Once or twice a year, I go to a convention. A sci-fi/fantasy type of convention is my preferred setting. I have been known to go to a work related convention (which can also be fun). In years past, I've been mostly to Radcon over in eastern Washington. I recall going to one of the first ones when it was still over in Richland and I was just old enough to drive myself. No parents! Yay! That first con was underwhelming to say the least. I probably didn't know what to expect and came away with an empty feeling. I didn't go to another for several years.
The years have gone by and I added the convention to my existence. It's been normally a annual thing. Up until 2008, it was Radcon. As of this year, it is Norwescon. Oddly enough, the two conventions are kind of same. Norwescon is the bigger of the two but they are both literary types of conventions. Both hosts a multitude of authors in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Radcon has a more science bent to it. Norwescon has the annual Philip K. Dick awards. Both are filled with costumes, room parties, dances, and many new friends. I felt at home at Norwescon and saw many people from Radcon.
The cons are generally a good time. So good I would like to add another convention to my list. There are lots to pick from. Some even local. PAX, a all game type convention, happens Labor Day weekend. Sakura-con is an anime/manga/Japanese con that, unfortunately, happens the same weekend as Norwescon. There's Dragonflight which is a table-top game con during the middle of August. There are a lot more smaller cons, too many to mention but I will point you in the right direction, and many more cons that happen in other places of the US and/or the World.
I would love nothing more than to attend each and every one of them. Of course, I have not found those winning lotto numbers yet so all cons shall remain a pipe dream. Though it is conceivable to add at least one more con. In 2010, I will kind of do that with the insertion of an unschooling conference in May. We were slotted to go last year but sickness said NO! It will certainly be different from my normal convention and I hope to meet new people.
There's something magical about being surrounded by others who are interested in the exact same things as you are. And then there are the one offs where you learn about something new. I probably won't stop going to conventions. They are just filled with too much much goodness and newness. If you haven't ever gone to a convention for your favorite hobby or some other personal interest, I encourage to find one local to you and try it out. You'll have a great few days which you'll remember for years to come.
11.29.2009
11.15.2009
A Good Use
Back when the G1 (Google Phone) was first released, we were in the process of changing phone companies and plans. We were using Sprint and using my in-laws' plan. I didn't like either of those ideas so we jumped ship. I thought it would be nice to be at the leading edge of tech for once and after much hmming and hawing, I opted for the HTC G1 phone from T-Mobile. And it was awesome!
Right out of the box, I get to read my email from my gmail account. Google Maps apps has more than once save my lost ass. I eventually got a twitter client for it. It was all coming up roses with the phone! But over time, that's all I really did with the phone, with the occasional game of solitaire or Pac-Man. It didn't seem quite right.
Don't get me wrong. I love to be able to read my email anywhere, make tweets to twitter (approaching 1500 updates thanks to my phone), and looking up info about products. My favorite use had to be seeing the wait times for the H1N1 vaccine while standing in line. These are all very good uses but none of them yelled "killer app" for me.
Then, several weeks ago, a new app entered the Android market called Google Listen. Listen is a podcast aggregator for the Android OS. It allowed you to do searches for podcasts and subscribe to them and then it would queue them up for you. This was an app I've been looking for.
I like listening to podcasts. They entertain and educate on my way to and from work and sometimes while I'm at work. It's only about a 20 minute drive but those 20 minutes add up over the week. The local radio stations can only do so much for me at the intellectual level. A couple of my favorite podcasts include Seattle Geekly and Stackoverflow.com. While these podcasts are good, it was an enormous pain given the setup I had (a 2GB mp3 player).
After finding Listen, the enormous pain went away. Instead of hooking up my mp3 player to my home computer, trying to remember which was the last podcast I listened to for a particular series, grab that one (or a bunch as it happened), upload, remember to bring the mp3 player with me in the car, all I had to do was do a search for the podcast in Listen, click(touch?) subscribe and away I went! Wheeee! Since I had my phone with me most of the time, the managing of podcasts became a lot easier.
I didn't keep up with my podcast subscriptions because of the pain it was to listen to them. I got behind. I had to listen to dance music on repeat. Dance music is awesome but it gets real old when you hear a particular song 3 or 4 times in one day and you only listen to the radio for 40 minutes. It got old. Podcasts give me that new car smell all the time!
So with the coming of Google Listen, I found my killer app for my G1. I think I have 5 subscriptions to various podcasts but I go through them pretty fast. I'm on the look out for new ones that keep my interest. A shoutout to samwhoo to suggesting "This Week in Google". I think that will be a good fit for me. Wouldn't you agree?
