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.
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.
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.
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*
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.
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.
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
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.
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*
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.
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.
When I last pulled out the guts of my computer, it was about 2000. Four years ago was my last major computer upgrade. When I left, I was an undergrad student. Now I am the graduate. I am happy to report that all is fine within the computer known as The Massive.
Here's the breakdown of what I got.
My next major piece of hardware will be a new video card. My current video card is a cast off from CV. I'm happy with it, it just doesn't cut the mustard any more. Specially when I'll be making the next gen computer games! In my next life. Anyway, that's what I got and I'm happy. :)
So, as of Wednesday, I am an official graduate of computer science, unofficially. I actually have to wait till August to make it official official, but I can look past that. There are a few things I'd like to share, nuggets of pure delight, that I have gleamed from my time at school.
First, your ass is indeed connected to your mouth. Yes, it's true. The biology book said so. Well, in not that direct fashion. I kind of summarized five or six chapters. Since the beginning of the time when I have thought about life, I had viewed it with some sort of mystery behind it. We are just alive thingeys walking about, doing stuff. I had the concepts of organs and stuff like that. And when I had to urinate, I just went. I didn't think about it, just did it. Now, after my year long biology lesson, every time I tinkle, I think "Gee, there goes some Urea out the ol' urethra. Good-bye Nitrogen waste, I'll miss you." Now, is that just depressing or what? Other mysteries included the mobility thing. How things move around. See, one neuron from the brain shoots a potential down to the motor cap on the muscle telling it to contract. It goes "YES, I OBEY!". The counterpart muscle "AHHHHHHH" while it relaxes. Every time I move, I'm thinking "Go neurons, Go neurons, It's your birthday..." Ad nauseum. The bottom line of this is that Life isn't so mysterious anymore. We are all big bags of water that secrete urea and use ATP constantly.
My next nugget of knowledge comes from the whole length of my time in the prison...errr school system. It is harder to barely get by than it is to make a conscience effort to actually do well. This last piece of wisdom was clearly appear to me just this last quarter. About half-way through the quarter, I stopped trying to do well and tried to just do. Meaning I only wanted credit. This will add new ulcers to your hole ridden stomach at the end of the quarter. This class was my last class. I needed the credit to finish off my degree. If I didn't get it, I would have shelled out another $350 for one class during the summer. Fortunately, another person is teaching that class. But fortunately, that was pre-empted with my 0.7 grade point. Yes. I totally suck. 0.7 gets credit at WSU and CBC. I didn't write the rules you know. I had worried for a week wondering if I did well enough, would I have to go back to CBC? It just wasn't worth sitting there, waiting, calculating an imaginary grade point. So, with that, when you go out there, just don't do your best, do more than your best because sometimes your best just doesn't cut it.
Well, that's enough insightful from me to last.....ummm....a week. So, until next time, enjoy the nacho platter.
So, as of late, I don't really have anything to post about. The trials and tribulations of school is almost over. That all I had to bitch and whine about. I'm almost a working man. I'm hoping that one of several resumes gets to the right place. I really do. Four weeks left in my internship and the gross reality of having nothing after that is on my mind. But other than that, I gots nothing.
I could post about cool games, neat stores I've been in, or even my daily mundane life. Maybe, just maybe, I'll start an underground comic about my life. That would be swell! Oh? Already been done? Damn. Figures. Always the last to dinner. Well, that's all I got. See y'all later.
Here's another installment of "What to watch on the Internet". Today's video is umm..filled with fighting bunnies. Yes, that's right. Fighting Bunnies. Watch at your own risk. Go Now!
So, yeah. Lots have happened in the last week or so. I finally did the walk down the red carpet at my graduation on the 14th. However, it seemed to take more time waiting to shake hands with school officials I have never seen before than the whole 11 years I was in college. Spooky, yes? So, I'm almost done. I just need credit in my last class. Believe me, that's all I'm aiming for now.
I'm really tired of Biology. It's memorizing without application. Also the worst smell that you could ever pssibility encounter while programming, ok there's two, is the smell of your computer catching on fire cause you tweaked it too much. The second one I mentioned is the BO coming from your coworkers who feel like they have evolved beyond the need for showers. Which can be pretty bad. But the smell of a dead pig you are dissecting stays with you. It gets in your clothes, your hair, it lands your skin. It's like smoke from cigars (and other smokable stuff). Biology is not for me. Nor will it ever be.
My internship that I have has turned into a hunt for data laying around in 10 year old data files. I'm pissed off because it's a manual job which has no hope of automating in the short time they want the data. I'm pissed because I spent a day and a half looking through the files only to be told after I thought was done that I got the wrong data. The data I was told to grab. But you know what? That's fine. If they want to pay the more expensive intern to do the grunt work, fine. I don't care. But it's about time that I start looking for a job for afterwards. *sigh*
So, until next time.
It may be new, but I don't see the improved yet. Well, really this is just a test post...nothing to see here. These aren't the droids you're looking for...move along...move along.
EDIT: Say goodbye to Haloscan comments. I'll sure will miss them.
EDIT: For Crying out loud, I can't quote from Star Wars anymore. I guess I need to watch again soon.
It's been about ten days since I've lasted posted. That beginning seems like something you'd hear from a confessional thing at some church. Which? I don't know and have little energy to go research it. If you know, please let me know.
I guess I'll cover the last couple of days. Starting with today. First, I mowed the back yard with my landlord's lawn mower. Once I get a stable income, I'll get my own lawn mower. My dad has a mower that has a power train, self-moving kind of stuff. $300 for it. It's pretty sweet. After mowing the lawn, I took a shower and ran some errands which ended with getting my nephew to play with Dave. We all then went to Dawn's parents for the first BBQ of the season. Steak and fish. Not bad. The steak was really smokey though. But free is as free does.
Yesterday marked the end of the first full (kind of) week at work. It pretty much included reading a bunch and playing cribbage. Well, I played a few hands on Friday and watched the rest of the time. I'm suppose to be working 8x9s but my class in the morning won't let me get all that in. They won't let me stay there at the office by myself either. I'm kind of annoyed. At PNNL, they give students at least 12 hour access unsupervised. Of course that's case by case. I had that access at PNNL. So I'm getting a great deal as I"m not working a full time schedule and doing hardly anything for the time being. I'm actually gonna be doing something that's kind of cool. My mentor seems knowledgable but talks a lot. But he's knowledgable about chemistry stuff and not so much on CS and that's cool. I imagine that he'll be looking for me to do some cool stuff.
Friday also marked the 30th which was the last day to enter that writing contest that I had mentioned a while back. This last week was a busy one for me and I didn't find the time to get it write more. It's an interesting story though and I'd like to finish it just to say I actually finished something in my life.
Thursday was Dave's first T-Ball game. He did pretty well. Both teams batted around 3 times and called it good. Which is fine for 5 year olds. It was kind of amusing at times trying to see the kids run the bases. Two of them on the same base, running when their coach told them to stop. But fun was had by all, cept at the very end.
Thursday was also the first annual (I hope) Games Day at WSU TC. It was something I personally started and more or less ran cept for the time I was at the T-Ball game. We had pizza. We had games. We had lots of fun. Though a word to the wise: Order lots of pizza for hungry college students. At all times we got pizza, it all went fast, like less than a minute fast. They had all circled the area like vultures, sensing that their prey was near. It was disgusting. But a lesson learned for the next time it's held.
The rest of the week went by without major events. A week from today, we had a yard sale. We raked in $300. I was happy because we had no money at the time and that allowed us to get groceries and gas. We also have less to move now. heh
I'm not sure what else to say right now. Oh yeah, in reference to the title, I got a haircut today. I didn't even go to the barber. I was actually getting tired of the crap I was getting. Anyway, that's it. Until next time.
Actually it was pretty random. But I found this site off the main blogger page. It's called Smoke and Mirrors and it has some great content about being an atheist including a link to this video aptly named "Kissing Hank's Ass." Ahh...yes...good times.
