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.

The circle is now Complete.

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.

• 1 new mobo(motherboard) that supports SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives, USB 2.0, Firewire, and AC3 audio


• 1 AMD Athlon XP 2400+ CPU with fan


• 2 sticks of 256 Meg PC3200 DDR RAM


• 1 HP flatbed scanner

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. :)

Miracle of Life

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.

A fistfull of NULL

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.