Ok, so back when I had an overpaid dot.com job, I decided I wanted a new car. Normally, nobody buys a "new" car, you guy a 1 or 2 year old car for half the money. Silly me though, I figured I was making $52,000 a year and would likely get more at my next job, so I got a $30,000 eclipse.
That was four years ago. It's been, on the whole, a pretty reliable car. Very fast and responsive, looks nice (even though I never wash it), and even after four winters out in the snow, it's held up pretty well. Minor complaints, like the tires losing pressure every so often, or the sunroof not working as smoothly as it should.
Today, that changed. I drove off to lunch this morning, as I do almost every Saturday. My roommate has been using my car since it's reliable, and she drove to and from work this morning. After lunch, I headed to Best Buy and looked at stuff, then I drove down to the pet store to get cat food. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened.
15 minutes later, I put the cat food in the car, get in, and it won't start. The door light is flashing and beeping at me. My first though is, "Oh great. The stupid anti-theft thing in the store must have zapped my key somehow." After a little while, the dash lights come on dimly, but no engine turnover. Grrrrr...
I call my roommate and haver her (using her Mom's car) come rescue me. The car jump starts just fine, but all is not well. I notice the transmission slipping a bit when upshifting (it's an automatic), and as it's getting dark I flip the lights on. Bunches of dash lights come on, and the panel lighs dim and flicker. The brakes hiss (power breaks no longer power?), and I'm sure the car is about to die. I flick the lights back off and get the rest of the way home.
A friend suggested the battery might have a dead cell, which would account for it not turning over... but the other stuff is just too weird. I'm calling the dealer Monday (thankfully, I got the 5 year extended warrenty), but that is NOT how I wanted to spend the weekend before Christmas.
Oh yes, advent stuff.... todays' is yet to do, but
Yesterday: Coffee!
The 16th: Hot pink kiddie dough (smells a little more like play dough than the orange stuff)
17 December, 2005
14 December, 2005
Wheeeeeee
Advent Calendar for today: assorted hard candies, woot!
SoG is still down.... they still have no ETA.
Some bastards claim they've gotten to play, a few even for more than an hour! I choose to disbelieve them and assume they're being paid by NPCube to say there is a working product.
It's a shame, really. DnL sounded like the dream game, even knowing the graphics might be a bit dated. Well, the dream is turning into a nightmare of downtime, annoyed pre-order people, and worst of all -- an almost total lack of communication between the developers and the public. I think I've been spoiled by the detailed information CCP gives us about the status of EVE, and exactly what they're working on. NPCube follows mushroom management, and just says "We're workin' on it."
EVE is down today. The long awaited and planned expansion pack, Red Moon Rising, is being installed as I type. They expect a full 24 hours of downtime, and unlike the jokers at DnL, I fully expect them to either have it working by then... or post a reason for the delay and a new time estimate. I wonder if CCP is hiring junior programmers or content people.... I could move to Iceland to work with a company that cool.
SoG is still down.... they still have no ETA.
Some bastards claim they've gotten to play, a few even for more than an hour! I choose to disbelieve them and assume they're being paid by NPCube to say there is a working product.
It's a shame, really. DnL sounded like the dream game, even knowing the graphics might be a bit dated. Well, the dream is turning into a nightmare of downtime, annoyed pre-order people, and worst of all -- an almost total lack of communication between the developers and the public. I think I've been spoiled by the detailed information CCP gives us about the status of EVE, and exactly what they're working on. NPCube follows mushroom management, and just says "We're workin' on it."
EVE is down today. The long awaited and planned expansion pack, Red Moon Rising, is being installed as I type. They expect a full 24 hours of downtime, and unlike the jokers at DnL, I fully expect them to either have it working by then... or post a reason for the delay and a new time estimate. I wonder if CCP is hiring junior programmers or content people.... I could move to Iceland to work with a company that cool.
13 December, 2005
DnL sadness, EVE gladness
Well, SoG (the DnL prequel) is still struggling to get off the ground. I downloaded the client and was able to connect to the patcher yesterday and slowly upgrade to the current build. Today, I was able to verify that my account exists -- but the servers are crashing constantly so that nobody can actually play. I somehow think they may have tested the game with a dozen people in the office, and then let 50 beta testers on to verify that it would work. Thus, since it worked for around 100 people on their desktop machine, they assumed the big iron would just handle 20,000 users. Dunno... talking out of my ass here... but they seem totally unprepared and appear to be madly scrambling to find a way to get things working.
Note to self: When planning MMOG, write bots for clients and actually test the real hardware at full capacity BEFORE announcing to the public, and BEFORE giving out 20,000 keys.
On the other side of the world (literally), I played EVE-Online last night and it reminded me that I actually do like the game. It's a strange little game, in that there are large parts of it you can't really get into until you have the skills -- and those take real time to train. But, there are other parts that work just fine. In my case, I spent a few hours mining into secure cans with my little destroyer and punking the occasional rat that appeared. It should have been very boring, but was actually quite relaxing. Listening to EVE-Radio (or watching TV I suppose) helps quite a bit though.
Yesterdays' Advent Calendar item was..... SOAP!
Let's see what today's is!
Today's item is Latte mix! That is, you add it to coffee and it makes it taste like latte.
Note to self: When planning MMOG, write bots for clients and actually test the real hardware at full capacity BEFORE announcing to the public, and BEFORE giving out 20,000 keys.
On the other side of the world (literally), I played EVE-Online last night and it reminded me that I actually do like the game. It's a strange little game, in that there are large parts of it you can't really get into until you have the skills -- and those take real time to train. But, there are other parts that work just fine. In my case, I spent a few hours mining into secure cans with my little destroyer and punking the occasional rat that appeared. It should have been very boring, but was actually quite relaxing. Listening to EVE-Radio (or watching TV I suppose) helps quite a bit though.
