On The Job Front

I have some uplifting news about a possible job I've been courting. Last week, a recruiter from Volt sent me an email about a position that I had initially passed on simply because of the fact they were looking for Seattle applicants only. He had said that he ran across my resume and asked if I would interested. I emailed him back saying I would be. He then called me yesterday to answer some preliminary questions. Again, he called today to get some more answers to some other questions he was asked to ask. heh I answered them and he said he would put me in the pool of apps for the job with his check of approval. Well, it sounded like that anyway.

I'm pretty stoked about it. haha "stoked" The job is very entry level judging from the questions I was asked. The pay is good for the Seattle area. I'm looking forward to drive over there should I get called for an interview. :)

Of course, I'll let you know what happens. :)

Crazy music set to crazy flash!

Dawn pointed this out to me the other day and I meant to post a link to it. It's called "Maiyahi" by ikari. Well, the flash part of it is. The music part of it is done by a Romanian boy band called O-Zone. The name of the song is "Dragostea Din Tei". This is a crazy dance song that I can not stop listening to. I must listen to it all day long! Please, someone help..please. Ahhh shucks, I best just give in my weaknesses. :P

The Day After Yesterday

Ahhh, so today is the most second busiest shopping day of the year...I think. People returning presents, people spending xmas cash and gift certificates, and people looking for the good buys on wrapping paper. Oh yes, the wrapping paper for next year can be found cheap this day.

Anyway, I took down the links to those fabulous gifts for Gift and Shower Day. Dawn did get Ultramix 2. I'm slightly disappointed with the song selection. While I like the techno/dance type of songs, I prefer more in japanese. Well, I can't complain too much cause now we can dance to "Brickhouse" by the Commodores. OWWW!

So everybody have a nice New Years. I'm sure we'll all be kicking it in 2005!

Toys of years past

Here is a top 100 list that somebody compiled of the toys from the 60's and 70's. Some of those toys are still around or have come back in a second coming. While I do recall playing with some of them, others you can probably find at the White Elephant in Spokane.

Seattle, on the brink

Well, looking at the standings in the NFL, I came to discover that the NFC West still hasn't had a playoff team birth. This spell certain doom for Seattle. See, they are first place in the NFC West. They are a game in front of St. Louis thanks to them losing as well this past weekend. To Arizona I might add. heh Anyway, Seattle is on pins and needles until the end of the season in two weeks. They need to finish better then the Rams because in a tie, the Rams would take the playoff spot. So, Seattle needs to at the very least win one and St. Louis should lose one. Ideally, Seattle will win their last two games. That will cinch up their spot. So, on pins and needles till the end of the season. Maybe, just maybe Seattle will win a game in the playoffs. lol *sigh*

The List of EA Games to not buy

Over to the sidebar, you'll find the link to my new site with the list of EA games you should be on the look out. But here's the quick link for easy reference. Please please please! Be aware of what you are purchasing. If EA can feel the effect of the pocketbook, then other companies will be mindful of what can happen to them as well. Thanks for your time.

EA Spouse, the Saga Continues

Well, you know about the EA situation. I know you do cause you read my post I did about a month ago. I'm really really sure that you read it. I know you don't want me to cry.

Anyway, EA_Spouse has started the beginnings a watchdog group to watch the quality of life at game development. Check out her posting as of yesterday. This is a good start and I applaud her effort in starting something that has the potential to change the industry as we know it today. So please, continue the boycotting of EA games. Just look for the big ol evil looking EA symbol on the box of PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, and PC based games.

EA on the warpath

As everybody knows, or should know by now, EA is a questionable company making games created by their slaves...errr I mean their employees. There has been lots of bad press as of late. The bad PR has given rise to an internal memo that acknowledge the problem and said that things were a changing. Somehow, I doubt it.

Anyway, just today, EA announced that they had gotten an exclusive license to use the NFL teams and stadiums. I don't know how many of you play football on your PC or console, but the Madden franchise has been a powerhouse over the last several years. Though, some have said that Madden has started to go the way of it's namesake. I haven't played it so I can't personally make any comments. In any event, this exclusive agreement, other upstart games such as the ESPN franchise that have been given higher ratings and has a higher likability from the users (as we all know critics are jaded) will be doomed. If anybody in the next 5 years wants to play NFL football on their console, it will be from EA.

Well, this doesn't really affect me too much as I don't really like the sports games. Sports should be watched or played, not controlled virtually. However, sports games have generally been a mass market hit. Taking the air out of the other companies will certainly affect how things are done. Does this license starting to show that Microsoft doesn't hold the only software monopoly? I am almost certain that EA is becoming another 800 pound gorilla. This is yet another reason to boycott their games.

On an aside, I said I would start a list of EA published/created games. It's not up yet, but I'll be working on it. Have faith...please. :)

And...And...AND!!!

Today, Dave and myself finished up the single player campaign for Halo 2. We did it on easy, but we beat it all the same. I might have to try it by myself on normal or harder. I'm gonna have to agree with the other naysayers and say that Halo 2 is way too short on top of the ending really, really, really, really, really, really sucking! I can't tell you how much it sucked..wait, yeah I will. I'll just make the text white so you'll have to highlight to read.

Hightlight to read SPOILER:

We had just beat the bad guy who was being all bad. They actually gave him a mohawk based on the gremlin with the mohawk in Gremlins. Anyway, we beat his ass down. We're then cut back to Master Chief just on the outside of the big ass ship on it's way to Earth to find the master control switch to turn on all the Halos. Master Chief says he's there to finish the fight. So here I am thinking this is gonna be the last level. But suddenly, the credits start rolling. And I go WTF?! You mean that was the 15th level we just finished? That's bullshit!

So, there you go. My unhappiness explained.

The spirit of Gift and Shower Day

Some of you might be wondering what the the hell is that new set of links on the right titled "Gift and Shower Day List". Well, my friends, there's a story behind it. But you don't have to sit down for it...Trust me.

Two years ago, Dawn and myself were getting ready for Christmas. Well, more like thinking of getting ready for Christmas. It was fast approaching and nothing was done. Not a big deal. If you really think about it, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. Yay. Why did we want to celebrate the birth of some being that represents things that we don't believe? For years, I had celebrated it just to get gifts. Yes, I was a little bastard child. I'm sure most of you have heard tales of me being a bastard. I'm surprised my dad still talks to me.

Anyway, the day arrived. On this particular morning, we were scheduled to go the in-laws for some festive activities...watching Dave open his presents. We both needed showers so we both jumped in at the same time to conserve time. Over the course of the shower, one of us, I'm thinking it was Dawn, thought up the phrase of "Gift And Shower Day" as a replacement title for the celebration of the 25th day of December. It made sense. We were taking a shower together and later gifts would be had. It was very forward thinking. The tradition continued to the next year. Gift and Shower Day happened again on December 25th.

So probably until some undisclosed date in the future, December 25th will be known as Gift and Shower Day within our household. We don't believe in Xmas's first reason of Christ's birth and we have told Dave that Santa Claus is nothing more than a fictional character. At first, I was disappointed Dawn had told him about Santa. Santa is a huge part of kids life. There were some cool Xmases I remember that involve presents from the jolly fat man. However, as I think about it now as an adult, if you start believing such a white lie of Santa Claus as a child, you can start believing anything else as well. Anything. It's better to grow up in world removed from lies than living under a rock of untruths. Yeah, pretty profound for sure.

Anyway, that's the story. We do Gift and Shower Day instead of Xmas. We celebrate being alive. And getting fresh and clean.

WalMart goes down!

Yeah, I wish, but this is a start. Disappointing sales on Black Friday is a sign that WalMart is beginning its path down to destruction. Keep on the boycotting of WalMart! Weeeeeee!

Waking up to Christmas

It's that time of year again. Time to go shopping. Time to drink egg nog. And certainly time to listen to christmas music. Yes, all the classics can be heard on the airwaves such as: Jingle Bells, First Noel, Christmas In Hollis. One of my fave newer ones is Trans Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)". I just love the newer sound to the classic song. While these are all nice to hear when you're fully awake, it's not something you want to listen to when you first wake up.

Right now, our clock alarm is set to 97.5 which used to be OK 95. In November, they switched to 97.9. That's all fine and dandy (please go listen to them, much better than 98.3 the Key and you can listen to them on the Internet through the above link). However, I'm to lazy to switch the radio station. Now that it's after thanksgiving, 97.5 is playing constant christmas music until christmas. Now, every morning when I use the alarm to wake up, I get an earfull of christmas music. That music makes me want to get up as fast as I can to turn it off. It works quite well actually.

Man, I think I hit a wall or something. I guess that's all I got right now. Remember, if you want to wake up in the morning, set your alarms to 97.5 and get Xmas music piped to your mind. Wakes you up like coffee.

What were we watching?

Sometimes, young boys and girls will be watching an innocent kids show. And sometimes, kids shows aren't so innocent like this show from the late 70s from the UK. Watch the clip, read the script. Giggle if you want. :)

DDR is the Devil!

My calves hurt. All for my love of DDR. Today we had a games day at WSU. I helped out. It was fun. I played DDR several times through the day. I continue to like the faster songs such as Candy. Today I tried doing it on standard. I did ok actually. I think I pulled down C's each time I did it. I'm happy I got my legs going in the directions they needed to go 70% of the time. But as I said above, my legs hurt up something fierce. I hope they will work tomorrow. heh

Anyway, that's it for now. Until next time.

Cosplay Supreme!