Yeah, so my last post was not very good. I apologize. It's just been a long time since I'd had a flow of money into my dirty hands.
So, I think I mentioned a few posts back that I should enter a writing competition. So far, I have about 1 page worth. I'd say it's about 20% done. It's starting out well. I have an idea for the middle. But the ending I would really like to have something different going on. Something unexpected. So far, I'm riding the cliche express to the ending. I'll hopefully think of something. I won't post it till I enter it though. I don't want to break any kind of vague rules.
So, until the end.
I got an internship at CH2M Hill today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I might be able to start as early as the 26th of April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After going to two job fairs in the last month, it is very clear to me that the Tri-Cities is not where it's at for jobs in making computer software. The local colleges temp you with computer classes and degrees. But once you're all done, they're laughing all the way to the bank. See, they know there's no computer software industry here. But they offer the classes all the same. *sigh* Another problem includes WSU just teaching theory classes based on Linux when the whole rest of the fucking world uses Windows. It's like "Thanks for all that great information, let me go apply it on something that will take me months to learn first." Here's a kicker, during the summer, they are finally teaching a class that has application in Windows. There's just no slack to be had with me.
As you probably know, I am but 2 months shy getting my degree in compute science. Now I'm in this limbo, ethereal place where I need a job, but minimum wage isn't gonna cut it and I can't leave the area until my degree is done. Of course, there's that ever popular chicken and the egg syndrome of to get a job, you need experience, but to have experience you need a job. I think I've said something about that before.
Over the years, I have watched my mistakes pile up. And of course, each mistake pointed me to where I sit today, in my sleeping attire, typing on my blog, inevitability missing my first class of the day. And slightly hungry. Of course I'm hungry not from a mistake, but from not eating this morning. Anyway...
The point being of this whole post is that the light at the end of my tunnel has shrunk exponentially to where I can see a small sliver of light using high tech light detecting technology. It's really dark right now and it just not fun. Yes, this will pass....
Well, not exactly, but it's something. At the community college I attend, they are doing a writing contest. The categories include Short Story-Fiction, Essay, and Poetry. The grand prize (why do they need a grand prize?) is $100 and $75 for first in each category. I'm thinking of writing a short story and throw it into the mix. With the amount of free time I have, I could easily get a short story out in before the final submission date, April 30th I believe. Writing is cool. But it's something I haven't tuned so I'm real rough. But what the hey. I think I'm due for some sort of luck...
So, as of late, I've been hitting up the internet for some decent viewing material. Yesterday I gave you Tedi. Today, I give you Ninjai: The Little Ninja. This series of animated shorts is the best series I have seen on the Internet. Period. Chapters 1 to 10 are out now, 11 and 12 are on there way, soon I hope. If you want to see what's the best little ninja out there, please watch this. And the best thing about it? They did all orginal music and it's GREAT MUSIC! While watching, I was sure that it had to be from some movie soundtrack. Nope, all original done by them, The Ninjai Gang. If you only have bandwidth to see one series of animated shorts, see this set. You'll like it. Oh yeah, probably isn't really be good for kids. That means you, David.
Yes, here's yet another short film that I found entertaining. It's simply called Tedi. As hosted on Atomfilms.com.
And I'd like to introduce you to my new site for my game related thoughts. Welcome to Game.this. The site isn't as defined Blogspot is, but it's a work in progress...I hope. Anyway, if you have any problems getting to it, let me know.
So, I was just sitting here, looking at the daily websites here at school and a thought came to me. I have the problem of not knowing what businesses are in and around the Tri-Cities. I'm sure there's a lot otherwise there'd be no reason to live here. If I don't know who sells products here, how can I know who I can work for? For jobseekers (like me), it's a big pain. But suddenly, I realized that I could look at the chamber of commerce for the area! Brilliant!
So, now I have this new avenue to look for CS type jobs. I've only been looking at PNNL and IT based places in the Hanford area. These jobs, of course, will disappear as soon as the cleanup ends or less people are needed. PNNL might last longer cause they are a big national research facility. Anywho, I've just scratched the surface of the commerce site. Hopefully there are other companies out there that actually do software and not just IT. It's not a catch-all solution cause a company that I applied to was not on the list. But a good portion of Tri-City area businesses will be in there.
So, there you have it. Now it's time to look in the commerce website and find a company that's looking for me!
There will be no DDR today due to illness and evil neighbors. But if you all want to just bring us food and then leave, that will be ok. :)
She gave me the rest of her birthday goodies! :) The green stuff was really yummy. A must buy the next time I'm in that neighborhood.
I passed bio with a 2.9 (way higher than I was hoping) and in math I got a 2.5 (just about right where I thought it would be). So this officially means I have only two classes left to finish my 10 year 4 year degree!! I start Animal Bio on Monday at a bright and early 8am at the Pasco CBC campus. That will be 5 days a week with a two hour lab on Fridays. This will last until the 2nd week of June. My other remaining class, Intro to AI, I struggle to not fall asleep in. The instructor drones on about stuff and he's not fully prepared to answer questions thus wasting huge amounts of time I could be sleeping. AI lasts until the first week of May. I can't wait for it to be done with. It's soooo boring!
While I don't actually finish school until June, they had said that I would be able to walk at the graduation ceremony mid-May. Which would be cool cause I am the first of my siblings to have graduated college with a 4 year degree. And I am the next in my family to do so since my Dad got his 4 year back in the 70's. Thus I break a huge dry spell of no degrees. It will be weird. I won't have summer school this summer. I probably won't have classes next fall (If I want to continue with my Masters degree, I have to take two more classes which are offered in the fall). All I will know (hopefully) is a 40 hour work week. I will become one of the many working slobs of the world.
So, on that note, anybody want to hire a newly graduated drone for your workforce? :)
Today, me and Dawn, and sometimes Dave, been playing Uno. We've been playing since a little after 11am. We typically play to 500 points each time we play. Most of the time it takes several days of playing before we get that far. Today, we managed to play to 500 twice. Here's the weird part. Dawn would call it the part where I cheat. I won both time. That's not weird though. It was the ratio of wins each time that was weird. I won twice as many games as Dawn each time. David was the "judge" for some games and he was taking Dawn's said that I was cheating. The reason was I was shuffling all the time so they both suspected I had altered the deck in some fahsion. Obviously that wasn't the case cause I was shuffling right in front of them each time. Probability just managed to shift in my favor for a few hands...that's it...nothing more!
The first game to 500 included almost every hand that I dealt to myself having at least 2 wild/draw 4's plus a selection of skips and draw 2's. It was crazy. The first game, needless to say, didn't last very long. I was over 500 points to Dawn's 84 points. In the first hand that Dawn won of the next game, she managed to get 90+ points alone! It was crazy!
I just want to say that I am not in league with the demonic gods of Uno. I do not make sacrifices of goat cheese or similar dairy products. I can only say I have decent luck playing Uno. Though I wish it would rub off onto one of my lotto tickets.
Tomorrow is the last day of the winter quarter over at good ol CBC. This really only means one thing: I have only 1 quarter left before I finally finish my 4 year degree. Yeah, I finally managed to get to the end of the long and ragged road that some people call college. But grades don't officially come out till the 24th. So I live in this limbo land until I officially find out my grades. In that bio class, I slacked a little in the lab portion. As we all know, lab is an easy 100%. That was the case more or less last quarter. Not so this quarter. While I could blame how the class was ran, I'll just say that bad management is to blame. Doing some calculations, I found I can pass the class with about a 80% on the final test. But considering how well I did on the test (I perhaps missed about 20 out of 156 and I did all the extra credit which is another 21 points) I fell very confident I'll get enough to move on and take the final class.
My math test is tomorrow. Doing the calculations there provided with a 65% to pass the class with a 2.0. And that's just fine with me. These last couple of sections are killers. The problems take too long to do. I feel like I can do better than a 65% but I'll take whatever.
