Family has been sick so I've been taking a break from blogging to take care of them.  Here are a few notes I've been meaning to make:

- MSN launches new cleaner homepage and new search with a letter from Bill.  No doodles so far as I can tell.

- Peter Gabriel Music Videos in 5.1 surround sound now available. Now you can get sledgehammered six-ways from Sunday.

- WM Player 10 Album Art Fixer: Thomas reviews and says it's pretty darn good. Waiting to do it myself.

- Skype: Chris points out I've joined the Skype bandwagon. I've learned the array mic in my tablet PC makes the ultimate wireless speakerphone so that "Granddad" can talk to my son.  Son is still weirded out by the voice coming out of the tablet. But all is not perfect- I spent 20 minutes fixing my Dad's computer because the recording device was set to "Modem" and Skype would just throw a recording error.

- Visual Thesarus is very cool and somewhat useful for marketing folks.

- Passed 100,000 Unique Users on the blog. Welcome.

- Thinking about starting an, "Ask the Microsoftie Monday" segment.  Send your questions in email and I'll start compiling answers. Keep in mind I'm not going to talk about Longhorn... yet ;)

- Now I've almost seen it all - the iDog. Still waiting for the iSheep or have they already arrived? ;)

- Matt says we need better DIY guides for building MCEs.  MCE was never designed for individuals to build and that's clearly outlined on the kits intended for pro system builders that are being sold on NewEgg and other sites. But, why not use the MCE Wiki to create a new area on building your own MCE? Unofficially of course.

- I was contacted by a rep for another celebrity who wants to buy a Media Center PC and wants advice on which one to get.  He wasn't even trying to get a free one. Is Hollywood taking notice? ;)

- I received a notice and guide book in the mail making it official- Comcast is upgrading customers with HDTV set-top boxes to Microsoft TV Foundation Edition very shortly in the Seattle area. Two points for Comcast but I'm taking one back because they've forgotten I returned my stand-alone box over a month ago. ;)