Eh, you know you're a anime whore when you want to dress up as characters from your favorite anime program. A lot of you know I'm a geek who loves his anime. I think I read somewhere that anime is like crack, but far more expensive. It's true. I really can't get enough. And now I want to dress up. *sigh*

I've been thinking of doing one of a few characters. Here's a list:

• Wario


• Inuyasha from Inuyasha


• Folken from Vision of Escaflowne

The theme for this next RadCon is villains. While Inuyasha would not fall into that category, I don't have any ideas for villains. Yes, there's Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and the rest of the Star Wars baddies. Star Wars is kind of late 70's to me now. As in it is showing its age. Other villains I have thought of include:

• The Ring Wraiths from LOTR


• Sauron from LOTR (I think that is right)


• Raistlin from Dragonlance books


• Megatron from Transformers

So, yeah. I can't think of anything else right now. I'm looking for a somewhat easy costume to do and in a fantasy realm. It doesn't have to be some character. I could be just some generic badass. heh I guess I should mention if you have an idea, please feel free to let me know about it in the comments.

Anyway, I'm tired now....can't sleep again...bah. So, until next time.

ah crap

So, lately my blog has been responding kind of slow. I chalked it up to technology. Actually, my blog has feelings and it errr...she was hurt. I missed our one year anniversary. Yes, I know. I'm a schmuck. I was more concerned about getting the 200th post than that special day we shared a year ago this month. I don't know what to do. I may be in the dog house for a long time. I guess time will heal this wound. I'll make it up to her on the 200th post. I promise, baby.

Something Evil, Update

It would appear that back in July, a class action lawsuit began against EA. This is good news, however the class part of it is still pending. More EA employees need to respond. Lets hope for cubicle revolt! Viva La Office!

Something Evil, this way comes

It's already here, actually. I just read this article by a spouse who's SO works at EA at some programming type job. I've always known about the longer hours that the games industry normally has compared to the 9 to 5 world of database programming, but this article really brings out an extreme case that doesn't seem to be the rare exception. It seems very much like the norm.

For those of you not in the know, EA is this huge publisher of games for a several different platforms including PC, XBox, PS2, and Gamecube. Their games range from the popular The Sims to the all the serial sports games. There's a splattering of other types of games in there too. I don't know them all right now, but I think I will start to make a list of all EA published/produced games for obvious reasons.

According to the article, the SO got a job at EA and started working normal 40 hour weeks. Then, what the management called "pre-crunch mode", he began to work a required 6 day, 8 hour/day work week. That was only the beginning. Pre-crunch turned to a heavy crunch mode of almost 90 hour weeks. It would appear in some version of the labor laws, software developers are exempt from getting overtime pay. So, the SO is only getting his normal salary for the extra 50 hours he puts in. And would you believe the xmas bonus is out of the question?

This is one of the many problems of working for a publicly traded game development company. The profits is all that matters and everybody below the executives bend over, like it, and always ask for more. This is probably the norm for other public companies as well, but I'd like to just stick with EA and their horrible unethical treatment of their assets.

In the comments of the source article, some people had called out for a boycott of EA games. Doing a search, I could not find an actual movement to hit EA where it would really hurt. Am I actually suggesting a boycott of EA? I don't know. I am torn between hurting the mechanical monster and, at the same time, hurting the innocents working within the machine. The games industry is a highly competitive section of entertainment filled with huge publishers who like nothing more to gobble up the smaller, innovated companies. The employees that EA would dump should they actually feel the effect of a boycott would have to merge into some other behemoth that would probably do the same thing to them. Or they live off some sort of unemployment. Neither doesn't sound good to me. Doing nothing is worse though.

From this, what I can do is stop buying games produced by EA until they change their practices. Though this won't ever hurt them. What I'm also going to do is start a list of EA produced products that I will maintain for the use of my readers to see which games EA has produced. It is up to you to buy them or not. If you simply must have this game and can with a clear conscience accept the fact the product you want was produced through 90 hour work weeks, go ahead and get it. Water off my back.

I really hope I don't have the chance to read more about this happening at other game publishers. I like playing games and I'd hate to be forced by their labor practices to make games for myself. Oh, I want to do that already. heh Really, think about it. This is just a step that we as consumers can control what we get instead of closing our eyes and offering our hands.

SWEET!

February is fast approaching. And you know what that means! Radcon time! That's right! Radcon, the premier geek fest for the Tri-Cities will be here in 3 short months. So, plans I'm a making.

Some of you remember my antics from last year, well earlier this year. How about me on mars? Or about my report from Radcon? Yeah, good times. Now I'm getting ready for the second wave of fun! This year I'm helping out on the Radcon website on the forum. I'm exicited about that. I've already done up some graphics for it. I rock! I'm thinking of doing a costume but that's still in an early stage. I may not do it.

Well, if you want to go to Radcon this year, drop me a note. It would be cool to have a whole posse to hang there. hah

Millions of voices crying out in pain...then suddenly silenced

What about 54 million american voters felt this week. Including myself. Damn, why does it always turn out this way? Why? Oh well...What the hell is anybody gonna do about it? Oh? What did you say? Call an impeachment for an illeagal invasion into a country that had mythical WMD? But then that would lead to the second worst guy in the america to be up. I wonder if we can get a two-for-one deal. Sounds like a plan.

I had another post about this topic, but the moment I clicked on Publish, the internet gave out and all I got was a lump of coal...not even a lump of coal. haha Oh well...I'll try to be more creative next time.

The time is near

Armageddon it! Armageddon it!! Def Leppard rocks hard! hahahha

Yes, in a few short days, we will be moved into my in-laws. If anybody would like to supply me with an ample surplus of alcohol or Tums I won't turn you down. It won't be fun but at least when we move out, it will simply be moving boxes and not boxing everything other than clothes and other personal affects.

I have an interview tomorrow with WHOOPS...errr now I won't say who because they don't like that name. lol It's promising as I have seen the prereqs and I didn't think I'd be qualified for the temp position. Simply getting an interview shows how much I know. I have a few theories on why but it doesn't really matter. Thinking about how I got the interview won't help my mental state tomorrow. I applied to a position at Fluor Daniel for an IT consultant, their version of Database deverloper. I think I have a good chance of getting to the interview level. I know at least three different people who work there, or there abouts. I'll pull strings...I telll you...I willl!!!

This is also probably gonna be the last post from me for a week or more. I'm killing the internet here on Friday and then we gots to get setup over there. Who knows how long that will take if I get a job. I hope I get something at Fluor. I do like the WSU part time that I have now. It's different and it promises to make me learn something. haha

So, if you need to contact me, you can use escaflowne75@yahoo.com or invadersil[at]gmail[dot]com. I'll miss my charter email addresses. *sniff* Hmmmph, parting is so sweet sorrow. so, good bye. for now.....

Taking the "cool" out of School

You're left with sh. Anyway, a school district up in Puyallup has said that students don't get to dress up for Halloween. Takes away from the learning they say. But don't you have to have learning first before you can take it away? I really don't want to get into imaginary numbers here. School was never fun and now, for some kids in Puyallup, it will be like living in prison. Oh? What's that you say? The schools look just like a prison, metal detectors and all? Wow...

Ok, that's the dirt...I only dish it out.

Free Time

Techinically, I don't have any free time. In reality, I'm wasting it right now. I gots to leave for wine(o) job in about an hour. I still gots packing to do and reviews to write. I'm thinking of telling temp people that I can't be working everyday. I need to move. Sure, I'll lose a little bit of money, but how would it be any different from before? Ok, well that's it. Thought I'd post something to let you all know I'm still alive.

eh

No snappy title today. I'm depressed beyond belief...but here's a comic strip that brought laughter up from the darkness.

Wine

I think I have said earlier about I hated wine. I still hate wine. But when you haven't eaten all day (cept for a sandwich and some cookies) one glass will do you in fine. I got a bottle from the winery I work at. It was free and unmarked. I have no idea what kind it is. My sister claims to like the wines from this winery (The Hogue Cellers). I claim that if you don't eat food, it will knock you off your feet. But yes, public knowledge already. Lucky I don't have to work until 4.

I Soar

And I have a blister and I smell like wine. Gah. And that's just the first day.

Today I started a temp job at a winery in Prosser. I've never been to a winery before. The first clue I was in a winery was that it smelled like wine. I hate wine. Oh well. It's not very mind fulfilling. There's lot of shoveling. And there's a possibility of going left-over grape diving. I'm not looking forward to the last one. I'll probably end up there through the end of October or when grape season is over. Which ever comes last. I could also be working every day. You know, I like money as much as the next guy, but working 7 days a week just doesn't do it for me. I'm freaking tired right now, but I must stay up an hour or two longer to prepare for the long weeks ahead. That's freaking great. We're moving and I'll be holed up in a grape bin.

A movie for your viewing pleasure

Here's yet another clever short film over at Atom Films. Taa taa for now.

From the "huh?" department

Most of us live in and around Richland. We're all pretty familiar with the building of Kadlec Medical Center for the last year or so. It's looks like it's almost done with it's new buildings and what not. But wait...I said almost done. That's right, peeps, Kadlec isn't done yet. According to this article from the Tri-City Herald, this fall they are going to start construction on a $59 million 6 story expansion which could be made into 10 stories. Anyway, this gave me pause. I scratched my head (the one on top of my body) and went "huh?".