After getting back my third Bio test last week, I really felt like I should have done better considering the amount of time I had over the course of the year. This led to the stack of envelopes currently on my desk. There's also a juniper branch here as well. I had some crazy idea that I could up my lab grade by actually doing the required work. I went out last Friday and collected a bunch of biological samples: mosses, hornworts, lichens, fuzzy plant, seeds, and some unknown plant material. Of the stuff I collected, I had to identify what it was, take pictures, and submit it. On Monday, I had a chance to identify the crap. However, it soon became apparent it would take far longer to ident what I had than the time left I had to do it in. The resources was not present in good enough form to give me quick searching. In the end, nothing was done. The envelopes remain my on desk, asking for the big bio heap in the sky. So, before I head off to my last math class (for a while I hope), I will set the poor souls free and give them to the large grey bucket of trash outside. Maybe I'll even say a few words. Maybe a hymm. But whatever I do, it will be a relief to see plant biology behind me.
So, the other day I was thinking about all the types of games out on the market right now. I could not think of a current release that didn't involve destroying something. The Sims came to mind but it's not really current any more and there are cases where you could put your sim in a room with no doors (Evil, you should try it sometime. It's liberating). Doing a quick check of the most popular games on Gamespot.com revealed two games that don't involve destroying things: WWE and MVP Baseball 2004. Both could be regarded sports games (WWE is more of a sport in video game form than in it's TV farce form). 1up.com has a similar list of top 5 games, all of which are games with some sort of destruction.
Some games has unrealistic destruction such as Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Mario Kart Double Dash. In the Wind Waker, the player controlled hero runs around swinging his mighty sword at goblins and other baddies, which disappear in wisps of smoke when destroyed. Double Dash has somewhat tamer destruction where as instead of non-player characters wisping aware, balloons are popped, the shine is stolen, or the vehicle is simply blown up in the air creating a delay for that character to return to the action. Of course there is the totally opposite side of destruction with ultra-gore, ultra-realistic chaos. The recent game Ninja Gaiden has the player spinning around, running along the walls, slicing the bad ninjas in half. This is of course with gratuitous amounts of delightful squeamish stuff. You know, blood, guts, arms flying off, heads rolling on the ground, etc...I think you get the point. Of course my favorite right now, Unreal Tournament 2003 where players run around "gibbing" each other. I can only hope that UT2004 will be just as much fun.
Now before you all get up in a huff about how right I am and those games should be banned, you need to hear my main point. I like to play fun games. All the games in the 2nd paragraph are all fun. All are engaging breaks from the real world. All I am saying is that there's a whole bunch of games based on the destruction of stuff. There just has to be something more out there. A new genre that hasn't come of age or a dying one that needs a giant restart. Of course the latter I'm talking about is the adventure game. The former...well, hasn't come of age yet so it hasn't been heard of yet.
In the past, I could not stand adventure games. They require too much thinking and as young boy, thinking was not high on my list of things to do that day. Playing games like Kings Quest, while entertaining with it's witty dialogue and somewhat "killer" graphics of it's day, was an exercise in futility. I could never beat the damn games. I preferred games like Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania, precusors to the current trend of "twitch" games. Now, I almost yearn for the days of a plot that's interesting and a game that requires thinking. It would at least be something different. However, getting new adventure games will be a huge challenge as the major companies of the past great adventure games like Monkey Island and Sam and Max are killing the new games in production cause of the list found on Gamespot.com.
Now, as a game designer wannabe, I'm really curious where the next generation of genre will come from. Does it exist already but needs some spit shine on it? Or does the technology that will spawn it years off down the road? One game that I really like, and I can't seem to stop talking about, is Dance Dance Revolution. It's basically a rhythm game where the player hits specific combos on a dance mat instead of a standard game controller. This is innovation on two levels: It's doesn't involve killing/destroying anything and it makes the player get in shape if he/she wants to be good at the game. The only draw back is that the first DDR was first released 6 years ago. It's still fun. Subsequent versions just include some new feature and new songs. Both are pretty good. Though because it's one of those games that's simple to learn, impossible to master, it's still an enjoyable time. Something I would enjoy looking into is combining the use of the dance mat and the new Eye toy to make a super dance game where you have to use your arms as well to hit markers on the screen through your imported body movements from the cam. Another direction I would love to see the dance mat move to is a game requiring movements like in DDR but translating them to a character on a screen having to hop around moving platforms. The simple mechanics would remain, it would be just mixing it up a little.
And there's always new technology that's pushing the direction of computer/video games that comes out every so many months. Our game world is always in dynamic flux. It's almost always a wait and see type of situation. I have other ideas I would love to pursue as well. But the night draws to a close and sleep is overcoming me. So, with that, I say goodnight.
I want to hate my landlord...really I do...but I can't. Right now they are playing loud music, loud enough to where I can clearly make out what's playing. I'd be more angry if they were playing crap music. But they aren't, so I'm only partially not mad at them. Now I present the reasons why I can't be mad at them.
Other things came to light just in the minutes while writing this entry about the LAN party event I went to this morning. I'm not happy camper right now. So, with that I will imagine I have a punch bowl of Romulan blood ale in front of me.
Today I was kind of unmotivated. Today is my long day for school. It should have been 11:30 bio, 12:40 math, 1:50 bio lab, 5:45 AI. But what actually happened was I played Return to Castle Wolfenstien for XBox from about 1 or so to 7. Yes, I know that I shouldn't be slacking at the end of the quarter. But really, I only slacked in one class, math. Bio wasn't required to be there. AI was simply putting me to sleep for the current topic. As for Math, as long as I get around a 70 on the last test, I'll be fine. Though that means some cramming between now and a week from Thursday. I guess I'm still in a funk about the current job market that I have waiting for me. Also our mod project probably won't have anything to show other than concept stuff. *sigh*
ok, well, perhaps tomorrow will be better. So, until next time.
While looking at my daily news site, I came across this silly little flash animation. It apparently came from Korea, somewhere. The animation style is very anime though. The story line reminds me of the Peppy Le Pue cartoons where he's always running after some cat. Anyway, I thought it was "cute". Enjoy!
It would appear I was in haste when I said DDR was on for this weekend. I have to retract and say DDR is not on for this weekend. I'm sorry for any umm...problems this might have caused. Please leave your hate mail on the comments. Thanks.
I know that we, the government and me, don't see eye to eye on every issue. But when it comes to giving money when it counts...I'm all for it! I just finished our taxes and we get to live for another month an a half. So, expect less whine and more cheese. Also, tomorrow I will make the trek to Kadlec to apply for a database analyst job. My chances of getting it are slim. I'm surprised it's still open considering how long it's been open and taken the job market. But I'm not being picky here. heh
So, because of this good news, DDR on Saturday will be a go! Though I haven't played for almost a week now. I've been busy moping around. lol So, that's it! Until next time.
I know there's a whole bunch of you wondering what I would look like if I was drunk...on Mars. Well, here you you go. Me, kneeling down, drunk...on Mars. Oh yeah, there's Mike and Beth in the background.
I like anime. I've liked anime since my early days in the early 80's when I was watching Star Blazers and naming our cats after the characters. Back then, I didn't know it was from Japan. It was just a great cartoon show that was on early in the morning before school. Or was it the afternoon? Really, all I cared was that it was way cool. The mid-80's brought the joy of Robotech to my bright young eyes. That show had it all! Action, big robots (they are actually termed Mechs, but what did I care back then?), and a story that mattered from one episode to the next. The third season, also known as the third generation, presented me and the youth of the United States the best piece of science fiction based machinery: the Veritech Cyclone motorcycle. This mech has been in many a dream since I saw that season. It's just soo cool! I thought so then and I still think so today.
