Rent Rant

Yeah, still bored.

So I thought I would illuminate an going battle for me: my rent. Or rather, the method of payment of my rent.

Now when I first moved into my current place, we had a different management company running it. Granted, the maintenance of the building was less than adequate, but they were pleasant people to deal with, and had no problem if I dropped of my rent cheque the last day of the month with the super.

About 2 years ago, the owner decided to go with a bigger management company. They've been better with the maintenance (outside of the apartments anyway). New carpet in the hallways, better locks on the doors etc.

But when they took over, they insisted on either giving them 6 months worth of post-dated checks or allow them to do automatic withdrawals from the bank. So I gave them the cheques (I've had issues with various organizations continuing to make withdrawals even though I had quit, left or otherwise stopped doing what I was doing).

This was in October.

December rolled around and lo-and-behold, they somehow managed to deposit both December and January cheques. Since this was near Christmas, it put a serious cramp on my travel and gift-buying budget. After I talked to them, they refused to refund the money (despite it was both their and the bank's error) but said they would carry it over until January. Not great, but not worth the hassle of trying to convince the bank that their error cost me money.

The 10th of January, I get a notice that, since I had not paid my rent, they were levying a $100 penalty and if I didn't pay my rent by the 15th (plus the penalty) they would boot me out.

Another round of phone-calls and trips to the head office with the deposited checks, bank statements etc.

And, because I am a moron, I gave them 6 months' worth of cheques in April. September, it happened again. This time, just before I was about to pay for my trip to Italy.

Since then, I have been dropping of my cheque, month by month, at their office. On the last day of the month.

A month ago, we got a new building manager. I haven't actually met her, but have been getting a steady stream of notices under the door. They were polite at first of course: for my convenience could I give them my bank info for direct deposit? Or howzabout 6 months of cheques?

And of course they have become progressively more stern, telling me the only "alternative" they can offer is for me to drop off my cheque at the head office. Which I have no problems doing. Except they want it by the fifteenth of the previous month.

Eventually I may actually met a real live human. Should be an interesting conversation, especially when I tell them about the paint falling (not peeling) off the walls in my bathroom, the leaking faucets, and the non-functional air-conditioning.

I've talked about these with the last three supers. Maybe it's their way of getting me on cheque-free payment.

Bored

Yep that about sums it up.

Bored, bored, bored, bored, smoked too many cigarrettes, bored, bored, bored.

Blech.

Need a beach.

Don't wanna go to bed. I should but I'd just toss and turn.

Nothing on TV. Why was I considering a digital cable box with a PVR (TiVo like thing) again?

Game. No then I will stay up too late.

Nothing to eat. At least that doesn't require pots and pans.

Lalalalala.

La.

Hmmm, have that Triops kit. But i need filtered water. Nope.

Too burned out to read. I already surfed and found nothing of interest.

Maybe I could kick-start my mid-life crisis? Never too early...

Nah, all sports cars drive stick and I don't know how.

The apartment is clean. Too late to vacuum.

This is a long and boring post. Obviously.

Well since I'm this bored, it means I will live in interesting times tomorrow. Chinese curse interesting.

Maybe I should get 40 winks to deal with it.

G'night all. And if you are reading this tomorrow, hope you rested well.

So Much for Karma

I know I said I would not use this forum to complain about work. I know, I know, I know. But gods what a day.

It actually began thirty minutes past midnight. I'm carrying the on-call phone this week and at 12:30 AM this morning it went off. Now understand that I've been doing this for 2 years and the ring-tone on the phone has been the same all this time. So when I hear it, it sets off a Pavlovian reaction of pure fear.

Wrong Number. Calling from California. Didn't get back to sleep until 3 AM.

Now we've had problems with an application at work that reports sales-staff commissions. Last week it busted because of a change in our payroll system that I wasn't notified about. I have a fix ready, but I needed to get a tape-restore done on the database to start from clean data. So they say my request for a restore was completed. I look at the data and nothing has changed. I look at the ticket system again and my request was closed on a completely unrelated issue. It took me the rest of the morning to convince people that it still hadn't been restored, and to get the ticket re-opened so I don't have 1000 phone reps calling me to find out when they can get their commissions.

And because of all this, I didn't have time to prepare the presentation I was to give to the directors and CIO on our new intranet site. After numerous laptop issues (MS Auto update and reboot, never could get it back and running again), the directors unanimously decided that the site provided too much information. So what it was pared down to I could put in a fortune cookie.

As for the quitting smoking thing, I think I would have burned through a whole pack at work but it's very cold, extremely windy and frankly between one thing and the next, I couldn't get 10 minutes to take a break. But I still have managed to smoke 11 of my allotted 13 cigarettes today. I may go over the limit tonight. Or the next hour.

Mmmm, vodka coolers......

Lag!

Eeesh, what a day. Not exactly stressful, not exactly busy, but a series of small tasks and "can you do me a favour" stuff. Add to that my internal clock was out by half an hour: it felt like 2:30, but it was actually 2:00. That sort of thing. So I left half an hour early.

Smoke count (by end of the day anyway) will be 19. So that's down six on day 1. Not much I know, but in 4 days at that rate, I will have quit smoking and strangled my first executive! Bonus!

Planetside is still fun. There's a statistic that shows your kill/death ration (how many enemies you killed, and how many times they killed you). I finally breached the 1/1 ratio!

Er, look, I'm not a homicidal maniac. Really.

Quitting sucks!

Buzz

So a couple very dull things.

Finally got onto the old velocicycle (bicycle in modern parlaiance) this week. It was a good week for biking. Instead of doing 20 minutes at the gym, I went for a 40 to 60 minutes spin down the bike path. Quite nice!

Second thing is, I got my hair buzzed to the skull today. Note I had it chopped, I did not do the duty myself. A hair-salon by my gym was donating $120 to the kid's cancer foundation (or something) so I figured what the heck, I wasn't using it anyways. It did my the mutton-chops went, but I got the impression they weren't doing much for me anyway except catching the errant insect. Still have the soul patch though, otherwise my face my freeze like that. Not sure why I did that exactly, maybe building karma up for yet another attempt at quitting smoking. Karma for something anyway. As I told The Lemming when he said he needed to give away a lucky penny, I need to get lucky. Now, I didn't quite mean it like that, but that single-entendre did have an element of truth in it.

Anyhoo.

I managed to book off the week of the long-weekend in May. Now if I can grab a cheap (meaning $750 or so) all-inclusive somewhere with a beach, I'll be tanning (okay, burning) drinking (okay, nursing hangovers) and romancing (okay, being laughed at) somewhere sunny, warm and conducive to bathing suits.

Note to self: bring extra sun-screen for my head.

The Tolling Bell

(sigh)

Well, looks like yet another component of my computer (my friend, my teacher, my student, my secret lover) is almost out-of-date.