I guess I'm not an insider. Maybe the political fallout I've seen from several sources has jaded my vision. Something is wrong with me as I really don't see the need for another building after their current expansion. Is there some population growth that's being predicted? I dunno. Maybe there's an actual need for it. Of course there's always that added jobs thing that comes along with a new six story building. New doctors, new nurses, new janitors, and (my favorite) new IT people to support those new floors. Of course, come 2010 there could be a new 4 year university here. I'd love to be on the ground floor of that project.

Anyway, I'm just wondering aloud this early morn.

Cheap Pop, on the rocks

I lump any kind of pop for which I can get 2 2-liter bottles for under $1.50. Last week it was Code Red(which I went through in two days). This week it's Fred Meyer brand cheap pop. Citrus Drop or something like that. It's suppose to be like Mountain Dew. I think it's closer to something else off the mountain.

So, the point being I've been drinking lots of pop that has originated from 2 liter bottles. I've gone through countless glasses drinking said pop. I've also been using ice. A lot of ice. I think I refill an ice tray once a day, sometimes more. It's kind of annoying specially when your faucet decides it will stop flowing water into the trays. Basicly, from our faucet, you can have a little trickle of water which takes a long time to fill up or you can have a blast of water which will soak everything within a 5 foot radius. Our sink is stupid. A hold over from the 50's when this place was built. Along with minimal power outlets. But I digress...

This ice is wonderful. If I am quick enough, I can hurry back to the fridge after I have drained the sweet, sweet, nectar to refill my cup before the ice gets a chance to melt. This can only mean less work for me. And really, it is. I don't need any theories or hypotheses to prove me wrong here. I also get the added benefit of me running (about 15 feet upstairs) to the fridge. I'm burning calories at the same time working less. Some might call that efficiency?

However, there is a downside to ice (as I take a sip from ice-filled cup). As ice sits over time, it will tend to freeze together with other chunks within the glass. This isn't as bad as it sounds. The bad thing happens is when you take a sip from the glass, the ice will suddenly change position within the glass only to have the sweet, sweet, nectar flow directly onto your face and down your shirt. Fortunately, I'm currently wearing a free shirt (I got from Cyan Worlds) that I mainly only wear when I mow the lawn. I didn't mow the lawn today. I should have as the weather is suppose to turn crappy...but I digress again.

So, yeah. Ice is fun. But ice can also be messy. Remember that.

Wal-Mart: Slashing everything...

Slashing can be used only for one thing: cutting things. Wal-Mart is know for cutting prices. Sure, that maybe true. But what else is Wal-Mart slashing?

I've been reading tonight several different articles about the badness of Wal-Mart. I was spurred by seeing a few commercials they have produced claiming that workers at their stores are happy people. So far, I have seen two different 30 second spots this week. I'm not sure when they first came out but I can be sure that they appeared shortly after this report about Wal-Mart and California that was published in early August of this year. I don't know if I need to rehash everything that's been said before. I certainly don't have anything new to add. "Don't buy Wal-Mart", "Wal-Mart is the Devil", blah blah, etc...In some what defense of their questionable pay practices, back in June, Wal-Mart announced an overhaul of they pay structure. It will probably result to a whole bunch of nothing. I dunno. I'm not an employee there. Not now, not ever.

I read one story where back in 2000, a bunch of meat cutters at one store decided to unionize. However, Wal-Mart one upped them and decided to kill off all the meat cutter departments in all the stores and go with pre-wrapped stuff. That seems mighty drastic, specially for just one store. It would be an interesting experiment to see if at one store if all the clothing employees would unionize. Clothing is a big chunk of change for Wal-Mart, I'm sure. Could they or would they do the same thing?

I really do try not to go there. I had to get a battery there the other day, but it wasn't my money buying it. Yet a tightrope I walk. Anyway, I thought I throw this out. Kind of ho-hum. Just remember, I like to write. :)

Interesting, to say the least

So, cruising the local ads online, I discover that the one job I had applied to (see this post) is once again posted. This is the third time it's been posted in three weeks. I have this astonishing ability to apply to jobs I have no chance of getting. It's my super powers. And I use it wisely. I have this other ability to clear a room in about a minute.

Anyway, things are same. *sigh*

To the guy...

...who did a search for Seattle seahawks suck, surprised to find my site which I put them down but yet still love them with all my heart? I bet you were. Yet I hardly believe anybody would do a search for that after de-throning the 49er of their 420+ game streak of no shut outs, leading the NFL with the least amount of points scored against them, and 2nd longest current streak of home wins (I'm stretching on this one). This is the best I have seen Seattle play...ever. The biggest problem they have had was scoring points in the second half. Now they seem to have the worked out. They still need to work on those dropped balls per game thing. I can only see Seattle getting better this year. After Chad Brown is back, expect a solid defense ready for anybody, even that wiley Manning QB for the Colts. So please, sit back, and enjoy that feeling of you being wrong.

A splat from the past

Most of my readers are my age, give or take a few years, or older. So, there is no doubt in my mind that many people will be delighted to be able to live a few minutes in their past with this website. I would like to give a shout out to Cabbage Patch Kids. Without their support, that website and happy memories of my youth wouldn't be possible. PROPS!!

Life

What can I say other than it sucks. Most of you know of our plight. I won't bore you with the past. But today, my car just barely started. I noticed it yesterday not giving it's all on ignition. And today, it barely cranked over. Fortuantely it's probably just the battery. But it might as well be the transmission cause right now $40 is no different to $1000. This on top of everything else really puts a whole kink on life right now. I haven't even gotten any interviews for minimum wage jobs. I haven't gotten anything...I don't have anything...

So yeah, being alive sucks right now. Really, really, really sucks.

A quote for the ages

While wandering around the internet today, I ran across a quote that I've not seen before. It didn't list who said it as I certainly can't credit the post from which I found it. Anyway, here's the quote:

The only difference between religion and superstition is the spelling.

I had a little chuckle on that and thought it worthy enough for the ol blog. So, here you go. Wisdom for the ages.

Seattle

So, the Seattle Seahawks managed to shutout San Fran. It was cool. What's better is that San Fran's streak of no shutouts in 420 games has been broken. That's right fans, Seattle rocks! They are 3-0 and St. Louis is 1-2. St. Louis is the only competition for Seattle this year within their own division. Seattle has a bye next weekend so no screaming or moaning for me. heh But Seattle will pick it up again in 2 weeks against St. Louis in Seattle. I can't wait for that!

Oh praise thee that is Linux

Yesterday I decided I would boot into my Linux partition on my computer to prepare for an upcoming project at the game club. The last time I booted to Linux was before I had upgraded my mobo and other stuff within the ol' box. So I was delighted to see that Red Hat 9 still came up with little problems. I did have to track down some nVidia drivers for the network card and 3D portion of my video card. Everything went smooth, after I remembered how to work with Linux. I now have most everything I had on my Win98 partition. Though I imagine I'll be going back and forth as I was working with MFC and Visual C++ which is only on Windows. Though on a plus side, I can now install the .Net framework and learn C# which was something you could only do on XP. So take that Redmond! :P

Hey, tomorrow is Seattle's third game. They are playing celler dwelling San Fran in Seattle. Man, it's nice to see other teams in the celler. heh I'll be watching at 1pm. Please come over if you want to see some hot screaming/moaning action. lol

The Job Hunt

Today I dropped off one of the few applications I had to fill out by hand. This was for an IT position at La Clinica. This is promising on a couple of levels. First the job only requires 0-3 years of exp (that's me) and an associates degree (that's me again on top of a 4 year degree). When I got up to the desk by the HR department, I had asked to see where HR was. The receptionist asked if I was asking about the IT position. I evidently looked the part of uber geek though I didn't have any tech on me other than my watch. I was dressed casually. Then the HR person came out. She was at the Worksource Job Fair and she remembered me. Unfortuantely, I didn't remember her. Hopefully I played it smooth enough (LOL). Anyway, she was just about to send all the apps to the hiring manager. Hopefully I'll be able to hear back from them. Pluueaze.

Scrabble anybody?

This is just a little post about a short flash film I just watched about Scrabble. It's pretty entertaining. A worthy eight minutes of your time. :)

PE

Yesterday, there was this PE event for the home schoolers for the area. At best, the kids did get to run around. At worst, it was chaos. Here are some observations.

They played capture the flag. The idea was to find the other team's flag and return it to "no-man's land", the scoring box. It came with jails and prison breaks and chained releases. There was no "babysitting" your own flag. There was no waiting for the other team across the line. If you asked to hide the flag, then you didn't get to hide it. This last one, when I heard that, I had thought you get to hide the flag once and that's it. This rule was unclear and got Dave excluded from being able to hide the flag.

I'm used to playing capture the flag found on top games like Halo and Unreal Tournament/Championship. There each team knew exactly where the other flag is. There were several strategies that could be used including "babysitting" the flag. Sometimes that was the only way to defend the flag. However, the way it was set up, only one person on each side would know where the flag is. On a side note, they were playing in a rose garden. Who in hell lets kids play in a rose garden? Anyway, you couldn't defend your own flag on top of having to search for the other team's flag at the same time, in rose bushes.

There was also this rule where if you tagged the other team while they were on your side, they would go to jail. But then if someone from the other team came to tag the people in jail, they could go free. But there was this chaining rule where you can hold hands for a free escape. What's the point of the jail if one person can get everybody out? And "No-Man's land" seems a misnomer as you can obviously go in there cause that's how they scored. Typical capture the flag would require the return the captured flag to the location of your own flag.

A few of the dads just kind of stood there, wondering what the hell was going on. This was my first time there with this PE thing. I wasn't happy with it and Dave didn't enjoy himself after being taunted by a girl. I understand the kickball last week was as bad. This needs some solutions to create a more enjoyable time for the kids. This I will need to think on and come up with something. Please feel free to leave you input as well.