Right out of the box, I get to read my email from my gmail account. Google Maps apps has more than once save my lost ass. I eventually got a twitter client for it. It was all coming up roses with the phone! But over time, that's all I really did with the phone, with the occasional game of solitaire or Pac-Man. It didn't seem quite right.
Don't get me wrong. I love to be able to read my email anywhere, make tweets to twitter (approaching 1500 updates thanks to my phone), and looking up info about products. My favorite use had to be seeing the wait times for the H1N1 vaccine while standing in line. These are all very good uses but none of them yelled "killer app" for me.
Then, several weeks ago, a new app entered the Android market called Google Listen. Listen is a podcast aggregator for the Android OS. It allowed you to do searches for podcasts and subscribe to them and then it would queue them up for you. This was an app I've been looking for.
I like listening to podcasts. They entertain and educate on my way to and from work and sometimes while I'm at work. It's only about a 20 minute drive but those 20 minutes add up over the week. The local radio stations can only do so much for me at the intellectual level. A couple of my favorite podcasts include Seattle Geekly and Stackoverflow.com. While these podcasts are good, it was an enormous pain given the setup I had (a 2GB mp3 player).
After finding Listen, the enormous pain went away. Instead of hooking up my mp3 player to my home computer, trying to remember which was the last podcast I listened to for a particular series, grab that one (or a bunch as it happened), upload, remember to bring the mp3 player with me in the car, all I had to do was do a search for the podcast in Listen, click(touch?) subscribe and away I went! Wheeee! Since I had my phone with me most of the time, the managing of podcasts became a lot easier.
I didn't keep up with my podcast subscriptions because of the pain it was to listen to them. I got behind. I had to listen to dance music on repeat. Dance music is awesome but it gets real old when you hear a particular song 3 or 4 times in one day and you only listen to the radio for 40 minutes. It got old. Podcasts give me that new car smell all the time!
So with the coming of Google Listen, I found my killer app for my G1. I think I have 5 subscriptions to various podcasts but I go through them pretty fast. I'm on the look out for new ones that keep my interest. A shoutout to samwhoo to suggesting "This Week in Google". I think that will be a good fit for me. Wouldn't you agree?
10.05.2009
Renewed Interest
I think I may have mentioned that I'm 34 now. I don't really feel accomplished at all. I have lots of goals that remain uncompleted such as learning Japanese, programming a game, and winning the lotto. That last one is proving near improbable.
I've been listening to JapanesePod101.com off and on over the years. It's a podcast along with a companion website of the same name to help you learning the Japanese language. The podcasts are free and some of the extras are free. Recently they starting releasing videos on YouTube. The videos are great but when they spell things out, they use hiragana. There are like two or three characters that I know so reading the words is impossible. For the most part, I can read romanji (understanding is another matter) so I have some reference for sound but it's driving me crazy that I can't read the hiragana even if I can't understand it. The craziness is driving me back to learning Japanese.
I've also always been interested in making games. From the days of the SNES I wanted to make games. I wrote a game company or two about how to improve their games (got a poster from Lucasarts after I gave feedback on Super Empire Strikes Back). I've done fairly simple games and dabbled in modding. I also started a game development club at my college when I was going (which I'm sad doesn't seem to exist anymore but it was fun while it lasted). Video games are really complex these days where you need to have millions of dollars and dozens of people to pull off a quality game (of course quality is relative). Regardless of the complexity, I still want to do a simple game. I had one idea involving the eternal struggle of ducks versus hunters. Epic to be sure but doesn't have to be complex.
The game development was renewed just the other day. I was waiting in line at the UW Transplant clinic and was looking about. Off in the waiting area, behind a row of chairs, a laptop peeked out with World Of Warcraft on the screen. At the time, I didn't know it was WoW. From a distance it looked primitive. My brain cells fired in a pattern that made me remember the wonder. At that moment, that desire I had buried long ago re-surged to the surface. It was the moving of an object in a 3D world, a world of your choosing, that did it. I think I can do my idea, and it certainly doesn't need to be complex, I just need to put aside the time to do it.
Thirdly, winning the lotto. Seriously, really really improbable! So I think I'll just be enthused about writing. I have been writing a bit more lately. I have a twitter feed with OVER 9000 updates, err I mean over 1100 updates (Believe it!). I have to give and take within 140 characters and my proof reading skills are kind of lax in that medium but it's still writing. So it can be said my interest in writing has been renewed. What I would like to do is improve my writing. Vary my vocabulary, stop using soo many parentheses (annoying isn't it?), write more than blog posts.
