It's been quite some time since I left any words of wisdom here, my personal little corner of the Internets. Lots of factors have played into this LONG absence, in no particular order:
- Our basement flooded, and the damage and resulting insurance claim have yet to be resolved. I didn't have access to my home PC for 4-5 weeks.
- Work became incredibly busy for an extended period, but has since settled back into a more manageable routine.
- We went through the agony of sleep-training our 7-month old daughter, which (while nearly settled into some semblance of normalcy) really threw the house and everyone in it for a loop. Thank goodness that's nearly done...
- I found myself more and more tired at night when I would sit down to write, and every time I thought about coming here to post, I'd choose sleep.
...And so on. The list of pathetic excuses could be far longer, but I don't want to whine for the entire post (just most of it). On the upside, there have been a lot of good things that have happened in the time since I last wrote, which are too numerous to mention here. I'm not going to go crazy and promise to anyone, myself included, that this will become a regular occurrence, but this is the first stab at picking up this whole writing thing again. There were many times I missed being able to share my thoughts and feelings with all 3 of you who might realize this exists, hopefully you'll come back to hear more.
Consider this post an apology to anyone who cares that I was gone, and the attempt to start the regular posting again. Because this post was essentially an impulse followed and not ignored, it's going to be short for this evening. Some of the rest of my conscious time tonight will be spent putting together a list of post topics to pick from when inspiration escapes me. So to those of you out there reading this, thanks for coming back and I look forward to seeing you here again soon.
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Random Observation about the Digital Era
This, the 13th day of my NaBloPoMo experiment, finds me musing about the ability for individuals to proliferate media in this day and age.
If you're reading this blog, then you're quite aware that I am the proud new owner of an iPhone. Downright giddy, actually, but that's not the point. While happily perusing the Apps Store, and wondering what should be loaded onto my new slice of electronic heaven, a realization dawned on me. To be truthful, an ember of this realization has been smoldering in my brain for a while, but it erupted into a brilliant clarity today. This incredible, amazing, and completely written and talked about by many others realization is this: there is an enormous magnitude of avenues for a person to project themselves out into the public consciousness.
Take my new iPhone, for example. Some of the applications I've downloaded over the past 24-48 hours include Audioboo, a way to record bite-sized chunks of audio and then upload them to the Internet, where they can be then consumed by others or broadcast to other Internet portals; Twitpic, an app to post photos to my Twitter feed; Twitvid, similar to Twitpic, but for video files; Twitterific, so I can read the 'tweets' of all the people I follow in Twitter; and a Facebook app, which should be self-explanatory. All of these applications have a very distinct commonality, which is they allow the user (in this case, me) to broadcast their media to the Internet. The irony is not lost on me, by the way, that the very blogging website I'm using to discuss these applications performs an identical function.
What it all adds up to is an almost mind boggling ability for people to be heard nowadays. Before the rampant spread of viable, inexpensive Internet access, the ways and means for people to be published, heard, seen or read really were much more limited. This new ability to 'broadcast' yourself is absolutely incredible, and as with nearly everything in real life, there are upsides and downsides to this new paradigm. Tool around on the Internet for five minutes and you can, and most likely will, be exposed to some brilliant examples of video, pictures or prose, but you will also be bombarded by the most heinous dreck and drivel. There are some people that shouldn't be allowed such free access to express themselves (maybe I'm one of them!). Before, when it was difficult to get something published on a large scale, and nearly impossible to have your voice heard by a global audience, much of what we see now would not come to light. Now, even a monkey can post something to Youtube with only a little help, society is bombarded with cute cat videos, horrible karaoke renditions, and people doing unimaginable things to themselves, all in the name of a short window of Internet fame.
Having said all of that, I don't want to remove the ability for people to be read, seen or heard. To me, it feels like a necessary evil to suffer through the deluge of garbage to possibly find the hidden gem, a true talent struggling to be discovered. Even I have aspirations of turning this outlet into something more than what amounts to a digital diary, but they are held firmly in check due to family and professional commitments. Taking away my 'chance' to be discovered would be disheartening. Who knows? Maybe someday, after learning on the fly, and honing a style that appeals to people, maybe I could produce something that gets me discovered. The chances are admittedly slim, but for me, and for many out there, that slight chance is all it takes to continue to write, take photos, generate video, perform music, make art...The list goes on and on.