A Mighty Suck

Well, the Seahawks are 2-0 on two away games. They equaled their total wins away for last year. That's a good thing. The bad thing is that I had to watch them suck and suck badly. I don't know how many three and outs they had. It was more than the number of fingers I have. And on the last drive for Tampa, they had three major pentalies against Seattle. Fortunately for Seattle, Tampa had a new QB in which didn't have the exp. The QB's last play was an interception. Geeze...talking about crap. I didn't even see any of the scores for Seattle. Busy watching a documentary about Star Wars. :D

So, Seattle is top of the NFC West for the time being. They have their first home game next week. And I wish Mr. T to have a sucky time there. :P Actually, no. I hope you enjoy your time there. Hopefully they will go 3-0. Here's to hoping.

He'll be back

I'm glad I don't live in California. I don't have to contend with earthquakes, traffic, and now governers who like big businesses, like Wal-Mart, to destroy local economies. Arnold just vetoed a bill that would at least deter super stores like Wal-Mart popping up all over the place. He said that he didn't want to stop businesses from expanding. Well, Arnold, big businesses don't need to expand any more. It's the little guys that need the help. Wal-Mart will just run the little guys out of town. Three cheers for minimum wage, part-time jobs at Wal-Mart! Yay! Yay! Yay!

In other news, the number of people not having insurance have increased yet again. Could there a connection here between not having insurance and Wal-Mart? Hmmmm....

Just a g33k?

Just trying to avoid the hits related to Wil Wheaton's book of the same name...well, with the e's. Coincidentally, he's gonna be the subject of this post.

Tonight, I've been looking at his old posts on his website WWdN. It was interesting to see that he had this insane dislike of William Shatner and then suddenly, while watching a baseball game with him one night, he discovered he's not so bad after all. Of course this was posted like three years ago. He's had several interesting posts since then. I kind of like the blue hair he had back then too. But what I do see is how he grows as a human being.

He seems like a very interesting and likeable guy. He has lots of interest that he shares with a good portion of geekdom. He plays video games, Munchkin, and runs his own website. He even shares some musical interests with Dawn (Cake, Tenacious D, Weezer). He has his share of strengths (humor in his writing) and weaknesses (staying up 72 hours to stuff an online poll). He is human, after all. These are just a few reasons why he has one of most popular sites to visit on the web. One of the most linked to websites as well. And I'm thinking that's he's becoming one of my role models for life.

Here's my reasoning for this. On his site, he not shy about what he likes, what's on his mind, etc. When something pisses him off, he vents. He vents and he has a whole bunch of people he may or may not know behind him 100%. When he sees that he's wrong, he quick to say so and apologize to whomever. He's hard at work doing what he likes doing (comedy in his little troupe, spending time with the fam, Star Trek conventions?). And on top of that, he runs his own website, tweaking it to his hearts desire. He has fun doing it all, well, cept for venting. I'm not sure if that's fun for anybody.

He is everything I wished I was. Though I admit, I am pretty good at venting. I have been known to hold grudges for years and do silent treatments for weeks upon end. The only thing I'm hard at work is keeping the cushion on my chair pretty compressed. I'm pretty reserved about what I say on my blog, believe it or not. His website could run circles around mine.

As you know, I'm in a pretty shitty position due to my own fucking around. Projects I start may or may not get off the ground. While I am at my computer, my desire is to learn/create something starts off at a high point only with it ending up with me flipping through about five to ten of the same websites, most of which I just hit up about 20 minutes earlier. I've stopped the exercise I started in July because of being lazy and/or being depressed about not having a job.

Wil, while not having it easy, shows he has worked hard to get where he's at. He's been depressed and he's bounced back. He started his website and made it what it is today. And he speaks his mind, of course when it's appropriate. It's just all of these things that make me come back to his site. And it is also the reason why today, with great honor, I add him to my list of favorite blogs on the Internet.

In related news...

I finally got the piece of paper saying that I have my 11 year degree. I'm so thrilled. Maybe I'll frame it...right after I'm done working 80 hours a week. I'm sure I can slip in a 30 minute break on Sunday to run to Fred Meyers for a paper frame that they threw away. I can't wait.

exp points

I'm soo fucking tired of every company wanting some god damn experience. Even for junior and entry level positions they want 2 to 3 years of experience. That's fucking stupid...I'm getting fucking fed up with it....

As it stands now, I'm going to have to work two minimum wage jobs to pay for all of my fucking debt and bills. That's just great....I enjoy spending my whole waking existances working...That's why I live...to work for minimum wage.

If you need me...i'll be working........

Shaking off the Dust

Well, if you look around the site, you'll notice a few changes. Firstoff, which will make most people happy, I got rid of the tag board feature. It wasn't being used much and gave most people ads to look at. So I just went ahead to took it off. Also the site will load much faster :)

I've also added the "email this" feature that's a part of blogger. Looking a little further you will discover I listed this site to several weblog searching sites. I'm hoping to draw in the big numbers now, baby! Or keep it pretty local, still. While linking to those sites, I discovered a service called Blogrolling. It's a central site where you can manage all your links on your blog, or any other web related document for that matter. It's pretty neat. They have it set up to where if you found a site that seems interesting, you can click a button (which you have to drag into your browser, look for instructions on how to do that on the site) to add it to your list. You don't have to go into your template, like in blogger, to add a new link. You do have to add one line initially, but that's really painless and easy to do. If you upgrade, you can get multiple blog rolls. So it's all good.

Hopefully I've inspired you all to spend a few hours to do the same on your own blogs. So, that's it for now.

Broken Schools

Some of you might know of this already, being the all-knowing home schoolers you all are, but John Taylor Gatto, an honored and critized school teacher from New York state, wrote a book about his experiences in the American school system. This book is online and it's 18 chapters long. I will eventually read it, but I wanted to post the link to it so others who read faster could write a review for me....cause I'm lazy. heh Actually I will read it all. Just not now.

So, whoever finishes it first will get the most honored "Brownie Point" from yours truly. Good luck.

Arcade games that should have been?

I enjoy a good photoshopped photo as the next guy. This series of pics feature arcade games that could be made. A bit of warning though, there are some tasteless ones and ones that would appeal to the geek inside. I'd say it's above average. Enjoy!

Things I miss from school

Yes, sadly, I miss school. Well, parts of school. The looming deadline of projects and the endless studying for tests I don't miss what so ever. What I do miss is the socialization I got from school. There were other people I got to talk with about computer stuff, games, sports, and other stuff which I just don't get any more. I miss playing pool in the lounge, losing a vast majority of the time. I still attend the game dev club I started last year so I can get my fix. But it's not enough. I like to talk about how you can use some technology to do something that you wouldn't normally do with it. Or even thinking aloud of the what-ifs that is generated.

So I'm a social geek that doesn't talk much, but who cares. I still need that room full of other geeks wanting to do whatever with technology. I miss that the most from school. And that makes me sad.

Invader Zim, interview with a vampire

Over at IGN.com, there is an interview with the creator and color designer of Invader Zim, the best animated television show ever to shown on Nickelodeon and a whole bunch of other TV channels. Look into the minds of which sprung the world of Zim.

Anime: Fun for all

Wired.com has an article about some history of anime and three of the major players in Japan that make anime. It also talks about three new anime movies coming to the US this fall, hopefully. I can't wait to see them. I don't think I've ever seen anime on the big screen. I can only imagine how much better it is.

A test of will

Today, I took...well, looked at and cried...a pre-screening test for a game development company I had submitted my resume to on Friday. I looked and looked at this test for 3 hours before giving up. They said I couldn't use reference so there's no way I could have done it. Out of 5 questions, I could only do 2 of them for sure. And they weren't very hard questions. Two of the three remaining questions you would use recursion to solve. However, I could never figure out anything complex using recursion. I could have solved one of them not using recursion but stipulations said I basically couldn't. So now I realize the best position I'll ever get at any software company is that of code monkey. But if I have any more tests like that, I'm gonna be unemployed for a very, very, very long time. :(

Doom Doom Doom Movie

So, there's this movie that is being based on Doom being made. I'll make predictions right now: It Will Suck. Here's my proof.

This is an interview with the CEO of id, Todd Hollenshead. Within in it he says "...we're very happy with [the script]." As we all know id was never known for their specatular plot lines in their games. Hell, Doom 3 is probably the first with a plot line, but I heard not a very good one. So, what this movie will amount to is a dark, visual experience with no plot or a plot where whole ocean liners could sail through.

Yup, that's about it. My name is Keith and I approve this message.

On Being 29

So, I'm 29 now. It's kind of like being 28, just separated by a few days.

Yesterday we went and turned in stuff at Hastings for store credit. If you turn in books there, you basically get double the cash amount in store credit. CD's, DVD's and games didn't have that great of a bonus for store credit, but it was all good. Anyway, I finally updated myself into the current realm of D&D by getting the 3.5 versions of the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide. They changed a lot since I lasted played 2nd edition. BTW, if anybody is interested in learning/playing this 30 year old game, don't hesitate to contact me. I would be happy to teach anybody. I've already started to teach my 6 year old son. :)

Later, we went and saw Hero at the Mall. First we had to take Dave to my dad's house for some babysitting. I think it was the first time my dad has watched him in several years, 4 or 5 years. He seemed like he had fun there. Everything but the dog that my dad has. The movie was good. Though I seem like I missed a lot of the scenes because I was reading the subtitles. I found myself reading the subs fast and quickly moving up to the top of the screen to see everything.

