Thursday, December 24, 2009 11:40pm
Now she's just getting sloppy hehe
Well, I needn't wonder now if that Xbox game was for someone else. This afternoon as mom was wrapping presents, she took a little break to watch TV (she wraps the stuff in their room), and I went back to check on something in my room, and when I came out, there it was. The door was wide open (in the past she would shut it), the light was on, and on the floor next to their bed..... a Xbox 360! And there is absolutely no way they would have spent that much for one of my cousins, aunts/uncles, or grandmas. So this if officially a first! Finally, when it's me who asks for a new console (albeit after a couple years of asking), I get it! Too bad it wasn't last year though. I mean, last year LEGO Indiana Jones (I game I would actually like to have) was bundled in. This year, it's LEGO Batman (I guess I'll play it, but not exactly one I'd really care for too much (as opposed to Indy and Star Wars (which I REALLY want hehe))) and this dirt bike racing game (which who knows if I'll ever play that). Oh well. Now I just have to figure out what would be the best method of getting Internet access back to the other room so I can actually use Xbox Live (when the new baseball games come out and I get one, one of the things I was looking forward to is being able to download updated rosters). It would really suck if the "network" ended up having to be just a really long ethernet cable to run from the Xbox to the cable modem out here whenever I wanted to update things, thus requiring the computer be unplugged from the modem. The only question is, which would be better/easier/cheaper? After getting a hub/router, a.) running an ethernet line thru the walls back to the room, like a normal network, or b.) getting some of these electrical outlet network adapters that allow you to set up a network thru the electrical wiring of the house (and you just plug the adapter into an outlet), but would require an additional outlet being installed out here by the computer/modem, as all the sockets are in use. We'll see. Oh! Also will need to wait and find out how much our current Xbox will be worth for more games and stuff, after making sure all the games I still would want are in fact backwards compatible with the 360. :)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 10:45pm
Hmmmm...... not sure what to make of things
Friday night I ended up sending a message to that one girl (and a friend request since a.) Facebook sucks and you can't see when a message you send is read or someone last logged-in, thus a request would give some indication of that, and b.) her profile was private), and today, I haven't received a message back from her, the friend request is still awaiting approval (at least per the message at the top of her profile). But I have access to more info on her profile that wasn't there before (although she could have changed those in privacy settings I believe), and also a single entry in my feed on the home page (which why, I can't quite explain if she's not a friend). So I'm lost as to what's going on there, and if there's any chance I'll actually hear back from her or what.
On a somewhat related noted, I haven't heard from Mei since the beginning of October, right? Well, again, I have no idea if it had anything to do with the change in privacy settings on the site, but after finally being able to go to her profile (again, it's private, and also, instances I had seen had her name with no link or buttons to add her or anything), I sent her a message yesterday on FB, and now..... the profile is completely no more (she had a group she created and she's no longer on there at all, and.... yeah; completely gone). So I guess I have no choice now but to assume something happened and she wants nothing to do with me, and the lack of hearing from her stems from being ignored. :( So off she comes of my friends page. :( And what really sucks is that I guess our plans for lunch together on my birthday are shot. :( That I was definitely looking forward to too. :(
And finally really quick like (since dad had to go bring a sore throat/cold home last week, and now it has me in its grips, thus I cannot breathe overly well and whatnot, so being on the computer right now sucks hehe), I saw something the other day that has my hopes really high up there for Friday! Really though, that's not fair that I have to wait. I mean, with the holiday I choose to recognize ending tonight, I say I should have gotten my stuff already hehe. But anywoo.... I digress. The other day while putting something in my parents' room, I saw where my mom tends to stash the gifts, pre-wrapping hehe. Well, the store bags with said gifts still in them anyway. Anywoo.... inside a Walmart bag and wrapped around it (thus they're white and flimsy and can be seen thru), I saw a neon-green "DVD" case. Now, to my knowledge, there's only one thing that comes in such cases; Xbox games! Considering the gift giving structure that is on both parents' sides, I can't see this Xbox game being for anyone not in this immediate family. Taking that one step further, Jared doesn't have/want a Xbox, and dad obviously couldn't care less, since all he does during the day anymore is WoW. That leaves it having to be for me. The thing is, none of the console games on my list are available on the regular Xbox, which means, there's a really good chance a first is going to be happening here soon! I'm thinking I'm finally going to be getting a console when I ask for one (a 360), and that a couple weeks ago when my mom went shopping with a couple of her sisters, and she said they left what they bought at my grandma's for one reason....... that the real reason would be it probably included my 360, and it'd be a tad bit hard to sneak that in by me hehe. Now this would be a time that I REALLY hope I'm not disappointed now that my hopes are thru the roof!! Now that would suck!
Thursday, December 17, 2009 10:30pm
Crushes suck (at least when you're me)!
So, yesterday I ended up getting an automated e-mail saying that someone had added me as a friend on Facebook (since I hate the site, I have it set to notify me if I get stuff so I don't actually have to frequent it hehe), so I got on to see if I could figure out who this person was, since I don't collect friends. Took me an hour or so, but I finally realized that it was this person whom I went to elementary school with, yet whom I don't think I ever talked to or anything, and after 6th grade, he went to the private Catholic school here in town, so why he wanted to add me.... no idea. But that wasn't really much of anything, and definitely not something blog-worthy! What was though, was the fact that when I signed on, in the suggested people area, there was this girl who looked vaguely familiar, and the name, a little bit more so. Sure enough, after consulting my yearbooks, it was in fact this girl who I kind of had this little crush on back in high school. :)
Now, obviously, I didn't ever act upon it or anything back then. I mean, really, why would I have? The only interest girls ever paid me in school was as a part of some sick joke at my expense, so purposefully setting myself up for that again..... not exactly what I think of as a good time. And it's not like I knew her or anything. She was a year behind me, didn't have any classes together or anything, and the only reason I knew her was because she too rode the city bus route that runs around the east side of town here to service the schools in the area (and in fact, she didn't live too far away from me). But even that wasn't that much, as a.) there were a ton of people on the bus each and every single day, and b.) the people who rode the bus tended to be split up into three groups; the more loud, obnoxious people who really didn't care much about school sat towards the back, while the more intelligent people of whatever type (be it academically, band/orchestra members, or the creative artsy people) sat in the front, while everyone else kind of filled in between. Now, obviously, it doesn't take a genius to figure out I was in the group that sat towards the front (which was advantageous for me as it meant I had room for my legs, instead of being cramped up (the seats up front faced inwards instead of to the front), and because it gave the bus driver more of a chance to get to know me, since I usually was the last person to get off, and I would be all alone on the bus after a certain point (and this made it so the driver would know to stop without me having to signal, which was cool hehe)). But she on the other hand sat more towards the back (not because she was that group though (at least I don't remember ever hearing her or anything over everyone else from the front of the bus, like the others could be)). In fact, the only time I recall ever having any interaction with her was when I was discussing something with another front-of-the-buser (what, I cannot remember) and she was sitting there (when we would get on the bus, since the route also serviced the junior high before it got to the high school, pretty much every seat was taken, so people would take what seats were available, even if it wasn't in your normal area, and everyone else would stand, and then, as people started getting off, then people would migrate to their areas), and she jumped into the conversation with a remark that was a little bit off-putting (what it was, again, I can't remember). That's I think was it. Otherwise, it was just me seeing her on the bus, or in the halls. Although, it was enough to know that her musical tastes weren't exactly shared by me, and I do believe she took the then new watered down version of chemistry, while I took the "regular" chemistry, that by default became Honors Chemistry. That's it though.
Well, so now I'm torn. Obviously it's been 10 years, so maybe she'd be more receptive of me (even if just as chat buddies/friends) (again, didn't quite think she would have been back then) and whatnot, so in that regard, maybe it'd be cool for me to muster up enough courage to send her a message (even though I'm absolutely certain she wouldn't remember me or anything (again, why would she with everything, and me being just invisible as I apparently am)) and somehow say "Hey, back in high school, I actually had something of a crush on you. :)" But on the other hand..... it is me we're talking about here. My track record for when I initiate a conversation with someone new isn't anywhere remotely close to even being mediocre, much less good! It'd be nice to be able to get to know someone (hopefully local, as her profile is private, so where she's at now, I have no idea) whom I have this common past (same school and only one year apart (which is the same as Becky actually hehe)). But at the same time........ I get that rejection is a part of life and everyone experiences it, but not every single time! It'd be nice to have just once to not be rejected, you know? So yeah.... I'm torn on whether or not to even attempt to make contact with her, since she'd most likely not know who I am, let alone to even bring up the whole crush thing, as both Becky and Marie say I shouldn't do, yet is kind of the whole point of why I'm compelled to message her. I don't know. Why do I have to be me of all people hehe?
