Vileplanet

I’ve been pretty introspective lately.

I’ve started to consider the things that truly make me happy and what doesn’t.  What I need to improve and what I need to change.  I started on a journey of physical self-improvement about six months ago, and I’ve achieved good results.  Now what?

Well, as it turns out, there is a lot more to work on, and today I begin that journey.  I will be unemployed in about six months if the estimates I have received turn out to be true.  At that time, I will be faced with some serious questions.  Do I move? Do I sell or rent my house out if I do?  Can I even find work where I live?

Instead of waiting six months, I believe I must meet these challenges head on and start planning now.  My current plan is to look into going back to college and hopefully securing enough in loans and grants, in addition to working a part time job,  to continue living where I do.  If I can work that out, I will likely attend classes at The University of Louisville and get a formal education in Computer Science.  Failing this, I will go back to the drawing board, but I will do something.

One thing I have learned is that I have to keep moving or I will never get anywhere.  I firmly believe life rewards those who don’t give up, even if it takes it’s damn time.  We have to create our own happiness.  We have to keep positive and keep pushing forward.  To do otherwise is to lay down and die.

(Click image for full size)

In a previous post, I detailed how to use TVNzb and Newzbin to automate downloading TV shows from Usenet.  Shortly after, I decided to write my own program to make use of a less expensive and more available service called NZBMatrix in conjuction with TVrage to accomplish the same task.

The advantages of using NZBMatrix are that it requires only a one time fee of about $5 to use and it does not require an invitation like Newzbin does.

With a little time and effort, I have finished the first release of my new program.

http://code.google.com/p/ragematrix/

RageMatrix

Features:

• Retrieves new episode information from http://tvrage.com
• Searches http://nzbmatrix.com and downloads NZB files to a predefined directory
• One-click updating of TV shows after initial setup.
• Keeps a list of failed shows to retry on next scan

Prerequisites:

• An account with a Usenet Service Provider, such as Astraweb.
• An account with NZBMatrix.
• A Usenet client. I recommend SABNZBD (Quickstart Guide)
  

Upon starting the program, the following window will appear:

Show Config Directory is where RageMatrix will store information regarding the shows you add.

NZB Directory is where RageMatrix will save NZB files it downloads.  You should set this to a directory that is monitored by your Usenet reader for automatic downloading.

Userid is your NZBMatrix account username.

NZBMatrix API is needed to download NZB files from NZBMatrix. More info here.

When you have finished entering in the required information, click save.  The following window will appear:

This is the main program window.

The buttons are:

Add new Show

Edit Selcted Show

Delete Selected Show

Scan for New Episodes

Configure RageMatrix

Click to add your first show:

Show Name is exactly what it says.

Tvrage Name can be found by searching http://tvrage.com for your show. The show name will be displayed in the show’s URL when you go to its page. This is usually just the show name with spaces replaced with Underscores. ie: http://www.tvrage.com/Sons_of_Anarchy would be Sons_of_Anarchy. You can verify you have the right showname by entering http://tvrage.com/quickinfo.php?show=showname (ie: http://tvrage.com/quickinfo.php?show=Sons_of_anarchy ) and seeing if it returns the right information.

Starting Season is the season number you wish to begin with.

Starting Episode should be set to 1 before the first episode you wish to download, 0 for episode 1.

Category can currently be set to either HD or Xvid.

When you are done click Save and your show should be added to the Shows column of the main window.

You should now click to scan for and download NZB files for new episodes. During the process, the progress of the scan will be displayed in the Log column.

If you have everything set correctly in your Usenet client, it should pick up the NZB files automatically and begin to download your shows.

Anyone I can get to listen to me knows I have been losing weight for some time now.

And I have written about it here before.

This weekend, however, will mark a special goalpost for me.  As of this Friday, when I weigh in, I should have surpassed the 50lb weight loss mark.

It has been a long journey, but I have already gone further than I ever thought I would.

For reference, here are a couple pictures:

Me in August

Here is a photo of me taken in August at a gathering of friends.  That shirt was size XXL.

When I saw that photo, I felt crushed.  I couldn’t believe how big I had actually become, and it set my giant ass in motion.  Not long after, I started walking every day and reducing the portion of food I ate.

After a long time, I have made what I think is a vast improvement.

Here is me as of today:

12-16-2009

That shirt is size L and the pants are down from size 40 to 34.

I am now faster stronger and lighter than I have ever been.  I can go a lot longer at any physical activity without getting winded. I just recently had an experience that was new to me when a friend pointed out that some random girl in public had been, “checking me out”.

I have made a drastic change in my life and it is wonderful.

And there is still work to be done.