Yesterdays' Advent Calendar item was..... SOAP!
Let's see what today's is!
Today's item is Latte mix! That is, you add it to coffee and it makes it taste like latte.
11 December, 2005
Heh, ok.
Well, to follow up on the SoG phenomenon... I finally did get my verification email. I was one of the lucky 10,000 who snagged a free key during the 80 second giveaway on the 8th. After much pain and confusion, I also managed to get the client downloaded on the 9th. Supposedly, it's installed and ready to go -- although I can't know for sure until the servers come up on the 12th. I get to play on the 13th, but hopefully the update servers will let me patch early anyways.
I missed a couple days, so let me fill in the advent calander entries:
Dec 9th was small bits of chocolate day.
Dec 10th was Arabian coffee day.
Dec 11th was Kiddie Dough day.
I have to expand on the Kiddie Dough thing. It comes in a small tub, about the size of a double shot glass. The outside says it's made in China and packaged in Hong Kong. It also says it's NON-TOXIC. That's good. The ingredients list is simply 56g of modeling clay. It's also good that this clarification is there.
I would eat this stuff.
When you open the container, you find a blob of dark orange goo, that's about the colour of overcooked carrots, or perhaps pumpkin pie filling. The texture is about as soft as overcooked carrots, but spongy so it can be molded and hold the shape you give it for a while. It's a little softer than the kind of clay I'm used to, and perhaps a tiny bit softer than Play Dough.
The second thing you notice though, is the smell. It smells like a mounds bar. Mostly coconut, I suspect coconut oil is the main ingredient besides dirt (or whatever they use for the clay part). It's not a machine smell, nor the kind of pseudo-rubber smell that I remember Play Dough having. This stuff really does smell tasty.
I'm imagining there will be very confused pre-school and kindergarden kids in Hong Kong, if this stuff is used widely. As a teacher, you'd give this to your kids and tell them to play with it, but not eat it. But it smells very good, and trying to keep them from eating it will probably be difficult. Later, you'd give them food that might well look and smell similar, and have to tell them to eat it but not play with it. Confusion seems unavoidable.
On the WoW front, My druid is level 16 and I've moved him to the undead n00b area to run though all the low level quests. No experience (worth mentioning), but I want my standings with them improved at least to friendly so I don't accidentally kill myself.
I missed a couple days, so let me fill in the advent calander entries:
Dec 9th was small bits of chocolate day.
Dec 10th was Arabian coffee day.
Dec 11th was Kiddie Dough day.
I have to expand on the Kiddie Dough thing. It comes in a small tub, about the size of a double shot glass. The outside says it's made in China and packaged in Hong Kong. It also says it's NON-TOXIC. That's good. The ingredients list is simply 56g of modeling clay. It's also good that this clarification is there.
I would eat this stuff.
When you open the container, you find a blob of dark orange goo, that's about the colour of overcooked carrots, or perhaps pumpkin pie filling. The texture is about as soft as overcooked carrots, but spongy so it can be molded and hold the shape you give it for a while. It's a little softer than the kind of clay I'm used to, and perhaps a tiny bit softer than Play Dough.
The second thing you notice though, is the smell. It smells like a mounds bar. Mostly coconut, I suspect coconut oil is the main ingredient besides dirt (or whatever they use for the clay part). It's not a machine smell, nor the kind of pseudo-rubber smell that I remember Play Dough having. This stuff really does smell tasty.
I'm imagining there will be very confused pre-school and kindergarden kids in Hong Kong, if this stuff is used widely. As a teacher, you'd give this to your kids and tell them to play with it, but not eat it. But it smells very good, and trying to keep them from eating it will probably be difficult. Later, you'd give them food that might well look and smell similar, and have to tell them to eat it but not play with it. Confusion seems unavoidable.
On the WoW front, My druid is level 16 and I've moved him to the undead n00b area to run though all the low level quests. No experience (worth mentioning), but I want my standings with them improved at least to friendly so I don't accidentally kill myself.
08 December, 2005
SoG day
Advent Item of the Day: A spiffy blue pen to go with the pink one!
Settlers of Ganareth... the prequel to Dark and Light.
Today, the 10,000 free keys were given out. I *think* I got one, at least I have a printout of a web page that says I did. They were all given out in 1 minute and 20 seconds! Supposedly, I'll get an email in the next few hours if I did indeed get one.
Settlers of Ganareth... the prequel to Dark and Light.
Today, the 10,000 free keys were given out. I *think* I got one, at least I have a printout of a web page that says I did. They were all given out in 1 minute and 20 seconds! Supposedly, I'll get an email in the next few hours if I did indeed get one.
07 December, 2005
Advent Calendar
As promised, here's the list (to date) of what's in the Advent Calendar of DOOM.
- Vegemite
- Canister with vegetable oil soap inside
- decaf coffee
- handkerchiefs
- hot-pink gel pen
- popcorn
- columbian coffee
Who's a lazy bitch?
Yeah, that'd be me.... as you can tell by the fact that I haven't posted anything in almost a week.
I could always fall back on the "nothing interesting happened" excuse, but that hardly matters. Half the point of these online diaries is to write about trival crap nobody cares about, just to excercise the brain and keep using that stupid language centre. So, let's try again, shall we?
First of all, there's the Package of Mysterious DOOM that's finally arrived. Friday, the postman apparently tried to deliver a package and failed. Our regular postman knows perfectly well that we're all deaf and never answer the door, so he leaves stuff for us. I can only assume he was on holiday, so on Saturday, we found a note telling us to tromp down to the post office, or fill out a form and they'd re-deliver it. Of course, since the post is closed on Sunday, that means we had to wait until Monday for the form to get picked up, and yesterday (Tuesday) to actually get the scary box.