There, I feel like I've rambled long enough for today. As always, if you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!
If you're reading this blog, then you're quite aware that I am the proud new owner of an iPhone. Downright giddy, actually, but that's not the point. While happily perusing the Apps Store, and wondering what should be loaded onto my new slice of electronic heaven, a realization dawned on me. To be truthful, an ember of this realization has been smoldering in my brain for a while, but it erupted into a brilliant clarity today. This incredible, amazing, and completely written and talked about by many others realization is this: there is an enormous magnitude of avenues for a person to project themselves out into the public consciousness.
Take my new iPhone, for example. Some of the applications I've downloaded over the past 24-48 hours include Audioboo, a way to record bite-sized chunks of audio and then upload them to the Internet, where they can be then consumed by others or broadcast to other Internet portals; Twitpic, an app to post photos to my Twitter feed; Twitvid, similar to Twitpic, but for video files; Twitterific, so I can read the 'tweets' of all the people I follow in Twitter; and a Facebook app, which should be self-explanatory. All of these applications have a very distinct commonality, which is they allow the user (in this case, me) to broadcast their media to the Internet. The irony is not lost on me, by the way, that the very blogging website I'm using to discuss these applications performs an identical function.
What it all adds up to is an almost mind boggling ability for people to be heard nowadays. Before the rampant spread of viable, inexpensive Internet access, the ways and means for people to be published, heard, seen or read really were much more limited. This new ability to 'broadcast' yourself is absolutely incredible, and as with nearly everything in real life, there are upsides and downsides to this new paradigm. Tool around on the Internet for five minutes and you can, and most likely will, be exposed to some brilliant examples of video, pictures or prose, but you will also be bombarded by the most heinous dreck and drivel. There are some people that shouldn't be allowed such free access to express themselves (maybe I'm one of them!). Before, when it was difficult to get something published on a large scale, and nearly impossible to have your voice heard by a global audience, much of what we see now would not come to light. Now, even a monkey can post something to Youtube with only a little help, society is bombarded with cute cat videos, horrible karaoke renditions, and people doing unimaginable things to themselves, all in the name of a short window of Internet fame.
Having said all of that, I don't want to remove the ability for people to be read, seen or heard. To me, it feels like a necessary evil to suffer through the deluge of garbage to possibly find the hidden gem, a true talent struggling to be discovered. Even I have aspirations of turning this outlet into something more than what amounts to a digital diary, but they are held firmly in check due to family and professional commitments. Taking away my 'chance' to be discovered would be disheartening. Who knows? Maybe someday, after learning on the fly, and honing a style that appeals to people, maybe I could produce something that gets me discovered. The chances are admittedly slim, but for me, and for many out there, that slight chance is all it takes to continue to write, take photos, generate video, perform music, make art...The list goes on and on.
There, I feel like I've rambled long enough for today. As always, if you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!
Monday, October 20, 2008
A Plague Upon Our Home
...Or at least that's how it feels. My wife and nearly 9-month old twins have all come down with colds, and I'm the only healthy one left. Boy are they in trouble! Trusting their care to me is like trusting the care of a china shop to an angry bull; it's bound to end badly. Right now, it almost feels like we could recreate the scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," featuring the cart being pulled through town and a crier announcing, "Bring out your dead!" Well, it's really not that bad, but let's pretend it is, for literary purposes anyway. If I weren't their father and love them more than life itself, I would probably say my children look pretty nasty right now, with their runny noses and their tired, expressionless stares. Since I'm their father, I think they're the best babies ever and wouldn't trade them for the world, even when they're sick!