It's great having renewed interest in these pursuits of ye ol days. It's not exactly being young again but it's a start. Now the challenge here is to complete these goals this time around. Supposedly, with old age comes wisdom. The wisdom to see that hard work leads to a good finished product with fun and adventure in between. Let's see if enough wisdom has soaked into my brain to finish.
I've been listening to JapanesePod101.com off and on over the years. It's a podcast along with a companion website of the same name to help you learning the Japanese language. The podcasts are free and some of the extras are free. Recently they starting releasing videos on YouTube. The videos are great but when they spell things out, they use hiragana. There are like two or three characters that I know so reading the words is impossible. For the most part, I can read romanji (understanding is another matter) so I have some reference for sound but it's driving me crazy that I can't read the hiragana even if I can't understand it. The craziness is driving me back to learning Japanese.
I've also always been interested in making games. From the days of the SNES I wanted to make games. I wrote a game company or two about how to improve their games (got a poster from Lucasarts after I gave feedback on Super Empire Strikes Back). I've done fairly simple games and dabbled in modding. I also started a game development club at my college when I was going (which I'm sad doesn't seem to exist anymore but it was fun while it lasted). Video games are really complex these days where you need to have millions of dollars and dozens of people to pull off a quality game (of course quality is relative). Regardless of the complexity, I still want to do a simple game. I had one idea involving the eternal struggle of ducks versus hunters. Epic to be sure but doesn't have to be complex.
The game development was renewed just the other day. I was waiting in line at the UW Transplant clinic and was looking about. Off in the waiting area, behind a row of chairs, a laptop peeked out with World Of Warcraft on the screen. At the time, I didn't know it was WoW. From a distance it looked primitive. My brain cells fired in a pattern that made me remember the wonder. At that moment, that desire I had buried long ago re-surged to the surface. It was the moving of an object in a 3D world, a world of your choosing, that did it. I think I can do my idea, and it certainly doesn't need to be complex, I just need to put aside the time to do it.
Thirdly, winning the lotto. Seriously, really really improbable! So I think I'll just be enthused about writing. I have been writing a bit more lately. I have a twitter feed with OVER 9000 updates, err I mean over 1100 updates (Believe it!). I have to give and take within 140 characters and my proof reading skills are kind of lax in that medium but it's still writing. So it can be said my interest in writing has been renewed. What I would like to do is improve my writing. Vary my vocabulary, stop using soo many parentheses (annoying isn't it?), write more than blog posts.
It's great having renewed interest in these pursuits of ye ol days. It's not exactly being young again but it's a start. Now the challenge here is to complete these goals this time around. Supposedly, with old age comes wisdom. The wisdom to see that hard work leads to a good finished product with fun and adventure in between. Let's see if enough wisdom has soaked into my brain to finish.
9.05.2009
Pen and paper RPG on a computer
So I haven't played D&D for a long time. I wasn't a very active player during a game but I enjoyed sitting around a table with my friends, talking crap, eating Taco Bell, building columns out of dice, you know the usual. It was a hobby with that social aspect teenagers need. I would like to get back into it one day. One thing that was great about the game was the tailored made experience.
There are a lot of online RPGs out there with very rich environments. World Of Warcraft, Everquest, and Guild Wars comes to mind. You are kind of set in what you can do, however. You don't ever have a campaign that is tailored just for you. You're pretty much watching the same movie as everyone else. Which isn't a bad thing. When you just finished the latest Harry Potter book, it's good to talk with your fellow "Potterites" about what happened to Dumbledore.
In a table top game of D&D, your Dungeon Master is your host and pretty much controls everything you see. The DM may run a published module, but it's going to be different from DM to DM. It's custom made to the group you're in. Where a CRPG might be able to have a troll be animated to drool, roar and regrow limbs, it's limited to a scripted event. A DM injects a lot more into a troll. Just having a listen to the episodes of the D&D Podcast with the guys from Penny Arcade, PvP Online, and Wil Wheaton really demonstrates that.
I was thinking about how to transfer the table top experience to the computer. What kind of features would I like to see in such a tool?