Oh! And on a completely different subject, I was going to post this late last night, but well..... drank too much milk too fast, and rather than fight the nausea at the computer, I just went to bed hehe. If I have to celebrate some holiday this time of year, I'll go with the one that Christmas is a copy of! :P YAY for today being the the first day of Saturnalia! :D So at least I have one light note to cling to this season, up until the end of the 23rd, at which point things transfer into crappy Christmas Eve hehe.
Saturday, December 12, 2009 7:55pm
I called it!
Sure enough, that new SW game I've been looking forward to the announcement of ended up following the steps of the disappointment that was Sony Rewards this week. (S)TFU 2!!! Why the original was so popular is beyond me. But seriously, the promo had the character from TFU walking into this arena, where a rancor also enters, and the guy is so powerful in the Force that he is able to instantly kill it with nothing more than a virtually effortless Force choke! Really? How the hell is this supposed to be fun? Is swatting flies entertainment these days? :P Seriously, I just finished JK:JA the other day, and in it there are two levels which sole purpose was to not get killed by a rancor in the level! In KotOR you have to figure out some way to get passed one without being instantly eaten (and fairly early on too)! When I was trying to get a fuller sense of what it would be like on Corellia/as a Rodian, and I did the two-week trial of SWG, on Dathomir, where they run wild (being a native species)...... good luck surviving! And let's not forget, we get introduced to rancors when Luke is nearly killed by one in RotJ! A rancor is not supposed to be something you see, yawn, and flick your wrist at wimply and be done with! WTF?! And this was for a short bit of a trailer to the game! The same character who could bring down a Star Destroyer with only the Force in the previous game!! Hopefully come CES or E3 LucasArts will make it up to the fans and give us a real SW game to look forward to!
Thursday, December 10, 2009 2:25am
Now I'm pissed off!
So that Sony Rewards thing with Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune is a bunch of crap! I'll still do it for the giveaways, but...... yeah.
As I mentioned before, that Monty Python Holy Trinity DVD set was the first on my list to be redeemed. Well, I just racked up the number of points that I needed for it, as I've been looking forward to for a while now. I then went to do the redemption process, all excited about being able to have the Monty Python DVDs sometime next week. Of course, I guess there was my mistake, eh? Getting excited about it. I'm about to finish the redemption check-out, when it starts saying how many points I need to purchase with a credit card! Apparently, you can only use so many points towards purchases of less than 10,000 points, the remainder of which you actually have to pay for (1 point is 1 cent). So of the 3,400 points I had for the 3,396 value of the DVDs, only 500 could be used. Nowhere did it mention this when signing-up or anywhere, except when actually redeeming! So staying up the last few days solely to enter that day's Final Jeopardy! category so that I wouldn't forget it the next day when I would be able to get on, after the next day's episode aired.... meaningless! Needing to be home in order to catch Final Jeopardy! so I could maximize the number of points I could rack up before they expire at the end of March..... pointless! Making sure to update my wishlist every month (which is a pain with how the catalog is set up (each DVD genre is automatically broken down into A-B, C-E, F-I, J-M, N-R, S-T, U-Z, and those that begin with numbers, even if in a given set there's only one or two entries (for example, only 27 DVDs in the "Classic" category (20 entries per page in each set) and C-E, N-R, and U-Z each only have one DVD, so instead of the two pages it would be if they were all together, it's seven! Now extrapolate that out to the "Comedy" category with 263 titles!)))..... also pointless!!
So now, the only reason I have to do this is to use points to enter the daily and monthly giveaways, but well.... as I've already mentioned many a time before, I never win those sorts of things, and that's not even factoring in all the other people who have been a member of this club thing for years and have never managed to win anything from these giveaways! 8| So yeah..... I'm a tad bit pissed now. Just watch.... the game that will be announced this weekend, if this is any sign, will end up being TFU2 after all! 8|
Monday, December 07, 2009 7:40pm
Hopefully it'll be worth it and that I'll be able to actually get it
Apparently on Saturday, a new Star Wars game will be announced during this video game award thing on Spike (still no idea if I'll watch for it, or if I'll just wait to find out later that night), and there's a lot of talk about what it could be. And a couple of those possibilities, I certainly would love to see myself! Of those, I just hope I'd actually be able to play it. :)
One thing though is pretty certain: the announcement will NOT be for KotOR 3. :( The MMO that's coming out, The Old Republic, is NOT KotOR 3, as it takes place like 300 years later, and well..... that means the still open story for KotOR and KotOR 2 would be nothing but history lessons otherwise (few would still be alive that new Revan or the Exile personally or had 1st hand memories of the events, instead it'd be like telling stories from the American Revolution). Plus, there's the simple fact of the matter that a true KotOR 3 would cut into the profits of TOR, and well.......... yeah. So we know it's not going to be KotOR 3. :(
One of the big possibilities is The Force Unleashed 2. Oh how I hope not! I know I'm not the only one who thought the original looked retarded hehe. And I'm sorry, a game that promotes itself with the concept of a jedi being able to pull a Star Destroyer out of space and crashing into a planet's surface using nothing but his own force powers, yet supposedly being someone that's hidden from knowledge of the Emperor? I'm sorry. I can't buy that. So yeah..... if this new game is TFU 2, well..... that'd be a huge disappointment. TFU? How about STFU? :P
There are other possibilities, although not quite as likely to be it (it'd have to be big for all this hyped up announcement after all, so it'd have to be a big-name title). Which, until last night, left one other major possibility; the long anticipated Battlefront 3! The same BF3 that had a gameplay video leaked out a while back showing off the seamless ground to space to capital ship battles. And the next in the same title series that I'm regularly playing to this day. The only catch to the release of BF3 would be that I would NEED to have an Xbox 360, as it's not going to be out on the regular Xbox, nor would this computer be capable of running it. A 360 is one of the main things on my X-mas list this year, but the chances of me getting one are pretty slim. I mean, I'm pretty sure I've gone over the history of me and what happens when I want a video game system before. Anywoo.... I'd say the chances of me getting one are virtually none, but I'm willing to up it to "slim" since last year was light, and supposedly Jared and I were to have gotten more money to counter that, but I've not seen any. So maybe that'll carry over to this year, thus meaning there's a chance of a 360. I'm not holding my breath though. So yeah..... if the game is BF3, I just hope I then have a 360 to be able to play it!
Last night though, I saw something online that added a couple more possibilities. A new Jedi Knight game is a possibility, as it's been some time since Jedi Academy was released (and is the game I'm currently in the midst of playing). It wouldn't be a complete disappointment if that were the case, as it's a good series (even if JK:JA is the only one I've played hehe), so a new one would be nice to see. Not to mention the fact that that would mean a return to the classic SW story, rather than the Prequels era. Which reminds me, playing JK:JA, I had forgotten how Luke was as a Jedi Master; compared to what's now been established in the last 10 years, not so great hehe. Sure, it could be argued that he didn't have much to work with and was starting over, but still hehe.
But another title I saw last night, I was actually thinking about a few months back, thinking it would be awesome if they would do an updated version of it. And with all the Prequels done, the timing certainly would be right. I'm just now unsure which I would want this game to be more: BF3 or a new X-Wing/TIE Fighter game! It's officially been 10 years since the release of the last entry of the series, and I guess, per Wikipedia, two years ago PC Gamers ranked TIE Fighter as 3rd of the top 50 games of all time! If any title deserves a new release, it's X-Wing/TIE Fighter! Computers have come a long way in the 10 years since X-Wing Alliance, and 15 since TIE Fighter! And lets not forget, we now have Clone War/Prequel starfighters to throw into the mix! A X-Wing/TIE Fighter/Clone Wars game would be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and I guess I should probably note that last night I also saw a brief article from someone I guess at G4 having e-interviewed someone at LucasArts about the possibility of a new game in the series, and they were told that an announcement about exactly that would be coming soon (this was over the summer). So there's a teaser out there to say it might be a definite possibility! But like BF3, I just hope I would be able to play it! I wasn't able to play Alliance, as our computer at the time didn't meet the specs. Of course, as I see it, a new X-Wing/TIE Fighter/Clone Wars starfighter game shouldnt' require THAT much for the computer, compared to other titles (SW or otherwise), so hopefully our 1.8 GHz processor and 1.5 GB of RAM would be sufficient. I mean, technically it would be for TS3, but I can't get that (even if I wanted it hehe) as I wouldn't be able to have an expansion packs with it, and well..... that'd be a major problem. So yeah, if this new game is X-W/TIE/CW, then I hope (and imagine) 1.5 GHz and 1 GB RAM should be enough for a minium (we have a game that came with this computer that looks and plays more than well enough for a new X-W/TIE/CW game).