This drastic turn of events limited my free time this weekend, so I wasn't able to finish Half Life 2 (for the second straight weekend). However, I did make some progress, in the hour or so I was able to sneak away while everyone was napping. I'm now at the beginning of the Entanglements sections of the game, trying to help Alyx save her father. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to keep her alive through this stage, but since I've already gotten her killed once, I'm not optimistic. This feels like a glorified escort mission, one of my least favorite mission types in any game. Valve does have a way of surprising me, though, so I haven't completely given up hope yet. My wife is on the gaming rig downstairs, while I type this on the communal laptop up in the kitchen, so there's no chance of advancement this evening. Maybe tomorrow evening some game time will avail itself of me, but I'm not holding my breath.
The Red Sox season ended last night with a loss to the Rays in Game 7 of the ALCS. I'm proud of both teams, but sad that the Sox won't be vying for the World Series crown this year. They can't win them all, and if they had to lose, I guess I'm glad it was to the Rays. Of course I'm rooting for the upstart Rays to take home the title, from the perspective of the perennial doormat making good on a phenomenal season. It would be a great feel-good story for sports in general.
Well, that's all for now. I'll be back soon with an update on my HL2 progress. My new goal, which is a bit more conservative and attainable, is to have the game completed before Fallout 3 arrives in stores next Tuesday. I refuse to buy another game until finishing this one. Wish me luck!
This drastic turn of events limited my free time this weekend, so I wasn't able to finish Half Life 2 (for the second straight weekend). However, I did make some progress, in the hour or so I was able to sneak away while everyone was napping. I'm now at the beginning of the Entanglements sections of the game, trying to help Alyx save her father. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to keep her alive through this stage, but since I've already gotten her killed once, I'm not optimistic. This feels like a glorified escort mission, one of my least favorite mission types in any game. Valve does have a way of surprising me, though, so I haven't completely given up hope yet. My wife is on the gaming rig downstairs, while I type this on the communal laptop up in the kitchen, so there's no chance of advancement this evening. Maybe tomorrow evening some game time will avail itself of me, but I'm not holding my breath.
The Red Sox season ended last night with a loss to the Rays in Game 7 of the ALCS. I'm proud of both teams, but sad that the Sox won't be vying for the World Series crown this year. They can't win them all, and if they had to lose, I guess I'm glad it was to the Rays. Of course I'm rooting for the upstart Rays to take home the title, from the perspective of the perennial doormat making good on a phenomenal season. It would be a great feel-good story for sports in general.
Well, that's all for now. I'll be back soon with an update on my HL2 progress. My new goal, which is a bit more conservative and attainable, is to have the game completed before Fallout 3 arrives in stores next Tuesday. I refuse to buy another game until finishing this one. Wish me luck!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Week in Review - Less than Stellar Edition
What a week it's been! The week started off alright, with work going relatively smoothly on Monday, but quickly made a downward turn when it was discovered that we had no hot water at our house. Before our kids, this would be an inconvenience, as two professional adults could make do, and deal with the hassle until we could find proper help. With two kids, and the mountains of clothes they go through, the bottles and dishes that need to be washed, the baths that need to be taken, and so forth, this is a big problem. I went down to investigate the issue. If you were to know anything about me, it's that I'm not very handy around the house, so me looking at the water heater is like a first-grader looking at a rocket. Sure, it looks shiny and cool, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about how it works or where to start troubleshooting the problem. I eventually made my way to the bottom of the unit (the heat in this case is provided by natural gas as opposed to electricity), and found that the pilot was out. Using the directions conveniently placed on the side of the tank, I was able to get the heater working again. My mind registered the dried up trail of what clearly was water leading away from the bottom of the unit, brushing it aside as an old leak...
About an hour later, I went back down into the basement to check to see how the heater was doing, and lo and behold, the bottom of the unit was surrounded with water. Clearly, this is why the pilot went out. That will teach me to ignore the warning signs in the future. To make a long story short, I stayed home from work the next day, and $925 later my problem was solved. The new heater works well, too well in fact. The old unit was becoming less and less able to heat the water, so we've been living with cooler and cooler water. This new unit, even at the factory preset of what should be around 115 degrees, provides water hot enough to cook meat on the bone. I've since turned it down twice just to make it tolerable.