A D&D tool feature set might include:
* real-time encounter management based on a rule set but can be overruled by the game master
* voice and cam support for all players and game master
* a tool set to easily create and share encounters and full campaigns
* the table top can be basic or enhanced (eye candy only)
* tool can used via internet or local LAN
Before I started this, I didn't think there were any comparable tools out there yet. A common name that these tools are known by is virtual table. There are several virtual table tools I found for the PC that are available or will be. One is being made by Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Insider tool set. It's only seems natural that WotC would make a tool like this. At this time, the tool with the features I listed above doesn't seem to be available. There are demo videos showing off some features.
Another tool I found was Fantasy Grounds. There is a demo available to whet your teeth on. The UI is pretty slick! A set of dice is available to roll at the bottom. There's certainly a feel of a table there.
Yet another tool discovered during the course of writing this is iTabletop. iTabletop incorporated the use of web cams and audio to interact with the players. A demo is also available showing off some of it's move. You must create an account as the data is actually hosted on their "servers" (Amazon cloud).
While these tools should certainly help out simulate an in-person role playing experience, not one did everything I was looking for. A set of the features from the three tools would be ideal. Start with Fantasy Grounds as the base then add in the easy encounter creation from D&D Insider and top it off with the audio/video communication from iTabletop and we'd have a winner!
Unfortunately, none of the tools are open source. Looks like Fantasy Grounds has some scripting ability but I'm not sure what it can do at the moment. Here's a situation where I may have to roll my own. I have kind of thought about how to go about it and it would be certainly a big thing. Perhaps I'll be able to finish such a thing.
Though all of this would be for naught without others to play with. A rock is just a rock until there are windows around to break. That can be a topic for another day.
There are a lot of online RPGs out there with very rich environments. World Of Warcraft, Everquest, and Guild Wars comes to mind. You are kind of set in what you can do, however. You don't ever have a campaign that is tailored just for you. You're pretty much watching the same movie as everyone else. Which isn't a bad thing. When you just finished the latest Harry Potter book, it's good to talk with your fellow "Potterites" about what happened to Dumbledore.
In a table top game of D&D, your Dungeon Master is your host and pretty much controls everything you see. The DM may run a published module, but it's going to be different from DM to DM. It's custom made to the group you're in. Where a CRPG might be able to have a troll be animated to drool, roar and regrow limbs, it's limited to a scripted event. A DM injects a lot more into a troll. Just having a listen to the episodes of the D&D Podcast with the guys from Penny Arcade, PvP Online, and Wil Wheaton really demonstrates that.
I was thinking about how to transfer the table top experience to the computer. What kind of features would I like to see in such a tool?
A D&D tool feature set might include:
* real-time encounter management based on a rule set but can be overruled by the game master
* voice and cam support for all players and game master
* a tool set to easily create and share encounters and full campaigns
* the table top can be basic or enhanced (eye candy only)
* tool can used via internet or local LAN
Before I started this, I didn't think there were any comparable tools out there yet. A common name that these tools are known by is virtual table. There are several virtual table tools I found for the PC that are available or will be. One is being made by Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Insider tool set. It's only seems natural that WotC would make a tool like this. At this time, the tool with the features I listed above doesn't seem to be available. There are demo videos showing off some features.
Another tool I found was Fantasy Grounds. There is a demo available to whet your teeth on. The UI is pretty slick! A set of dice is available to roll at the bottom. There's certainly a feel of a table there.
Yet another tool discovered during the course of writing this is iTabletop. iTabletop incorporated the use of web cams and audio to interact with the players. A demo is also available showing off some of it's move. You must create an account as the data is actually hosted on their "servers" (Amazon cloud).
While these tools should certainly help out simulate an in-person role playing experience, not one did everything I was looking for. A set of the features from the three tools would be ideal. Start with Fantasy Grounds as the base then add in the easy encounter creation from D&D Insider and top it off with the audio/video communication from iTabletop and we'd have a winner!
Unfortunately, none of the tools are open source. Looks like Fantasy Grounds has some scripting ability but I'm not sure what it can do at the moment. Here's a situation where I may have to roll my own. I have kind of thought about how to go about it and it would be certainly a big thing. Perhaps I'll be able to finish such a thing.
Though all of this would be for naught without others to play with. A rock is just a rock until there are windows around to break. That can be a topic for another day.
8.16.2009
Testing TwitterFeed
Just a test for TwitterFeed. I have to wait 30 mins now to see if it worked. But if it does, then it will do the job I need.
Almost two years
Why hello thar! Long time no see. I've been away. Evidently, sent you all over to MySpace. Sorry bout that. I'll never do that again. (I don't even use MySpace anymore and WTF was I thinking when I created that name!)