I have been hooked on anime since then, watching whatever I can that is broadcast on the US channels. There are exceptions to my rule like I don't care for the kids anime that they play now. Stuff like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Beyblade, and Kirby (my least liked kids anime ever, it's worse than Barney) I rather not watch. Kids anime movies I tend to like such as Castle In The Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service are all fun to watch. The animation is superb to watch which is a major reason why I tend to go for dubbed movies. Until I learn enough Japanese to keep me going through the story, I'll have to stick with the dubbs.
Besides the great animation of series, there's one other characteristic that keeps me coming back for more. This characteristic is the music. A vast majority of the series I have seen include J-Pop songs as their themes. Now, as some of you know already, I'm a pop whore. Meaning I'll listen to most whatever is on the radio. And like it. The J-pop songs are just Japanese pop songs and well, I whore for them too. Songs that are featured at the beginning of Evangelion, Escaflowne, Record of Lodoss War, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, and Cowboy Bebop are almost always can be found in my playlists. I keep on hearing more great J-pop tunes in every new anime series/movie I watch. In the past couple of days, I have sought out more j-pop music and tuned my mp3 player to the streaming bits of a couple of anime music stations which you can find on Shoutcast.com. Though I don't understand any of the lyrics, it's very entertaining nonetheless.
I tend to like the anime that has some sort of sci-fi flair to it, be it a setting in the future or having huge mechs running around. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been watching the Neon Genesis Evangelion series over the last month or so. That story is based in the near future and it has huge mechs running around. Vision of Escaflowne is/was another favorite of mine, if I don't try to think about the last several episodes of it. There are mechs, but the setting is kind of mediaeval times. Though actually it's an alternate reality filled with magic and technology.
Once again, there are exceptions to the rule of mechs in the future. Ranma 1/2 is a great comedy with the main character switching from male to female at the drop of some cold water on himself. Now, how can you not find that hilarious? Inuyasha, from the same person who did Ranma, is another anime series (I actually haven't seen in about a year!) that doesn't revolve around future technologies. Inuyasha is a half-human, half-dog demon wanting this one magical jewel which will allow him to be a full demon. The setting is mediaeval Japan. A lot of the same elements can be found in Inuyasha and Ranma, which only seems natural. A movie that comes to mind that is based on real events that occurred during World War II is Grave of the Fireflies. That was a really sad story and could really compete with traditional films for content. Sadly, anime is still considered a cartoon for many an American.
There's still tons and tons of anime I have never heard of. There's tons still only available in Japan. They seem to only trickle over here. There are several more series that I do know about which I would love to watch, but those series are long and each DVD costs a good chunk of change. So, along with watching the rest of Evangelion, it will be a while before I get to view the joy that is Anime.
Yes, today we had to put a hold on our Netflix account on account of no money. This means I will not be seeing the last two DVDs and the two movies of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm kind of devastated because the events of the DVD I watched today has led me to drool and want them even more, the DVDs mind you. To tide me over, I went out found a copy of the theme song and got a desktop theme featuring the main characters of Evangelion. I'm hoping to win the lotto now to get my own copies. Or a job. A job will work too. Just some sort of income which will allow me to get more of Evavgelion.
It has finally happened. A sure sign of the end times. A fantasy movie has won best picture, about 27 years too late. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (or more simply RotK) grabbed the top honors at the annual award show in Hollywood along with 10 other awards. I was expecting RotK to sweep, really I did. Through from reading other opinion sites, I did not expect it to get the Oscar for best adapative screenplay. But it did. Also, I like to give kudos out to Sophia Coppola for getting the nod for best screeplay for Lost in Translation. I finally watched that the other night at CV's. I really enjoyed the movie. A must see for all you out there.
So, I was at the WSU Tri-Cities library the other day, cruising through my favorite section (the computer programming books, of course!) and I spotted a couple of books I donated to the library last year. I'm kind of weird that way. Every time I pass by something I donated, I say to myself "Yup, I used to own those books. Now the rest of humanity has a chance to benefit as I did." I think this, or something like this, to myself almost everytime I recognize something I donated. Anyway, I was passing through and I saw a book I had donated. It was a book on Game programming using DirectX 7 or something. I forget. Right next to that book was another book called "Game Design Foundations" by Roger E. Pedersen. I stopped and wondered to myself why the library would get this book cause gaming isn't something they're interested in. Didn't matter. I picked it up in all my excitement of having the chance to read yet another book on game design. I almost ran up to the check out desk, foaming at the mouth for this new information. I flipped through it and at first glance it seemed like a book worth of my time. Though, in reality, this book is really only worth the time of my trash can (which has mold growing at the bottom of it which I should take care of...soon)
So, that day I started reading it. The first couple of chapters gave the author's view on game design in general. Stuff like what game designers and producers are NOT and his principles of game design. My favorite principle was "KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid". Words to live by. After that, the book goes downhill. The chapter 5, Game Genres, is where some simple editing errors come to the fore front. His first miss is putting Baulder's Gate: Dark Alliance in the section for adventure games. For those of you not in the know, Dark Alliance is a console game for Playstation 2 (PS2), Gamecube (GC) and Xbox. It's basically a clone of Diablo, a hack-and-slash dungeon crawl. There is no adventure in this game as compared to something like the Monkey Island games from LucasArts. Adventure consists of thinking through puzzles. Dark Alliance was the killing of the rats and orcs and collecting of their treasure. I'm not saying that it was a bad game. I really enjoyed it. You can even play with a friend. I'm just saying that Roger didn't has his facts straight. This happened many times again in this chapter.
The next error was in his Role-Playing Game (RPG) section. He lists both Dungeon Siege and Neverwinter Nights as games for the console. I personally visited Gas Powered Games, the makers of Dungeon Siege, back in October of 2003 where they said they had no plans on releasing it on any console platform. Considering this book was published earlier in 2003, before the trip to GPG, chalk one up for another bad edit job. As for Neverwinter Nights, to my knowledge, it has not yet reached the consoles. It may not even get there. But I digress. There are other mistakes in this chapter that tells me that the author and his editor did not do their homework.
The next chapter he gives a list of game ideas and movies you can steal ideas from. True, a good designer can borrow from a previous idea and make it better. But the author didn't really say that. It was just a list of games and movies. He could have offered up suggestions on ways to change them for the better. Alas, he didn't. Next chapter moved into the subject of research. This was new to me. This was about the only useful information in the book. Why I didn't know before hand is beyond me. Maybe I knew but I didn't want to admit to myself that this book was full of crap. I mean, how would you feel if you spent hours of your time reading a book full of crap? Pretty smelly I bet. Anyway, he basically says to research as much as you can on your chosen topic as you can't really pull any fast ones on the players who might be playing your game. It makes sense. I just wished he heeded his own advice.
In this chapter, he tries to do reviews of several games. When I say he tries, it was an half-ass try. There was no consistency between reviews. One review might have a section on the good and the bad, the next review might just have a section on the good and the following review will just have a description of the game. The descriptions of the games were varied as well. He went into way too much detail about the weapons of some games and hardly mentioned any in another game. He also sometime gave the system requirement specs. But I think he only did that twice for all the reviews he did, 27 reviews in total. If there was any useful information within, it was cleverly hidden. I wonder if there's a secret panel on the spine of the book to reveal the secret to the information held within.
About the only useful information that can found in this book is the listing of software and websites that can be useful on the trek towards zen game design. He lists many audio libraries that you can buy as well, in the appendix. Ok, there's one more good thing in here. And it's chapter 18. It's not good because it's the last chapter in the book. It's good cause it has a complete game design document for a poker game. It's pretty complete as it has audio sound bite lines of each character, sample graphics of the players, and complete rules of each Poker game supported. That's a lot of useful information just for a poker game. I hate see the design docs for games like Beyond Good and Evil.
So, as of right now, I'm only about half-way through the book. I haven't actually read chapter 18 yet. I may never. I am really fed up with this book and I am really glad the library decided to shell out money for this book before I did. On the back of the book, it says that the level was for beginner to intermediate. I don't think I could recommend this book to anybody. Dead objects, like the trash can, I can whole heartily suggest for. Just beware. And that's my final word on this book.