Well, that's it for now. Oh yeah, it's worthy of me to say that Seattle will be playing their last pre-season game on Thursday. Watch it on tape delay!

Seattle brings it to past division rivals Chargers

dateline: Yesterday.

The Seattle Seahawks walked all over the offense of the San Diego Chargers yesterday in a pre-season game featuring a half time firework display. The fireworks were the only things to light up the scoreboard for San Diego up until the third quarter.

Seattle started off with an interception by Ken Lucas which was ran back for a touchdown but was recalled after a pentalty on the Seahawks. But a few plays later delivered Seattle's first score of the night. The rest of the night was filled with special teams hits and misses for both teams. On a field goal attempt by San Diego, Seattle blocked and returned for a touchdown. The second half was quiet for Seattle's offense.

Overall, I think they played a hell of a game and can't wait for the start of the regular season on September 9th.

WTF?!?

Just cruising my eXTReMe tracking thing and this came up. My site is number two. What the hell? Do you thik I can get Google on slander? How is my blog anyway related to this topic other than Dawn posting about it a while back on her own site? That Elijah Wood site is not in the very least entertaining and I have actual quality things to say. Gah, technology has it in for me.

Paul Hamm, Whiney Bitch?

A few a you might be watching the Olympics. Good for you. I watch the news the next morning to see what boring events got medals for the US. Yay US.

A couple of days of ago was some sort of men's gymnastics medal round. On that night, Paul Hamm got the gold. But there was a math error which forced another competitor not to get the gold, a South Korean named Yang Tae-young. This gentleman only got the bronze because of the scoring error. Three judges got suspended and the Olympic committee said there was indeed a problem. There went out a petition for the South Korean to get a co-gold for the event. But Paul Hamm believes in his heart of hearts that he is the winner.

I saw him in an interview on the Today morning news show on NBC and he seemed like a pompous little ass. The spirit of the Olympics is not to go and win every gold. It's not to beat the competition into the ground. It's a time of camaraderieship and leaving predefined notions at the door. It's the only time when two countries whom had centuries of disputes with one another can be in the same stadium without killing each other. But not to Paul Hamm. Paul Hamm is The Best. Period. He can't share anything with anybody. In that interview, he said that there was another deduction, only seen in replays, that the judges could have taken which they didn't which is why Yang Tae-young doesn't deserve the gold. I think I might have missed something, but I think the NFL is the only sport that has instant replay. What harm will there be if there are two gold metals? I can only see benefits for all. The South Korean would get his gold. Paul Hamm would seem like a compassionate guy and not a jack-ass.

It's things like this that make me want to go for every team or individual that is not the United States. Another example of bloat on the US team is the Basketball team. Enough said about that.

Anyway, that's it for me. Enjoy your day and please don't be a jack-ass.

The perils of Job Searching

I'm really tired of all the user unfriendly job websites out there. There's a couple I like which include HotJobs.com cause after you applied to a job it tells you right on the page even weeks later. I hate how you'll go to a main portal job site like monster or worksource.com and click to apply to a job only to be redirected to the company's own website where you have to fill out another resume. WTF?? It's not like I'm suffering enough from not having a job. Why don't you just add more frustration on top of that. There's need to be some resume formal language created and adopted so the main job portal sites can actually work as advertised. Like on the company's website, the information for a position would lay and the job portal would come by and harvest it at some later time period. The tech is there now. It's just too forward thinking for too many people. *sigh* or I could be just a whiney little pansie with no job.

Another day, another week

Today marks the beginning of the fourth week of me being exercise crazy. Now that I have changed it up a little bit, it's a little less boring. I bumped up my sit-up total to 30 and added a new toning exercise. Don't ask me to name it cause that would require me to find the piece of paper with the names of the exercises on it, which is just out of arms reach.

On Saturday, I will see my 29th birthday come, and go, as soo many had already. The days go by so fast, I'm surprised I not bald with a walking cane. Maybe tomorrow. Anyway, I plan to sit around the house some more, just like the past month and a half. Not having a job sucks...

On the plus side of not having a job, I've been learning more programming crap like XML and MFC. Add some Java in there and you got a tasty salad. Mmmmm, salad.

Welp, that's it for now. May you all make successful saving throws vs dumb asses.

The jokester

Do you like jokes? I do too and here's one to make you smile for at least 30 seconds.

Do you have ESP?

Man, I can't stop laughing at this one. So, I'm looking for a character generator for Dungeon and Dragons and I came across this site. I don't know why. It was even on the first page of search results. "Exposing Satan's Power". hahahhaha Man, that is tooo funny.

Anyway, I decide that the first page is priceless so I decide to see what other great stuff is on his site. Well, there's stuff about Harry Potter, as much as I dislike the books it's still a story as fictional as some other books that I've talked about in the past. Halloween is bad too. Druids whorships the evil spirits in the tress. Bad, very bad. He also has a special section for John Edwards of "Crossing Over" fame. Man, it's a laugh a minute there! Well, the show that is. And watch out for that Ouija Board!! It's gonna suck your soul away! hahahahahhahahhahahhhahha

Man, still..I find it ironic that he hates Psychics, but yet he calls his site ESP. hahhahahah Oh wow.

But back the whole D&D thing. First he claims that role-playing makes people think that they are what they think, according to some passage in the greatest story of all, the Bible. That's true to some extent. And not because the bible is interpretted to say so. But basically he's saying that all actors/actresses who have played roles as murders and what not are evil. Let's talk to Kevin Spacey to see how evil he is for his roles in great movies like The Usual Suspects and Se7en. I could get more people who are actors that's played bad people, but that would take up too much of my time. And well Ben, you're not worth it.

Here's a passage from his site about the unfortunate death of a young man:

John Torell, with Christian Life Ministries in California, received a phone call from a medical doctor in Seattle, Washington. The doctor is treating a policeman for severe depression caused by the suicide of his sixteen-year-oId son. The son, who had been heavily involved in D&D™ for two years, shot himself with his father's service revolver.

There's a quote from a psychiatrist, named Laurence Johnson, in regards to the case:
"If I had a child who tended toward schizophrenia, I'd never let him near D&D™"

Well, Laurence, if I had a child who was schizophrenic, I certainly wouldn't have a loaded gun in my house. *sigh* I like how people reach for things that are not there. I like it when they fall flat on their face after the fact. Pretty funny.

Ok, well, that's enough "fun on Ben's account" for tonight. Hopefully he'll have something else up later for my amusement.

Of Geeks and Jello-brains

Today starts GenCon, this huge bigass sci-fi/fantasy/role-playing/computers games convention held in Indianapolis among 3 other places in the world at different times. I want to be there, but I have to make due with my mental imaging of me being there. Anyway, I was reading this blurb on The Force.Net about how there's some other major events going on the same weekend, making Indianapolis a very busy place. What made me laugh was that on the 19th(which is today), Metallica <opinion>They suck major ass</opinion> will be playing a few blocks down from where GenCon will be at. Can you imagine the head-bangers and role-players just mere feet from one another? Oh yeah, just like high school.

This Routine needs a changing

I hate it when I delete one browser for another and forget all my passwords. *sigh*

Well, I thought I'd update you all on my glorious progress on to exercise greatness. I was bad on Saturday and Monday. I didn't do anything! I suck..I know. Now I've changed my routine a little bit.

Back in the days when I was on E-Diets(which worked for me!), I was going by their suggest exercise plan of cardio one day and muscle toning the next. So, I've decided to go back to that. It makes for shorter sessions which will be good when I get a job. And really, I didn't want to feel like I was working all the time, the same ol blah each day, 6 days a week. Yeah, pretty weak but I'm sticking to that. heh

Though yesterday I started with cardio and did 20 minutes on the bike. I thought for sure it was Wednesday, but then Amazing Race came on. So I was off in lala land yesterday. Oh, yeah. I was reading this history of D&D on Gamespy.com and I read the Tuesday article on Monday night. So that screwed me up right there. BTW, that article has so far been a good read. I'm happy. So happy.

So, that's it from Camp Dirty Basement. So long and be happy.

EDIT: CV and Dawn, there's an interview with Stephen Colbert at that D&D page. You should read it.

Let the Goodtimes Roll and Score!!

The Seahawks whooped some Green Bay ass in their first preseason game. Yes, it doesn't mean much, but it's always good to make the team that screwed you in the playoffs suffer as much as you can. heh Now I'm disappointed that I didn't get to see it. Oh well. There's always next week.

GRRR

I want to hate bushey-poo (my little nickname for the big man), but this whole military realignment is all plusses in my book. I still won't vote for him. Far too many negatives still. About the only good thing that will come from his 4 year term. Oh, one more good thing, the day he leaves office in January. ha ha

A quicky

Do you like John Woo, Steve Carell, and dodgeball? Well, you'll like this short film. I personally can't stand John Woo movies, but this funny makes it all funny. Uhh..yeah.

Debt Reduction

I gots lots of debt. Due to my free wheeling days of being in school and having no idea what the future would bring me. It's not fun specially when you don't have a job.

Lately, the CC people call me to tell me of overdue stuff. One company that has two of my cards and other company. The first company decided to outsource their debt people to India, I'm guessing. How do I know? Well, the accents and delay in response of a second or more on the phone. That tips that their, their being Chase Manhattan, callcenter is in some part of the world that stretches from the middle east to Korea. I don't know where exactly, but that's not the point here.