I had heard pretty good reviews on the new Tomb Raider is pretty good, hearkening back to the first two or so installments. After that of course, it just got cheesy (and her boobs got more and more impossible). So I got the demo online.

Now, my video card, once a paragon of polygons, is now a minimum requirement. This is of course the death knell of anything digital. Minimum of course computer-ese for laughable.

So, despite my slick-daddy CPU (dual core baby!), gigs and gigs (or 2 gigs) of memory and more disk-space than I could conceivably need (unless I start to download music and movies), my poor graphics card is about to be relegated to the backup computer.

I'll shed a tear of course, rendered in 3-space.

Now, what's available under $200? Make that $300. $500?

Hackin' It

Despite my varied attempts (some successful, some not) at quitting smoking, currently I am at a pack a day now. I'm noticing that the "morning cough" is now at a tuberculosis level and there's a slight wheeze now. Add to that I'm sucking wind at the gym and on the bike (although I did make it up the hill without hitting the granny gear).

So I think I gotta quit again. For real and permanently this time.

I've tried the patch before, and it has worked. My attempt this January with it resulted in some nasty skin-conditions though. I'm going to try the gum this time around.

Here's the plan. This weekend, I buy a pack of the gum and use it to reduce intake: chew during my habitual times. These are: my "good morning" smoke, my after meal smoke, and my "my gods I'm going to kill someone at the office!" time. Etcetera.

By the end of the first week, I'm hoping to be at half a pack a day, the next week it's all gum baby.

I may be grumpy. Or homicidal. But not suicidal, because that's what I'm trying to avoid here.

The worst of my habit is actually playing computer games. I don't even realize I've lit up until I attempt to use both the keyboard and mouse at the same time and can't because of the coughin' nail wedged between my knuckles.

It will make some interesting blogging at least. Maybe a daily count here? The north-American, male, on-line version of Bridget Jones' Diary. Or something.

Speeling

Wow. Okay i am not liking my new keyboard one bit. Looking at my last post, my gods the typos!

I'm not a spell checker kinda guy. I pride myself on my spelling skills, probably stemming from the trauma of failed spelling tests in grade school. As someone noted yesterday I'm a Bible-style typist (seek and ye shall find) but i can do it rather quickly.

So I may have to hot-swap this out with a keyboard in a drawer somewhere at wok. I mean work. Dammit!

Man, I have lean on the damn shift-key on this thing!

So I was up at 5:30 this morning with a bad stomach so now I have no excuse not to bike into work today.

So fair warning, I'm coming into the office wearing tights!

Ah

So I have a step-niece. So there ya go.

Weekend was thankfully short: no over-exposure to the paternal unit, but was exciting as a turnip.

Other than that, I lead a really dull existance as usual. Those who swing by the Lemming's place already know that we ae bleeding people at work, and alot from upper management. Something big is in the works I think. I'll have to visit the Cancer Committee (those of us who smoke downstairs) and see what the scuttlebutt is.

Back on the regular gym schedule. Makes spring (and warmwather) twice as nice.

That is all. Yes H, I know that's not exciting, but that's life.

Oh Boy. Family.

So I got a call this weekend from my dad. He and the wife are coming to town for my step-neice's (or is it nephew's, I probably should find out) baptism. Which means that for a 1 hour ceremony, I have to entertain him for 72 hours.

I love my Dad, I really do, but one of the reasons I moved to another province....

Let's put it this way: he makes me look like a chatterbox. We'll have the usually "how's work, how's life" conversation for 5 minutes then the rest of the time he'll tell me he's worried about me. About everything. I actually told him I quit smoking (it was true at the time) and he'll find out I started again. So that's about 8 hours worth right there.

then there's the "why don't you come visit me? routine. I'll explain again that it's an 8 hour trip one way if I drive, or a $600+ plane ticket I fly. For Christmas, I'll fly but I willnever drive there in the winter again. Last time, it was the most harrowing experience of my life. He's retired, and very bored, which can be annoying enough, but add to that my memories of growing up largely entail how much he wanted to retire...

So yeah, I have issues with my father. But don't we all?

Don't all answer at once now....

Long Weekend!

Yay! 4 days off! And the first time in about 4 years where I don't have to go into work!

So it's a spring cleaning weekend, kind of. Air out this place man, whooo. 5 months of being cooped up there's a certain pong in the air.

Planetside continues to entertain and frustrate me. Turning into a love-hate relationship, but at least it's a relationship.

Picked up a new keyboard, nothing special. My old one, the "WASD" keys didn't work anymore. Go figure. Also picked up a new joystick. Much fun for blasting things.

Hmmm, maybe gaming is replacing having a love life. But it is cheaper and less confusing.

Laundry, be right back....

So it's not been an exciting week by any stretch, although I have been slacking gym wise. The view hasn't been good lately so my prime motivation is fading away. However after going today, I do need to get back to my regular schedule. I'm in pain.

So Easter proper, I'm going to my Mum's place for dinner. Her husband is away in Mexico for a school thing so my brother is already there. I'm delayed because of the house cleaning thing, which I am avoiding by writing this.

Okay I think the keys on my new keyboard are slightly smaller. Many, many typos...

I'm Baaaaack...

So I'm back from Redmond and the home of the Borg aka Microsoft.

Was a pretty good trip. Seattle is green! Forget how much you miss that when winter sets in.

The conference itself was pretty informative, but it also reinforced my opinion that MS needs to get out more. Now they have some incredibly smart people working there. But you can tell that they are pretty isolated when it comes to coding in a business context: coding products to sell is much different that coding for to support a business (ie they don't sell software).

Can't say much about what was said due to NDA, but overall I'd say they are listening, just hope their marketing department doesn't put the kybosh on some of the things that were suggested.

As for the trip itself, going there was hassle free but the way back.... Our flight from Seattle-Tacoma was delayed because the pilot reported problems with the suspension system on the flight into SeaTac. I did notice passengers grumbling about the hard landing as they got off the plane. An hour goes by, the techs show up, inspect the plane. I actually saw them shrug their shoulders and report nothing wrong. Our landing in Van was smooth as silk. I'm pretty damn sure the pilot botched the landing and then reported mechanical problems to cover up.

So it made us late for our connecting flight home. My two compatriots managed to get a flight right after but it was the last two seats. Now the reason I was last is because my luggage was the last bag to unload, so I had to wait for it. Now as I was hurrying up to catch up with them, I had to pause at an intersection to see which way they went. As I was looking around, some rent-a-cop stops me with a "Hey You!". The best way to describe this guy is podunk white-trash: the mustache and side-burns, the bad teeth, you could see the NASCAR baseball cap and ratty tshirt on the guy. So he comes over and gives me attitude, really being condescending: "Now what does that sign say? And now that other one". I really wanted to say something but slugging a security guard at an airport is a whole universe of trouble. Even thinking about it makes me see red.