So, I'm back. Been busy I suppose. Got into Twitter. I'm approaching 1000 updates. Can you believe that? I can't either...wait, yeah I can. I like to write and since I didn't blog, Twitter was my outlet. But I'm finding 140 characters much too constricting. Thus today, about 11am on a lazy Sunday morning listening to "The Girl in Byakkoya" (I absolutely love Paprika BTW), The Last Blog is resurrected.
Lots to write about I suppose. Work, non-work...is there anything in between? Sure and I'm gonna write about it. I will see if can find a way link posts to Twitter. If blogspot can't do it, I'll investigate Wordpress.
Anyhow, it will be good to write long posts again. Welcome back. ^_^
So, I'm back. Been busy I suppose. Got into Twitter. I'm approaching 1000 updates. Can you believe that? I can't either...wait, yeah I can. I like to write and since I didn't blog, Twitter was my outlet. But I'm finding 140 characters much too constricting. Thus today, about 11am on a lazy Sunday morning listening to "The Girl in Byakkoya" (I absolutely love Paprika BTW), The Last Blog is resurrected.
Lots to write about I suppose. Work, non-work...is there anything in between? Sure and I'm gonna write about it. I will see if can find a way link posts to Twitter. If blogspot can't do it, I'll investigate Wordpress.
Anyhow, it will be good to write long posts again. Welcome back. ^_^
10.23.2007
Love on the wayside
My blog loved me once upon a time. But I've been cheating on her. Yeah, I know, I'm dirt scum. Yes, I've been using the blog feature on MySpace for the last several months. It was wrong at first because MySpace is like an armpit of the Internet. I kept on coming back to it though. The first couple of times, I knew I shouldn't have been there. But eventually, it became natural. I'm on MySpace almost everyday now.
All kidding aside (except for the armpit comment), I mainly use MySpace for the blogging now. I've collected like 11 friends there...yeah, "collected." You're just like bottle caps for my collection, to sit in a dark shoe box that's in the back of the closet where the spiders live. It's a small collection right now, but I know I can rival the big names. Then after I collect enough, I'll start trading you. A Katie and a Dawn for one Mike. Yeah, it's gonna be like that.
So, the point of all this now is, go to http://www.myspace.com/kawaiidesuka if you want to keep up with my going ons. If you haven't heard, I started ballroom dancing classes almost 5 weeks ago. Yeah. Me. Dancing that isn't DDR. Feel free to drop by, add me as a friend if you're on MySpace as well, and then maybe you'll be honored when I trade you for a Weird Al Yankovic.
All kidding aside (except for the armpit comment), I mainly use MySpace for the blogging now. I've collected like 11 friends there...yeah, "collected." You're just like bottle caps for my collection, to sit in a dark shoe box that's in the back of the closet where the spiders live. It's a small collection right now, but I know I can rival the big names. Then after I collect enough, I'll start trading you. A Katie and a Dawn for one Mike. Yeah, it's gonna be like that.
So, the point of all this now is, go to http://www.myspace.com/kawaiidesuka if you want to keep up with my going ons. If you haven't heard, I started ballroom dancing classes almost 5 weeks ago. Yeah. Me. Dancing that isn't DDR. Feel free to drop by, add me as a friend if you're on MySpace as well, and then maybe you'll be honored when I trade you for a Weird Al Yankovic.
9.03.2007
It's Music Monday!
First up we have Imogen Heap, mixing herself.
We'll follow up with some hip-hop which I actually enjoy, Kanye West "Stronger" with Daft Punk.
And we'll follow up with a video by Susumu Hirasawa "The Girl in Byakkoya" that I had featured in an earlier post regarding the movie "Paprika." This isn't the whole song but it's cool enough.
8.27.2007
*Cries*
Two things: I turn 32 tomorrow. And a cat followed us home tonight. :( I wanted to bring it in and pet it and called it George. But alas, it's a $150 pet deposit. And it is a stray cat...perhaps. *sigh* Mayhaps one day.
7.23.2007
Gangbusters to trickles
Ugh...I was about to write a long boring whiny post...then I realized, who f'n cares? Yeah, I'm not feeling it lately. Getting nothing done at work then coming home and being a lazy bitch or bastard (depends your POV). *sigh* So, here you are. A shorten down whiny post. Enjoy.