So yeah..... I've got Saturday marked on my calendar as when this new SW game will be announced! Tops on my list of hopes, BF3 or X-W/TIE/CW! That would be followed by a new JK game, while TFU2 would be a major disappointment for me. That said, there is always the possibility that it'll be an entirely new title, at which point, we'll just have to wait and see how awesome/retarded it looks. But the only near certainty would be it's NOT KotOR 3. :/ Only five days will tell. :)
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 11:55pm
One redeeming quality, for what it's worth
It may not be a huge one, but tonight I managed to find one redeeming quality to this new monitor (but I still am not too happy with it, especially since I still can't find the right brightness/contrast settings)! There was some really mundane detail from Return of the Jedi I needed to look up for purposes of my BHG character's estate (whether an idea I had based on something from RotJ was rooted in what was actually in the movie as I thought, or if I was just going crazy hehe (specifically, if anyone cares, whether or not, when the fight breaks out at the sarlacc pit, if the guy on the deck of Jabba's sail barge that fires a blaster mounted on the rail towards the skiff, if the blaster was already there, or if he attached it to the rail (like I said, mundane hehe))), and watching the chapter, I couldn't help but notice the movie looked a whole lot better than I had ever seen it! Of course, it had been a while since I've watched the movie on DVD (or in general actually), so thinking that perhaps it was just in my head, I popped the DVD into the DVD player to check out the scene on the TV. Then I popped it back in the computer. Then back on the TV. Nope. It wasn't in my head! It actually looked FAR better! From the first part of this one chapter, I saw five things that I could distinguish as being better than I had ever seen! Before the fight breaks out, there's a shot of Bib Fortuna looking out the window; on the TV, some of the details in texture of he lekku were visible, but on here..... way more. Another similar scene has this grey round thingy next to the windows that people are looking out. On here, I was able to see dents in it (either from use or the forging process (or both) that were simply not there on the TV. Two things with Lando! One being when he nods to Luke, skin texture on his neck was very much visible that never was on the TV. The other being his outfit consisting of a fur material (at least the brown parts), that well.... didn't look as such on the TV. Then in general, way more details in Luke's face could be seen. So YAY for it most definitely NOT being in my head! :)
And I guess while on the topic, the other night after posting, I was bored hehe, so I figured I'd at least see about widescreen compatibility with the games. Fortunately, TS2 and Civ IV both natively support 1366 (and 1360)x768, so the two games I play the most are completely unaffected! :D Spore too for sure! Jedi Academy I still have to play, but I followed the instructions I found online to do it, so hopefully it works. Unfortunately, neither KotOR could do it for me (there is a patch, however, what needs to be done with it is not possible with our graphics card apparently (for the patches, 1366x768 is too small)), so it really sucks that those have to be run windowed. :( That also means they have to be played at 800x600 in order to actually fit on the screen (since 768 would be a shared height between 1024 and 1366). :(
Still not to crazy about the monitor though. :P
Sunday, November 29, 2009 11:35pm
Not too happy about it
Apparently this morning the monitor wouldn't work again. Of course, the difference this time though, when I got up, I got the surprise of a new monitor set up in its stead. To say that pissed me off this morning would be an understatement! Why? Well, 1.) it means dad hooked everything up. And without even looking, I could clearly see it was done so sloppily! That, and the fact that when I was trying to figure out what was wrong the other day, I noticed the panel thingies that fill in the spaces on the back of the machine where the PCI slots are (so excess dust doesn't get in when those slots are empty) kept popping out of place. Now, Dell sucks.... bad hehe. And the way they hold these, and any other card installed in the slots? A plastic piece that "clamps" them down from the top, rather than actually having screws to securely hold the stuff in place. The plastic is great for the hard and disc drives..... but graphics card, modem, and whatever else..... not so much. Anyway.... now that piece of plastic doesn't lock in place! Consequently, plugging in a monitor, you have to actually open up the machine and hold the graphics card down manually, else it loosens/pops out of place! Sure enough, guess what was loose after dad hooked this monitor up? Just another thing that I had to redo after him. 2.) Not only did he hook it up, when I looked at the "installation instructions" (I cannot in good conscious call them legitimate instructions), nowhere did it say anything about installing the drivers on the CD included. Ummmmmmm... WTF?! So I had to do that, because you always put the drivers on for any piece of hardware you install. Period. But he didn't, so I needed to. And the real big thing that pissed me off, 3.) he got it without consulting me. Let me tell you. The only thing I do like about this monitor is the fact that the power cable is one piece! For one thing, it's a widescreen monitor (16:9). Widescreen is for TV/movies, and NOT for computers! Most sites out there aren't designed for widescreens (as most people don't have them (and why I'm not going to be adjusting this site to fit a widescreen, even though I think it looks not to great now))! And neither are most (if not all) the games we have! If I have to start playing things in windowed mode, I'll be even more pissed off! Images for wallpapers... also not designed for widescreens! Most images out there aren't panoramic, thus require editing to fit as a wallpaper for a widescreen monitor (and usually end up with extensive truncating to the image, that was photographed with either a 4:3 or 5:3 or 3:2 ratio). This also means the acoustics are all screwed up! Now the sound has something of a reverb to it! All because the speakers are pretty much forced behind the monitor, and get directed towards the sides of the hutch part of the desk. Then there's the fact that the controls for the screen are these retarded buttons on the side that are streamlined with the edge. In other words, you have to feel around for them, and then hope your fingers are on the right buttons! They were right there (and labeled) on the front of the monitor on our old one, so when I would have to adjust the settings (which was all the time, because I don't know why, but whenever dad gets off the computer, the screen's screwed up and everything's wavy), the buttons were right there. Not anymore! What am I on now? Four? Then we have the fact of the matter that with our old LCD, never did I get eye-strain from it. This one, apparently not so much. Already, twice it's been bothering my eyes. Looking at anything with a white background for more than 30 minutes seems to be enough. You know, Word documents, the editor I use to do this, web articles. So basically, most everything. :( And that's even after turning the brightness and contrast way down from what they were initially! And finally (for now, after just a couple hours hehe), and über annoyance! LCDs are designed to operate at a certain resolution. Period. To operate at a different resolut
ion, things just look funky. That said, the monitor is listed as being 1366x768. Widescreen aside, fine. That's 16:9 after all. The only thing is, the monitor itself apparently is designed for 1360x768. Although six pixels may not seem like a big deal, here's the thing. Operate it at 1366, and everything is clear and all, but those six pixels come off the right side of the screen. Meaning the scroll bar gets about 1/3 of it cut off! A slimmer scroll bar is quite annoying. And needless to say, if the scroll bar is cut, the close button is also affected. But operate the monitor at 1360, everything shows fine, but the text gets fuzzy! So you're left asking yourself, which annoyance is the lesser of two evils? Cut off scroll bar/close button or fuzzy text? All in all though, can't say I'm surprised though. I mean, it is a Dell too. 8|
All I can say though is I'm certainly not looking forward to firing up my games and seeing how they handle 1366x768!