The Tri-Cities, which include Kennewick, Richland, Pasco all of Washington State, has never been a happening place to be. Well, ever since I've moved here, 1979, it has never been the place to be. I can almost say that before 1979, it's was pretty much the same. There are the local festivals that I'm sure all towns of moderate size have. Our little claim to fame (if you happen to know what a hydoplane is) is the yearly stop on the hydroplane race circuit, the Columbia River Budweiser Cup, at the end of July. Over the years it's evolved to a hydroplane race/airshow. It's pretty boring unless you're into flesh sight-seeing. But it's not the only boring thing here. Most events here are like that. Though we do have the Hanford Nuclear reservation. (People on the west side of the state say we glow here) That probably is our main claim to fame. It's been here since World War II where some radioactive stuff was made for the second bomb dropped on Japan. Not something I'm proud of, but I couldn't really control where I lived when I was younger. Our local economy really depends on the cleanup effort of the whole site. One little positive in a sea of red. Though once the cleanup is all done, what's gonna support the flow of money? That's debatable and something I'm hoping I won't be sticking around to find out.
The Tri-Cities have grown over the years. We've got a decent THX theater about 6 years ago followed with a 12-plex with great sound and seating. No word on a digital projection setup. The latter is my preferred theater. We have a bunch of blaw, generic, stores like Best Buy and Circuit City. No variety is offered. If one has it, the other will too. We have some specialty stores though. Nothing to shout home about. If you really want a good selection, hoof it over to Seattle where you could probably find anything you would need.
During the summer months, it's gets hot. And it's dry. Then you bring on the winds. This leads to dust all over the place. It's really not fun getting the dirt and grit to come out of your nose. Fortunately for me, I don't have any allergies so the blowing stuff doesn't bug me at all. It's just the breathing, driving in, cleaning of it all. Though one good thing arises from this blowing of the sands.
After the blowing crap has been doing it's thing all day then we get a good rain, I enjoy driving on I-182 on a section between Pasco and Richland at night. Looking south, towards Kennewick, right after the rain has stopped is the best thing about living here in the Tri-Cities. You can see all three cities' lights. It's on these nights where you can see for miles and miles. The visibility is great and makes for the best view in all of the Tri-Cities. It's a very soothing sight. Though not too soothing as I'm driving all the time when this happens. I hate to space off and drive off into the medium.
These nights make it almost worth it to live here. However, they are few and far between. But priceless when it does happen.
Edit: Update
I had to fix some wording. I really suck at proofreading my own work.
That's right. It's that time of week again. Saturday is DDR casual. So bring on your cleanest socks and get ready for the time of your life! Well, at least the time of Saturday. So, if you're cool, I'll see you tomorrow.
I just realized that I haven't posted anything about DDR since last Wednesday. That's terrible! How will you, my loyal readers, know about my mad skillz? Let me get you all up to date. The days before Radcon, if I had time, I just did the workout regiment of about 45 minutes. I like it that I can bound up stairs like a kangaroo and not like a three toed sloth. I just need to cut down on my food intake. I'm still hovering about the same weight at which I started at. But, that's ok. Today, I went for a little over 2 hours. I did the workout thing and I wasn't too tired so I went on to Game mode to see if I could raise my score on some of my favorite songs. And I sweated....and I sweated some more. Boy, did I ever sweat. You could fill a whole resivor full of my sweat. I'd call it Lake Keith and fill it with my favorite fish. Then I'd charge people to go fishing for them cause the fish would be good eating.
The point of my little story is that I practiced lots today. I'm beginning to see some wear and tear develop on the dance pad. Or it's just my imagination. The left arrow sometimes doesn't not fire correctly. Sometimes I will step on it at the right time and I will get a boo for that step. Doing a little eperimentation, I discovered that it might be better if I had a hard surface underneath the mad so there's better contact. Oh well. We shall see what will really need to happen. So, that's about it for right now. Until next time.
My RadCon activities, a report by Keith.
The highlights of the Con pretty much only included playing Munchkin. I played a couple of complete games and learned to be dirty. I may be a big target the next time I play with them. *EG* The first day/night, Beth and myself just wandered around and played Munchkin. I bought my own copy of Munchkin which we played the next day. We went to the opening ceremony which included belly dancers and a one act play. The play was pretty good. It was basically Romeo and Juliet on Jerry Springer. The belly dancers were good too. Not something you'll find on Star Search any time soon though. I do remember this one fellow that was sitting right next to us, one of the guests of honor, say that they sucked. I guess being a guest allows you to be an asshole. Later that night, we got with Beth's friend Mike and his friends. So, we wandered around till the wee hours doing the party scene. I had a few drinks, two I think. We wandered some more but didn't find anything else going on. We both eventually went home.
The next day began with me getting there a little after 10am and I started off at the armor demo. I saw two people hit each other with swords. It was humorous at times as the little one was always wacking the other guy in the head. I left and came back a little later. There was suppose to be a scaled down robot wars going on, but no one registered so it didn't happen. I was sad. But went back to happy because I played Munchkin right after that. I finally ran into Mike, Beth, and Cameron. Cameron didn't see all that interested, so him and Mike went home while Beth and myself played more Munchkin. Jeremey showed up a little later and I showed my true nature at Munchkin. *eg* Some other notable mentions of the afternoon included a little demo on Green Screen (was boring, from my POV) and some more Munchkin.
The night brought on the parties. The first drink I had was a Romulan blood ale at quark's bar (USS Rubicon little party room). It is easily the most powerful drink I have had. I normally take at least 5 or 6 Bacardi Silvers/Raz/O^3 to get me going. I was going new the middle of this drink and, as Mike has said about the same drink, I was on my way. Other highlights of the evening was a Fetish Fashion show (not really fetish, but the person at the beginning said we all have our own definition), standing in line for a Slave auction, standing in line for the Waste (a powerful drink, so I assume) which we didn't get because they ran out.....the bitches, and going to the Mardi Gras room. I got some more drinks at the Mardi Gras room. One guy bought me one. I found out later he bought a lot of people drinks. I should have hung around with him lol
Now, I was with Mike for a some parts of his bead giving away and I myself got some beads, but I bought mine with intentions to give them away. I still have them. I tried to offering them to many. None accepted. Now, I kind of feel bad that I actually went through that. While, I didn't give away any of my own beads, I was around when others were giving them away. I guess freebies if you'd like to call them.
My evening ended with leaving everybody at their room, getting ready for bed or already sleeping. By that time, I was feeling more tired than anything else so I went and got a slice of pizza and drank some more water. I left just a little before 2am.
So, that was my first real full weekend at RadCon. Some of the things I would like to see different is an area set aside for free gaming. As it was, I had to quit two games because the tables we were using were being used for an official thing. So, that sucked. Also, their damn website was never updated. All the good cons have schedules and whatnot on their sites long before the actual con. Maybe next year, the chairman of the con will be better....That shall be determined though.
So, two posts in one day. That's a lot of crap. So, until next time.
That should really say Jobless in Richland, but really, who really cares? Anyway, when I say jobless, I refer to myself. When I had my hopes raised in August, when I was still working at my internship at PNNL, this really didn't occur to me, being jobless that is. I finally had a job over the summer and they told me that they would be able to pick me up till at least June of 2004. I was stoked! But then weeks before their fiscal year was gonna end, the project manager came up to me and told me the news. The budget that gets approved by congress hasn't been approved yet. So, what's new? Then she goes on to tell me that some upper management dude (I don't recall his name as his name was the last thing on my mind at the time) said that they need to let go all the students working in the groups he managed. So, long story short, the cycle of borrowing money, not paying things on time began anew. So, here I sit today.
In about two weeks, the last of my money from financial aid will run out. The money should have lasted longer, but I was busy using it to pay for stuff I missed in the previous months. That's also another nasty thing in the cycle. Using money to pay for the future to pay for the past.