I don't like talking to their callcenters because 1) if the person on the other end doesn't understand me, they repeat their last canned response. I hate that. You can't have empathy without understanding. 2) Talking long distance requires waiting for a few seconds for responses. So I get dead air. It's like trying to control the rovers on Mars. I hate that too. These two things alone will, at the soonest convenience, get both of those cards to some other company. They don't deserve my free money. And you all know my stance on offshoring.

The second company, Capital One, just called me not too long ago. They wanted money too. But the person I talked to, though probably reading canned responses as well, could understand me and had empathy. I was more willing to deal with them other than getting angry and slamming the phone down, which I've done on multiple times from CM.

Anyway, I was very pleased with CO and am willing to deal with them more in the future. Hopefully I'll hit pay dirt and pay them all off. Well, that's all I got.

Hypocritical George

George Lucas, which I tend to call him GL now cause it's easier to type and his name makes me want to vomit, made some comments about the colorizing of old movies. He basically says that they shouldn't do it cause it would take away the time period it was made in. Well, GL, you hypocritical bastard, why in hell won't you release the original trilogy as they first appeared on DVD?

Star Wars: A New Hope began shooting in 1975 with a release in May of 1977. The technology was amazing. It blew people out of their seats. Star Wars was the first blockbuster named cause people were lining up around the block to get in and see the movie, back in the days of theaters that only had two to three screens each. Flash forward to 1997 which the special editions started to appear. The tech used in the late 70s were replaced with current computer graphics. I admit, they looked pretty cool. GL said that the special eds were as they should have been in 1977. I guess that's fine cause it's his movie and his money and all. Though some stupid things were added that enraged fanboys everywhere, including myself.

Han shoots first, period. The end. Luke falling down the shaft in Empire did not need to amplify his whininess by crying like a baby all the way down. Original ewok song, as annoying as it was, should have stayed.

These are the scenes that we, as fans, would like to see as they were. They remind us of our youth, spending sleepless nights watching marathons. For me, I was all but 2 and a half when A New Hope was released and I watched it, as I'm told, at a drive in theater. But I have scene it many times on TV and videotape.

GL said this: "...it puts it in a context where you can appreciate it for what it was." Here I will have to agree with the old man. Though changing the color of a movie is just like changing the scenes of a movie. The movie becomes different, reborn so to speak. I want to appreciate the Original Trilogy as they were. Star Wars is great as it was, no changing necessary.

Since GL owns everything Star Wars, he doesn't need to listen to the fans, the very people that made him, or even the movie studios. He has soo much money, Bill Gates wants to own him. LOL Yeah, probably not. But the point here is that GL can do what he wants. And he is. Which is terribly unfortunate for the rest of us who would like to relive their first experience with Star Wars in DVD quality at home.

Doom Doom Doom Song

Well, I just got done reading a review of Doom 3 and I'm not feeling it. I read a bunch of reader reviews as well. While most of their scores ranged in the 8 to 10 point range, there were quite a few of less than ideal scores. While I can't trust reader reviews posted by fanboys, I can at least gleam some information from them and compare.

The graphics are great. The gameplay is not so great. I was planning to get it for XBox (BTW, if you steal my XBox I will not come knocking on your door, but I will be really sad. thank you) knowing that they had to put some dullness on the graphics for the three year old console. Reading that the gameplay is the same old gameplay, I will probably skip it. Maybe I'll rent it.

This is disappointing since they worked on it for four years and all they did was work on the graphics. I sense that some bright game designer is gonna take the doom 3 engine and bring it up to par with a great mod. I hope. heh Maybe the guys at id should have t-shirts made saying "My parents worked for 4 years to save up to buy me the computer of my dreams to play Doom 3 but all I got was uninspired gameplay." Yeah, maybe they shouldn't. Or maybe find another quote. That isn't mine.

I think that the game industry has spent too much time on the prettiness of games. It's time to dig deep and find some great AI and story design that will make gaming fun and entertaining again. Multiplayer with real people can only go so far cause there are always the idiots who sole reason for existence is to cause pain to other players who are online. That's no fun. I've had my run-ins with those players. They probably got cracked versions too. I hate those people too. It's interesting that I call them "people".

Game designers and game programmers need to step up to the plate. Consumers are always willing to spend $40-$60 for a game. But when consumers are forced to play crap that's not worth an hour of their time, consumers will let publishers know. I read an article/editorial about a possible future of the games industry a while back. The author was pointing out how a lot of games coming out are the same old thing, over and over and over again. He was comparing it to the video games crash of the early 80s. I want to disagree with his view of impending doom (no pun here people), but it's looking that way. Publishers have dollar signs in their eyes and those signs grow with each passing financial quarter. They only want the sure-fire hits. However those hits are all the same. We'll see. Maybe the guys at Valve will bring gaming out of it's funk with Half-Life 2. Then again, it might be the same ol stuff, rehashed in a new shiny box.

Well, that's all I got, for the short term. So until the next time.

Seattle...

...plays on ESPN next Monday night. Is that not fair? Yes!! Goddamn it! Well, I almost want to go to a bar or something to watch it. Hmmmph. Maybe I'll get a job before next week and they'll give me an advance. hahaha I think winning the lotto is a better chance. *sigh*

Warp speed now, Mr. Scot!

Yeah, I know. It's a star trek quote. I couldn't think of a Star Wars quote that I could use. Oh well. If you know of a Star Wars quote, please leave it in the comments of this post.

So, once again, I was cruising my fave websites and got to Blue's News and found an interesting article about the uses of quantum entanglement. Quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and now...drum roll please...deep space propulsion!!

Now, is that cool or what? It's basically teleporting power to space probes through the quirky uses of quantam entanglement. Instead of having nuclear material on board a rocket that could go boom, you have a device that recieves power from earth. The author also mentions some other uses for teleportation including "beaming" power from solar arrays in close orbit abound the sun to the earth's surface.

It would be really cool if this technology comes of age before I die of old age. heh

Well, that's it for now. So until next time.

An End of a Week

I just finished up my last exercise session for the week. Tomorrow I will take off and begin again on Monday. This morning I was a little stiff and sore, but I think it's because I ran around yesterday with the kids (Dave and Henry). Then I tripped over the soccer ball and landed on my back. Don't worry...nothing broke. heh

On Monday, I've decided to up my sit-up count to 25 and increase my bike time to 12 minutes. Here's the pattern I will be using. Every two weeks I will up my sit-up count by 5 till I get to 50. Every 3 days I will up my bike time by 1 minute till I'm up to 20 minutes. So I will be a couple of months before I top out. That is one of my goals on this quest, get to my pre-ordained maxes. Cool eh? I have lose weight on that list too, but at the moment I'm more concerned that I'm eating. I won't be picky until I get a job.

Well, that's it for now. See y'all later.

too good to be true?

Here's a quote made by our great president. Quote. Isn't he just soo cool? Don't you just want to love him? Oh, I gots the audio mp3 to that too. But here's a link to a mp3 off of Al Franken's radio show.

Exercise is good....FOR ME!!!

Imagine CV saying the "for me" part. Ahh, yes.

My legs have finally stopped hurting. Yay! I can walk around with no soreness. I think I may have lost a pound already! heh I think I have a plan to keep me going on this. I have noticed in the past that if I stop too long, I don't want to do it any more. I hear you're suppose to not work everything everyday. Well,I say pooh on that. This is how I'm gonna work it. Six days a week, I will do the sit-ups, muscle toning, and riding the bike. I won't be overworking myself. I'm doing enough to keep it interesting. Do it often enough to where I won't stop. So, that's my plan. Until I get a job. Then I'll have to wake up at 5am or something and do it. I'm sure Dawn will enjoy listening to the bike at 5am. heh

Well, that's it for now. So until next time.

It's August. Do you know where your NFL is?

I'm getting some good vibes from the media about the Seahawks. This article is picking Seattle and PHilly for tops of the NFC! Is that great or what?! Of course, I have to wait until the end of the season for it to actually be happy. The forecast is good.

BTW, this weekend marks the beginning of the preseason. Well, Monday of next week, but it's close enough. I'm pretty excited. Football is the only sport I watch any more, with a spattering of Indy car races and Golf. Seattle's first preseason game is Monday, August 16th at 5pm, PST. This almost suggest to be that it's gonna be on Monday Night Football on ABC. That would be cool. They do have one Monday night game in December, in Seattle. Might be a worthwhile trip to see, if I win the Lotto. Yeah, I know, good luck with that.

Well, just thought I'd let you know about the upcomming season of hot football! YEAH!!!

The evil men must do

*Warning* This post has loads of opinions.

Ok, last week I had made a deal, a deal with the devil so to speak lol, with my father-in-law to get a short term loan until we get some money (hopefully next week). Well, he said he would if I reviewed two of his videos that he mass produces in his basement. I don't joke. Well, these videos are about creationism and the bible. A topic I would rather not view because it's a load of bunk. But I needed the money...So, what can I do? (Get a job, ya bum!)

Well, he wants critiques of the two he lent to me. He wants the atheists view on these recordings and I will give him my best effort on it. Though it's funny. I have seen another video from him, I think in the same series but from another speaker (the first speaker was way uglier). But they both did the same thing. They found one or two years old articles and picked them apart. Not a whole bunch of articles, just one or two. The most recent was from 1986. Another fact they tried to play out is them using a speed comparison from a super computer from 1985 when the video was produced in 2003. The speeds have changed so much between now and then that this is irrelevant.