Sunday, November 29, 2009 1:00am
Why I was never told about it I still don't understand
Apparently, our computer's monitor has been having issues powering up in the morning for a while now, but as I've said before, I'm always the last to know about anything around here, and as such, I was never told about it. Well, yesterday mom and dad went out "shopping" with it being Black Friday (I say "shopping" as they got up early and everything, only they went to a couple craft shows rather than traditional Black Friday stores), so when I got up, the computer was off (rather than dad being on playing World of Warcrap). I go to turn it on, only to find the afore mentioned problem with the monitor; the power light was only dimly lit up, and the screen was blank. After a while attempting to troubleshoot, eventually I went downstairs and lugged up our old CRT monitor and hooked it up, which worked fine, meaning the issue was in fact the monitor. That's when I called mom's cell phone to inform her that we would need a new monitor (there was no way the CRT was going to work, as even when it was hooked up to my craptop, it was just so dark, even at the highest contrast and brightness, not to mention it's size (hard to believe it use to actually be on this same desk before, 7-13 years ago hehe)), and that's when she told me that dad had told her that the monitor would take like 45 minutes to power up in the morning. So we were this close to getting a new monitor (which would have both been nice, but also a pain, as it would screw up the set-up, as the speakers that came with the computer are a little on the large size, and thus a 17" monitor would be a tad bit too large (our 15" fits with less than an inch to spare), and well..... finding monitors that small these days is no easy task), when last night it just hit me to try something. When I called mom, she asked if maybe something could have happened when they pulled the desk out to clean behind it, to which at the time, I couldn't have imagined how that would do anything. I mean, the desk's been pulled out and put back plenty of times before (granted, always by me, but still) without even a remote possibility for issues. But when I removed the monitor to replace it with the CRT, I had forgotten apparently that the power cable for it was actually done in three segments; one tiny thing that hooks up to the monitor itself, then one part that plugs into the outlet, and one part that both of those plug into. So it just occurred to me last night to try plugging it back into the power strip (having unhooked everything), and sure enough, it powered up normally! :D I then hooked it back up to the computer, and I guess it worked fine this morning too. So yeah.... my theory is that when they pulled the desk out, somewhere along the line, one of these connections to the middle segment of the power cord got loosened or something. Until the issue starts up again, I'm sticking to it hehe. That said, I am still a tad irked that I was never told of this issue, despite it having been going on for a while now (at least a month)! I just hope no long-term damage might have been caused because of it. And to think dad is toying with the idea of getting a new hard drive so he can play his WoW expansion pack. Like I would ever install it with how much pain that "game" has caused me in the last 11 months now (I swear I should seriously consider demanding monetary compensation for it hehe), and being a limited user, he shouldn't be able to install it himself. Plus that would mean even longer virus scans, which already take a minimum of four hours (although anymore, they've been taking seven or so)! And if we get a new computer instead (this one is seven or eight years old after all), WoW ain't getting installed on it, that's for sure. Instead, dad can have this piece of crap computer, and figure out where to put it, and he can play it on that. Seriously, you don't put MMOs on shared computers, especially when the person playing it is someone who's constantly infecting the computer with viruses! Of course, even then, I'm thinking he'd have to pay me a little bit, as well..
.. I could easily remove the 1GB RAM stick I bought with my money, which without he would not be able to play WoW hehe. Obviously not much, but a little something if it came to it hehe.
Anywoo.... to change the subject, I was checking out the news articles as I do every day when I get on the computer, and off of the White Sox website, there was an article about Mark Buehrle not being able to expect much this Christmas. Intrigued, I open it up, and it's about Mark's wife having gotten the American Chopper gang to build a bike for him, and how it was on last Thursday's episode. I couldn't help but think (and based on some of the comments, I wasn't the only one hehe) "Gee, it sure would have been nice to have had a little something saying this was an upcoming episode," rather than it being the recap of the episode as it turned out being. Fortunately, TLC would be one of the channels that likes people viewing their shows online (namely, unlike CBS, which has me shying away anymore from watching anything on there (which is sad really, as How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory would have been shows I'd watch otherwise)), so I was able to watch the episode. :) Obviously with the Sox/Buehrle connection, I wanted to watch it, but otherwise, I really couldn't care less about the show. The only other episode(s) I've watched was when they build a bike for NASA. Outside of that..... yeah. Anywoo..... it was interesting. Would have been nice if the episodes nowadays were like how they use to be, and were two parts per bike, rather than now, one complete bike per episode. Oh well.
Let's see.... what else?
Oh yeah! I finished up KotOR II the other day after coming up with a new strategy for surviving the HK factory, and figuring out what I needed to do hehe. The near-ending was interesting with its restored content. Namely Atton fighting Darth Sion on his own. Fortunately I had made Atton a Force user beforehand, thus he had some powers to assist him hehe. Of course, in the end, I purposefully let Atton lose hehe. Apparently with that scene, it's not required to win, as is the case with every other part. Instead, if you win (as Atton), the ending is as it otherwise would be. However, if you lose, Atton is mortally wounded, and at the end of the game, he and the Exile (your character) have a special moment, and he dies in your arms (regardless of gender, although as female (which is canon), he confesses his feelings for you). Well, I had seen the normal ending before when I've played (albeit a while ago), so I figured it'd be good to see this Atton dying ending hehe. Now I guess I just have to wait until the restoration is furthered with the readdition of M4-78, this droid world. Plus apparently the HK factory is getting improved (as it is kind of "you're on your own figuring how how to complete it" hehe), so when all that is finished, I'll have to install that and replay. But that might be a few months yet. :/ In the interim, with dad being on vacation, I just finished up replaying Bounty Hunter a second time thru. Before when I played, I guess I always saw the flamethrower as being kind of useless in the game, but after realizing a couple little facts, I must say...... it made the final world hella easy! :P Next up: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy! And after that, perhaps I'll be completely ready to flesh out my BHG character's estate (I'm playing these games to help get a sense of SW architecture/layouts after all hehe). Either way, it's actually coming along really nicely in my head. :)
One last thing to cover in this post hehe. So this season on Jeopardy! they're been promoting this Premiere Club thing from Sony Rewards, in which you identify what the previous day's Final Jeopardy category was, to earn points to redeem for various Sony related stuff. So I've been doing that, as well as a Wheel of Fortune and daily TV trivia question thing, with hopes of racking up enough points to get some DVDs. First up will be the Monty Python Holy Trinity box set (Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and Meaning of Life). :) And at the current rate, I'll likely have enough points for it just before Christmas, so woot! :) After that I have a few other DVDs I have my eye on. :) Best part is, the other day I kind of stumbled upon a, I guess you could call it a loophole hehe. Basically, the site is designed in such a way that it can often be a tad bit sluggish on this computer, being as old as it is. Well, with the Jeopardy! category thing, in the time it takes for it to register your submitted answer, it's not that difficult to click on the link to bring the question up again (as if you were coming from some other part of the site) and answer it again, and then maybe even one or two more times after that, all while, when it gives you the points from answering it, it registers each time you answered. So instead of the 25 points you normally get, I'm able to get 50, 75, and possibly even 100 points instead! :D Hey, it's not my fault Sony designs their site with such a flaw hehe. So yeah, with Jeopardy! being the big points earner anyway (25 for this, and 200 for weekly tournaments, while WoF and the TV question only get 10 points each), I'm able to rack up points just a little bit faster. ;) And the rule is, 1 point is about 1 penny, so..... yeah. The only thing I have to do yet is decide if I want to eventually redeem any points for Seasons 1-3 of Mad About You. Unfortunately, those are the only three that have been put on DVD (or will be most likely), yet I absolutely hate having partial serieses on DVD! It killed me when I only had Season 1 of Rome, and I couldn't continue watching when I finished that. It kills me that I only have Seasons 1 and 2 of Miami Vice and Friends, and Volume 1 of Futurama, so I can't continue after watching those after finishing what I have. Unlike those, MAY, there would be no chance at ever getting the remaining seasons if I were to get them. But on the other hand, MAY is one of my favorite shows! So who knows. Fortunately I have plenty of other DVDs to get before it comes time to possibly redeeming for them, so I have time to decide hehe.
And since I brought it up hehe, one final though (for real hehe). It's just a quicky too. Yay for real new episodes of Futurama coming in the summer! :D Here I thought, when it was announced that Comedy Central would air new episodes, that it was just going to be the episodeized versions of the movies (as was announced then). But the other day I saw that in fact, 26 new episodes are coming in mid-2010, and that means real new episodes! WOOT!!!! :D
Sunday, November 22, 2009 1:25am
Woot!! Chuck's a comin' soon!!!
