Dusty Chalk

There are, but I'm not sufficiently familiar with the market to make a recommendation. The last time I looked, several manufacturers had pre/pros in and out. Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, Marantz, all had one, but I don't know about anything <US$500. The two big contenders for me were Emotiva UMC-1 and the Outlaw. The main problem with the NAD is that you'll want to add a sub eventually, but there are products specifically for that sort of thing (ICBM-1, etc.).

If you're going to use actives, then a pre/pro is the best way. You can always use your receiver as a pre/pro if it has pre outs, but that's just a waste of amperage. Oh, and a BDP-80 was effectively designed as a transport, but it's not that much less.

And duplicators! Er...I mean, replicators!

Holy shit, Todd, nice car! I really like the color.

My ex has me beat -- she was on vacation, and she read all four books in three days. I've started reading The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong. It's her tween-targeted series. So far, so good, but kind of predictable (I'm sure she'll fix that eventually). It answers the question, How do you make a short, stuttering, late-blooming teen charismatic? By getting insider her mind and showing how she thinks.

Congrats, Perfessor! So do we call you Prof. Morphsci from now on?

Excellent.

That's a pretty simple little 'cocktail'.

LOL at picture on the second shelf.

Preferred Automotive guy made good -- he's comping me the whole thing, so my appreciation for them definitely goes back up. I'll be back.

Big ups to Ollie -- hope he's alright. May 14th, which is a Saturday. I arrive Thursday evening @ 9:47pm, and leave on Tuesday @ 2:30. Yes, hooking up would be cool, I was going to say something. Hopefully I will be healthy and less of an ass than last time.

Nice. I am fond of Jolida, but would be hesitant to get the DAC based on that fondness. I say, take one for the team, and DEW ET.

Archer, "Phase Two" -- OMG, best episode yet. They had me at "Zima".

Finally finished this. Kind of silly. Though Chow Yun-Fat in a wheelchair -- wow. The chemistry between the two guys is pretty great, too.

Ah. Didn't think about that. Just like burn-in isn't always beneficial. Again, this place rocks. (takes a swig straight from the bottle)

Gascon Reserva malbec -- one glass thru the Nuance, one not -- if there's a difference, it's very subtle Oh and yes it's good. I like the purple and silver label, very regal. Sent from mah Droid

Got tickets to California. Hooray! I'm going to the concert!

2004 Ojai Roll Ranch syrah -- I don't think we decanted it long enough, it was still "hot", but I'm beginning to be able to taste something underneath all that alcohol burn, so maybe I can get used to it. I seem to think it was even better than the 2007 Ojai Santa Barbara syrah. Maybe I'll skip the Soiree and go straight to the individual decanters. Or maybe just hold onto the syrahses. shirazes. syrahs. Or maybe just stick with malbecses. Stuff I can drink straight from the bottle. Well not straight from the bottle, but ...you know what I mean. Why are we even arguing about this?

HDD technology is so...2000's. I was actually wishing I could trick out my older iPod with one of those solid state drives, but I was told that a lot of the iPod's actually check the drive and make sure it's something they have drivers for.

Yeah, me too. That's why I bought it the next day (and paid $5 more).

It was worth trying. I have a feeling it's that whole "letting it breathe" and "patience" thing again, because my biggest complaint with it is that it was that alcohol burn -- which, although I enjoy, is masking the flavors of the wine. Bought the Nuance -- didn't seem to make much of a difference. Still felt the burn/"hot". Going to try the Soirée, and possibly the individual decanters, but I really don't know how I'm going to get that to work. I don't really feel comfortable pouring myself a glass before work so that I can drink it after work. I might be able to get away with 2.5 hours on particular nights, but not with any regularity. Will probably stick with non-hot wines during the week, and only drink the ones that need decanting on the weekend. Or something.

Awesome. Particularly awesome.

The biggest advantage will be when they put it on an iPod, and syncing takes as long as thinking about it.

Actually, I think the person I emailed was one of the owners/managers, the name sounded vaguely familiar. The fact that they're willing to wait until Tuesday to deal with it is not a good sign in my eyes. No, "we'll take care of you" is being offered. And I do appreciate the insight -- forewarned is forearmed and all that. They're probably used to that sort of response in Potomac, but I can still write up a review on Tirerack (I think), Yahoo, Google, Yelp, etc. So it's not like I'm completely without leverage.