Also, it's very easy to say anything in hindsight, which this guy was doing, constantly. Saying "That's how the Lord intended it to work", "That's what He wanted" and so on and so forth. What kind of proof is that? That's right, boys and girls, it's not.

I'm just so irate that there's people in the whitehouse that are exactly like this. That's how your run a country, because he wanted that way.

The Hard Life

No whining on this post. So read away!

Last week I decided I would do 20 situps a day and see where that takes me. The first couple of days were painful. The second day I almost stopped after the first situp cause my body rocked with pain. But I endured! I did the full 20, much to the dismay of my abs. Today's situp didn't have any pain, but it was slow at the end. I'm feeling good about it.

A few days back, I thought it would be good to add some more exercise to the 20 so I began riding our exercise bike yesterday for 10 minutes. Today I did more of the same, but this time I added stretching and some muscle toning sets. It's good to do the stretches. The back of my thighs ached for three days and kept me up last night! Well, you may ask, you just started the bike yesterday. What were you doing three days ago to do in your thighs? Well, I won't get into that. wink wink nudge nudge.

I consider this training to kick CVs ass at DDR and for not willing to apply to The Amazing Race with me. LOL If you haven't seen him lately, he could probably hit me once and I'd be a goner. So I gots to get ready for the "Rumble In Richland"! haha

Ok, that's enough. So until next time.

My First Java Program

Yup, that weird looking thing below this post is a screen shot from my first java program which I constructed from bits and pieces of stuff I learned. Isn't it sooo cute? I would post the byte code for all to enjoy, but I'm sure it will be a pain in the ass trying to get it in a package correctly.

Yeah, I'm happy. Didn't spend too much time on it and the results are spectacular! heh not really. Well, so until next time.

My First Java Program. Isn't he sooo cute? 

An Incredible Game

I so do love Blue's News. I always get the best of the internet from there. Now here's a game that was posted on Blue's News just today. This game is incredible. It's simple, elegant, and has very beautiful art. This has a dark, gothic feel to it. It's very cool and I would appreicate it very much if you go there and play. Go here to play. Click on "A Murder of Scarecrows" to start it. Once you get started, there's an option to turn the music on on the right side of the playing area. Please turn that on too. Good music to go with the game

Well, enjoy!

If you like Batman...

...and I know you do, they just released the teaser trailer for Batman Begins staring Christian Bale. Doesn't show too much. A brief glance at the suit, him walking around the world. Pretty teaser. I just hope that it's better than those crap ass ones that Joel Schumacher did. Please, for the sake of all person kind!

So, that's it. Oh yeah, I have gone to the myspace place in the sky. Here's where you can see more info and where you can also....Be. My. Friend. Don't you want to be my friend?

Depressing the job market

It's me again. *SPOILER* Time for me to whine some more. If you want to stick around, cool. If not, please see me in full color goodness on my webcam.

So, I was reading some threads on Monster.com this morning. I was reading about how people who have degrees who have been looking for jobs for 2 or 3 years and how their current job is at fast food joints. It's very bleak. See, 2 or 3 years is too long to wait for a job that will pay for all your bills and have some left over for food and misc. It's really depressing.

It doesn't help when you have companies that have policies of posting jobs to positions that have preferred internal candidates. It's a waste of my time to do up a new cover letter and spiff up the resume for a position that has no chance of external light. They could at least put on the posting that "This is a preferred posting. You can apply, but it may not help your sorry ass. Have a nice day!" Wouldn't that just be grand?

Anyway, the options are getting slimmer everyday. My patiences wears thinner. I have decided that work in manual labor such as forklift/warehouse is out of the question for me. Sure that scrunches my job possibilities, but after having a person I know killed at a place I used to work at involving forklifts, I'll live with the consequences. Food service is mostly out as well. I've held two food service positions and each one was thankless from managers and customers, well most customers. I've only had one stint in retail, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth. It's something that I'd do again, only if things prove to be the end.

Yeah, so that's that. I really don't know what to do other than keep on sending out resumes and learning stuff on the sly. It's been 4 weeks now since my internship ended. Hopefully some windfall will happen and the events and times of my life will improve. Or some wind will fall a tree on my head. Can I say anything about breaking wind? No? Oh, ok.

Well, that's it for now. I think I'll go "borrow" that bottle of rum I got for my father-in-law now.

My first comic of stuff 

Creative Cake

Here is a guy that really enjoys what he does. Check out these cakes that this guy made for halloween themed parties. They look really cool. I bet they taste really good..mmmm....Brains....

Going where none of us have gone before

Please direct your attention to the right side of the page. There you will see a tag board. Please use for fun and recreation. Hopefully it will work as advertised. heh

Three Hours in the Park

My new movie, coming to a screen near you.

Today, Dawn, David, and myself went to the park to help celebrate Chelee's and Mr. T's son's birthday. We were there for a little over three hours. Yes, three hours. It's probably the longest I've been outside that didn't include doing work out in the yard (which I really hate doing). Dave enjoyed running all around the place. Fortunately, he stayed relatively clean meanning he didn't dump dirt on himself. Always trying to stay clean, that one. I guess he figures if he doesn't get dirty, he doesn't need to take a bath. Oh, what little does he know.

Also had a long chat with Mr. T about Star Wars and other worldly stuff. It was quite the enjoyable time. Even had some good pizza made by Chelee. Oh yeah, can't forget the Dirt and Worms in a cup. Very tasty that.

Well, that's it. So until next time.

Experiments

Today I have been experimenting....you know...werid stuff. Like streaming webcams. Really freakishly weird stuff. I can't tell you how weirded out I am.

So, without further nonsense, here's my work from all this morning. Static Me.

I was working on a streaming part too, but the software I have only allows for 1 minute at a time. Need to shell out $25 for the full version. Anyway, I'll put a link to the side so you can always look upon me with uncaring eyes.

It's worth to mention that if the pic doesn't change, it means I'm asleep or I'm just not serving images.

Me in all my glory! 

More Star Wars Stuff

Well, get ready for some Sithly revenge. Yes, the next Star Wars movie title will be Revenge of the Sith. I think it's the best title of the prequals. Hopefully it will turn out to be the best movie as well. Here's hoping to GL not being a complete idiot.

Thank You Gansta Rap

So, this morning I've been in a funk. I don't want to do anything. Feel like crap,you know...the usuall. Java isn't making sense, my future is bleak, and I'm yelling at people I shouldn't be yelling at. It sucks...and I hate it. I needed something to make me laugh and I found it. In the form of Star Wars Gansta Rap: Special Edition.

Those familar with the first version knows of the catchy tune and pretty ok flash animation. The guys took it up a notch. They kept the orginal song and added brand new animation that matches well with the song. Darth Vader rapping and Luke with his Jawa posse is hilarious. It's great! I feel a little better now and I thank the BentTV crew for updating their great creation.

The Library

We went to the library today. Dawn got the third Harry Potter book and some videos for Dave and some others for herself. While she was doing that, I saw something that almost made me jump up and down and yell with glee! And I would have had it not been the library. While on my way to the computer books (Dear Richland Library, Get more recent computer books. Best Regards, Keith), I stumbled across the young adult section. Well, I didn't really stumble, I pretty much knew exactly where it was. Doesn't matter. Anyway, what I saw, sitting on the highest shelf, just about my eye level, were several anime DVDs. Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Gundum, Outlaw Star (should of picked that one up) and something else I think. Can't remember what it was. It wasn't a huge selection. It was just the mere fact that some of my fave anime titles sat at my local public library for anybody to enjoy.

Ever since I had to cancel our Netflix account, I have been mostly animeless. Yes, it's a huge shame. I was busy waching Neon Genesis Evangelion. Now I don't remember which DVD we stopped on. Besides Neon Genesis, there's new stuff that is released every week, day even. So, I'm missing out on a whole bunch of stuff. I'm just glad that the Library has Inuyasha. I started watching that last year when it was on Adult Swim. I got to see the first 20 episodes or so? They don't have that many at the library, but it will be nice to see what they edited out.

So, yeah, the library might become my new source of anime goodness. So, here's hoping for them to get more anime DVDs! So, until next time.

3 Weeks and Counting

This editing thing sucks. Maybe it's a mozilla thing. I dunno. Anyway...

What have I've been doing with my time in the last three weeks? Well, I've applied to at least 15 jobs nationwide. Hopefully something local will pop up. I've brushed up on my Java. I don't think I'm a complete idiot using it now, but I haven't actually used it other than learning it. I should probably do a simple app or something.

I've also been playing Dungeon Siege and been learning more about the Dungeon Siege Toolkit. It's always fun to mod your favorite game to make it do things you want it to do. Lots of work. The good part is that I don't have to make any new models are art if I don't want to. I have access to all the pre-created pieces that's found in DS. The editor does have the tendancy to crash. Not too much though. Just annoyingly so. I wonder if it's because I'm still running win98. I had the same problems with the Unreal Editor but that crashed far more often and I know that it's pretty stable under WinXP. Why don't they make a linux version? Tell me!!! Oh? I could do it? I could. It would be the biggest project I'd ever worked on, that's for sure.

Well, that's enough stuff for the time being. So, until next time.

My most disturbing post....EVER.

wow...they changed the editing stuff here....anyway.

Some of us have played Soul Calibur II. And some of us are grossed out by the character named Voldo. He's very icky. Some of us also know of the song "It's getting hot in here" by our favorite Nelly. Two people out in internet land thought it would be a good idea to combine the two. Here is their creation. Prepare to be grossed out to the max, man.

JibJab

A little quicky for your viewing entertainment. I guess I should put in a viewer warning thingey here. I'd say it's a pg-13 rating. Pretty funny though.