I knew it was trouble, as it came from Ohio... and only scary things come from Ohio. Sure enough, it was a package from my friend James and his new (but not blushing) bride, Rachel. In keeping with a tradition of her family, it was an advent calander. That is, it's a box full of tiny packages with numbers on them. You open each package on the day of December that it's numbered for. Very amusing! Knowning how he thinks, I had Kim write down each day's package as we opened them.... James says there's no hidden pattern. But I'll still look for one.
Also of note, I'm trying to get him to toss that dusty old hotmail account he uses and switch to gmail. Google will rule the world, and I want all my friends on the right side of the revolution when it finally happens. Besides, it's way cooler and how can you argue with 1.5G of disk space for free? To help that along, I figured out how to export and import all my contacts from thunderbird to gmail. Once I finally get all my normal mail uploaded, I'll probably just use gmail from then on.
Heh, I wish I lived in England. BBC America is showing the programme Bargain Hunt. They have cool TV shows, and all kinds of different things. We have one cool show and then all the other networks have to copy it. Hence the flood of "reality" shows and "cop" shows for the last five years. Oh well.
Tomorrow is Dark and Light day. They're giving out their 10,000 free SoG keys. I think DnL has a lot of promise, but I'm broke. So I'm not willing to spend $60 for a pre-order of a game that won't officially launch until April. I am willing to sit in front of my web browser at 6pm GMT and try to get a free key to the prequel though. :)
I actually have more to write.... but this is long enough for the moment.
I could always fall back on the "nothing interesting happened" excuse, but that hardly matters. Half the point of these online diaries is to write about trival crap nobody cares about, just to excercise the brain and keep using that stupid language centre. So, let's try again, shall we?
First of all, there's the Package of Mysterious DOOM that's finally arrived. Friday, the postman apparently tried to deliver a package and failed. Our regular postman knows perfectly well that we're all deaf and never answer the door, so he leaves stuff for us. I can only assume he was on holiday, so on Saturday, we found a note telling us to tromp down to the post office, or fill out a form and they'd re-deliver it. Of course, since the post is closed on Sunday, that means we had to wait until Monday for the form to get picked up, and yesterday (Tuesday) to actually get the scary box.
I knew it was trouble, as it came from Ohio... and only scary things come from Ohio. Sure enough, it was a package from my friend James and his new (but not blushing) bride, Rachel. In keeping with a tradition of her family, it was an advent calander. That is, it's a box full of tiny packages with numbers on them. You open each package on the day of December that it's numbered for. Very amusing! Knowning how he thinks, I had Kim write down each day's package as we opened them.... James says there's no hidden pattern. But I'll still look for one.
Also of note, I'm trying to get him to toss that dusty old hotmail account he uses and switch to gmail. Google will rule the world, and I want all my friends on the right side of the revolution when it finally happens. Besides, it's way cooler and how can you argue with 1.5G of disk space for free? To help that along, I figured out how to export and import all my contacts from thunderbird to gmail. Once I finally get all my normal mail uploaded, I'll probably just use gmail from then on.
Heh, I wish I lived in England. BBC America is showing the programme Bargain Hunt. They have cool TV shows, and all kinds of different things. We have one cool show and then all the other networks have to copy it. Hence the flood of "reality" shows and "cop" shows for the last five years. Oh well.
Tomorrow is Dark and Light day. They're giving out their 10,000 free SoG keys. I think DnL has a lot of promise, but I'm broke. So I'm not willing to spend $60 for a pre-order of a game that won't officially launch until April. I am willing to sit in front of my web browser at 6pm GMT and try to get a free key to the prequel though. :)
I actually have more to write.... but this is long enough for the moment.
01 December, 2005
Silly Tests
Heh, I love these stupid things... My roommate just found a site that has a bunch of those dumb multiple choice personality tests on it. OK Cupid. I did ok on a few of them.
King Edward I
You scored 77 Wisdom, 77 Tactics, 58 Guts, and 54 Ruthlessness!
Thundercats!
You scored 60 Aggression and 50 Silliness!
Agnostic
Holy Crap! You're taking -53 souls with you to hell!
Woodstock
Wishy-Washy: 40%, Mental: 62%, Physical: 25%
King Edward I
You scored 77 Wisdom, 77 Tactics, 58 Guts, and 54 Ruthlessness!
Thundercats!
You scored 60 Aggression and 50 Silliness!
Agnostic
Holy Crap! You're taking -53 souls with you to hell!
Woodstock
Wishy-Washy: 40%, Mental: 62%, Physical: 25%
30 November, 2005
End of the month
It's almost December.
I'm pretty much addicted to EVE-Radio now. They don't always play stuff I like, but they play lots of different things. Among many other things, they played this scary thing. I'm hoping that my computer is willing to remain stable with multiple processes accessing the sound device. Creative Labs' sound drivers are pretty pathetic.
Speaking of computers.... I installed Windowblinds today. Nice to have the same level of theme support I had for free in Windows 98. It was a pretty sweet deal for Stardock... help Microsoft develop the new skinning interface so it works well, AND ensure that Microsoft doesn't include any real theme support. Thus, Stardock makes more money than they would otherwise, and Microsoft doesn't have to waste time developing and maintaining tools for their GUI.
Well, time to continue my druid's progress in WoW. I might even load up my mastermind in CoV before it expires... I need a job so I can play more of these games. :)
Remember, DnL chance is in a week!
[EDIT]
There's also a video of that thing... *shiver*
I'm pretty much addicted to EVE-Radio now. They don't always play stuff I like, but they play lots of different things. Among many other things, they played this scary thing. I'm hoping that my computer is willing to remain stable with multiple processes accessing the sound device. Creative Labs' sound drivers are pretty pathetic.
Speaking of computers.... I installed Windowblinds today. Nice to have the same level of theme support I had for free in Windows 98. It was a pretty sweet deal for Stardock... help Microsoft develop the new skinning interface so it works well, AND ensure that Microsoft doesn't include any real theme support. Thus, Stardock makes more money than they would otherwise, and Microsoft doesn't have to waste time developing and maintaining tools for their GUI.