Anyway, when I managed to get to the ticket counter, I got put on standby for a flight leaving a couple hours later. Thank the gods I managed to get on. So the whole journey from hotel to front door took 9 hours, when it should have taken 5...

So that was my past week, so not much more to report. Tuned up the bike today (pedal not motor). Start riding into work again, which saves me $16 a day in parking. I know I should walk but I got lazy. Okay lazier.

Regardless off the week "off" (I am dreading my inbox tomorrow) really looking forward to the long weekend.

Away and Gone

So speaking of computer games....

Er, just noticed my computer clock is an hour ahead. Daylight Savings Time has snuck up on me again. I'm a "Fall Back" kinda guy, "Spring Forward" just ain't my scene, man.

Coffee.

So for the past week I've been playing Planetside. Now they started an interesting thing "promotion" of sorts which I think is kinda brilliant.

Planteside is Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter (MMOFPS). So it's like Doom, Unreal Tournament etc. I've never been huge into the genre, but it's a great time waster, is all twitch (which I suck at) but what the hey, sometimes my brain just ain't up to managing a civilization over the scale of millennia.

So I did try the 7-day trial of the game years ago. I think I lasted a couple of hours. Like most MMOs, the more experience you get, the better equipment etc you have access to. So for someone just starting, you get owned (or rather pw0ned). When I first tried it, I usually went to a battle, found an enemy tank, or giant robot, or some guy in powered armour and got pounded. Not fun.

But someone at Sony Online actually came up with a great idea. Give the game away for free, but you can only go so high in experience. They call it the 'Reserves' but really its just cannon fodder.

Of course the idea is that some people will want to move beyond the cannon-fodder stage and sign-up. But I can see alot of kids (and adults) just playing for free. Which means there's alot more people playing.

So now there's actual battles. Some of the vets of the game don't like all these newbs running around and killing them. I think it's great.

In The Real World

So I'm going to the Microsoft campus in Redmond this week. The geeks at work were invited for a one week sit-down with the SQL Server development team: the guys who actually code the thing. There will of course be some 'marketecture' but I'm hoping to get some questions answered, see what the real dilly-o is with 2005 and plunder the MS store.

And that's about it for the week then. Have fun!

Technobabble

Today I am going to talk about my job. Not work i.e. the place I go to everyday but my actual career.

I'm a computer programmer. My 'specialty' (in sofar I have one) is database and database integration. So basically storing information and getting it out correctly.

Today I went to a Sun Java Developers' Conference. Now I don't have a lot of experience with Java, but it is featuring pretty big in the future at work, which is why I went.

Now I don't have enough experience in either Java or C# so I can't make a side-by-side comparison. But what I can comment on are the huge cultural differences.

It strikes my very hard that Java is built by developers for developers. It's pretty much open-source (along with the plethora of tools available for it) which means that it gets alot of review by people who will actually use it. From what I know and see, it's not a silver bullet by any means, it has had it's past face-plants (anyone remember the "Java Appliances" of the mid-90s?) and still has a bad rep of being slow and clunky to deploy.

Microsoft on the other hand is very, very closed on how it actually implements its development languages and tools. Whenever I've met with a Microsoft rep, the sales pitch is "It's Easy!", which never really turns out to be the case. Granted, .NET has made leaps and strides with it's new IDE, but the impression from my fellow geeks (and me) is that it's finally doing what was promised 10 years ago.

Add to that, MS has its "stars": Bill Gates, Steve Balmer etc. The Java community, not so much. It's a "we're all in this together!" mentality. Add to that, Java "culture" has it's jokes (granted, very geeky) and sense of humour. Microsoft on the other hand is very straight-faced (at least publicly). And the approach seems to be "Don't worry, we know what's best for you, we're Microsoft!".

Now add to that the second delay to Vista. Rumour has it that they need to re-write up to 60% of their code: the part they wrote in .NET. And there's alot of anonymous criticism from (supposed) MS developers and testers, rumours of major management purges etc. Kind of reminds me of IBM 15 years ago or so.

But as a programmer, the biggest difference is the way they approach technology. Java is still pretty much Java. Sure, it's changed a bit but the basics are the same. All the tools work off the core Java with no problems (okay some problems as I found out today). MS on the other hand has the notion that everyone on the planet should replace all of their software every five years; the operating system, the user applications (Office, etc) and their programming languages. If you don't, you don't get the benefits. And the backlash is starting I think.

I will never be a fanboy (okay, never a ravening, crusading fanatic). The right tool for the right job. But I think MS's strategy is backfiring in the name of trying to keep a monopoly.

What did Princess Leia say? "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers ..."

Rocket Surgeon

So a couple of things hit me today.

1) I should go back to learning to write games in Java. Apparently the market is huge.
2) I should not base it on Rocketmen!. I do have an idea or two for a space-battle game that have been knocking around notebooks for years and with the stuff I saw today, would be very easy to write.

Where Did My Chin Go?

What the hell? I know I had a chin somewhere...

I should probably comment on the facial hair. I started the sideburns (or as some rakes would put it, "thigh-ticklers") a couple of months back.

The soul-patch is about a month old now, still needs some cultivation.

This is what happens when you break up withsome who absolutely hates facial hair.

No gym today. I felt fine yesterday, but today, well lets just say I won't be doing any sitting tonight. Ow.

The Hat

Or rather, The Hat.

Let us begin at the beginning. For in this case there is a beginning. Cast your eye to 21 years ago. Look at the fashions, listen to the music and cringe. Sorry. But is is 1985.

Now this was my Junior year at high school. I was in band. Not in a band, but the school band. And every year, the school band goes on a trip, playing at schools around, well Saskatchewan.

This year was different though, We did a tour through North and South Dakota. Big time! Now the usual routine was that we would bus to the school we were playing at the night before, make camp in the gymnasium and play the next day. So natually, when you get 100+ high school students with minimal adult supervision, they run amok.

Now while amok-ing at one school, we discovered they had a fairly well-provisioned drama class. That meant costumes galore. We broke into (okay, we were teenagers) the costume room and rampaged, trying on stuff, etc. And that's when I found The Hat.

It was a felt top-hat, in pretty good condition. I don't know why, but I took it. Mr clean-cut goody goody two-shoes stole something. Hard to believe.

So through the years, the hat became my party hat. Every New Year's Eve party, any social gathering of any significance, the hat would come with me. I even wear it skiing, weather permitting.

Which brings us to yesterday.

After 21 year of wear and tear, it's pretty shapeless (although recognizably a top hat). It's dusty, has stray fur, hair (some from my head), makeup (from halloween costumes) ingrained in the fabric.

But I still wear it skiing.