Okay, so last yesterday I went to Hulu to watch the latest episode of Modern Family a second time (since with dad home now, Thursday wasn't much of an option), and also because I had Spandau Ballet's song True stuck in my head (it played a role in the episode hehe, thus making it the second song that the show managed to get stuck in my head, in only eight episodes! :P ). Anywoo, when I arrived at the page, I noticed that my queue had an unwatched video in it. So I guess I should point out that I only have two shows that I'm subscribed to receive clips for; Modern Family being one of them. The only thing is, MF clips load on Thursdays, and I had already watched this week's clips, so this one new thing more than likely couldn't be MF. That left the other subscription, which is Chuck. Sure enough, it was quite a pleasant surprise to see a new Chuck clip waiting for me! :) It was even more pleasant to watch it, and it being, well, three things actually. 1.) A thank you from Zachary Levi to the fans for all the support, and thus the reason Chuck is coming back for a third season, 2.) a clip from said third season, and 3.) an announcement that Chuck will be back on, not after the Olympics as was originally planned, but on January 10th!!!!! :D And the best part is, that that's a 2-hour episode, then the 11th, another standard episode (1-hour) on it's regular night!! Woohoo!! :D And as I'm writing this, I can't help but bobble around to Let's Get It Started by the Black Eyed Peas (what can I say, it was on the radio earlier today, and is kinda in my head along with True hehe). :P
Speaking of MF/True, this episode was hyped up because it featured two guest stars; Elizabeth Banks and Edward Norton (the latter being mentioned far more than the former), but really.... Norton's part could have been kept out and he could have appeared in an episode all on his own really. He played a member of Spandau Ballet (and a made up one at that), and thus the True thing hehe. But yeah..... I could see the role if it was a made up band. But it's not. It's an actual band from the '80s that had an actual hit song! Granted, it's not a big name band, and they're more of a minor one-hit-wonder, but still. They could have at least had one of the actual members play the part, or just made up a song and band for the show. So yeah..... not the greatest episode, but the show is still great! :P
Other than that, the reason I didn't watch MF on Thursday (but watched the clips hehe), is I'm currently playing KotOR II, and well, I've been engulfed by that. The thing is, the game is plagued by the fact that it was rushed out by LucasArts to be sold for the holidays when it was released, and thus a lot of stuff that wasn't able to be finished got cut, and well.... the game just has this incomplete feel to it. And that's why there are these groups out there that attempt to restore that deleted content (it was all left on the Xbox discs, so it's a matter of converting it to the PC, and then completing and integrating it back into the game). I had known of one of these groups (and really, THE one) for a while, but since nothing's been done for some time, another group has formed, and is actually releasing the stuff incrementally, instead of waiting until everything is 100% and perfect. So this time playing, I have what's released of that installed. :) And it definitely helps. :) That said though, I'm finding myself stuck in mere survival trying to figure my way thru the biggest restoration to it, the HK droid factory! The in-game documentation is kind of lacking as to what you need to do, and in it, it's an HK-47 solo mission to the game, thus you have no party members, and well.... you have to battle against a bunch of HK-50s. They're not difficult when you have a Jedi/the rest of your party, but when it's just HK-47...... they're vastly superior to him! And of course, since it's not in the game proper, there aren't exactly any walkthroughs or anything out there to assist in figuring out what all needs to be done to just survive! Hopefully I'll be able to make it thru hehe.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 6:55pm
It's about damn time he finally got it! d:D
Not to sound like too much of a homer hehe, for the longest time, Mark Buehrle has deserved a Gold Glove. He truly does have one of the best moves to 1st in the game (something recognized by that national sportscasters when a game is nationally televised, as well as other teams), he's almost always right there to field his position, and he's one of the fastest working pitchers in the game (again, nationally recognized) which only helps you defensively. Everything that is supposed to be a Gold Glove pitcher! Unfortunately, the one big problem with the award is, because it's awarded by the managers and not the media or whoever, each manager only sees so many of the other teams' staff. Thus, the award tends to become an award of reputation rather than actual skill. Since 2000, only three people had received the AL Gold Glove at pitcher; Kenny Rogers, Mike Mussina, and Johan Santana. The first two are now retired, and Johan is pitching in the NL. So for the first time in nearly a decade, someone new was going to be getting it! Que Mark. :) Between what I said before, and the fact he threw a perfect game this year, how could anyone else be awarded the Gold Glove? And sure enough, apparently the managers were thinking along the same lines! d:D So finally, we can refer to Mark Buehrle, not as a Gold Glove caliber pitcher, but an actual Gold Glove pitcher!!!! d:D Way to go #56!!! :D The best part is, maybe, just maybe, that one problem with the award will continue, and this will be only the first for him. ;)
Now that the uncertainty if Mark would get the Glove is behind us, now it's time to turn to Monday, to see if Gordon Beckham can complete the sweep of Rookie of the Year awards (he's already received such recognition from both the players/managers and the Players Association)! *crosses fingers* Come on, Gordo!!!! d:D
Sunday, October 25, 2009 2:55am
Unusual phone call, and I'm unsure what to do
So a couple hours ago, we got this phone call, but I'm a little confused about what to make of it. It was about a quarter after midnight when the phone rang. Which right there was odd, as well.... unless you're like a teenager/early twenty-something, that's kind of late to be making/receiving calls, right? Anyway.... I answer it, and this girl on the other end asks "Who's this?" First (and only) instinct was that it was a wrong number. I mean, said young people (and she sounded such) would call someone and expect a certain person to answer, but would get someone else if it was a wrong number, right? Of course..... even if you are calling what you think is say a cell phone and someone else answers, do you still ask the person you called who it is? That just seems odd. But anyway, trying to think exactly how to answer her, dad, who's downstairs (having gotten home from work about a half hour earlier) "answers" the phone, despite the fact that clearly I had answered it, since the phone hadn't been ringing when he picked up. 8| I was at a loss for how to answer her "Who's this?" and dad answered, so I just let him deal with the wrong number. I was watching TV anyway hehe. After that... didn't think anything of it. I mean, it was a wrong number, right?
Well.... after a while, I noticed dad talking downstairs. Now, this was maybe five or ten minutes later. Curious, I mute the TV only to hear "I'll talk to you later." So it's now 20-25 after midnight and he's on the phone with someone, presumably the girl who had called, right? I'm not wrong to make that assumption, am I? And in the event it wasn't, he would have had to make the call, as the phone didn't ring, nor did his cell phone, which I would have heard (of course, presumably his phone would have been in the bedroom, as he had changed out of his work close and into just his robe, thus no real place to put his cell phone). But again..... who would he be calling after midnight? Mom's not home for some reason, but I still can't see him calling her that late. Which takes my thinking back to the girl who had called. So either it was a wrong number, as I initially thought, and for some odd reason dad was all chatty with her. Or..... she didn't have the wrong number, and called for him. Who would be calling for him, that late at night (although about a half hour after he got home from work), and wouldn't know who I was when I answered? It couldn't possibly have been his work, having him go into (or not) work tomorrow (I think he's supposed to be going in), as when they've called in the past for whatever reason, they never ask "Who's this?" straight away! They ALWAYS have said who it is first, and then asked for dad. NEVER assumed he was the one who would answer. So yeah..... she wasn't them. So who was she?!
Now.... anymore, let's just say dad's not been the most subtle when trying to hide a fact. I mean, he's constantly going downstairs to watch TV late, when I'm on the computer and mom's asleep/taking her bath, and thus he has the TV upstairs, which is significantly larger, and the seating is more comfortable, all when a.) he's flipping thru the channels (rather than using the guide) as he does, and I can clearly hear channels leading up to the premium channels (because he often needs to have the volume up there to hear the TV), leading up to when he goes downstairs, but not before a sudden drop in volume to a level not even I can hear at the computer, thus he certainly can't hear himself, I'm sure, and b.) when based on the listings online, a said premium channel just happens to have some form of adult program on. He goes downstairs, and when whatever program he went downstairs to watch finishes per the online listings, he comes back up and either goes to bed, or watches TV back up in the living room, with the volume turned back up to where it was before. Doesn't exactly take a genius to figure out what he's watching downstairs, right?
So with that in mind..... I don't exactly know what to think or do. Was the call in fact harmless, and truly a wrong number, and I'm just over-thinking/analyzing? Or am I on target? And either way, do I say something to mom? I DON'T KNOW!!! :( What should I do?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 3:05pm
Coming soon to a channel line-up near you!