Well, time to continue my druid's progress in WoW. I might even load up my mastermind in CoV before it expires... I need a job so I can play more of these games. :)
Remember, DnL chance is in a week!
[EDIT]
There's also a video of that thing... *shiver*
28 November, 2005
WoW again
Well, not too much to rattle on about... but I did make a stab at returning to World of Warcraft this morning. I decided that while flexbar is a nice thing, when it breaks, it totally prevents me from playing the game -- at all. So, rather than spending half my time trying to fix things I didn't break, I figured I'd try to learn how to play using the standard interface again.
One of the weird things about WoW is that once you start using add-ons, it becomes very hard to stop using them. I logged in with nothing, and simply couldn't find a way to arrange my warrior's buttons that worked well. So, I though maybe I should make a new character and thus learn how to work things as I level up. That works better... MUCH better.
Still, there are some add-ons that are just too useful to do without. Little things. Being able to scroll the chat window with the mousewheel. Having the loot window appear under your cursor when you loot. Being able to move the damn bag windows when they get in the way. So, even with a clear start, I've got about 20 mods loaded again. Most of them are working fine, although auctioneer whines a bit.
Oh, I also dug up an IRC client. Somehow, I've managed to go all these years as a computer geek and stay clear of IRC. Well, I had to go dig one up for one single purpose. I listen to EVE Radio quite a bit, and if I'm not playing EVE, the only way to make requests or insult the DJ for the crap he's playing is to use IRC. :)
I fear this week will see me visiting the local FedEx terminal to apply for an exciting career in box management. Loading the boxes onto the truck, unloading the boxes off the truck... sorting the boxes even! Well, I blame Gee Dubya for letting the economy get this bad. Oh well, can't move to Europe yet.
One of the weird things about WoW is that once you start using add-ons, it becomes very hard to stop using them. I logged in with nothing, and simply couldn't find a way to arrange my warrior's buttons that worked well. So, I though maybe I should make a new character and thus learn how to work things as I level up. That works better... MUCH better.
Still, there are some add-ons that are just too useful to do without. Little things. Being able to scroll the chat window with the mousewheel. Having the loot window appear under your cursor when you loot. Being able to move the damn bag windows when they get in the way. So, even with a clear start, I've got about 20 mods loaded again. Most of them are working fine, although auctioneer whines a bit.
Oh, I also dug up an IRC client. Somehow, I've managed to go all these years as a computer geek and stay clear of IRC. Well, I had to go dig one up for one single purpose. I listen to EVE Radio quite a bit, and if I'm not playing EVE, the only way to make requests or insult the DJ for the crap he's playing is to use IRC. :)
I fear this week will see me visiting the local FedEx terminal to apply for an exciting career in box management. Loading the boxes onto the truck, unloading the boxes off the truck... sorting the boxes even! Well, I blame Gee Dubya for letting the economy get this bad. Oh well, can't move to Europe yet.
27 November, 2005
WoW, work, blah...
I'm trying to remember how to play WoW again. I have a level 23 druid which I loaded up last night, along with my level 42 hunter. It was fun, but I felt like I couldn't remember what any of the buttons did. Still, it's a fun game. I have about 6 weeks to play it before it costs me more money. Since I'm still unemployed, I think that's about how long I have to find a job of some sort too.
Unemployment in America is stupid. When my parents were kids, you could walk into almost any place and ask for a job. Many would turn you away, or require qualifications you didn't have, but that was the way it worked. When *I* was a kid, you could still do that for "normal" jobs. However, we were told that if you went to college you wouldn't have to look... employers would contact you and offer work. With a Computer Science degree, I should be able to get a job and they'd train me in the details since the degree meant I knew how to learn.
Well... they lied. In 2005, lots of people need jobs. As a result, you don't get training anymore. You don't get offers. You have to beg. It really feels that way. Unless you happen to know someone who works somewhere that's hiring, you have only random chance to help you stumble into a job that you can do. I've seen lots of jobs flow through the classifieds in the last year, and I've applied for the tiny handful that I know how to do. Employers are now picky enough that if you don't already know how to do the job on day 1, they'll pass and wait for someone who does.
I really regret bothering to get a degree today. Had I dropped out of college in 1991 and helped form a local ISP, I might well be a millionare today. Had I never bothered to go to college at all, I might have a solid pension by now. Instead, I got 5 years of good paychecks, and now that cash is gone. I'm thinking I'll be very lucky if I can get an office job somewhere... typing reports, filing, hell... I'd be happy stocking shelves at this point.
Oh well. On the plus side... I did beat Civ IV earlier. I had to use the spaceship victory, although I might have won on score too. In the end, I was well ahead of everyone but Rome used spies to suck technology from me and also started to build the ship. A few well placed nukes slowed them down and ensured my victory though. /spit. Nobody beats the Russian Empire.
Unemployment in America is stupid. When my parents were kids, you could walk into almost any place and ask for a job. Many would turn you away, or require qualifications you didn't have, but that was the way it worked. When *I* was a kid, you could still do that for "normal" jobs. However, we were told that if you went to college you wouldn't have to look... employers would contact you and offer work. With a Computer Science degree, I should be able to get a job and they'd train me in the details since the degree meant I knew how to learn.
Well... they lied. In 2005, lots of people need jobs. As a result, you don't get training anymore. You don't get offers. You have to beg. It really feels that way. Unless you happen to know someone who works somewhere that's hiring, you have only random chance to help you stumble into a job that you can do. I've seen lots of jobs flow through the classifieds in the last year, and I've applied for the tiny handful that I know how to do. Employers are now picky enough that if you don't already know how to do the job on day 1, they'll pass and wait for someone who does.