Hard Things

Yeah, so I think I mentioned I was trying to learn Japanese a post or two ago. I'm using a program called The Rosetta Stone Japanese explorer CD-ROM. It claims to have over 3 million users worldwide though I think that's for the whole Rosetta series. But let me tell you something, this particular learning system is hard. I'm not stopping by any means. It's just hard.

It's gets right to the meat and potatoes of the language, skipping the typical stuff you might learn up front like individual words and how to work with the language. What this system does is give you a phrase and tries to associate that phrase to a picture. Sometimes the pictures are hard to discern properly. Also they have a particular word meaning one thing in one picture and it looks to mean something different in the next picture. It's very confusing. True in our own language, we have a whole bunch of weird things going on. And I admit since English is the only language I really known all my life, these things are second nature to me.

Another problem I have with the software is that there's no way to hear each word in turn. You have to hear the whole phrase or nothing at all. The speaker is also talking fairly fast (I think), another problem since some letters sound different to what I'm use to. I think I hear one thing but my mouth want to go "blah".

Now I mention plural things. Here's the second. Trying to keep focus on one or two things so you don't spread yourself like butter on toast. I find it difficult to try to keep on one thing for very long. I might come across a second thing that may take my interest and I go and do that for a while, then a third thing might come sniffing around and I go and do that. While I'm doing the 3rd thing, the first two and just hanging back unfinished. Lately I've just trying to 1) find a job, 2) learn more Java, and 3) learn Japanese. Those are my three most current white whales. Aye, great whites they are. Errr Anyway...

So, that's it for the time being. I hope I've been entertaining for all three of you. So, until next time.

Of the worth of a piece of paper

So, I'm about through the first full week of looking for a job. And it still looks bleak. All I know is while I don't have a job using the skills I gained through school, that piece of paper (which I won't get actually till August at the earliest) that says I did all that hard work will be slowly deprecating. Though really, in my field, slowly actually means pretty damn fast. Yes, the $25,000 I spend on school (including food, lodging, and tuition) is all going to result in a worthless degree.

As I look through the job listings, almost all companies are requiring a BS/BA and around 4 to 5 years of experience. Before I started school, people told me to get a 4 year degree because companies like that. And I head full steam into getting the degree. But now, as I think more about it, the degree is pretty worthless. For a person who's been in the computer industry for 5 years, that BS/BA is nothing more than a memory. Skills gained then are going to be useless now because that's just how the computer industry is.

My degree is particular worthless because I started back in 1993. Back when if you had a computer, you were lucky to be running Windows 3.1. Looking through a notebook I had which I used for a biology class in 1997 did not ring any bells with me, though some of it could have been applied to that last quarter of bio. The cliche of "Use it or lose it" is too apparent here. I didn't use bio so I lost most of it. I started out programming with Pascal in 1993. I don't remember any of it other than I had a class or two in pascal. I started C programming around 96 or 97 and I still remember it cause I've used some version of it off and on since then.

But that's where I stopped. I know technology that's about 8 years old now, to me. Now a days, people are using stuff created about 3 years ago with the advent of Windows XP. That's just about when I started WSU and WSU doesn't like teaching the new technology, unlike CBC where they try to keep up with the Jones.

Anyway, I think I'm just whining about the whole worth of my degree here in a few months. I'm disappointed with myself for not staying in the CS program and completing my degree in the recommended 4 to 5 years. New tech comes out every day and I'm playing catch up all the time. I'm so far behind now in some things that I wonder if I'll ever get to a position in my life that I'll enjoy.

Ok, that's enough. I think I have more job postings to look at or something. *sigh*

The icky Locker Gnome is Right

So sayeth me.

Ok, for those of you who watched TechTV back before it turned to crap, there was this one show on it that was called Call For Help. For a majority of the time it was one, it was hosted by Chris Pirllo, the Locker Gnome. He had far too much spunk to be a host for a show. He eventually got canned/quit, whatever ( I don't keep up on the gossip) but he had his website for longer than that. He still has it in fact.

There are also many of you who still use Internet Explorer as your main browser. As you know, there's tons of problems with that. First of all, it's a Microsoft product which infers tons of bugs and flaws. Second of all, it's a Microsoft product. Third of all, etc. ad nauseum. Yes, it's a bad bad thing. I've been using Mozilla for a year at least now and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. And you know what? That Locker Gnome agrees with me. Now I wouldn't normally openly agree to anything that he has to say. But here, I must agree with the gnome. IE is the devil and it will claim your first 3 children and their first 3 children.

So, for your own good, go do what the gnome tells you to do. Ignore the nightmares for a night or two. Just go do it. Do it so humanity can move on into a safer, happier place. Pluueazze? Do it for the children.

Blog

This link may not make sense to everybdoy, but here's a link to the comic strip User Friendly about blogging. It's a couple weeks old now. Anyway, that's it for now. Until the next time.

hanford tri-cities asshole

An actual search hit from google. Sure all terms can be found on my blog, but for someone to look for that in particular? All I can say is "wow". Though I want more "adam brody shirtless" hits. LOL

Live from South Central

Well, it's more like central Richland if anything. Anyway, I thought I would give you all a little update to what's up with me.

I'm done with my internship so I'm looking for another job. Now I'm not limiting myself to the local area. I've opened it up for Seattle and beyond. Hopefully Seattle. While there's too many people there, it's not all that bad. Also lots of computer jobs up there in general. My big worry is moving from here to there, if that should happen.

We got one of our last major purchases on Thursday. And it's it swell. We got a new dance pad that has thick padding that dulls the noise created from jumping around on DDR. This pad also has a connection for a PS2, so when we do get a PS2 (and we will so we can get DDRMAX2) we'll be set for more dancing madness! But job first.

I've started to learn Japanese again. Now that I don't have the guilt of not doing my homework on my mind, I have all this free time. I've always wanted to learn Japanese so I could watch anime without English translation. And it will be useful when we get to go to Japan, at some point in my life. It's an interesting and difficult language and I'm going to work at it so I can move my tongue and mouth in the ways it needs to move. So, look forward to be hearing phrases from my mouth that isn't English and isn't quite Japanese. LOL

Ok, that's it for now. So, until next time.

Two Things

I'd rather be writing than working.

Second, I get a lot of email from various things I have signed up for over the years. Stuff I don't care about and things I direct to the spam box because....well, I can. Think Clinton here. Anyway, one of the things I signed up for was Reunion.com. Yeah, I signed up for that and classmates back before the reunion I didn't go to last year. So, just checking up on my email, I find a newsletter from the R place (said r com above) and in the subject is says the normal stuff you find from high school reunion places. Says 3 or 4 new members from my class or range of years, blah blah blah. But a new things shows up. It said someone was searching for me. 1 search. This perked my interest cause really, who'd be looking for me now? So I click through and ultimately learned that if I want to find out, I have to sign up. So, this is either a ploy for them to make me sign up or someone did a search for me. In any event, I'm not signing up. My interest has to be perked up by more than one search.

But a couple of weeks ago, while looking through my blog log (which is lost cause I forgot to copy before I put up the new design) I found that someone found my blog by searching by my name. This was on June 2nd. I certainly didn't do it cause I know where my blog is...for the time being. I could attribute this to submitting a resume a couple of days before and they were using google to find info on me. Which is weak. Seriously, if you have to google me to find stuff on me...well, I don't know what to say. Nothing about natural selection this time though.

Well, that's all I got for the time being. Oh yeah, I'm enjoying not worrying about school. It's soooo cool! I can just come home, cook dinner, clean up, veg for few hours and repeat work day the next day. Having every other Friday off is good too, though this next week is my last week of my intern. Time to go back to worrying again. *sigh*

A new look

I hope you aren't green with envy. :P

As you can see, my blog as turned a shade of green. It's not easy being green, so says one frog. However, I forgot to copy my links so don't be too angry with me. The links will be rebuilt within a few weeks, or when I have time. Which ever comes first. On a side note, I have signed up for a Gmail account. You can reach me at InvaderSil *at* gmail dot com. For those not in the know, remove *at* and insert @ and remove dot with a period (.). Also any extra spaces should be removed as well. I'd like to keep that spam free for a few weeks at least. If you do send me an email to that account, it might be a few days before I get to it. I'm not in the habit of checking yet. Give me time.

Well, I hope you enjoy the new look. Until next time.

Summertime Driving

Yes, summer is here again. How do I know it's summertime? A: Is it the warm to sweltering weather? B: Or perhaps the longer days and shorter nights? C: Or could it be some crazy event is happening every weekend? D: None of the above?

If you went with D, you'd be correct. The correct answer to this perplexing question is....the insurgent of crazy teenage drivers. Yes, every night is filled with stupid kids driving like they are in some NASCAR race. Stupid kids that can't look where the hell they're going before they pull out into traffic. As if there's enough stupid drivers on the road talking on their stupid cell phones, summer just gets worse by a factor of 20.

Driving to and from work is bad enough cause of Hanford area workers feel like since there's a 25 mile drive to their particular work area one way, they have the right to do 80 Mph in a 55. That's totally ridiculous. Now I have to contend with the sumertime antics of crazy teenagers who feel like since they are let out of their cage, they get to do 80 in a 40.

If you're a teen, all I ask is you pull your head out of the sky and look where the hell you are going. You're going to have a short life otherwise.

And if you're not a teen, but a driver who feels like they must use their Cell phone while driving...well, I don't know what to say about you folks. Other than may natural selection have mercy on you.