7.16.2007
Paprika - Not your everyday spice
So, being more penniless since getting my car fixed, I had to resort to finding cool and interesting things to do on the Internet. One place that I had been to a while ago is a place for Japanese media, like anime! Check it here at Crunchy Roll. It has a bunch of "unlicensed" tv shows from Japan. Typically, once it becomes licensed (I'm not sure exactly to what that means) they will remove whatever media from the site. It's a good rule I guess. Anyway...
I was cruising the anime section trying to find something I haven't seen before and is still on the site. 86 pages...wasn't looking good till I hit the P section. What did my wander eye see but Paprika, a recently released movie in the States (been out since 2006 in Japan). It was just there...aching for me to watch it. I have seen trailers for it on our copy of Dragonball Z Season 1 (and Season 2 is out if anybody wants to get it for us :P) and thought it looked really cool. So my Saturday night was sealed, with Paprika and a little something-something from the liquor cabinet (the counter next to the freezer).
I hit play and watched. It was amazing! A certain must buy once it comes out DVD here in the States. I haven't seen a realistic anime for such a long time. It was certainly a breath of fresh air. The anime is by Satoshi Kon who also did "Millennium Actress" and "Tokyo Godfathers." I wanted to see "Actress" for a while now. I will certainly be more active in trying to find it.
One of the things I really liked about the movie was the movie score. It was created by Susumu Hirasawa. The theme really stuck with me and not like a horrible jingle you can't get out of your head (you feel like chicken tonight, chicken tonight, chicken tonight!). It was electronica with just the right amount of awesome. The composer wanted to give away his music for free and here's the link to download two songs from the movie. I don't know enough Japaneses to understand but you really don't need to. Download it and find out for yourself.
I really haven't been keeping up with the latest and greatest and clearly it shows. Paprika is actually playing in a theater in Seattle which I really want to go see and you all know me as wanting to go to Seattle all the time. Tis a good movie and you all should watch it. Then buy the DVD.
I was cruising the anime section trying to find something I haven't seen before and is still on the site. 86 pages...wasn't looking good till I hit the P section. What did my wander eye see but Paprika, a recently released movie in the States (been out since 2006 in Japan). It was just there...aching for me to watch it. I have seen trailers for it on our copy of Dragonball Z Season 1 (and Season 2 is out if anybody wants to get it for us :P) and thought it looked really cool. So my Saturday night was sealed, with Paprika and a little something-something from the liquor cabinet (the counter next to the freezer).
I hit play and watched. It was amazing! A certain must buy once it comes out DVD here in the States. I haven't seen a realistic anime for such a long time. It was certainly a breath of fresh air. The anime is by Satoshi Kon who also did "Millennium Actress" and "Tokyo Godfathers." I wanted to see "Actress" for a while now. I will certainly be more active in trying to find it.
One of the things I really liked about the movie was the movie score. It was created by Susumu Hirasawa. The theme really stuck with me and not like a horrible jingle you can't get out of your head (you feel like chicken tonight, chicken tonight, chicken tonight!). It was electronica with just the right amount of awesome. The composer wanted to give away his music for free and here's the link to download two songs from the movie. I don't know enough Japaneses to understand but you really don't need to. Download it and find out for yourself.
I really haven't been keeping up with the latest and greatest and clearly it shows. Paprika is actually playing in a theater in Seattle which I really want to go see and you all know me as wanting to go to Seattle all the time. Tis a good movie and you all should watch it. Then buy the DVD.
7.14.2007
Timing Issue Resolved
I picked my car up from the shop yesterday. I had the borken timing belt, water pump replaced and a new seal which is in the same area of the engine. I also got a new belt for the accessories...very chic. All in all, I departed with about $800. I also got estimates on what else needs to be done. I'll be departing with more of my monies in the future if I want to keep the car. Anyway, the car came back feeling a little better and it looks a little better. They gave it a bath which it needed badly. Hopefully it will run for a little bit longer till I can gather up more funds to get the other recommended things done up.
7.10.2007
Comedy - It's all about timing
So today was the first time I had to kick start the ol air conditioner in the car. I turned it on, hoping it still worked. I tried it our for a few minutes when I got home from work as I would be taking Dawn to the kidney center shortly thereafter. I thought it would be good to test it out somewhere safe and sound. I pushed the button, the green light came on, and after a minute or two cold air began to circulate. Awesome! I'll be chilled like a frappuccino at Starbucks.
Anyway, lets go back a little further back in time to a place where they change oil and do other service related jobs. The local Jiffy Lube down the street. Upon finishing up, one of the techs asked me if knew about the knocking noise coming from the right side of the engine. I said I was aware of it but didn't know what it was. Since then, I let it make the noise as I did not see any thing obvious that would fly off the engine.