I really regret bothering to get a degree today. Had I dropped out of college in 1991 and helped form a local ISP, I might well be a millionare today. Had I never bothered to go to college at all, I might have a solid pension by now. Instead, I got 5 years of good paychecks, and now that cash is gone. I'm thinking I'll be very lucky if I can get an office job somewhere... typing reports, filing, hell... I'd be happy stocking shelves at this point.
Oh well. On the plus side... I did beat Civ IV earlier. I had to use the spaceship victory, although I might have won on score too. In the end, I was well ahead of everyone but Rome used spies to suck technology from me and also started to build the ship. A few well placed nukes slowed them down and ensured my victory though. /spit. Nobody beats the Russian Empire.
Dark and Light pre-orders
Well, the guys who make Dark and Light are doing something interesting. They're making a six month prequel game to both reward the faithful who've followed the game for years, and probably act as a beta-test of the economy and advancement system. Of course, they don't call it that... but while they evolve and beta-test the code in their closed beta, they can use a stable build to "test" the development of player dynamics while calling it a prequel.
They apparently have 8881 pre-order slots (at $60USD a pop) which sold out in two days time. There are an additional 10,000 free slots that will be first-come first-serve on December 8th. That is just shy of $54,000USD... which is not very much when you think about it. When I was an overpaid dot-com employee, I made that much in a year. I'm sure the dev team pays better (being on the coast, not in the midwest), and employs more people.
That tells me that it's a legitimate offer, not a way to suck money for a game that won't ever materialize. Why? Well, if they knew they weren't going live, they'd try to get as many pre-orders as possible.
I'll just have to try and get my browser in there on the 8th to see if I can try the game.
They apparently have 8881 pre-order slots (at $60USD a pop) which sold out in two days time. There are an additional 10,000 free slots that will be first-come first-serve on December 8th. That is just shy of $54,000USD... which is not very much when you think about it. When I was an overpaid dot-com employee, I made that much in a year. I'm sure the dev team pays better (being on the coast, not in the midwest), and employs more people.
That tells me that it's a legitimate offer, not a way to suck money for a game that won't ever materialize. Why? Well, if they knew they weren't going live, they'd try to get as many pre-orders as possible.
I'll just have to try and get my browser in there on the 8th to see if I can try the game.
25 November, 2005
Black Friday
It's that time of year again... time for the commercial Christmas engines to rev up and roll over anything and everything. The warm-up has been underway since Halloween, of course... but the day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the Super-Bowl of sales.
My friend Zar is a perfect example of this. For the last few years now, he's stood in line at Best Buy for their after-turkey turkey sale. He always has an impressive list of items he's purchased, and been happy to gloat over how much money he's saved by standing in line, waiting for the store to open on Friday. This year, he got in line around midnight. The store opens at 6AM.
I live in southwest Michigan, USA. The weather in November varies from year to year, but it's generally cold (around 25-35 degrees -- which is about -3C to 2C), and quite often has the unique phenomenon known as Lake Effect snow. This year, we got about 5 inches last night.
What comes to mind each year, for me, is just what would *I* be willing to stand outdoors, in freezing weather, for six hours, to get? There are a small number of things that come to mind. A million dollars would work. This year, I think a good secure job that I could expect to keep for ten years... that would be worth it. A blowjob? No, I wouldn't be able to feel it anyways. Perhaps an entire weekend of sexual antics would be enough, although with my luck I'd end up with a flu and have to postpone it a month.
Seriously though, down to brass tacks. At a normal job in my field (assuming I could get one), I'd be earning about $15/hour ($30k/year, 40 hr/week). I'd be sitting at a desk, in a warm office, with a bathroom not too far away, and a coffee maker nearby. I could leave my desk to stretch, or wander about every so often without penalty. So, six hours of work would be about $90. If you want me to endure six hours of freezing weather, no bathroom, no beverages, and not much to do but watch the cars drive by.... I'd want at least double, probably triple that much. $270. Call it $300 just to keep things simple.
So, if I had been planning to spend around $2000, going to Black Friday would probably save me around $300-$400. Unfortunately, with that whole unemployment thing... I wouldn't want to spend $200. I'm thinking the $50 I probably would spend would only get me about $15 off... I'd stand in line for 20 minutes then.
But hey, that's me. Other people enjoy the thrill of the hunt. So, game on folks!
My friend Zar is a perfect example of this. For the last few years now, he's stood in line at Best Buy for their after-turkey turkey sale. He always has an impressive list of items he's purchased, and been happy to gloat over how much money he's saved by standing in line, waiting for the store to open on Friday. This year, he got in line around midnight. The store opens at 6AM.
I live in southwest Michigan, USA. The weather in November varies from year to year, but it's generally cold (around 25-35 degrees -- which is about -3C to 2C), and quite often has the unique phenomenon known as Lake Effect snow. This year, we got about 5 inches last night.
What comes to mind each year, for me, is just what would *I* be willing to stand outdoors, in freezing weather, for six hours, to get? There are a small number of things that come to mind. A million dollars would work. This year, I think a good secure job that I could expect to keep for ten years... that would be worth it. A blowjob? No, I wouldn't be able to feel it anyways. Perhaps an entire weekend of sexual antics would be enough, although with my luck I'd end up with a flu and have to postpone it a month.
Seriously though, down to brass tacks. At a normal job in my field (assuming I could get one), I'd be earning about $15/hour ($30k/year, 40 hr/week). I'd be sitting at a desk, in a warm office, with a bathroom not too far away, and a coffee maker nearby. I could leave my desk to stretch, or wander about every so often without penalty. So, six hours of work would be about $90. If you want me to endure six hours of freezing weather, no bathroom, no beverages, and not much to do but watch the cars drive by.... I'd want at least double, probably triple that much. $270. Call it $300 just to keep things simple.