I know you are all going, "go get a stupid job, dumbass. sheesh" And, I think we all know that's easier said than done. I could go get an minimum wage job but it simply won't cover all the bills I have per month. "Dumbass, you shouldn't have all those bills in the first place." True, there was a time when I could have deviated from my normal trend of spending money to the conserve mode and I wouldn't be in as deep as I am now. But, woulda, coulda, shoulda. I can also hear the comments "But at least you'll have some money coming in." Some might as well be none. Also, I'm essiatially going to school full time right now, at least until the middle of March when I drop down to two classes. And, of course that's another problem. I may not even have any money to pay for the tutition for my last class. My last class for my BA in Computer Science. And I won't be able to pay for it. I always love getting right up to my goal and having it snatched away and hearing a booming, evil laughter in the background. But back to the full time thing, to work full time at a mini-wage between the times I have to be at work and attempt to do homework isn't feasiable. "Yeah it is, fooking dumbass" Shut up you! *bitch slaps voice in head*
So, I guess I'm just whining about myself here. I'm hoping that some my contacts back at PNNL will hear of something. Or I can hope for a winning lotto ticket. Or, even better, I can go find me some Romulan blood ale, with gummy worms, and forget all of this.
Just a little blurb. As some of you know, I am against the outsourcing of all American based jobs to oversea countries. I have no problems with the countries that they are being outsourced to. That's not the issue here. It's the issue of the American businesses wanting to exploit cheap labor in those countries at the expense of local employable people here in the States. It's all about the profit for them. They say it's good for the economy. And really, it makes sense. For the time being. But in the long run, it will hurt us.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out that the issue has finally become political with some report that was recently released where the top economic advisor to Mr. Bush, Junior I'll call from here on out for the rest of my time here, said "offshoring" was good for the economy. I've only seen this report today on the morning news programs, I think even on CNN. I can't remember. There's soo many "news" channels now. Anyway, I don't have a link to anything concrete about it. But I saw it on TV so it must be true. heh On those same programs, they are saying that both Junior and the advisor are backing down from that statement. Which is laughable. guffaw even. Though I can't a link regarding that exact story, I did find this story about a software tester who was told to train her Indian replacement or don't get a severance package. OMFG That so burned me up! The company is Watchmark-Comnitel. Don't ever work for them. They are evil. And really fucking stupid. "Here, we're gonna fire you but before you go, train your replacement or you don't get this not-even-good-enough severance package. Buh-bye!"
ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!
This trend needs to stop now or some dire consequences might arise. Some might include: After years of involvement in offshoring, American businesses finally pull their head out of their ass and start killing contracts to their outsource country. The outsource country's government gets up in arms, figuratively at first, about how the US business is killing their prosperity or some shit like that. They get angry at Americans (what's new). Extremists take up arms, literally, and start blowing stuff up. Disclaimer: This is a very extreme case, but being the type of guy I am, it's a reality that must be looked at. Please take this with a grain of salt.
Ok, this is really my last post before RadCon...really. I swear to the Munchkin gods. BTW, (see previous post on BTW) Munchkin is a card game and that is where my reference is from. And I hope that someone will be playing it at RadCon. Please...puhhhleeeaaazzzze.
Tonight, we had another game development club meeting. A few new people showed up, the end total was still about 8 or 9 people. All the pizza was eaten. Progress seamed to have been made. Assignments of different things were given out. Mostly club officers including myself. It just seems like that's all is interested in doing the game. I dunno though, I don't feel like I'm being an effective leader. It is my first time at leading a large non-class project. The Vice President has done something like this in the past, so I do look to him for guidance. He was saying we were looking at too much detail and needed to back up a little to make sure we see the whole picture. He seems like a project leader to be sure. Anyway, I just want a fun game at the end of all of this. We have a project milestone on March 13th where we have a joint LAN party thingey. A showoff of what we have got going.
Welp, I'll be busy or getting busy at RadCon for the next few days so, until next time.
Castles in the sky is perhaps the most danced to song on DDR, well, when I'm playing it. It was the first one I started out on. That's right, I skipped the slow ones and went directly to the not so slow ones. I'm that BADASS! and a bag of chips. I've been praticing other songs as well. I few I don't remember the names. Last night, I just started to add a little "spice" to my dancing repitore. I'm attemping to do spinning jump combos where I turn my whole body around. Yup, I'm that BADASS! and a bag of chips. I actually got a D on a standard song, but it wasn't hard on light. Still, practice is the key here.
Welp, I have one more test this week, Bio tomorrow and then RADCON, finally. I think I'll wear a mask so Bruce can't find me. *EG* BTW, (BTW = by the way) EG = evil grin. And then and only then will I be able to enjoy myself to the fullest. Sope, until next time.
So, it's kind of official now, unofficially. The first Star Wars trilogy will be out on DVD September 21st. So like YAY! I saw a little blurb about it on Slashdot. I've heard rumblings about it for a few weeks now. Ok, it's actually official. Check StarWars.com for the official word not on the street.
Anyway, it will appear to be the Special Editions. Though reading closely at the official release statement, it actually doesn't say anything about the movies being the Special Editions. I guess that first posting had information regarding that. I can't verify it because it was slashdotted, or simply loaded down with too many slashdot readers.
Ok, back to the DVDs. I was reading in the comment section underneath the star wars story on slashdot and discover that lots of people still hate the fact that Han shoots second in the special edition of A New Hope. And if one were to go by the comments, they will not be buying the DVDs. I, for one, didn't like that whole scene. It looked totally cheesy and did not belong in the movie. It was way out of place. I mean, come on! It was a god damn still frame with a damn laser shot drawn over the top. It was ridiculous. All the other updates were computer generated, why couldn't they do some computer magic there? If they were gonna have Greedo shoot first, they could have made it look better than what it did.
And now back to the people complaining and saying they are not going to buy the DVDs: That's a load of crap too. First of all, they will buy it and still be hypocritial later, hiding their copies. Second, someone was saying the ballot box is our checkbooks or something like that refering to that people won't buy what they don't like and effect the bottom line. Welp, I hate to tell ya, but there are far too many people who don't care about one scene to not buy Star Wars on DVD. Period. And besides, George has said he'd make the movie the way he wants them to be made, painfully evident in episodes I and II.
So, this was just some rant about Star Wars DVDs. So, stay tuned for my next rant about something.
So, it looks like I'll be heading to RadCon this year. I'm hoping that there will be stuff to do this year. Maybe I'll be able to get into a game of Munchkin or something. I went to the very first one some 13 years ago and have been back maybe 3 or 4 times since. The first time was ok. I paid to much too get one of my minatures painted and it was the first time I played Axis and Allies. I actually talked to people there too. This was amazing in itself. I don't think anybody who reads this knew me 13 years ago, when I was just 15. hmmm I might have been 16 cause I remember driving there to it. Anyway, I did talk to a few guys who lived in Oregon or someplace like that. It was fun. It was one of the events that spead me along to my current geek status. The first major event was Star Wars when I was just 2 1/2 years old. But that's another story for another time when I've had more to drink than I should.
Back to RadCon. I discovered today that the "Hair God", Bruce himself, will be on hand at RadCon as part of the staff at the Red Lion. Some sort of supervisory role. I feel sorry for him. I really do. Though he told me that they will get a good laugh come next Monday when they will watch the tapes of people in the halls. So, now I may have to be my ol, self-contained person again, knowing that Bruce might be watching me at any given second while I'm there.
There is also this other quandry that I find myself in. See, every year, RadCon happens on President's Day weekend which is pretty much in the middle of February. Though there's this other "consumer-day" on the 14th, which this year is on the Saturday of President's Day weekend. So, now you know my quandry. I'll get through it. I'll probably will be beaten several times between now and next Monday. But I'll live. Though if I haven't posted anything by Tuesday, call the cops!
So, hopefully until next time.
Ahhh yeah! You gotta love Zim!