Now, zip on up back to today. I have picked up Dawn from the kidney center and we're on our way to Rite Aid to pick up a few things. I'm cruising along and all of the sudden, the car dies. That's right...my Toyota Camry lost power and all the good stuff that comes from it. No big explosion, no knocking noise, no nothing. The steering become real tough and various idiot lights began to pop up. It was nice enough to do this a mere block from our apartment. Also the city of Bothell was also kind enough to have the foresight to build extra space along the road where it died. Kudos to city engineers!
I whip out my cell phone and start calling friends. I get a hold of a set and thank them from the bottom of my robot heart. They roll out. They don't transform though, but anyway. Ten minutes later, assistance arrives. Dawn is whisked away to finish her trip to Rite Aid. More assistance is called for. Over the course of a few hours, we...err...they narrowed possible suspect issues. Fuses and more fuses were ruled out. Fuel pump was running. Alternator was alternating. Starter was starting. Spark plugs a sparking.
Things began to look like a worse case scenario: an issue with the computer running the joint. I have been experiencing minor electrical issues over the years so it was in the realm of possibility. Just to be sure there were fuel (I had felt 100% confident that lack of fuel was not the issue) we went and got a gallon or so of gas. On our return, the additional assistance has another idea to try out. As it turns out, not all the spark plugs were a sparking.
Now, we can come back to the knocking noise that the guy at Jiffy Lube so kindly pointed out. It was deduced that the ... wait for it ... timing belt probably broke. We're also guessing it broke due to the new load of the AC running, as it was indeed running at the time the car died. We also surmised the knocking noise was the timing belt on it's last legs. After a lot of testing and some car know-how, the problem was diagnosed probably correctly.
So you see, it was all about the timing...belt. And now it will be all about the $$$ as the timing belt in my car is not so easily accessible. So tis it was a comedy of my errors. Remember, if you hear a knocking, don't wait till your car dies. You may not be so lucky to be a mere block away from your home and having knowledgeable friends.
Anyway, lets go back a little further back in time to a place where they change oil and do other service related jobs. The local Jiffy Lube down the street. Upon finishing up, one of the techs asked me if knew about the knocking noise coming from the right side of the engine. I said I was aware of it but didn't know what it was. Since then, I let it make the noise as I did not see any thing obvious that would fly off the engine.
Now, zip on up back to today. I have picked up Dawn from the kidney center and we're on our way to Rite Aid to pick up a few things. I'm cruising along and all of the sudden, the car dies. That's right...my Toyota Camry lost power and all the good stuff that comes from it. No big explosion, no knocking noise, no nothing. The steering become real tough and various idiot lights began to pop up. It was nice enough to do this a mere block from our apartment. Also the city of Bothell was also kind enough to have the foresight to build extra space along the road where it died. Kudos to city engineers!
I whip out my cell phone and start calling friends. I get a hold of a set and thank them from the bottom of my robot heart. They roll out. They don't transform though, but anyway. Ten minutes later, assistance arrives. Dawn is whisked away to finish her trip to Rite Aid. More assistance is called for. Over the course of a few hours, we...err...they narrowed possible suspect issues. Fuses and more fuses were ruled out. Fuel pump was running. Alternator was alternating. Starter was starting. Spark plugs a sparking.
Things began to look like a worse case scenario: an issue with the computer running the joint. I have been experiencing minor electrical issues over the years so it was in the realm of possibility. Just to be sure there were fuel (I had felt 100% confident that lack of fuel was not the issue) we went and got a gallon or so of gas. On our return, the additional assistance has another idea to try out. As it turns out, not all the spark plugs were a sparking.
Now, we can come back to the knocking noise that the guy at Jiffy Lube so kindly pointed out. It was deduced that the ... wait for it ... timing belt probably broke. We're also guessing it broke due to the new load of the AC running, as it was indeed running at the time the car died. We also surmised the knocking noise was the timing belt on it's last legs. After a lot of testing and some car know-how, the problem was diagnosed probably correctly.
So you see, it was all about the timing...belt. And now it will be all about the $$$ as the timing belt in my car is not so easily accessible. So tis it was a comedy of my errors. Remember, if you hear a knocking, don't wait till your car dies. You may not be so lucky to be a mere block away from your home and having knowledgeable friends.