So, if I had been planning to spend around $2000, going to Black Friday would probably save me around $300-$400. Unfortunately, with that whole unemployment thing... I wouldn't want to spend $200. I'm thinking the $50 I probably would spend would only get me about $15 off... I'd stand in line for 20 minutes then.
But hey, that's me. Other people enjoy the thrill of the hunt. So, game on folks!
22 November, 2005
Harry Potter and the Jingle of Coinage
So, Miss Billionare Rowling got another $6 from me yesterday, and I don't begrudger her a bit. The Goblet of Fire was a very long book, and they had to leave out quite a bit to make a movie that wouldn't require an intermission. Still, 157 minutes was enough to present an action-packed movie that kept your interest and made you wish you hadn't gotten the large soda.
I was surprised that the movie didn't feel all that "dark" to me though. I mean, pretty much every reviewer was muttering about how scary a movie it was, and how you'd not want to take your kids to see it. I found a great deal of humor, and only a small amount of scary stuff. I did wish Emma Watson had gotten a little more screen time.... her character was much more important in the book, and it's a shame they couldn't find a few more moments for her to shine.
While it's going to be almost impossible for ANY of the Harry Potter movies to come close to the amazing presentation of the first one, none of them have been bad movies... and I'd have to say this is one of the few sequal franchises that has held up beyond the first few installments.
Go see it, you'll be happy you spend a couple hours watching it instead of just killing more critters in WoW.
I was surprised that the movie didn't feel all that "dark" to me though. I mean, pretty much every reviewer was muttering about how scary a movie it was, and how you'd not want to take your kids to see it. I found a great deal of humor, and only a small amount of scary stuff. I did wish Emma Watson had gotten a little more screen time.... her character was much more important in the book, and it's a shame they couldn't find a few more moments for her to shine.
While it's going to be almost impossible for ANY of the Harry Potter movies to come close to the amazing presentation of the first one, none of them have been bad movies... and I'd have to say this is one of the few sequal franchises that has held up beyond the first few installments.
Go see it, you'll be happy you spend a couple hours watching it instead of just killing more critters in WoW.
17 November, 2005
City of Mall Cops
I'm annoyed.
Not just with one particular game, but with most of the MMO games out there. I'm not annoyed at the constant downward spiral of your character's effectiveness that happens as the devs pile up more and more nerfs to slow the advancement rate of their player base. I'm not annoyed at the inevitable bugs that cause things to not work right, or let other people leapfrog ahead of you because they find (and abuse) and exploit before you ever hear of it. I'm not even annoyed at the hours of grinding that every one of these games requires to become something more than a Level 1 Toilet Scrubber.
I'm annoyed at the forced grouping mindset.
I'm not a hardcore anti-social bigot who'd rather cut off me own hand than deign to group with people kind of player... but neither am I the log in and look for a group after 5 seconds kind. I group with friends (if they're on when I am), and I sometimes feel like grouping just to be different.
I RESENT the game designers who promise that their game will be playable solo, and then proceed to adjust the level of everything to assume you're in a group. Oh yes, you *might* be able to solo things in City of Heroes/Villians... if you're willing to leave your mission difficulty set at the easiest level, and thus spend weeks grinding through things.
I wouldn't be so upset if it had always been like this. But when I started playing CoH, you really could solo. Yes, people who grouped would level quicker than you did... but you never hit the brick wall of needing a group to get through a few missions. Each set of patches has made it progressivly harder to solo, to the point that once you find that particular kind of foe that slaughters you with ease... you have to group, or avoid any content that might include those mobs. Ever.
At least Blizzard came out and said, right at the start, that if you wanted to do the higher end dungones, you'd need to group. They didn't mention that to PvP effectively, you'd also have to group, since you can't get the high-end gear any other way... but that's ok. You could always join a PvE server and avoid that too.
It just feels like those old "role playing" games where you died, over and over and over, until you found the one right word, or the right object to give the NPC, and then it'd let you pass as if you were best buddies. I don't mind being overpowered, but I hate the feeling that if I had just chosen one power differently, or carried the right item, I would have won easily.
*sigh*
Not just with one particular game, but with most of the MMO games out there. I'm not annoyed at the constant downward spiral of your character's effectiveness that happens as the devs pile up more and more nerfs to slow the advancement rate of their player base. I'm not annoyed at the inevitable bugs that cause things to not work right, or let other people leapfrog ahead of you because they find (and abuse) and exploit before you ever hear of it. I'm not even annoyed at the hours of grinding that every one of these games requires to become something more than a Level 1 Toilet Scrubber.
I'm annoyed at the forced grouping mindset.
I'm not a hardcore anti-social bigot who'd rather cut off me own hand than deign to group with people kind of player... but neither am I the log in and look for a group after 5 seconds kind. I group with friends (if they're on when I am), and I sometimes feel like grouping just to be different.
I RESENT the game designers who promise that their game will be playable solo, and then proceed to adjust the level of everything to assume you're in a group. Oh yes, you *might* be able to solo things in City of Heroes/Villians... if you're willing to leave your mission difficulty set at the easiest level, and thus spend weeks grinding through things.
I wouldn't be so upset if it had always been like this. But when I started playing CoH, you really could solo. Yes, people who grouped would level quicker than you did... but you never hit the brick wall of needing a group to get through a few missions. Each set of patches has made it progressivly harder to solo, to the point that once you find that particular kind of foe that slaughters you with ease... you have to group, or avoid any content that might include those mobs. Ever.
At least Blizzard came out and said, right at the start, that if you wanted to do the higher end dungones, you'd need to group. They didn't mention that to PvP effectively, you'd also have to group, since you can't get the high-end gear any other way... but that's ok. You could always join a PvE server and avoid that too.