So today I was going thru my daily websites, when I came across this article about The Weather Channel, for the first time in it's history, will start airing movies. And with the fact that they've been showing more and more shows thruout the day, this just kind of reminds me of MTV and VH1. There was a time when they actually aired music videos all day long. But as the years rolled on, they started to show less and less, while at the same time, showing more and more of the movies and/or shows that aren't music videos. At first, they were music related though, so that was okay, but now...... how much of their programing has anything even remotely to do with music? Likewise with CNN. When they started to show more programs rather than 24x7 news, they created HeadlineNews. And now look at that hehe. So, yeah...... seeing this article, one question came to mind. When is The Weather Channel 2 going to be here? It'll be the 24x7 weather station, i.e. what The Weather Channel has been all these years, while the original channel will eventually just call itself TWC, and have nothing to do with weather (like how The Learning Channel became TLC, and now has nothing educational on anymore).
Any thoughts when this little prophecy will come true? :P
Monday, October 19, 2009 12:10am
I knew this song would be stuck in my head for a while hehe
As I mentioned before, I'm absolutely loving this new show, Modern Family! Well, I was watching it Wednesday (duh hehe), and at the end of the episode, one of the characters (more specifically, Haley; the older, teenage daughter of the Dunphy family) has her boyfriend invited over with the rest of the family to this get together, where eventually he's asked to sing a song, as he's in a band, and has his guitar with him. After he sang the song, I immediately knew I shared the same fate as all the other characters in the show: the song would be stuck in my head! :) Not only that, but I knew it'd be in there for a LONG time hehe. That was Wednesday evening, and sure enough...... it's still very much rooted deep in my brain, even after listening to other songs since that would (and have) otherwise gotten stuck hehe. If you've not seen the show, a.) I would highly recommend it (so long as you're not the type who think gays are not human as some actually do, at least per this one IMDB message board post I saw), and b.) if you want to hear the song yourself, you can either check out The Incident episode (episode #4) online (the show on Hulu is here), or go see the music video and/or download the MP3 from the respective links. But yeah..... so far, that was by far the best episode of the series, even only four in. HIL-ARI-OUS!! :P
And now for something completely different.
Last week (I think hehe) had seen this article online about, as you might have guessed based on the "segue," this six-part Monty Python documentary airing this week on IFC. Obviously I was planning on watching it anyway (and did tonight, and plan to continue to do so hehe), but there was one thing that was kind of bothering me. Until just the other night, believe it or not, I had never seen Life of Brian, and I had only seen Holy Grail once, which was in 10th grade English class, and as such, a.) it was broken down to span three days, b.) we had to analyze the movie (instead of just watching it outright), and had this worksheet we had to fill out during the movie, so half the time was spent writing your answers to a given question about the movie, rather than watching it, and c.) like I said, it was 10th grade English, so it was 12-13 years ago!!! So yeah..... I definitely wanted to make sure I saw them both before this documentary started, just so I would know what they were, you know? So this weekend I did just that. :) And since it was two of the three movies, while I was at it, I figured I'd throw in Meaning of Life as well, especially after seeing it was NOT on the IFC schedule, when the other two were (I didn't want to wait to see them hehe), even though IFC is the channel I've watched it on hehe. And before when I said how the song from Modern Family was still stuck in my head, despite having heard others since that normally would replace it, but haven't...... Meaning of Life is a big movie for that. :P Anywoo..... I dunno. All I ever hear is how of the three, Holy Grail is supposed to be the best, while Meaning of Life is the worst, but now having seen all three in a 24 hour or so period hehe, honestly, I feel it's the other way around. Sure, HG has some good bits in it, but overall..... I was kind of bored with it. While at the same time, MoL is, well.... more like Flying Circus, which is a good thing! So who knows? Guess I'm just a freak like that. But don't let that make you think that Modern Family may not be all that great, as all the numbers I've seen show it as a top comedy this season. So it's not just me who likes it. :) But yeah.... this documentary is pretty good, with all the surviving members being interviewed, as well as archived interviews with Graham Chapman, as well as others close to all six. Worth checking out anyway if you're a Python fan. :)
Other than that, last night I was kinda pissed off when, while playing Black & White, it kept crashing every time I tried to progress to the final land of the game, and thus wasn't able to finish (which is something I've actually never done for various reasons (all of which are technical, in case you're wondering hehe; otherwise I would have)). :( Oh well. The only reason I was playing it was because of the Beowulf episode of Clash of the Gods on The History Channel a few weeks back, when the images of the long houses got me to think of the houses of the Norse villagers in the game hehe. So now I can go back to KotOR, and eventually Jedi Academy, to get me back in a Star Wars mindset so that I can resume work on my BHG character, and maybe get him all finished finally hehe. There's only so much Battlefront can do in that department hehe. Especially when the character's primary ship is a modernized version of the Ebon Hawk from KotOR hehe.
Saturday, October 10, 2009 12:55am
I've been meaning to post..... I swear! :P
I've been meaning to post something since Monday, but for whatever reason on a given day, I just never did. Mainly though it was a game of Civ4 that just seemed to take forever to complete!!!
Anywoo.... the good news is, dad is in fact back to work!!! :D Unfortunately though, for some reason, it's for 2nd shift, so my computer time really has only increased a little bit. Aside from Jeopardy in the afternoon, the stuff I want to watch is in the evenings.... which is the exact same time dad's at work. :/ Oh well..... at least I am able to do my daily sites while the sun is still up hehe.
One of those things I want to watch in the evenings: this new show on ABC, Modern Family! What can I say..... I'm loving it!!!! :) My only hope now is that my liking it doesn't prove to be the kiss of death hehe. I really liked Rome..... and look what happened. Then Kevin McKidd got a new show, Journeyman, which I really enjoyed. That too didn't last. And Chuck is in limbo (just a shame the NBC execs have no brains apparently hehe; you'd think they'd look at their own past with shows like Friends and Cheers, and actually give shows a shot!). I just hope that Modern Family isn't the next to join that list. Hell.... when it premiered after Dancing with the Stars, mom didn't turn (I had asked if I had to go downstairs to watch it, or if the channel would stay where it was hehe), and I know she won't admit it, but I heard her laughing more than once. And she like never laughs at comedies anymore hehe. And on an interesting side-note about the show.... on Hulu, I've noticed that some of the clips for the show have the KCRG bug in the corner, which just so happens to be the local ABC affiliate! I just thought that was cool hehe. Normally it's always some California station or something that has this stuff up.... not an Iowa one! :)
Jeff Dunham also has a show coming to Comedy Central in a couple weeks, which I'm thinking I'll have to watch, especially after checking out the website hehe. I don't know..... I kind of thought, based on the clip they had at the time, the show looks to be something of an Ali G style show. So yeah.... most definitely something I'm planning on watching hehe.
And then there's the biggy..... MLB post-season! That said, I'm not watching it like I would if the Sox were in it hehe, but I'm following it, and may watch an inning or two here or there. We'll see how that goes come World Series time though. I may tune in a bit more then hehe. That said, I guess I'll be rooting for the Dodgers this year, despite the fact that I'd rather an AL team win. But since the Twins are on the verge of elimination... I'll stick with the Dodgers hehe. I mean, it would be nice to see Mr. Incredible finally win that ring he so richly deserves! Just a shame it couldn't be done last year. :( But yeah.... since he's now a Dodger, I'm pulling for them, even if that means Manny would get another one too hehe.
Oh! I guess I never did mention this before! When mom went to Minnesota, she ended up buying a kitchen cart from IKEA to replace the table we've had for as long as I can remember. See, the computer is in the kitchen, or more specifically, the dining area of the kitchen, in part because we hadn't eaten at the table for years before we got this kind of computer back in '96 (we had a Tandy 1000 before then which was in my room, since I was the only one who used it for school). Well..... the table was kind of in the way. Specifically, the mouse pad on the keyboard shelf, when pulled out, was half under the table, if that makes any sense. And again, we've not eaten at the table in ages, so rather than just have it constantly collect crap and dust..... we got rid of it and replaced it with this cart. Although it's been a couple weeks, I'm still not fully used to it hehe. I guess the path to the computer is so ingrained, I still walk around as if the table was still there hehe. Anyway..... on top of that, last weekend, we ended up getting a new cordless phone for the house, since our old one, the battery was pretty much shot, and the display...... to say it too was shot would be an understatement hehe. It was downright unreadable! :P So yeah..... we've now have this new phone system (it's actually three handsets, with the base, and two satellites) which is taking some getting used to as well hehe. The phones are smaller, lighters, and just sound a bit different. That and they're white! We'll see how often they need to be cleaned because of that fact hehe.