6.05.2007
A little vomit...(figuratively)
Yes, gross...I wished I didn't do it, but it just came out. Not tasty at all. Why did I do it? What would cause my stomach to turn, churn, and release the burrito goodness I had earlier tonight? While looking to see where the hell this place is at, I discovered a much more horrible event. The man that one of my esteemed readers duly noted looked like an ape from my previous post will be within five miles of my home late July. His ignorance is just a boat anchor for humanity. What's worse is that his presence here will draw more ignorance here to my home. This discovery has certainly soured my stomach. Ignorance is bliss (sometimes), but this discovery gives us an edge. Now, let us pray to our holy Ball of Spaghetti in the sky, let thy noodlly appendage bless us all. ARRRRR!!!!
6.01.2007
4.15.2007
Meebo me!
Yeah, just do it. You know you want to. Just inhale...deeply. Yeah...you got it.
Errr, yeah...Meebo is a browser based Instant Message chat application. You can put in all major IM accounts into it as well. For instance, I have my Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk accounts working in it. This is on top of the regular Meebo account. Anyway, I added a little widget to the side over there *points over there* for all my fine readers to use. I'll see if I can slip Meebo past my work firewall. Then I'll be set. lol Well, that's it for now. Chat me up if you see me online. :)
Errr, yeah...Meebo is a browser based Instant Message chat application. You can put in all major IM accounts into it as well. For instance, I have my Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk accounts working in it. This is on top of the regular Meebo account. Anyway, I added a little widget to the side over there *points over there* for all my fine readers to use. I'll see if I can slip Meebo past my work firewall. Then I'll be set. lol Well, that's it for now. Chat me up if you see me online. :)
4.06.2007
No Spring for the weary
ZOMG!! I haven't posted in about two freaking months! Yes, I've been neglecting my posting duties. I'll point out the obvious. I think it is my only natural gift.
The last months of winter were uneventful. The most notable point of interest was finally picking up a Nintendo Wii at the beginning of March. I know I have put in over 50 hours of game play (in just one game) since I got it. We initially picked up The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Rayman: Raving Rabbids. A week or two ago, Wii Play graced our presence. There's a lot of games on the horizon for the Wii. It should be a promising year.
I've been sick twice since the latter half of February. I'm just now getting over the second whatever I had. This one wasn't nearly as annoying as the one in February, it just came on pretty fast. The worst part was the constant running nose.
Not much else to say here. Other than I'm using Google Docs to write this. I thought I would try it out as I can publish directly to my blog on blogspot. Since blogspot is blocked at work whereas Google is not, I could potentially post while at work. But being the diligent employee that I am, I wouldn't do that. ^_O We shall see...we shall see.
2.12.2007
Good News!
I've pretty much lost 20 lbs since the middle of October! And I'm going to Radcon '07! That is all.
1.23.2007
Shattered Goals
So, it has been done. I can wear size 36 pants for the first time that I can remember (for those of you wondering why it's soo damn cold in hell these days). I'm at about 188 with a bit of muscle. I'm still going for that elusive 180. I don't think I'll make mid February but that's ok. Probably early March. At that time, I'll probably switch to a different diet and continue with the exercise to maintain the weight. I'm pretty stoke. If you include this time last year, I have probably lost about 25 pounds so far. :)
Yeah, it's been hard. In fact, just today I had to decline a donut. I wanted it, it wanted me. It would have been the perfect union. But I bested temptation and my co-workers.
There shall be more goals to overtake this year. Learning Japanese is still on my list of things to do among others. It might just be a good year.
Yeah, it's been hard. In fact, just today I had to decline a donut. I wanted it, it wanted me. It would have been the perfect union. But I bested temptation and my co-workers.
There shall be more goals to overtake this year. Learning Japanese is still on my list of things to do among others. It might just be a good year.
12.27.2006
Goals in sight
Well, about a month ago, I posted up that I was doing the diet thing again. I had posted up my goals of being at 190 by the end of December. Well, it is 12.27.2006 and I am at about 192 lbs. The last two pounds may or may not come off in time, but no matter. Deadlines are good to work to but it won't break me if I don't make it. Since I got my new driver's license in the beginning of October where I stated my weight to be 204, I have lost 12 lbs. This is all by eating less and playing DDR religiously.
Our apartment complex recently got in some spanking brand new weight/fitness machines in their fitness room. I intend in the new year to start using them. My legs have some muscle tone to them. My everything else, not so much. I still have a belly, though it's easier to conceal these days. ^_^
So, there you go. An update from the west side. Yay...
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