It just feels like those old "role playing" games where you died, over and over and over, until you found the one right word, or the right object to give the NPC, and then it'd let you pass as if you were best buddies. I don't mind being overpowered, but I hate the feeling that if I had just chosen one power differently, or carried the right item, I would have won easily.
*sigh*
Snow!
Well, it looks like the weather droid lied again. It was supposed to snow briefly yesterday, and then get colder today but be clear with no chance of precipitation. No chance, mind you.
Come here... look out the window... see that? That looks like more than a slight chance of snow to me. I'd have to say that it looks a bit more like a bunch of snow sitting on the ground, than clear skies and
sunshine. Of course, I'm not an expert on these things.
That's what it looks like out the screen door on the side
of my house. You can see the amount of snow on the edge of the fence, and my car.
My cat is not overly thrilled with this development either.
Well, at least I did get some of the garage itself cleaned out and rearranged. There's still more to do, and Kim's truck needs to be relocated... but I don't think much is gonna get done today.
Today seems like a good day to play Civ 4, poke at my java code a little, and perhaps see if the fireplace still works.
/me shuts the door and wanders back inside with a pair of slippers.
Come here... look out the window... see that? That looks like more than a slight chance of snow to me. I'd have to say that it looks a bit more like a bunch of snow sitting on the ground, than clear skies and
sunshine. Of course, I'm not an expert on these things.That's what it looks like out the screen door on the side
of my house. You can see the amount of snow on the edge of the fence, and my car.My cat is not overly thrilled with this development either.
Well, at least I did get some of the garage itself cleaned out and rearranged. There's still more to do, and Kim's truck needs to be relocated... but I don't think much is gonna get done today.
Today seems like a good day to play Civ 4, poke at my java code a little, and perhaps see if the fireplace still works.
/me shuts the door and wanders back inside with a pair of slippers.
16 November, 2005
Garage Day
It's that time of year again.
Time to put on the warm clothing and wander out into the big meat-space and try to clean out the garage so I can park my car in it this winter. Last winter, we had a houseguest's possessions taking up the space my car would normally have occupied, and so some disorganization still remains to be cleaned up.
I hate cleaning... in fact, I'm not overly fond of most aspects of meat-space, but some things just have be done. I'm hoping for a call about a job today, so I'll probably use that as an excuse to avoid venturing out -- at least until it warms up a little bit more.
If that stupid lottery would cooperate, I could avoid all this unpleasantness. A small win of a few million dollars would let me avoid cleaning AND jobs, as long as I invested it wisely. With no house payments, I could live off as little as 10K USD a year, and I'm sure I could get 5% interest on a million dollars without too much hassle.
Oh well... I'm sure some employed person in California won it, and so my garage will have to be cleaned by me, personally.
[edit]
10:00AM -- It's SNOWING!
[edit]
12:32PM -- It's DAMN COLD out there!
[edit]
Just a note to the spammers.... piss off, eh?
Time to put on the warm clothing and wander out into the big meat-space and try to clean out the garage so I can park my car in it this winter. Last winter, we had a houseguest's possessions taking up the space my car would normally have occupied, and so some disorganization still remains to be cleaned up.
I hate cleaning... in fact, I'm not overly fond of most aspects of meat-space, but some things just have be done. I'm hoping for a call about a job today, so I'll probably use that as an excuse to avoid venturing out -- at least until it warms up a little bit more.
If that stupid lottery would cooperate, I could avoid all this unpleasantness. A small win of a few million dollars would let me avoid cleaning AND jobs, as long as I invested it wisely. With no house payments, I could live off as little as 10K USD a year, and I'm sure I could get 5% interest on a million dollars without too much hassle.
Oh well... I'm sure some employed person in California won it, and so my garage will have to be cleaned by me, personally.
[edit]
10:00AM -- It's SNOWING!
[edit]
12:32PM -- It's DAMN COLD out there!
[edit]
Just a note to the spammers.... piss off, eh?
15 November, 2005
Dark and Light
A few of you might have heard about this game. It's been in the works now for... five years? Not sure, but I know it was supposed to be out last year, and was at E3 back in 2003, and is still stuck in beta testing. In any case, they have a new tactic.
They're releasing a prequel, supposedly this month (which gives them 15 more days). It will use the same game engine the "real" game does, but be free to play for six months. In April, the real "Dark and Light" is supposed to go live, set 1,000 years after this prequel game.
It's an interesting game, looks like a Shadowbane style with more of an original (pre-SOE) Everquest feel and a very in-depth crafting system. I really wonder about the six month trial though.
If you got to play a game for six months, and were then asked to pay to play the sequal... would you? There have only been a couple of MMO's that have held my interest for more than six months, ever... so I have my doubts.
Still... check out their website and decide for yourself.
They're releasing a prequel, supposedly this month (which gives them 15 more days). It will use the same game engine the "real" game does, but be free to play for six months. In April, the real "Dark and Light" is supposed to go live, set 1,000 years after this prequel game.
It's an interesting game, looks like a Shadowbane style with more of an original (pre-SOE) Everquest feel and a very in-depth crafting system. I really wonder about the six month trial though.
If you got to play a game for six months, and were then asked to pay to play the sequal... would you? There have only been a couple of MMO's that have held my interest for more than six months, ever... so I have my doubts.
Still... check out their website and decide for yourself.
14 November, 2005
No, no... over there!
For now, I'm redirecting the top level page of my own web site to this wonderful blog of joy.
Why? Well... I'm lazy. My homepage is in pretty sad shape, and has been for some time. I've had ideas on how to rewrite it a few times, but each time I did a little work on it and then decided killing elves, or blowing up spaceships, or conquering the world was more interesting.
So, until I get ambitious and find a way to make it work the way I want it to work, I figure it may as well point to something other than Amy the cat.
Why? Well... I'm lazy. My homepage is in pretty sad shape, and has been for some time. I've had ideas on how to rewrite it a few times, but each time I did a little work on it and then decided killing elves, or blowing up spaceships, or conquering the world was more interesting.