And I always get comments. Sometimes sarcastic shouts of "nice hat!" but mostly genuine comments of "nice hat!" or "I like your hat". And some of these are from cute women.

So yeah, I wear the hat, I get noticed. At 6'2", wearing a 8" tall hat does this. It goes where I go and I always make an impression, for good or bad, wherever I go.

It's probably the one thing I own that actually has sentimental value.

I love my hat. And if you get that, you get me.

I'm guessing that not alot of people get that.

Pass the Advil

Skiing, was blast!

I'm always nervous the first time out, and quickly decide to only go green runs. But as usually, those I went with were a tad more experienced so I hit blues to keep up. They were a great bunch (and I met half of them for the first time this morning). Hopefully get one more in before the snow melts completely.

And as usual by the end of the day I was 1000% times improved. Why do I always start three weeks before the end of the season?

Anyway, I am going to be a very sore puppy tomorrow.

Soooo tomorrow I will tell you about my hat. The Hat. Yes it deserves the bolds. But right now I'm sore, tired, hungry, thirsty and sore. More tomrrow.

Scrub-a-dub-dub

Random Thought

My ex used to complain that I was always doing laundry. My typical response was that's because I'm always wearing clothes.

So doing laundry tonight, I'm thinking I need to move to a place that requires less clothing. Cuz wearing less clothes here just ain't gonna fly...

Shrinkage.

Breaking Things

Okay, been invited to go skiing this weekend. Haven't done it yet this season, only went twice last season.

Looks like I get to find out exactly how well my leg workouts are going.

This may hurt....

Also made final arrangements for the family reunion this July. Should be fun, haven't seen some of my cousins in decades! Of course it means I'll have to put up with the three crazy aunts with the inevitable "Why Aren't you married? I know someone who would be perfect for you!". Mind you, both my brothers (who are also single) will be there, so at least it will get diluted a bit.

And I went to bed early last night (the previous night I couldn't get my brain to shut up until 3am). Considering making that a habit. Must be getting old.

Work is getting odd. With three people on vacation (one for the month of April) for the next while, I've had to tick off a couple of project managers to tell them I simply do not have the time to lead up another couple of projects for the next few weeks. Not that I mind doing that, but it can cause friction in the workplace (and the associated friction burns).

Well, got to go do a leg workout....

My Name is Legion

So after the other day's "Conversation" post, I thought about who exactly was talking. In it, it's all "Me, Me, Me" (some of my friends may be used to this by now).

So I'm no psych major or anything (I have enough undergrad degrees thanks) but know about things like Ego, Id and Superego etc. But I think I've been able to identify five distinct voices in my head. I've given them names.

DaVinci, the creator. He's the one who comes up with the hair brained schemes, the novels never written, the projects never completed. Not the loudest voice in the bunch, but the most easily distracted. And the one usually that keeps the others up to 2 AM coming up with universes, stand-up routines, delusions of grandeur etc.

Ludd, the appetite. Again, not loud, but certainly persistant. Speaks only in nouns. Has a well-developed appreciation for technology. Generally good-natured, except when it comes to smoking, then he can get very, very insistent.

Hal, the logical. Always thinking, always positing scenarios. And also the critic, he he always yammering advice to everyone. Can be a bit mean.

Cromwell, the taskmaster. A classic Superego. He takes on all the responsibilites. Used to be the leader of the pack, but has been subsumed over the past decade or so after some bad decisions. Always strives to 'do good', but can be shouted down quite easily depending on the situation.

Zen the mystic. Almost mute until a few years ago, he's the one that "goes with the flow" and brings calm to the rest. Can take it too far at times, turning into a slacker rather than a serene being.

Of course the interplay of these personalities is always interesting.

Zen and Cromwell are always at odds, but can manage trade-offs (with Hal negotiating). Zen's ascendency is directly attributable to Cromwell's loss of total control.

Hal is pretty much the boss at work (with Cromwell making sure he keeps on track), although DaVinci is often called in when straight-forward reasoning doesn't work. The three can do amazing things working in concert, but this is usually short-lived as DaVinci gets side-stepped by potentials, drags Hal along for analysis capabilities, and leaves Cromwell seething. Then Ludd pipes up and demands nicotine.

DaVinci and Hal get along well, often too well. They come up with some great ideas with some good thought to execution, but often get blindsided by Zen (or sometimes Ludd).

Ludd is a nice guy, always willing to pipe up, but is very easily distracted. However he can totally spaz and nobody gets any work done until they shut him up. While the urge to play games etc usually comes from him (and most can agree, although Cromwell is known to get annoyed) actually obtaining new distractions goes through the whole committee.

The one thing that all can (usually) agree on is the gym. Cromwell thinks it's a great way to stay in shape, Hal likes the 30 minutes spent on the bike reading, DaVinci pretty much takes over cognative functions during weight training, Zen thinks it's a great way to meditate and Ludd gets to look at... well you get the idea.

Anything else though, there's never a consensus.

Internal Dialogue

Nothing to report, but here's a mere sampling at what goes through my mind.....

Me: Okay, work is done, I'm on my way home, what's the plan for the evening?
Me: Food.
Me: Well, yeah obviously...
Me: Sushi!
Me: No, no sushi, I ate out twice already this weekend.
Me: Noodles!
Me: No! I said we're eating in tonight!
Me: But we don't have anything to eat in the house!
Me: I went shopping yesterday, there should be...
Me: What? All you bought was tea
Me: No I got other stuff...
Me: Yeah. Carrots.
Me: Not rice again?!?
Me: What's wrong with rice.
Me: Nothing, just boring that's all.
Me: No it's not, I have lots of sauces and stuff...
Me: Had. You ran out remember...
Me: .. and forgot to buy more yesterday.
Me: Pizza!
Me: No! No pizza! No noodles! No sushi! Just rice!
Me: Awwww!
Me: Too late, already on the stove. So, what's the plan after supper.
Me: Dishes.
Me: Ew.
Me: Well you were supposed to do them on the
weekend. What did you do instead?
Me: Er, shopping?
Me: And then?
Me: Ummm....
Me: You know what you did. Unreal....
Me: Okay, I played Unreal Tournament 2004...
Me: And lost...
Me: Yes. I lost. Because somebody doesn't know how to lead a target...
Me: We could go to the gym!
Me: We went Saturday and Sunday. Two days on, one day off. Today is the day off.
Me: But it's Monday!
Me: ... hottie day!
Me: Yeah But I'm still sore from...
Me: Wah, wah, wah. You never have a good workout Mondays because all the stations are full but that's not the point. Remember Red Sonja?
Me: Oooo.
Me: Yeah.
Me: Jeez, what's the point? Not like you ever would do anything about it.
Me: What do you mean?
Me: Remember a couple of weeks ago? Two cute girls? They actually talked to you?
Me: Yeah, so. I haven't seen them since.
Me: That's the bloody point! You didn't follow up at all. An open, no, two open invitations to make converstion. And what do you do?
Me: Now that's just....
Me: You just work on your chest and back. Real ladykiller you are. A player's player....
Me: Potstickers!
Me: Shut Up!
Me: So if we don't go to the gym, what do we do?
Me: The dishes?
Me: Besides that!
Me: Unreal Tourn...
Me: No.
Me: Galactic Civi...
Me: No.
Me: Chicken Balls!
Me: No!
Me: Ummmm...
Me: Hmmm....
Me: Porn?
Me: No!
Me: Leia's Metal Bik...
Me: No! Shutupshutupshutup!
Me: What then?
Me: *sigh* the gym I guess...
Me: Yay!
Me: Boo!
Me: Rice is ready!
Me: Groan!!!