Well, today has been kind of ho-hum. It's laundry/homework day. I've been doing both since about Noon today. I have a calc test tomorrow. Gonna be a pain in the ass if there are any integrals in any of the problems. I hate integrals. Only because I don't remember how to do them. *sigh* The next chapter has stuff I've already covered so it will be a good review. I still have one more section to cover. Probably tomorrow before the test. Right now, I'm just gonna get a grade to just pass the class. I have other things to worry about, like not having a job. *double sigh*
You might have been wondering what happened to the "day *some number*..." titles. Well, they were boring. Yup...can you believe I was boring? Someone take me out back and smack me around with the umm...non-boring stick? And while you're at it, smack me around with the creative stick too.
And on that note, it's time to see if my brain is able to absorb any AI text book readings. So, until next time.
Well, what can I say? Casual DDR Saturday went over very well, I think. More people showed up and a big ol thanks goes out to you all. You know who you are. I had intended not to serve food, but we went ahead anyway and got some make your own pizza stuff. Also a big thanks to CV for suplying half of the fundage for that. That was much appreciated. As much as I would like to do it again next weekend, alas I must say no. RadCon is next weekend and I'll be going. Yes, a big surprise to be sure. Maybe I'll actually do something there this year. In any event, Casual DDR Saturdays will convene again in 2 weeks. See ya there!
Welp, I gone and did it. Make no Opps about it, again. Yup.
Anyway, this is a little note to say that we will be starting up Casual Dance Dance Revolution Saturdays! Casual meaning I will not be preparing fine foods. Casual meaning come as you are. And casual meaning it will be lots of fun! So, I think Dawn had said we should do it from 4:30pm to about 6:30 to 7pm. So, if you want do some some casual stuff, wink wink nudge nudge, come to our Casual DDR Saturday get together. Party. But casual. Comment, email, phone us for more information.
This is a video of a guy, apparently on the home shopping network, showing the durability of a pratice sword. And this is exactly why I only purchase practice swords that were lovingly made by hand, from blood, sweat, and tears.
Update:
Actually that was the Shop at home network. my bad.
Update the second:
I changed the URL after looking around on the site it's hosted on and discovered a polite message to not link directly to video. So, you have to go indirectly there. Please don't burn me at the stake!
Update the third:
It would also be helpful to tell you that the video is the Public service anouncement just a little down the page. Enjoy!
Ok, this is a self-decribed title, but it certainly fits my performance last night. Contrary to what other bloggers might have to say. Actually was a fun time last night. Lots of food to be had, food made by me. heh Katie, next time I'll skip the chilies. I would like to do it again sometime in the future. Or maybe just casual DDR thingeys. I'm all about the casual stuff. Sope, until next time.
That's right! It's that time of year again where we will be hosting the Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix Dance Off Championship Preview! Ok, this will actually be the first time we will be doing this and it's actually won't be a competition. But we're inviting anybody who wants to come over tomorrow at say4:30ish pm to enjoy an afternoon of watching people try to dance to pumping bass beats! We know of a few slow songs to get you started and then maybe you can move into the quicker steps and finally mastering songs that have 209 beats per minute! I canna even do that yet. Give us a call or drop an email to let us know you might drop by for some dripping action. It should be a fun time had by all!
If it wasn't so late right now, I'd be doing just that! Damn! I want a house with no neighbors within 10 feet in all directions! Oh well. It will come, one day. I found a really fast song to dance to. I forget the name of it, but it's easy, but yet fast. I got a decent grade on it the first time I tried it. I like songs that I can get a decent grade the first time on. On some of the songs, there's these combos where you have to get the corners of the mat at once. In the first songs I saw that in, I couldn't do it. I couldn't figure out how to move my legs in the direction I wanted them to go and because of that, there was no way to set myself up for the next beat. However, I did find a song that was slow enough to let me practice those wiley corner combos. Now if I can only remember what it was called.
I have some news that I'm hesitant to say anything about. It's still being worked out and it may not even happen. So, I'll leave it at that. One day I might have a story about I had big news that I didn't tell anybody. Wow, now that's would be a great short story. I'd call it, "Big news, Small brain" or somethig like that. Err, maybe not.
Welp, that's it for tonight. We have this guy coming over at 10am tomorrow to asses the property value for the landlord. Wheee.
Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix that is. I just got that today for the Xbox and boy is it addictive. I played 2 hours straight at least! So far my best score on a song is a C. I'm just average. *sniff* And that's on the easist settings too! So, I think I'll be moving ahead my goal of weight loss a little. heh Here's some testimonails about losing weight with DDR. Ok, that's enough. Time for some more DDR heh
Ok. I'm really really really really pissed right now. I'm getting the run around at the WSU pullman campus regarding my MIS minor. The good business advisor of the east is gone for 5 months. Replacing her is some troll-orc halfling thingey saying I still need one class. Though, her little peanut sized brain is not grasping the fact I have these classes already. So, I'm waiting to talk with the local advisor here. Hopefully it will get turned. But if I need to, I'll do some sort of test showing I don't need the stupid ass class.
In other school related news, I'm pretty caught up. Not too far behind in math anymore. Tomorrow should place me even. Two test on Monday. A true/false in Intro to AI and your basic math test in Calculus.
Well, that's it for right now. Until next time.
So, I've been walking a lot since I started back at the CBC campus. I'm having to walk from one corner of the campus to the other. It might be even further as it would seem that the place that I park at that used to have lots of empty spaces had none today. But that's ok cause the overflow parking is right nearby. Anyway, I'm walking a lot. And my calves are feeling it. Yes, moo calf, moo. It's pure fun walking upstairs. But it's all for the good.
I actually did some math sections today. Finally finished up (sort of) the first section and started on the next section. However, my algebra is off as the book is listing the answer as one thing and I'm getting something different. I'll take another hack at it tomorrow morning, when my head isn't swimming.
I took a can of the soup-at-hand from cambells today for lunch. Only 80 cals. And surprisingly, it filled me up, along with my chips and salsa. Not a bad little lunch. And far cheaper than subway.
I'm pretty proud of myself. I did homework against the better judgement of my swimming head. I'm keeping the focus. I just need to catch up. Welp, so until next time.
This morning I read two chapters in my bio book. I had coffee too while reading. I'm prepared for lecture for tomorrow. Last lecture, the instructor kept on grilling everybody on things that she thought we'd know. I was thinking that it was from last quarter. Normally, I would have read the chapter before going to class, and I did. Cept that she decided to press forward to the next chapter, one I haven't read yet. The questions she asked I had thought came from last quarter was actually in the chapter I didn't read. But it's not my fault! I didn't know she'd cover two chapters in one day. Anyway, I finished reading that chapter and the next. I think we have a test on Thursday. Tomorrow I will begin studying for it. A bunch of things to memorize. The biggest reason why I hate Bio. And undergraduate studies in general.
Following bio book reading (say that fast and you might get bible book reading), I broke down the cardboard for the recyling bins and got it ready for our trip that occured in the afternoon. Pretty much a successful morning, if I'd ever saw one. heh Though, just before we left, I got a huge headache, I suspected it was cause by the overdosing on coffee. I took some excederin which normally works in like a half hour or so. But the headache wouldn't go away. So, later in the afternoon, I made more coffee. I poured it into my big extra large Gas Powered Games coffee mug. For us computer folks. Anyway, I drank it all. Still, my headache remained. I cotemplated taking my contacts out and taking a nap. But I didn't. I tried to do some math homework. Well, I did a few problems at least. Tomorrow morning I plan to do some more over some....wait for it....Coffee.
The headache is gone now. I'm gonna to write out a few things I want to say at my next game dev meeting. That's a whole 'nother can of beans in itself. So, I'll see all you fine folks tomorrow.
