Before I forget

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!

It's Sunday morning. Do you know where your Paper is?

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.

New and Impoved

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.

A little off the top, please

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.

The Light has shined upon me!

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.

Ok, time for more meat

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.

YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

I got an internship at CH2M Hill today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I might be able to start as early as the 26th of April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Terribly Clear

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....

$100 for your short story

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.

One tough stuffed bear

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.

I WON THE FREAKING LOTTO!!!!!1111!!11

*sniff* April Fools...... *cries in the corner*

Perspiration...errr Inspiration Strikes!

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!

Just a reminder

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. :)

Thanks to Tania

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.

The tallies are in...

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? :)

The gods of Uno

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.

A stack of envelopes on my desk

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.

Making games of the future

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.

The life and times in a duplex

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.

• The man side mows the lawn. That's a big plus cause I don't have the time....read...lazy.


• The woman side is...umm..hot? Yes, that would be the term for it


• They are both really nice. They don't normally play loud music...maybe once a month.


• They cut us a deal on the rent and one month we were late and they were cool with it...I think.

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.