So Yeah, I'm Surfing

Oh my, three links posted today. That's not a record but a very good indication of how productive my day has been.

Surfing counts as church right?

Er, okay publishing seems to be screwed up again.

This Just In...

Alright I'm a geek, I find this disturbing yet somehow...well you get the idea. Not safe for work (although it does depend on where you work.
Leia's Metal Bikini

Okay, chicks who cos-play rock.

Juicy enough for ya H?

Good News Everyone!

Looks like Futurama is being revived (and not in the year 3000). Billy West is the voice of fry and his blog/BB says it all....
Second Posting Down

Of course, ths is because The Lemming bought another boxed set last week!

Llllllllinkoooooo!

Hehe, an oldie but a goodie for those who haven't seen it.
Troops!

V for Vindicated

Alright, last night went for a few brews (sans green food colouring) with the boys, then went to see V for Vendetta. Pretty good movie if a little disjointed (and a hollywood ending).

But sure enough, had a whole row of young whipper-snappers yapping through the entire movie, despite the fact that three patrons (including myself) told them to shut the hell up.

Hmmm, maybe if the theatre issued a one-shot taser to one in every ten patrons, things would be quieter (after the initial series of zzzzzzzzap! Yeow! ).

Another dull day today. Gym, and, well that's pretty much it. May have to go to Best Buy and drool over toys.

I Need a Beach

Man, I need a beach. Not just a vacation (which ain't happeneing until July) but a place to sun, swim, eat and be merry.

Looking through old vacation photos ain't no help neither.

Winter blues. This is actually the upswing where I'n no longer near-suicidal, but still somewhat blue. And bored more than anything.

Hmmm, tomorrow is Green Beer day. Ah yes alcohol! To quote a wise sage, the source and solution to all of life's problems.

Ah well, off to the gym. Oh wait!

New girl at the gym, who for very obvious reasons I have dubbed Red Sonja. Firey red hair, body builder body without being too hard and, well, let's just say a chainmail bikini would look very fetching. Doesn't hurt she wears a sports bra and tights/shorts. Grrrrrowwwwrrrrr!

Hell's Donkeys, I need a girlfriend...

Movies, Pirates and Pirate Movies

So let's see, the movie moguls and the **AA types are screaming that theatre revenue is down from 5% to 9% (depending who does the reporting) over last year. And they are, of course, blaming piracy.

Now I love going to the movie theatre to see a movie. A good movie. A few months ago, I managed to get 20 $5 movie theatre passes because I spent at least that much a year on the theatre.

Haven't used any of them yet. No reason to. No movies I would be willing to spend the cash (or coupons) on.

And why should I? Over the past few years, the movie mills have been slavering at the teat of new technologies: DVD, Pay-Per-View, Video on Demand. So instead of either a) seeing it in the theatre or b) hoping, after a year at least, that it will be released on VHS, I have a plethora of mediums to choose from. So going from most expensive to least expensive (but also from release date on) here are my options:

1) Full price, first run theatre
2) Second Run theatre
3) Purchase the DVD
4) Rental
5) Video on Demand
6) Pay per view
7) Premium Cable movie channel
8) And (maybe) on regular broadcast TV

So why, if I don't want to go to a specific theatre at a specific time and pay $13 plus snacks (making it $25 for one person) should I feel guilty for not going? I have plenty of options. And working in the business (okay the distribution end) I know for a fact that the movie companies get their cut for rentals, PPV, VOD etc. And they are very aggressive at getting the movies on your television.

But the most significant reason I simply don't go to the theatre is the audience. The morons who chat like they are in their living rooms. The cell phone talkers. The idiots who ask what's going on to all and sundry. Because they are easily confused by today's intricate plots, subtle characterization and unpredictible story lines.

So with the frustrations of the theatre, the easy and cheaper access to several media to see it after release, not to mention there just isn't anything worth seeing lately, why should I go to a theatre?

And I don't download movies. Not much point really. The risk is too high that there's something malicious hiddin in there somewhere. Or it's corrupt, or it's of very crappy quality. Or I may get sued.

Yes, that is a deterrent for me. I have really, really bad luck when it comes to stuff like this (remeber, two tickets in 2 hours?). Hell, I'd get sued for downloading an old episode of Gilligan's Island, forget about a full length feature film.

So here's my recommendations:

1) Chop theatre ticket prices by one third. And the snack bar prices by half. Then people may be willing to show up. And I could tolerate the twenty minutes of commercials.
2) Actually enforce some of things we took for granted in the theatre (being quiet, turn off your phones etc). I am more than willing to script and animate some very biting commercials for this. when was the last time you saw an usher in a theatre?
3) Stop making tired old crap. Indie films are getting more and more attention the past few years. Take a little risk and fund some of these folks.
4) There is nobody on the planet who is worth $10,000,000 for twelve week's work. You can reduce the cost of production by using cheaper actors, who will do just as well as the 'A-list' celebs.
5) Release movies over the course of the year. The summer blockbuster is dead. Why do studios insist on fighting for the consumer dollar twice a year when they can release something good in the spring? Moronic.
6) Reduce DVD prices by a couple of bucks. Really, it costs pennies to produce one. Get it into the price range of an impulse buy rather than a day's wages.
7) And for that matter, drop the price of those DVDs that are considered 'small yield'. $50 for 'The Seven Samurai' is insane. There are alot of films I would love to get on DVD but just can't justify spending the money (and I seriously consider downloading them).

Times are changing folks. Change or die. And if you think it's bad now, wait a couple of years. Imagine a market where the competition isn't the other big studios, but the small group of individuals who put together a full length feature film in their garages, basements and backyards and sell it for $2 a pop online. SFX? No problem, I could cook up some myself. Editing? Hey digital editing suites are coming included on most operating systems today. Actiing? Hells, I've seen better on stage at my local playhouse (and in the office for that matter). As for scripting, well, writers are a dime a dozen nowadays....

So Ya Want Juicy, Huh?