Finally (like I said, I've been meaning to post for a while now hehe), I still need to decide if I'm going to make some cookies for Halloween. Originally I was going to without any doubt whatsoever, however when she went up to Minnesota, mom also brought back three boxes of Cinnabons (since there's no location nearby any more), and they just got finished off tonight. And with only having one a night (as opposed to three a day as might have happened before hehe), I've still managed to put on a few pounds. :( A bunch of sugar cookies so soon after certainly wouldn't be helping much in that department hehe. So who knows. That said, I must admit, that when it comes to decorating said sugar cookies.... Halloween is probably my favorite, as I can be more creative! :) Christmas cookies..... not so much; can't do much with Santas, reindeer, snowmen, and Christmas trees. Halloween however, sure..... the black cats and white ghosts are pretty plain, but my pumpkins and witches flying across the moon can be pretty awesome!!! :P So yeah..... we'll see. I got a week or so to decide hehe.
Friday, October 02, 2009 1:00am
Just a few more days!!!!
Monday is when dad is supposed to go back to work.... FINALLY!!!! Of course, with my luck hehe, either that won't happen, or it'll only be for a few days or a week or two hehe. But I'm finding it quite hard to wait! He's been home during the day for so long, play World of Warcrap all day long, that I'm just losing my mind! Fortunately, mom's been on vacation all this week, so it's felt more like a REALLY long-ass weekend hehe. But hopefully Monday things will be back to normal! I even got a taste of it last weekend hehe! Mom had this scrapbooking/card making thing in the Quad Cities, which she's had before, but it's only an hour or so away, so it's never been anything special. This time around though, for some unknown reason, a.) she stayed overnight before and after, and b.) dad went too! So for about 36 hours I ended up having the house to myself! :D It may not have been the week I thought I was going to get when mom went up to Minnesota (they both have been going up each year for their anniversary, so I was under the impression that when she said she was going up, dad would be going too, but it turned out that it was another crop, so it was just her), but at least it was some time! :) So here's hoping things do in fact return to (and stay) normal come Monday! :)
Aside from that, unfortunately, this week I've officially had to resort to wearing my fleece pull-over all day/every day, as it's definitely started to get colder. That really sucks considering we didn't have much of a summer hehe. That said, there is some hope! :) This winter is supposed to be an El Niño winter, which means it should be warmer than normal! :D I remember back in my Scouting days in '02, there was a Winter Camporee (I didn't go because it was my birthday hehe, plus winter camping has never been my thing, and there was no way to know ahead of time what it would be like hehe) where it was in the 70s all weekend! That at the end of January I'll take any day! :P So if we can get that El Niño weather this time around...... that would almost make up for the lack of a real summer this year hehe. Then in '06 with the transit of Mercury (which not only made my pictures page, but also my blog, if you want to check it out hehe), it was 70s in November, and that was leading into another El Niño winter! Of course, with that in mind.... I guess it's a year or two early this time around. It shouldn't be until at least next winter, in '10/'11. A sign of global warming perhaps? Who knows. Just as long as it's warm this winter hehe. That's all I really care about. :P I mean, when she gets back to school, Mei wants to take me out to lunch on my birthday, which will be on a Sunday, so about the only way that would work out easily is if it's warm, since busses don't run on Sundays. :/ I can only hope hehe.
Saturday, September 19, 2009 3:30am
Normally I'm dead-set against it, but.....
One of the things that I really do hate the most about my family is the simple fact of the matter is that I pretty much can't express any interest whatsoever in any form of culture that isn't current/of my time, without having to put up with crap from whomever, although nine times out of ten, it'd be from dad. Be it classical music (or any music really from before I was born), many of the greatest movies ever made (again, with the exception of Star Wars, anything that was from before I was born), TV shows.... whatever. Anytime I express any interest in anything from before the '80s, I'm given a hard time about it. Every time. Like the other day, while watching The Twilight Zone, unfortunately dad was home.... so I had to deal with him during that (never mind that I've watched it before and he made a comment, so the fact that he said something this time around as if it was the first time pissed me off). So yeah.... pretty much anything that's iconic, I can't watch without having to put up with someone's crap.
Well, a while back (maybe a week or two ago), I was flipping thru the channels, and I saw Keith Olbermann going after Glenn Beck (who, let's be honest, really is just a nut-job conspiracy theorist; something I came to realize the very first day I saw him on TV, having never heard of him before then). Specifically, Glenn was explaining one of his thing, and Keith was "breaking in" on him to comment, which after a while just descended to Keith quoting famous movie lines of paranoia. One of which was from Soylent Green. Now, I knew what it was about, but again, because that would be culture, I couldn't exactly express interest in it before, although it was one of those that I would have liked to check out. Well, for some reason, that quote's been with me ever since hehe (and it was one of the AFI's 100 most memorable quotes from a few years back). So the other day, I figured I'd check to see if I could find it on Google Videos (which I had found Bill Maher's Religulous on once). And I found it! :D So tonight I figured I'd watch it. :) I must say, not a bad movie if I say so myself hehe.
That said, I've always been pretty dead-set about being against the more iconic movies being remade today, but this one..... I don't think would be bad. :) I mean, for starters, watching it, I must admit that the '70s tech being portrayed as being 13 years from now in 2022 was a bit distracting hehe. Asteroid was a great game hehe, but I'm not feeling 2022 with it. :P And let's not get me going on pretty much no computers. :P But other than that, the story still very much works! Global warming (90° at night in NYC year round), over population, food supply shortages...... any of those issues from this movie from '73 ring a bell? :P So yeah..... I'm thinking this WOULD be a movie I'd like to see remade, which still feels odd for me to think that hehe.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 1:30am
Getting tired of WoW's very existence!!
So the other day mom did some cleaning out here in the kitchen, part of which was dad pulling out the computer, and doing a bunch of crap. Well, one of the things he did was put the box to WoW up on the shelf above the monitor to go along with the box for that EP. First off, there's already too much stuff on the shelf that doesn't need to be there, and resulting in limited space. Secondly, this box has been down below, untouched, since January! So, I take both boxes, and put them down below on the bottom shelf of the desk where all that stuff belongs (the upper shelf is for manuals and games that require playing off the disc (something WoW hasn't required for him ever)), only for him to each time put both boxes back up on top, forcing me to each time put them down where they belong! Simple fact of the matter is, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for those boxes to be up top! None!!! Again, in eight months, it's NEVER required him to play of the disc (which in the box isn't on the top of the contents). What's on the top of the contents? His registration page that he printed out. Below that? His account name and password! If that's why he needs the box out where it doesn't belong, when it's been down below untouched for so long...... he shouldn't be playing it!!!!! And that's on top of the already endless list of reasons why it shouldn't even be on this computer to begin with!! Today, he left a post-it note saying "Leave here," but there's no way in hell that's happening. I asked why they need to be kept up, and all he did was ask why to move them. He didn't answer my question, even after I told him there was no good reason whatsoever for their being up there, and there's already too much stuff up there that doesn't need to be, blah, blah, blah! And in the off chance that for some reason the "game" suddenly requires the disc, a.) why is he wanting the EP box up top too, when that's not even on the computer, and b.) there's a CD holder on the shelf with all those games that require the disc to play, and there's plenty of room in there still for his World of Warcrap!! Again, not a single good reason, and the only justification I can come up with (suddenly not remembering his own password) would be reason enough to uninstall it completely!!!
As if that wasn't enough, somewhere along the line he infected the computer with yet another virus that was something of a pain to remove! He may be a limited user now, but that doesn't mean taking my limited time on the computer to clean up the viruses he constantly infects it with is any less annoying! I've been holding off telling mom about the fact that there are viruses out there that specifically target WoW users to get their credit card info (since those people aren't very bright to begin with, and are easy targets), and with how many viruses he's always infected the computer with, it's only a matter of time. I tell her that, she'll want it removed IMMEDIATELY! :) But I haven't yet. Although I'm finding it harder to justify not, each and every single day! :)
And then, in addition to the WoW boxes, he yelled at me for moving his foam cup holder that he puts on the top shelf..... right between the thermometer we have up there, and the rear of the cable modem.... which is right where it generates its heat! Yeah, put the object design to retain heat/cold in between a heat source and thermometer! Doesn't take a genius to figure out the problem there, does it?