To add to the fun of that day, I then had to attend a planning board hearing in one of the towns I'm working with, to present information in defense of a special permit application. The residents in the area got the wrong impression of what the hearing was being held to accomplish, and 30 or 40 people came in very angry and misinformed. That's a really bad combination. What should have taken less than 20 minutes and been an open and shut issue turned into an hour of unpleasant questions and people ignorant of the issue at hand spouting off about unrelated topics and generally making trouble. That's New England town government for you...
On the upside, I did have the opportunity at some point during the week (it was Wednesday evening, if I remember correctly) to catch an episode of UFC Unleashed, chronicling the fight between Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell. Being a relative novice to the UFC scene, this was definitely one of the better fights I'd seen, from the level of intensity of both participants and the skill displayed by both men. It was also my first experience seeing Liddell fight, after having read about him in magazines and such. I have to admit, the more I watch MMA, the more I enjoy the whole experience, and it's clear that this has supplanted the WWE for people's entertainment dollar. I could be wrong on this, but the buzz around MMA seems to be far greater than around professional wrestling these days. That's another topic, though, to be discussed another day.
The Red Sox pulled off a huge comeback last night to force Game 6 in Tampa on Saturday. I'll admit that I was long asleep when the rally came, and I had fully expected to wake up today to the eulogy of the 2008 season, but live to fight another day. This could end up being just like last year, where the Sox were down to the Indians 3-1, then came back to take the ALCS and then sweep the World Series, but even to force a Game 7 is a tall order. James Shields has been a nightmare for Sox hitters, and who knows which Josh Beckett will show up on Saturday. If any team can do it, though, it's this one, so hope is never lost.
Also during this week, I've made progress in Half Life 2. I currently stand near the beginning of the antlion area in the 'Sandtraps' stage, where I've helped the Resistance forces fight off the attack at the lighthouse and traveled down the cliff path to the beach. The poor schmuck acting as lookout has been killed by the antlions, and I've jumped on a few rocks to get to the beach. It was there I saved and shut down for the night. I'm rapidly approaching where I stopped playing the last time, just after entering Nova Prospekt. If I'm not mistaken, that area of the game is after working through the antlion area. I'm still just as bad at shooters as I always was, but the story and experience are worth working through this game.
It has been written many times about the characters in Half Life 2, and how well they are brought to life and voiced in such a way as to make the player care about them. One example that really stuck out for me during this playthrough was the character of Father Gregori, the hermit who helps you through the Ravenholm area. The voice acting was great, and I really started to care for the guy, so much so in fact that I didn't want to leave him when he held the gate open to the mine for me. As the gate closed behind me, he yelled something about his congregation and laughed. Turning back at the entrance to the mine area, the steams of headcrab zombies could be seen making their way toward him, so many that it was clear he wasn't going to make it. Even though it was just a game, and a scripted event within that game, I turned quickly and entered the mine area, because I didn't want to see what happened. For a brief moment, I had the sinking feeling in my stomach that I couldn't do anything to save him. That moment made me realize just how well-crafted the story and characters are in this game, and gave me a newfound appreciation for the fine art of storytelling in this medium.
So, what are you going to be playing this weekend? I intend to make my way through Half Life 2, and also to finish up Portal, which I started earlier in the week. After that, I'm thinking about a change of pace to something a more lighthearted and fun. This is probably a good opportunity to check out some of the free games on the Internet, as some of them show real promise. I also am looking to 'cleanse the palette,' if you will, with the release of Fallout 3 only a little over a week away. Any suggestions?
About an hour later, I went back down into the basement to check to see how the heater was doing, and lo and behold, the bottom of the unit was surrounded with water. Clearly, this is why the pilot went out. That will teach me to ignore the warning signs in the future. To make a long story short, I stayed home from work the next day, and $925 later my problem was solved. The new heater works well, too well in fact. The old unit was becoming less and less able to heat the water, so we've been living with cooler and cooler water. This new unit, even at the factory preset of what should be around 115 degrees, provides water hot enough to cook meat on the bone. I've since turned it down twice just to make it tolerable.
To add to the fun of that day, I then had to attend a planning board hearing in one of the towns I'm working with, to present information in defense of a special permit application. The residents in the area got the wrong impression of what the hearing was being held to accomplish, and 30 or 40 people came in very angry and misinformed. That's a really bad combination. What should have taken less than 20 minutes and been an open and shut issue turned into an hour of unpleasant questions and people ignorant of the issue at hand spouting off about unrelated topics and generally making trouble. That's New England town government for you...