So, until I get ambitious and find a way to make it work the way I want it to work, I figure it may as well point to something other than Amy the cat.
13 November, 2005
HTML sucks
I hate HTML. Once upon a time, HTML was a way to format page content, so it would be readable and have the same general formatting on any kind of output device. You could read an HTML man page on your snazzy Sun 3/60 running sunview and using Mosaic, or sitting on your VT220 terminal using lynx. Simple.
Then the internet went commercial in 1992. Netscape and Microsoft began beating their chests over whose browser did more. Advertisers appeared. Pointy haired bosses knew they wanted to be on that interweb thing, and who cared how readable things were, those buttons needed to be blue!
Now, I want something simple. I want a nav bar on the left, and content on the right. I want them both to fill the page, and if I put too much crap in the nav bar, I want it to scroll. To be even pickier, I want a graphic at the top of the nav bar that doesn't scroll, but sits up at the top left and stares at you. I don't want to use FRAMES!
Is that so hard? Apparently so. Lots of things that work in one browser, or one version of another browser... nothing so far that works correctly everywhere.
I hate HTML.
Then the internet went commercial in 1992. Netscape and Microsoft began beating their chests over whose browser did more. Advertisers appeared. Pointy haired bosses knew they wanted to be on that interweb thing, and who cared how readable things were, those buttons needed to be blue!
Now, I want something simple. I want a nav bar on the left, and content on the right. I want them both to fill the page, and if I put too much crap in the nav bar, I want it to scroll. To be even pickier, I want a graphic at the top of the nav bar that doesn't scroll, but sits up at the top left and stares at you. I don't want to use FRAMES!
Is that so hard? Apparently so. Lots of things that work in one browser, or one version of another browser... nothing so far that works correctly everywhere.
I hate HTML.
WoW
Just so you didn't think I was biased towards a single game, I also picked up a game time card for my World of Warcraft subscription yesterday. I haven't quite decided when to plug it in though. For those who don't know, game time cards are used with online games as an alternative to using a credit card for monthly billing. They were originally developed for young kids who could buy the game (Everquest probably), but didn't have a credit card and couldn't convince the parents to let them use theirs. I've discovered they're a great way to avoid paying for games you don't play anymore though. With a recurring bill, you get tagged $15 each month for your game subscription, regardless of your usage. The rub comes when you have almost stopped playing the game, but haven't remembered (or are too lazy/reluctant) to cancel your subscription. Using game cards, you buy two months at a time, and then it stops unless you plug in another one.
World of Warcraft is a fun game, but I got tired of it a few months ago. On PvP servers, it's all about ganking or playing in a group to avoid being ganked. As a level 47 warrior who got 99% of those 47 levels solo, I was starting to be the target of roaming gank squads, and I didn't care to be forced to run instances with others. So I moved on. Now, with a new expansion coming, I feel like being around for that, at least for a month or two. Buying a game card now means I can have a two month fix of the game whenever I feel like it, which might be today, or might not be until the expansion actually gets released.
World of Warcraft is a fun game, but I got tired of it a few months ago. On PvP servers, it's all about ganking or playing in a group to avoid being ganked. As a level 47 warrior who got 99% of those 47 levels solo, I was starting to be the target of roaming gank squads, and I didn't care to be forced to run instances with others. So I moved on. Now, with a new expansion coming, I feel like being around for that, at least for a month or two. Buying a game card now means I can have a two month fix of the game whenever I feel like it, which might be today, or might not be until the expansion actually gets released.
12 November, 2005
EVE Online
Just a note to those who are looking for a good MMORPG to try. EVE Online has been around since 2003, and I'm ashamed to admit that I wasn't impressed enough with the beta to jump in back then. Things have changed.
EVE isn't for everyone. It's got a very STEEP learning curve, and it's not a twitch-fest like most MMO's are. Instead, there are skills to learn, an extremely complex economy to wander through, and total freedom of action. It's probably a polar opposite to games like World of Warcraft, which tend to hold your hand and lead you from one quest to the next, enforcing the idea of Alliance vs. Horde by disallowing communication or trading between the two sides. In EVE, you can stick to pure research and never leave space dock, you can mine ore for a living, you can buy low and sell high by shipping goods across the galaxy, and you can fight -- mobs or other players, as a good guy or a pirate, alone or in a corporation. No handholding, and not much guidance.
Still, I like it. It lets me play at my own pace, and even though I'm 2 and a half years behind the people who started at the beginning, I don't feel hopelessly behind. Even knowing I'm a total n00b, I feel like I can accomplish something. That's a nice change.
EVE isn't for everyone. It's got a very STEEP learning curve, and it's not a twitch-fest like most MMO's are. Instead, there are skills to learn, an extremely complex economy to wander through, and total freedom of action. It's probably a polar opposite to games like World of Warcraft, which tend to hold your hand and lead you from one quest to the next, enforcing the idea of Alliance vs. Horde by disallowing communication or trading between the two sides. In EVE, you can stick to pure research and never leave space dock, you can mine ore for a living, you can buy low and sell high by shipping goods across the galaxy, and you can fight -- mobs or other players, as a good guy or a pirate, alone or in a corporation. No handholding, and not much guidance.
Still, I like it. It lets me play at my own pace, and even though I'm 2 and a half years behind the people who started at the beginning, I don't feel hopelessly behind. Even knowing I'm a total n00b, I feel like I can accomplish something. That's a nice change.
11 November, 2005
Words...
A blog. Yippie.
Well, I'm hoping this will both give me a place to rant and plan my domination of the world, and be a way to force myself to write *something* every so often.
We'll see...
Well, I'm hoping this will both give me a place to rant and plan my domination of the world, and be a way to force myself to write *something* every so often.
We'll see...
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