How does this grab ya?

Er, it was a photo of me. Real sexy. Dammit, musta broke Blogger again....

Fricken' Cold

Argh. I can't shake this damned thing.

I'm fine for a day. Then I'm sick for a day. Then I'm okay again until I try to do something, and my stomach grinds itself into knots. Damn and blast.

But for the first time in months, whn I woke up the sun was actually above the horizon at a decent degree. Which is always a bonus. And it also means 'Spring Forward' is coming, and it takes me a couple of weeks to adjust again.

It's Monday, which means it's eye-candy day at the gym. Yay! But it's also an abs and legs day. Boo! It's the most boring of my workouts and produces the least results. Damn flab.

Spore, Hangover and Coffee

First and foremost, I get accused of being a geek-enabler. Video, games, movies, books etc, I loan them out, a knowing, evil smile on my face as I know have made a healthy, creative and vibrant person waste a colossal amount of time on geeky pursuits.

But sometimes it works the other way. The Lemming sent me this.

Oh. My. Gods.

Now if I had a rating system for games I haven't played and haven't been released, it would be, from lowest to highest:

Never, ever will this hit my hard drive.
I may play it if the CD comes embedded in a box of Cheerios.
I'd play it if someone gave it to me.
I may pick it up when it hits the bargain bin.
I'd be willing to pay full price for it after it's released.
Heck I'll pick it up the day of release.
Wow, I'm pre-ordering that!

And now a new category: Holy Crap, I will kill, maim and torture to get my hands on a buggy alpha release of this!

And I'm hung-over today. Bar after work, a hockey game and then a bar after the game. Eeesh. Not much of note actually happened, but what the heck, a night out with a two-day hangover never hurt anyone.

Coffee. Coffee is key....

Ill but not Bad

So I'm getting another cold. Yesterday was hell, as you feel it creeping up on you, your nose getting more and more 'liquid', your intestines clench etc.

So I went home, sucked back a liter of juice, a couple of Vitamin C tablets, a pot of Echinacia tea and went to bed at 8:30.

So I'm stuffed up this morning but over-all feel okay. Work will fix that though.

No, not very interesting, but sometimes I forget just how much a good night's sleep makes you feel. Obviously, I didn't even start playing GalCiv2.

Hmmm.... half an hour before I need to go to work.... maybe a couple of turns....

Correction

Actually I just went over it again and am getting a $311 refund.

Never mind.

Death Carries a Calculator

So guess who just did their taxes?

There's Death, there's Taxes, and there's also Death by Taxes. I owe a grand. Which ain't bad after the first crack at it had me owing over $2500.

Yes there's no time like Tax Time (cue cheesy 50s instructional film music). The smile and far-away look in the eye as Joe Taxpayer contemplates what he'll do with that fat refund check. Maybe he'll buy that boat he's been eyeing! Or that glitzy new American Made automobile! Why, he'll be the envy of his neighbors! And just imaging Bob's expression when Joe pulls into work in that fine automobile. Of course Mrs. Taxpayer may have a little surprise herself! Good thing that tax return can pay for that new crib! Congratulations Joe, and Joe Jr.! (show film flickering, the sound warbling and the lighting burning a hole through the celluloid.)

So after that wonderul bit of news, I tried to figure out how much more in RRSP contributions I needed to make to break even. Turns out I would have to double my contributions. Who needs to pay rent? Maybe I can carjack Joe Taxpayer and live in his Caddy.

As for RRSP contributions, I don't buy it. Sure, it takes off a little bit of tax, but they ding ya later, for more if you get a decent return on investment. They get ya comin' and goin'. Not to mention that RRSPs are a bit of a gamble. There's no guarantee of any kind of returns, and all that needs to happen is another bubble 'n' burst in the next thirty years to bring any of those 'investments' to rock bottom. And I'm no good at investing. I'm the kind of guy who puts a buck in the change machine and gets back three quarters. So I'll just spend it now, and hope my kids will supp...

Uh oh.

It's All About Pacing, Baby!

Sunday morning. Nothing like a Sunday morning to drink a pot of coffee.

So yesterday, went to the gym, ate at Burger King (which I do once in a while, then regret it), washed some clothes, cleaned the carpeted half of my place, and played GalCiv2 for a bit.

I also started watching the Firefly series again. Man I love that show.

Ran into a guy at the gym who did time in Fort McMurray (you do time there, there's no other way to express it) when I was there. Kinda weird in that I keep running into people from my sordid past these past couple of months. See what happens when you break up with a girl who books your social calender solid?

Hmmm, maybe I should explain about the cleaning routine. You see, my apartment is basically in two halves: the living room and bedroom is the 'carpeted half' and the kitchen, bathroom and hallway is the 'linoleum half'. Over a weekend I'll do one half per day. The carpeted half tends to get messy: books (okay, mostly comic books) various doodads I've collected since the last cleaning etc need to be collected and put somewhere. And this weekend I officially ran out of space on my bookshelves. So I need to buy another bookshelf. And find a place to put it.

Now the 'linoleum half' is just a pain in the keister. Without a dishwasher, I just do dishes once a week (not like I cook or anything, just coffee mugs, the occasional bowl and maybe a plate or two). And of course there's the mopping. It's not like I leave everything until it starts to evolve new lifeforms (er, maybe once in a while) but I just find cleaning such a chore. Which is probably why it's called a chore. I hate chores.

So that brings up today's plan. Try and resist the urge to start up GalCiv, maybe watch another episode of Firefly, clean the bathroom, then get it dirty again, head to the gym, pay for those tickets, drop off the dry cleaning, do the dishes, clean the kitchen, mop and maybe do my taxes. Exciting, no?

Yup, I'm a swingin' bachelor.....

As Promised!

Linko! to a photo gallery from the party last week. Minus the traffic tickets.
Heroes

Fuel Status Marginal

Yawn...
Okay I've had no energy this past week. Granted my gaming habits may have something to do with it, but I've been walking around in a light pink fog all week, even when I got to bed on time. Maybe I had a nervous breakdown and didn't realize it?

Looks like a chores weekend. Cleaning, laundry, taxes (ugh), dry cleaning and paying the bills. Fun stuff, I know. So those of you who live vicariously through me (you know who you are) may want to take the weekend off.

Gym can wait until tomorrow though.

GalCiv2: AKA Software Insomnia

Okay, I'm writing a review of Galactic Civilizations 2: The Dread Lords because I'm to go to a play tonight. Understand that for the past week, I've been coming home from work, putting a Pizza Pop in the microwave and starting the game. Next thing I know, it's way past my bedtime, the Pizza Pop has congealed in the nuker and I still can't hit the 'Quit' button.

And if I do that tonight, I won't make the play.

