going ANYWHERE in the U.S., and I think we both were somewhat hoping to see a random Region Number when we opened that envelope. But my dear friend Amy is wise in saying that, no matter WHERE we were assigned, I would’ve experienced some sort of grief along with the excitement. ‘Tis true, ’tis true.
We hope to keep this space updated when we receive our first calls and plan ordinations, etc.! We are thankful to God for providing wonderful networks, support, and collegiality that we feel out here in the Southeast. We can’t wait to start working with our new family in the NC Synod!
While we aren’t quite there yet, thought I would let the cat of the bag and proudly announce the upcoming 6000th hit on our website. So while Lauren and I continue to promise to update more often (hopefully we will have more time to post when we get back to school). For now, know that we are anxiously awaiting our move back to Columbia. Anxious because of packing, excited to get back to school, and happy/sad about the whole thing all at the same time.
Hey everybody. I know once again I have to apologize for the length of time it has been since we’ve updated the site. And since my dad said we better use the site if he renewed the domain name, here is my official “we’ve been paid up for another year!” post.
Things have been moving along quite nicely here in Western PA. The weather is, for the most part, cooperating with our desires. Lauren is certainly a more happy camper in the warmer months than the was around February. Just like the breezy afternoons, it has been a pleasant shift of seasons.
I am still trudging away in the Computers Department at Best Buy 1164 in the closest thing we have to a big mall complex around here. As our time here draws to a seemingly more rapid close, I am beginning to wonder if I really do want to transfer my job down to Columbia and continue working while we finish our last year of seminary. The pro and con list has been made but I still find myself wavering based on the experience I have in the store any given shift. Some days it’s a go, others not so much. Fortunately I don’t have to decide right away, so I will continue figuring out the best plan.
Lauren is gearing up for Vacation Bible School this week. I have been burning about 100 CDs of the Discovery Canyon music over the last couple of days. Let’s just say I will be happy when they are done and filed away in their little white paper sleeves. Enjoy them kids – they cost me several computer formats and several hours of being covered in that slow, seeping sweat that accompanies sitting for hours in a just hot and just humid enough up stairs. “Discovery Canyon, it’s here…it’s there!”
Enough ranting. Because ultimately I do it in joy, knowing that Lauren’s parishioners…and our new friends…will enjoy them. Peace be with all who read this and keep checking for more updates! -dw