On the upside, I did have the opportunity at some point during the week (it was Wednesday evening, if I remember correctly) to catch an episode of UFC Unleashed, chronicling the fight between Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell. Being a relative novice to the UFC scene, this was definitely one of the better fights I'd seen, from the level of intensity of both participants and the skill displayed by both men. It was also my first experience seeing Liddell fight, after having read about him in magazines and such. I have to admit, the more I watch MMA, the more I enjoy the whole experience, and it's clear that this has supplanted the WWE for people's entertainment dollar. I could be wrong on this, but the buzz around MMA seems to be far greater than around professional wrestling these days. That's another topic, though, to be discussed another day.
The Red Sox pulled off a huge comeback last night to force Game 6 in Tampa on Saturday. I'll admit that I was long asleep when the rally came, and I had fully expected to wake up today to the eulogy of the 2008 season, but live to fight another day. This could end up being just like last year, where the Sox were down to the Indians 3-1, then came back to take the ALCS and then sweep the World Series, but even to force a Game 7 is a tall order. James Shields has been a nightmare for Sox hitters, and who knows which Josh Beckett will show up on Saturday. If any team can do it, though, it's this one, so hope is never lost.
Also during this week, I've made progress in Half Life 2. I currently stand near the beginning of the antlion area in the 'Sandtraps' stage, where I've helped the Resistance forces fight off the attack at the lighthouse and traveled down the cliff path to the beach. The poor schmuck acting as lookout has been killed by the antlions, and I've jumped on a few rocks to get to the beach. It was there I saved and shut down for the night. I'm rapidly approaching where I stopped playing the last time, just after entering Nova Prospekt. If I'm not mistaken, that area of the game is after working through the antlion area. I'm still just as bad at shooters as I always was, but the story and experience are worth working through this game.
It has been written many times about the characters in Half Life 2, and how well they are brought to life and voiced in such a way as to make the player care about them. One example that really stuck out for me during this playthrough was the character of Father Gregori, the hermit who helps you through the Ravenholm area. The voice acting was great, and I really started to care for the guy, so much so in fact that I didn't want to leave him when he held the gate open to the mine for me. As the gate closed behind me, he yelled something about his congregation and laughed. Turning back at the entrance to the mine area, the steams of headcrab zombies could be seen making their way toward him, so many that it was clear he wasn't going to make it. Even though it was just a game, and a scripted event within that game, I turned quickly and entered the mine area, because I didn't want to see what happened. For a brief moment, I had the sinking feeling in my stomach that I couldn't do anything to save him. That moment made me realize just how well-crafted the story and characters are in this game, and gave me a newfound appreciation for the fine art of storytelling in this medium.
So, what are you going to be playing this weekend? I intend to make my way through Half Life 2, and also to finish up Portal, which I started earlier in the week. After that, I'm thinking about a change of pace to something a more lighthearted and fun. This is probably a good opportunity to check out some of the free games on the Internet, as some of them show real promise. I also am looking to 'cleanse the palette,' if you will, with the release of Fallout 3 only a little over a week away. Any suggestions?
Friday, October 10, 2008
Weekend Playlist
I'm writing this as the Red Sox play the Rays in Game 1 of the ALCS (top of the 3rd, 0-0), so I probably won't get a lot of gaming in this evening. However, my official goal is to complete Half-Life 2 over the weekend. This could be a pretty tall order unless I burn some serious midnight oil; the kids, for some strange reason, demand a lot of my time during the day. Why can't they just sit quietly in a poopy diaper and ignore the fact they're hungry? Daddy has games to play! :) Yea, like that would fly...
Anyway, what are your plans for the weekend? Hopefully you're enjoying some electronic goodness in and amongst all of your other responsibilities. Leave a comment in the post talking about what you plan on tackling this weekend...
Anyway, what are your plans for the weekend? Hopefully you're enjoying some electronic goodness in and amongst all of your other responsibilities. Leave a comment in the post talking about what you plan on tackling this weekend...