So yeah.... the question then becomes, when is enough, enough? And when it is, what all do I do? I mean, there are SOOOOOOO many things I can do to stop him from playing WoW. I can uninstall it, seeing as he'd be unable to reinstall. :) I could delete a key file, and he'd not have a clue what was wrong! I could block WoW thru the firewall, and with limited access, he'd be unable to change it. I could log into his account (since he has his stuff written down for anyone to see), and change his password. I could take the shortcut and rename the target path. And that's just to name a few! :) Like I said, I have plenty of options, that he'd never be able to figure out. So what do I do when enough is enough? And why, when I have so many options, does he continue to piss me off like this? You would think you'd want to get on the good side of someone who is your IT person, right? I mean, just the other day he had to have me help him do some crap with his "game." And being the only one who would be able to help him...................
Sunday, September 13, 2009 3:50am
I've just entered.... the Twilight Zone! Sorta. Okay, not really hehe.
So Friday on Sci-Fi (and yes, I'm fully aware they changed it, but a.) I refuse to acknowledge that hehe, and b.) if they're going to spell it the way they seemingly want to, I'm going to pronounce it they way they spell it! Namely, siffy (Sy, as in system, synonym, symbol, symptom, and then Fy as in all the f_y words without the _ hehe, or any word that ends with F that is Y-ified))! Anywoo, on Sci-Fi they had this Twilight Zone marathon or something during the day, and I ended up watching a couple episodes of that. Well, in one of them, some guy was just playing pyramid solitaire, and when I saw that, it sparked a memory of it having been such a long time since I played that! Unfortunately, Windows only comes with a couple different solitaire games, and on our old computer (or was it my craptop? Coulda been both I guess hehe) I had this free solitaire program with more games to play, one of which was pyramid. Well, I had no idea what happened to it. Anyway, yesterday I found a version that was web-based, and I was playing that some after the shuttle landed (I'm still amazed I was able to get on to see it!), but I wasn't too crazy about it. Well, out of the blue, it occurs to me to check this folder I have of all the files I ended up saving from my craptop, as well as my stacks of zip disks, to see if maybe it was in there someplace. It wasn't sadly, and I when a quick Google search didn't result in much, I began to lose hope that I would find that program again, and would have to settle for some other downloaded software (there were other games in this as well I enjoyed playing, so I would have had to download multiple pieces of software). Miraculously though, somehow, while browsing thru other options, I saw a screen shot of card back options and thought to myself "I know those card options!!!" See, one's actually an image of a sail ship, thus why it stood out. I checked it out, and guess what software it was?! :D So now I feel complete, even though I had completely forgotten about it until just two days ago hehe. And I guess, in the off chance anyone might be interested, here's the link.
So yeah..... other than that, there is one other thing that's kinda been bothering me. I saw an article today recapping the Tigers/Blue Jays game, and in it, it specifically said that the White Sox are out of the race for the division. And everyone seems to say that. Only they're not!!!! They're only five games back (and six losses), and now they've passed the Twins to be in 2nd, and although normally that's not good, a.) they still have six games against Detroit, b.) the Sox have always played well against the Tigers, and c.) Detroit's all of a sudden is on this loosing skid, so that could continue/affect they're playing for the rest of the season! Plus Detroit just got swept by the Royals. The ROYALS!!!!! In other words, five of the remaining six against the Tigers (if not sweeping them) is a definite possibility! The Sox (and Twins) are still very much in contention. Plus, let's not forget in '05, the Sox going into September had a 15 game lead over the 2nd place Indians, only to see that cut to just 1½ games just before facing the Tribe that closing weekend (and sweeping)! Buehrle's winning games again following his perfecto (he had a drought after his first no-hitter as well), and I'm loving Freddy being back!!! :D The Sox have a legit shot still! The Cubs are out of it hehe, but not the Sox!
Tuesday, September 08, 2009 1:45pm
I know it's been a while
I know it's been a couple weeks since I last posted (but hey.... not like that's a first hehe), but with dad still being home, I've not had that much access to the computer (it was a fluke when I got up today and he WASN'T on!), and thus when I do get access, writing a blog post isn't exactly the highest on my list of priorities. :( Especially with a new page needing to be started (being the first post of September, which is page 3 for each year). So yeah..... not exactly what I'm wanting to do when I have limited access. Oh well.
Anywoo, following up on my last post (had to read it myself just to remember what it was about, since there have been others I meant to post, but just didn't), nothing much really happened. All he did was "Why didn't you just say something?" To which I just ignored him. I REALLY didn't want to get into anything, and had I said anything after that, there was no doubt he'd snap at me for using a non-existent tone or something. Although I said in the note to be off by 10, apparently that means 11 to him. But at least it's not 1am anymore! Regardless though, I can't wait for him to be back to work, and it won't be an issue at all! Now...... will that ever happen? With my luck, probably not.
That said, only a couple days after that, he went and did something to further stress me out, as that Friday, mom and dad went out to eat (so I guess there's enough money again, as they kind of stopped doing that for a while there). Well, they also went to Walmart, and a certain someone ended up buying the first expansion pack to WoW. 8| The problem was two-fold there. 1.) There's simply not the room on the hard drive for it, as WoW is obscenely large by itself, and it's expansions are even larger! To put it into context, the base "game" of WoW alone is the same size as all the TS2 expansion and stuff packs; but that's 17 games, not just one! Also, it's takes up more space than every other pieces of software we have (installed and not), spanning 14 years, combined! One program! Double-digit percentage of the hard drive space for just one program! This EP, with the base, would have required about HALF the hard drive, between actual used space, and necessary extra free space required!!!!!!! And this wouldn't be the first time he bought something, only for the computer to not be good enough, so obviously he doesn't actually look to see what's required/what we have, or at the very least, ask me if it's doable. Even if that weren't the case though, there's still the fact that 2.) because he's constantly infecting the computer with viruses since getting WoW, I HAD to make him a limited user (something I had wanted to do for a long time, but all previous games required being run with administrator access, so I couldn't), so that when he does infect the computer, the viruses theoretically wouldn't be able to access system files as they would if he were an administrator. However, as a limited user, one can't install software. That meant he wouldn't be able to install the EP, even if there was the room for it. Which undoubtedly he would yell at me when he would have then found out that he was limited, even though it was a necessity. So I really wasn't looking forward to telling him he couldn't install this thing he clearly really wanted to install. When I told mom the bit about not having enough space (I didn't dare say anything about limited), and how I wasn't looking forward to telling him, she just laughed at me. :( But again, just left a little note on top of the EP saying there actually wasn't enough space on the hard drive that night, and surprisingly he didn't say anything the next day, but still. That night/morning I was a wreck worrying about what was likely to play out. :(
In other news, the other night I was bored out of my mind (what else is new though?), so I figured, since it's actually warm out, it was clear, and it had been such a long time since I last did it, I went ahead and took my telescope out, primarily to just watch Jupiter. That was mainly due to the fact that you could say I've actually learned how to use my camera since the last time I took my camera and telescope out (check my blog from March of last year). Anyway..... I was trying to take some pics of Jupiter, however..... my camera just sucks hehe. I wish when I was looking for what I wanted I had known I could have gone more expensive. Here I figured I was limited to $150-175, so I found the best camera at that price. But apparently I could have gone more towards $250 or so, and gotten a nice camera that would actually do well for astrophotography. :( Oh well. Anywoo..... the end result?
Not terrible really. I mean, under the circumstances, you can tell it's Jupiter, right? You can see the bands. The only problem is, the Galilean moons didn't get captured in any of the pics, despite the fact that when I was outside and took them, I SWEAR one of them was in that particular pic clearly, but after getting them onto the comp.... nodda. :( Guess from now on, unless there's a super-huge reason to do so, I'm not going to try to take pics of stuff thru my camera, unless it's a solar thing, where not everything's all black and thus the camera gets confused as to what to focus on hehe (despite using manual focus!).
I guess that's all for now. I mean, I'm sure there's other things I wanted to mention, but I've been working on this post now for an hour hehe. Civ is calling me since I actually am able to be on the computer, and there's a couple Curb Your Enthusiasm specials on tonight that I want to watch (the new season begins on the 20th!!!!!!!!!! :D