GalCiv2 is a classic 4X (eXplore, eXploit, eXpand and, um, eXfoliate) turn-based strategy game along the lines of Masters of Orion, the Civilization series and, well, GalCiv1. And since it's in space I of course had to try it out. So after a digital purchase and download (c'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Download already you piece of ....) I fired it up and got invaded by another civilization before the first year had ended.

Alright, check the forums for strategies. Nope, too new, everyone is learning. Okay go through the tutorials. Okay I think I got the grasp of this. Start a new game....and Earth is invaded by aliens within a year. Alright read the actual manual. Oh so the default spending is 50% but to get everything working at top capability, max spending to 100%. Ah okay. Start up another game, crank up the spending, go into debt by the end of the year, have my colonies rebel by the end of the second year and assimilated by angry robots by year 3. Doing better at least!

Start up a new game, do stuff to get my population up and be happy by researching those technologies and I have 5 colonies humming along by the end of the year, okay, now let's... oh wait, another race is demanding my lunch money. Screw you alien scum! My, what a big fleet he has, and here's me with no military to speak of....

And that's the game really; you need to balance spending, popularity, technology, efforts into building economic output, military, your influence on other races, your influence with your own people, deal with moral dilemmas (dilemmae?), negotiate, lie, cheat, steal and outright beg from other civilizations including the genetically-modified warrior squirrels (no, I'm not kidding).... There are so many things to balance!

Which is great!

One of the really neat things in this game is the construction of your ships. You can customize things like weapons, defenses, sensors etc, but there is also a huge catalog of cosmetic add-ons you get for free to make your ships as cool as you want them to be. this is turning out to be a huge hit for the fans out there. I've been avoiding it since I got City Of Heroes and played with the costume creator for an entire month. Bloody addictive personality.

The AI is really solid (almost too solid at the harder levels) and the devs make no apologies: a computer can micro-manage much better than a human (especially me). And although you can repeatedly hit the 'Next Turn' button, every time you do, the uneasy sensation that you are forgetting to look at something grows...

The learning curve is pretty steep, and although the manual gets into the mechanics, it takes some time to figure what does what (and what side-effects they have) to get a civilization going, and for some that will not be an appealing feature. Even when you do get over the hump (which I did recently by dominating the universe, not by force, but by selling cheap trinkets, pushing diet soda, and making sure out technologically enhanced pop-stars make regular appearances on alien worlds. In other words I destroyed their cultures with my own! I felt a little dirty, but dammit I won.) there is still alot that can happen with random events, planet placement, races, events etc etc. No game plays the same twice and, here's the main thing, no strategy will work every time!

So as a game it's pretty damn good. Add to that, there is some very tongue-in-cheek messages (one race invaded me because I tried to sell them diet cola), some really great graphics you have a winner.

Now there are some cons here. The interfaces can get a little confusing and may not work as well as expected. But I'm putting together a list for the forums, which by the way, the devs are very active on and have already implemented some suggestions in a patch or two. It's a typical indy-developer viewpoint getting more and more presence: they know who buys their games, they know there will be problems, and they know they are fixable. This is a refreshing change from the big-corp method of 'Behold, our great and innovative sequel! Tremble and be amazed!' attitude.

So overall, this is a fantastic, turn-based strategy game in a day and age where the genre has been declared dead. It's not without it's warts, but frankly it's a helluva lot more polished than many of the 'offerings' from the big boys over the past couple of years. So it looks like I have a new source of sleepless nights for the next while (besides the other reasons).

Oh, and if any of the devs are reading this, who came up with the confirm message for quitting to be "Are you sure you want to quit? A few more turns won't hurt..."

Bastards.

this is not a post

I know, I said pictures. They are coming, probably on the weekend.

Galactic Civilizations 2 is a good game.....

Introducing: "The Red Light"

Well, since Blogger is not working for uploading images, here's a link to one:
The Red Light!

Busted

Okay, I'll get some party details and photos on later today, but first a little story and the pre-party events.

I drove into work yesterday so I could get home in time to get ready and make the party by 7 pm. Because of the odd street arrangements where I live, I cannot turn into my street from the main road during rush hour. It's a left turn against traffic.

But to get to my place then, you have to drive up four more blocks and wait at a stop light with no left-turn signal. So I usually end up waiting for four or five 'cycles' which is just a pain in the ass.

However, just before the turn-in to my street, there's a pedestrian signal with a full red light. If someone is crossing, I usually take the opportunity to turn left.

Yesterday, the cops were waiting. $115 ticket. There were only two of them, they busted the next guy, and while I was waiting to be written up four more cars made the same illegal turn.

So, I get home, swear a bit, get ready for the party and leave. On the way to the party I noticed there were cherries flashing nearly every second block with people pulled over.

Half way there I see them in my rear view mirror. I got pulled over for tossing a cigarette butt out the window. Fine for littering: $115.

But town hall assures that the Calgary Police do not have a ticket quota.

Right.

So add to that the hotel room ($167), the drinks for the evening ($60), the stuff I had to get for the costume ($150, but it's all reusable for biking, roller blading etc).

Grand Total: $547. For one night.

If I had cashed in the change in the jars I keep on my dresser, that would have been a decent week in Mexico.

But at least I had fun last night. Now I can't afford fun until May.

Pictures coming forthwith.

This Station is Now The Ulti..hack..kah...kah....blech

Ohhh crap this cold/flu hit me like a ton of bricks last night. Lost my voice, my head feels like a balloon on a stick. I sound like Darth Vader. The phlegm kind of spoils it though.

Called in sick this morning. Then I crashed until noon. I'm going to have to actually go outside to get some good drugs....

Gym was okay last night, just another day. Looks like the day before was an just a blip.

Okay, put on clothes, start car, drive to drug store.

Oh Doh (sniff)....

Argh. Looks like I've caught the bug that has flattened many a co-worker today (including the Lemming).

I do not want this to spoil the party for Friday, even if it means I have to take two days off of work.

Women. In. Tight. Outfits. Drinking.

Hehehcough.....cough, cough, cough.....hack! Bleh.....

On a slightly more jovial note, I picked up Galactic Civilizations: Dread Lords last night. From what I got to play (after downloading the the much dreaded Stardock DRM software) it's a very cool game, what Masters of Orion 3 should have been.

So, in spite of being ill, getting a new game and the fact we have a tonne of snow here, which brings out the loonies, I'm still going to the gym.

Can't disappoint the ladies now can I?

More Gym Experiences

Huh.

Did I hit an 'easy on the eyes' threshold or something in the past couple of days?

Get this. Went to the gym today after work (okay after dinner). And, good lord in heaven, it was hottie central. I think they've been recruiting.

Again, I'm on the bike reading my book. A very cute, very tall girl asks me if she has to sign up to use a bike. I tell her no, it's a free for all and she then says 'Great!', sits on the bike beside me and starts asking me about how long I've been there, how busy it gets etc. We then continue to say 'Hi' to each other as we cross paths during the non-cardio workout stuff.