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Random Thoughts - Thursday Edition
Because of my concerns in spending large amounts of money (considering our financial situation right now and the whole economic crisis occurring globally at the moment), I haven't pulled the trigger on a 'showcase game' that will show off the capabilities of my upgraded PC. Instead, I've found comfort in the arms of a former love, Half Life 2. Playing for about 45 minutes last night before going to bed reminded me just how good this game really is. The atmosphere the game projects is perfectly hopeless (from the run-down train station in the beginning of the game to the oppressed mood of all of City 17's population) and yet hopeful at the same time (the upbeat demeanor of all of the Black Mesa personnel and other resistance forces). I love the feeling of being chased through the buildings in the first few minutes, as well as the moment when you feel trapped by soldiers, and then hearing Alyx's voice through the blinding white light of being stunned. Even though I knew everything was going to be OK, I could still feel my heart beating rapidly during the chase. There are more impressive sequences coming up, but the introduction is enough to grab even the most hardened gamer's attention.
My hope, in regard to HL2, is to complete the original game, then move on to the Lost Coast expansion, and then from there probably bite the bullet and get The Orange Box from Steam. This will give me access to Episodes 1 and 2 of HL2, as well as the amazing Portal (which I've completed on XBox 360, but would like to try it with mouse and keyboard) and the popular Team Fortress 2. I'm not very good at multiplayer shooters, and consequently shy away from them, but I'm almost willing to give TF2 a chance, because of its cartoony art style and game experience.
(While writing this, I received a tweet in my Twitter feed that said, "Jesus saves, the rest of you take full damage." You have to love nerd culture, especially D&D references.)
I've also spent a fair amount of time playing Hinterland, which came out last week. Bill Harris, of the Dubious Quality blog, has a great impressions post on the game, which I recommend you read, as he very eloquently sums up a lot of the good and bad points of this surprisingly good budget game ($19.99 new on Steam). Before upgrading my PC, I was able to run the game, but with a lot of lag (the onboard graphics had a tough time handling everything). The upgrade allows it to run silky smooth, and really improves the experience. To sum it up, if you like your Diablo II mixed with Stronghold, then give this game a shot.
I'm currently listening to the most recent Player One Podcast, a consistently enjoyable podcast. The current episode has Dan Hsu, former Editorial Director of the 1UP network, as a guest for some interesting discussion on the recent announcement of the DSi from Nintendo. As has been speculated by others, this has to be an attempt to resuscitate flagging sales of the DS in Japan, because Nintendo consistently moves 500,000 DS units a month here in the States. A headscratcher to be sure, but I'm going to reserve judgement on this until more info is available.
Well, that's all for now. I'll be back soon, hopefully with something of more substance.
My hope, in regard to HL2, is to complete the original game, then move on to the Lost Coast expansion, and then from there probably bite the bullet and get The Orange Box from Steam. This will give me access to Episodes 1 and 2 of HL2, as well as the amazing Portal (which I've completed on XBox 360, but would like to try it with mouse and keyboard) and the popular Team Fortress 2. I'm not very good at multiplayer shooters, and consequently shy away from them, but I'm almost willing to give TF2 a chance, because of its cartoony art style and game experience.
(While writing this, I received a tweet in my Twitter feed that said, "Jesus saves, the rest of you take full damage." You have to love nerd culture, especially D&D references.)
I've also spent a fair amount of time playing Hinterland, which came out last week. Bill Harris, of the Dubious Quality blog, has a great impressions post on the game, which I recommend you read, as he very eloquently sums up a lot of the good and bad points of this surprisingly good budget game ($19.99 new on Steam). Before upgrading my PC, I was able to run the game, but with a lot of lag (the onboard graphics had a tough time handling everything). The upgrade allows it to run silky smooth, and really improves the experience. To sum it up, if you like your Diablo II mixed with Stronghold, then give this game a shot.