This is the first goal listed, for good reason. It is something I want to do for a long time coming. Games are interesting, challenging, and like, movies and the theater, can change a person's view on life. This goal came about from the desire to make games that are better than what is available now. This was more than ten years past though. I'm still not to a point where I can create a game better than what is currently available. I could blame the ever changing technology trend. I could say that making a game in the early 90s pre-DirectX was like forging a fine piece of jewerly from a lump of coal. Both are the whining of an undedicated man who deserves no cheese. Wine, cheese....get it? Nevermind....
So, the path to creating games has been littered with unread books, untested knowledge, and a long list of college classes that have no meaning. So really, a bunch of time wasted. I'm still along that path to the goal of creating great games though. As varied and widespread as it is. Here are a few of the milestones that I will use set my path straight to the goal I want to be at:
In the previous post, there is a link to articles on how to motivate yourself and/or others. There within was the suggestion of creating a "due date" for your goals or they are just dreams. There are only two definite dates in the milestones above, daily focus and the end of the quarter for calculus. I've also heard of story about Jim Carey and how he wrote himself a million dollar check just before he came to Hollywood. He post dated the check for some amount of time, I forget how long, but he managed to cash that check by the time on the check. I can see the sense in doing this. So, with that said, here is the time that I will give myself to achieve this batch of milestones:
3 years
There you have it. 3 years from today, January 18th 2004. Using the daily focus goal, I will achieve this. Please keep track of this to chart my progress.
Doing a quick search for how to get motivated, I came across this site with some articles that seem to ring true. You may go over them in your spare time. Della's Advice I've read a few articles. Truth seems to pour from them. The search continues....
I am but an immovable boulder in a water furious with action. I am but a stationary slab watching the raging water flow around me. Small pebbles scream past in the flood. Pebbles moving fast to their goal, smoothed at the end.
Yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about either. Actually, it's kind of simple really. It's a metaphor on how I seem to moving no where fast, filled with too many goals to actually achieve to move in any one direction. The pebbles are those that have clearly defined goals and move in the river of life, not resisting, only getting more beautiful with time, eventually ending up on some river shore. I feel like a big ol rock (and look it). Though I may have goals, they are not clearly defined with no direction associated with them. Let me list some of my goals that I can control:
Each of these items have a path that all lead in different directions, though some might have a common path at the beginning. I find it very difficult to be in all places and achieve all goals. But you are going, why don't you just accomplish one goal at a time? That seems like the most logical choice, dumbass. True, that seems like the most logical choice. However, my mind is untrained. I tend to flutter between projects, creating one, abandoning another, wishing I could do the next thing. Thus, I have many things I have started and left for dead. I can see another goal here I can add to the list: Achieve goals, one at a time. Something I can control, for the most part.
Change is the hardest thing in life. In order for me a become that smooth pebble at the end of the long journey, a change in attitude, in outlook, in being, is needed. What to start on first? Realizing that what I am doing now effects what I do later. Possibly a good way to see this is making a path for each of my goals. Also, it won't hurt to think of what you need to be doing as what you want to be doing. Case in point, I need to be doing my homework for math. The need is simply for the grade. However, the want is connected to the desire to create games as computer games rely heavily on math. So, that will be my starting point, as all pathos have beginnings and endings.
So, there you have it. My ramblings about my life in general. This just might be my craziest, but true, post ever. I'll be sure to keep you posted inbetween my other insights.
Yes, it's Sunday again. Meaning? Just another week of my life has gone by...again. Time flies when you're lazy. Time flies even faster when you are actually doing stuff. I'm several sections behind in my math class. However, I'm pretty much right on in my readings in my other two classes, Bio and Intro to AI. I just haven't been able to figure out a good homework schedule yet. Yes, I know....just an excuse in this sea we call Life.
Welp, I really don't know what to say here, so until the next time I have nothing to say.
Well, now that it is out of my system, time to post about Return of the King.
ROTK was a great movie.
Come back next week where I will do my review on Stuck on You. Here's a little taste: "It was great...."
Nude Stick Figures. Please be warned, this is for the "over 18" crowd. Please be responsible.
You represent... apathy.
You don't really show any emotion. You can be
considered cruel and cold, but you just don't
really care about anything. This is just the
way you are... you're quite a challenge to get
close to, and others may perceive you as
boring.
What feeling do you represent?
brought to you by Quizilla
I'm actually happy about this one. hehehe cause it's true!
Ok, I'm a little miffed that my comments have gone away. Its not like I memorize that code. Damnit! Ok, so I'll be commentless for a while. Hell, I might even start using CV's little slice of Internet. Too much work!
I wonder if my title is a little redundant. Let me explain. In close knit computer circles, the exclamation mark is also known as(AKA) the bang. I don't know why and nor will I be spending hours researching the history of it either. Just let it be known.
I just moved a portable heater down here so expect less typos. It's freaking cold you know. Ok, enough with the boring dribble. Lets get to the good stuff!
Lately, I've been reading a book about the plot of a good portion of stories that have a hero element. The book is called The Writer's Journey. The author, one Christopher Vogel, basically takes another book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, and rehashes it. Actually he takes the contents and applies them to the screenplay. I haven't read the second book, but I will someday.
In any event, both books go about telling each point of the journey of the hero. It would seem that many a movie use this format. From Beverly Hills Cop, to, my favorite, Star Wars. Good ol George L. read the second book many moons ago and applied the hero structure to the first Star Wars film. It was interesting to see how closely the movie followed the hero structure. I should say that this wasn't any ol hero structure. It was the basic backbone found in most myths, as you all probably knew because of the numerous documentaries you have seen on Star Wars.
But now, if you've gotten this far, you're wondering why I read this book. Well, as some of you know, I want to become a game programmer/designer. One day while reading a blog from some guy in the game industry (which will remain nameless, but can be found at the bottom of list of links) I stumbled across a list of books he recommended reading if you want to get in to game design. I saw it and decided that I would read it. I found a copy in the WSU library network of great libraries (it came from George Fox University in Newell, OR) and I started reading it. These past couple days of school cancellations helped in the speed of finishing it. I am nearly done with one chapter left. It has been an eye opener to say the least. Before, the subject of theme, motivation, metaphor, motif, insert your favorite literary tool here, were just the subject of high school english. NO MORE!! It is painfully apparent that I need to learn some more before I go about creating the next best seller!
Oh yeah, for those of you who keep up with my Seattle Seahawks craziness, they loss last weekend in a close one. A really good game. The only turnover made by either team resulted in the touchdown that won it for Green Bay. So another year goes by with Seattle needing another year to think about things. Lets all hope for a successful season next year.
So, until next time...
Well, my two month anniversary is fast approaching. Two months of keeping a blog. Can you believe it? It's been quite the ride. I know the next two months will be just as good.
Lately, I've been having dreams that I am actually able to remember. It's kind of nice to live my second life in my head at night. It's certainly more interesting than what I'm capable now. Dreams are interesting though. I don't remember many dreams. The one that I still remember from my childhood was more of a nightmare. In fact, most of the ones I remember are nightmares. They also tend to relate to the current going owns in the world. For example, the dream that I mentioned above I had just about the time of the eruption of Mt. Saint Hellenic. And, as you might have guessed, the dream had to do about volcanoes. Some of my other dreams include nuclear holocaust. Because of those dreams, I was afraid of Air Raid sirens. Nothing like hearing those things go off while you are in northern Montana during the mid 80s, on the 4th of July no less.
I keep on telling Dawn that she should write down her dreams into screen plays so I....err we can make lots of money on them. She just doesn't understand how talking bears out for revenge would make a great movie! Millions I tell you!! I just had a dream the other night that I thought I would write down. However, it seemed kind of cliche. Kind of like most movies/TV shows/books. Well, maybe I'll do a little outline or something so I don't forget it in the time I'm working on my multi-million dollar games. lol
Just a reminder for you crazy NFL fans. Wildcard weekend is this weekend. And more importantly, the Seahawks play Sunday at Green Bay. Everything I've read so far is that Seattle is gonna get trounced. We will see though.
Well, so until next time...
Why hasn't there been a book called "How the Grinch stole New Years?" I'd buy that book.
