Greetings Masters of the Green Button:

I wanted to introduce myself and this new blog for you. Media Center and Me is a blog that documents my life living with Media Center in a family of four in the American middle west.

I like to think of it as one part enthusiast, one part realist. One (very small part) expert, one part student. It is not intended to be solely a news blog, though it will comment on news. Nor is it purely a how-to blog, though tutorials will certainly crop up.

My experience with Windows Media Center over the past five years puts me somewhere in between the high-end experts who graciously share their knowledge on this forum and the newbies who search their way here looking for help getting started.

And there's one other thing you should know: I'm kind of working for Microsoft at the moment.

That wasn't always the case. My life with Media Center began in 2004 when I was one of the first employees at Exceptional Innovation, producers of Life|ware home automation software that is integrated with Media Center. At first I was, and late I built and managed the Communications Team - technical writing, marketing copy, training materials, Life|ware U - you name it, and I've written about it. For better or worse, I'm responsible for the actor script's at the CES homes*, and helped out on the Innoventions Dream Home at Disneyland. I've met many of you at these shows - CES, CEDIA, EHX, etc.

I learned more in those four years than at any other position I've held. Some  three months ago, I left EI to start my own firm, Blue Monkey Communications.

Microsoft is one of my clients, and one of my tasks is investigating how they can better serve the community of Media Center users, and learn more from what is, by all accounts, a passionate, committed and dedicated group of enthusiast unlike any other.

What does this mean, exactly? I like to think of myself, for the moment, as dedicated eyes and ears on the site, keeping watch for issues that many of you are experiencing, or subjects that draw the most passion. I'm on the lookout for questions that stymie the community, and hope to link those questions to a Microsoft expert for answers.

The line I walk, of course, is that I am both working for Microsoft and an average end user. I'm not with the team in Redmond, but far afield in Ohio. I'm having the same issues you are having, and experiencing the same successes as well, and that's what this blog is about.

We are a fortunate community to have writers like Chris Lanier, Ian Dixon, Mike Brown (no relation), Pete Near, and many of the dedicated posters (there's no way I can possibly name you all) writing about Media Center, and count myself fortunate to be in their company.

That's me in a few too many words, Green Buttons. More to come on me, Media Center and whether a polar bear could beat the robot from Lost in Space in a fight.

Good times, Green Buttons -

- Pete

* In the living room script of the 2006 CES Next Gen home, there was a really clunky joke about killer robots and remote controls. I swear to you I did not write that one!