I'm currently listening to the most recent Player One Podcast, a consistently enjoyable podcast. The current episode has Dan Hsu, former Editorial Director of the 1UP network, as a guest for some interesting discussion on the recent announcement of the DSi from Nintendo. As has been speculated by others, this has to be an attempt to resuscitate flagging sales of the DS in Japan, because Nintendo consistently moves 500,000 DS units a month here in the States. A headscratcher to be sure, but I'm going to reserve judgement on this until more info is available.
Well, that's all for now. I'll be back soon, hopefully with something of more substance.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Computer Upgrade (and Sickness)
It's been a bit since I last posted, for a couple of reasons. One, I've been fighting a cold that's made me feel like my brain is trying to function in fog, which isn't very conducive to writing a blog post. Second, I've had family here since Monday (they just left today), and one of them was staying in the basement where I keep the computer. He (my grandfather, to be precise) goes to bed early, and I write most of my blogs at night after the kids go to bed, so hopefully you can see my conundrum. Anyhow...
I'm back now, and while I'm still not 100%, I don't feel like I'm viewing the world through bong water, so I felt it safe to post this evening. While I was home sick, my new power supply and video card arrived UPS from Newegg, to my excitement and trepidation. You see, I've had a bad experience while installing computer components myself (burned out an AMD processor because the thermal paste didn't correct contact the chip during install) and the thought of blowing out my main computer while replacing the power supply was a real fear of mine. Fortunately for me, computer component manufacturers have made their products as idiot-proof as they can, and the 'heart transplant' went off without a hitch. The new video card now allows me to play most PC games out on the market, which is a huge improvement over what I had, which didn't allow me to play 5 and 6-year old games, in some cases (due to the fact that my onboard video option didn't have lighting and shading hardware).
To try out my new setup, I launched Hinterland, a game I'd picked up from Steam earlier in the week. It sounded like an interesting premise and it would run on my current machine (pre-upgrade). I'll save my impressions of the game for another post, but in a nutshell the lagging and slowdown I was experiencing earlier in the week vanished when crunched by the 8800 GT. Now I'm trying to decide what game to get next, one that will push the new video card a bit more. I'm considering Bioshock, a big favorite of my on the XBox 360. I'll keep you updated with my choice once I make it...
One other item of note: I was up late on Saturday night, because I'd slept a good chunk of the day and my normal sleep schedule was thrown off. Flipping through the channels, I saw that Kimbo Slice was due to fight that night, and having heard of him and the hype surrounding him, I figured this would be a good chance to see what all the fuss was about. Around 11pm or so the fight got underway (against a relative unknown, because Slice's scheduled opponent, Ken Shamrock, had to withdraw due to a medical reason), and 14 seconds later it was over. The unknown, Seth Petruzelli, beat Slice so badly and quickly the ref called the fight. Wow, I'm sure glad I stayed up to see that.
I'm back now, and while I'm still not 100%, I don't feel like I'm viewing the world through bong water, so I felt it safe to post this evening. While I was home sick, my new power supply and video card arrived UPS from Newegg, to my excitement and trepidation. You see, I've had a bad experience while installing computer components myself (burned out an AMD processor because the thermal paste didn't correct contact the chip during install) and the thought of blowing out my main computer while replacing the power supply was a real fear of mine. Fortunately for me, computer component manufacturers have made their products as idiot-proof as they can, and the 'heart transplant' went off without a hitch. The new video card now allows me to play most PC games out on the market, which is a huge improvement over what I had, which didn't allow me to play 5 and 6-year old games, in some cases (due to the fact that my onboard video option didn't have lighting and shading hardware).
To try out my new setup, I launched Hinterland, a game I'd picked up from Steam earlier in the week. It sounded like an interesting premise and it would run on my current machine (pre-upgrade). I'll save my impressions of the game for another post, but in a nutshell the lagging and slowdown I was experiencing earlier in the week vanished when crunched by the 8800 GT. Now I'm trying to decide what game to get next, one that will push the new video card a bit more. I'm considering Bioshock, a big favorite of my on the XBox 360. I'll keep you updated with my choice once I make it...
