chezmax

I've got a couple different Dear Lazywebs here:

1) Let's say there was a show at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY some Friday in February that I might be interesting in seeing. Let's further assume (due to lack of information) that it starts at 8 pm. For those that often do the Buffalo trip, would it be possible to leave Waterloo at 5 pm and arrive there in time? Google Maps speculates about 2 hours, but with the bridge and rush hour traffic in K/W and near-rush traffic in Hamilton and an international bridge, I'm a little dubious.

So, it this possible, or doomed to fail? What route would you take to get there? Which bridge? etc. etc.

2) I've got a nice 1080p TV. I've got an old PC running Windows XP with a DVI->HDMI adaptor. Does anyone recommend any decent software to make this into a usable media computer? It has a TV Card, but I don't have cable, so I'm not really concerned about timeshifting or TV or the like. Mostly, I'd like something with a user interface that's decently usable on a TV, with perhaps, a wireless mouse. I'd like to continue to run XP on it for other purposes, so, a windows based solution would be nice. I'd prefer to use freeware. Any suggestions?

3) There was a third one; but I've forgotten it. Oops. Does anyone know what I was thinking about? Would you like to give me some unsolicited advice? Tell me something!