One other item of note: I was up late on Saturday night, because I'd slept a good chunk of the day and my normal sleep schedule was thrown off. Flipping through the channels, I saw that Kimbo Slice was due to fight that night, and having heard of him and the hype surrounding him, I figured this would be a good chance to see what all the fuss was about. Around 11pm or so the fight got underway (against a relative unknown, because Slice's scheduled opponent, Ken Shamrock, had to withdraw due to a medical reason), and 14 seconds later it was over. The unknown, Seth Petruzelli, beat Slice so badly and quickly the ref called the fight. Wow, I'm sure glad I stayed up to see that.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Quiet Saturday
Today was a relatively uneventful day, spent watching the twins while my wife went to a baby tag sale. She loves to go to those things, and does her best to sniff out the best deals to save us money when it comes to baby clothes, shoes, jackets, etc. It's incredible when you see a pair of baby shoes in a store (shoes they'll wear maybe for a month at this stage) that cost the same as a pair of adult shoes. It's ridiculous, so she is great at finding the bargains to keep our kids looking fashionable without having to pay through the nose.
The one development that I find to be rather big is that I finally invested in a new graphics card for the computer I'm writing this on. This rig is a $400 Dell Outlet purchase, picked out when my laptop croaked (that's another saga that I should recount someday), just to make sure we had some way to access the internet from home. It has 2GB of RAM and a dual core processor, but only has onboard graphics and sound. You can imagine that it limits my choice of gaming quite a bit, so I pulled the trigger on an 8800GT card. The collateral damage in this process is my computer's power supply, which has to be replaced as well to support the new card. So, there's a 600W supply on the way as well. I got all the stuff pretty cheaply from Newegg. I'll try to post some unboxing pictures when everything arrives.
Well, that's all for now. Off to bed for some sleep, before the little rugrats decide it's time to be up again.
The one development that I find to be rather big is that I finally invested in a new graphics card for the computer I'm writing this on. This rig is a $400 Dell Outlet purchase, picked out when my laptop croaked (that's another saga that I should recount someday), just to make sure we had some way to access the internet from home. It has 2GB of RAM and a dual core processor, but only has onboard graphics and sound. You can imagine that it limits my choice of gaming quite a bit, so I pulled the trigger on an 8800GT card. The collateral damage in this process is my computer's power supply, which has to be replaced as well to support the new card. So, there's a 600W supply on the way as well. I got all the stuff pretty cheaply from Newegg. I'll try to post some unboxing pictures when everything arrives.
Well, that's all for now. Off to bed for some sleep, before the little rugrats decide it's time to be up again.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Humble Beginnings
Well, here it is. My attempt to join the blogosphere, well behind the curve. This blog is meant to capture my thoughts, opinions, observations, whatever I want to write about. I enjoy a lot of different things, from sports to video games and (in no small measure) my growing family. I started this blog to document the things that rattle around in my head, and also to find my writing voice. What is my style? Who do I appeal to? What can I do to make my writing more appealing? The goal is to answer these questions, and many more, while along the way hopefully providing some small measure of entertainment to you, the reader of my blog. Here's to hoping that you'll stick around and maybe leave a comment once in a while.
Being an engineer with a demanding day job (let's step back for a moment here, who doesn't have a demanding day job?) and the extremely proud father of 8-month old twins (Nick and Isabelle, the most amazing creation of my life, bar none), I'm not sure how regularly I'll be able to post. The goal in my head right now is to fall into some semblance of a schedule, but honestly I don't know how it's going to shake out right now. I'm not going to sweat it and let things happen organically. Who knows, maybe some of the great ideas I have rattling around in my head will find their way to this space.
So with all of that said, sit back and enjoy the musings of someone who probably shouldn't have the license to write.
Being an engineer with a demanding day job (let's step back for a moment here, who doesn't have a demanding day job?) and the extremely proud father of 8-month old twins (Nick and Isabelle, the most amazing creation of my life, bar none), I'm not sure how regularly I'll be able to post. The goal in my head right now is to fall into some semblance of a schedule, but honestly I don't know how it's going to shake out right now. I'm not going to sweat it and let things happen organically. Who knows, maybe some of the great ideas I have rattling around in my head will find their way to this space.
So with all of that said, sit back and enjoy the musings of someone who probably shouldn't have the license to write.
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