Then while taking a break between sets on the bench, a girl looks straight at me and tells me she loves my T-shirt (the one that says Every time you download music off the Internet, God kills a kitten) and asks what I think of hers.

It said something, can't quite recall what, I got distracted. Again, smile and 'Hi' the rest of the night.

I'm not reading anything into this except that they were being friendly. Just understand this never, ever, ever happens to me!

I am really looking forward to the party on Friday. And going to the gym every waking hour of every day for the rest of my life.

Bored....

Bored, bored, bored, bored.

No games to play, if I look at another programming manual today my brain will leak out of my ears (and it leaves stains on my shirt).

TV sucks. Too late to watch another Kurasawa movie.

I could have a drink.....

Nah, school night.

Bored.

Okay someone ask me a question. Anything. Any and all questions will receive a thorough, honest and complete answer.

Ho-hum.

Oh, going to a costume party this weekend. Put together a snazzy outfit. The theme is '2nd Rate Superheroes'. Made up a character called 'Red Light'.

Tights are involved. I will post pictures. You have been warned.

Booooooooored......

When the hell did Saturday Suck?

Yikes. Okay here's the sitch.

Went to gym today, as I usually do on a Saturday afternoon before I get groceries (yes I am a man of routine). While on the bike, I was, as I always do, reading a book. In this case, I was finishing up A Long Way Down by by Nick Hornby.

Much to my great surprise, the girl beside me asked about the book. I told her it was okay, but I though Hornby's last few books haven't been his best. She told me she agreed, then we started chatting about other authors (Irving Welsh, Chuck Palahniuk etc).

Then she asked me out for coffee.

Stunned!

So anyway, we arrange to meet at a place we both knew at 7 tonight!

Man I hate being stood up... Even cancelled poker for that. Didn't get a phone number (and didn't give her mine).

Java For Gaming? Maybe in 1990

So I've been perusing Killer Game Programming In Java. It looks like a great course for learning game programming (they cover alot of stuff and how you actually design and code it) but when I look at screen shots for 3D rendering... well it seems a tad archaic.

So looking at some "3D" games on the web written in Java, I have to conclude that game programming won't get further than mobile phones unless they do some serious stuff with 3D. So I'm not sure how to proceed with Rocket Surgeon. Maybe I'll work up the model first and see which way to adapt (Java or C#). Have to learn both anyways.

Post 50!

No I'm not 50 years old.

The funniest thing I have seen. Ever

15 Minutes of Slightly Less Obscurity

Ooo! Oooo! OOOOOO!

No not that.

Regina is reading my poem on her podcast tomorrow!
Regina Lynn

Not Gina Lynn, which is another entity entirely. Don't ask how I know.

Man it's cold outside! No gym for me. Just listening to a podcast, eating the nearly-expired food products and surfin'.

Fer example: Consumating. No, it's not a dating site, it's just a total waste of time. So in many ways, it's similar to a dating site. In my experience anyway.

Countdown to V-Day

Hehehe.

I'm single on Valentine's Day!

No Pressure!

Although I have two application pushes, two committee meetings and laundry to do, so there's pressure just on a different gasket.

Which may blow, by the way.

Okay, I know that's not much to report, but I've been leading a very dull existence lately.

Ooo! I learned a good come-back if you meet a girl on Valentine's and she asks why don't have a girlfriend:

"But I just met you!"

I may have to go out just to try that! Although it may work in the gym....

Samurai Theatre!

Haaaaaaaiiiiiiiii-yaaaaaaaaaa

Boo-ya! The Kurasawa Samurai collection of DVDs hit the door today!

Man I forgot how long Seven Samurai was. 3 hours! Cool!

Okay, okay, have to pace myself......

Grrrrrrrrrr.......

Okay, slap Yojimbo into the player!

Kampai!

Online Order, Snail-mail Return

Gah! Damn and blast.

Probably the most frustrating thing about ordering online; which provides an almost orgasmic sense of instant gratification is that it takes bloody forever for stuff to arrive.
Example: On the 3rd I ordered yet another Java Book for work (okay to learn about Java and help along the Rocket Surgeon project) and for fun classic Samurai movies!

And it still hasn't cleared the sortation plant in Ontario.

Damn and blast!

Now I have ordered stuff before and payed the extra for the "super-duper delivery" which is supposed to hit you mailbox in 3 days.

What it actually means is, you may get it a day ahead of schedule.

And with my luck the book will show up on Friday and the DVDs sometime next month....

Augh!

Okay work is getting nuts.

Everyone is busy and overloaded, we are really short-staffed and now we're snapping at each other over the dumbest things. I freaked out on someone who made me a great pie this past weekend. Lemon meringue pie! Dammit.

The kicker is I work with almost all of my friends in town here and it's just getting so bloody stressful. Gah, I need a job, I need a real job! I need a job that pays. I need a job, I need a good job...

One that satisfies my artistic needs.

Not Lost, But Certainly Confused Weekend

Hey All:

Not much to report this weekend (after the last few that's a good thing). Drinks on Friday, drinks (many, many more drinks) on Saturday watching Extreme Elimination Challenge. No wait, that's not it.

There's two guys in an Octagon. They pummel each other. First one to make the other guy's eye bleed wins. You know. Good fun had by all!

Sunday I went to a Rocketmen! tournament, which turned out to be me and another guy who I'm very sure was the inspiration behind Fear of Girls.

Won't be doing that again any time soon. I think I'll just stick with playing with myself.

Er...

A Wise Lemming Said to Me...

So.

While out and about today (well, okay, while walking to a bookstore at lunch) Stray Lemming mentioned something very interesting regarding my, well, shall we say efforts regarding Lavalife et. al. He said that for someone who previously who was going to 'batch it' for a while, I was putting alot of effort into starting a new relationship.

Huh.

And looking at my posts for the last month, he's right (okay I knew he was right when he said it, reviewing the site just confirms it). So I asked myself, "Self! What's up with that, man?"

Good question, so here's some possible answers.

Sex

Well, duh. But you don't need to be in a relationship to have sex. In theory. So I've heard.

The Relationship Guy

Yeah, I'm a serial monogamist (barring the five year period known as The Drought). So maybe I just don't feel comfortable when I'm not with someone. Something about that rings true, but as stated before, I like my independence as well. So I'll give it a little bit of credence.

Playing the Game

I resigned my commission with, er, I mean, I cancelled my accounts for the MMOs I was playing. And if you think about it, Online Dating is alot like an MMO. It's massive, it's multi-player, it's online!

And of course you raise your skills (obviously I rolled a critical failure this weekend, yikes.), there's PvP (all the other guys on there) ganking (the other guys who move in with their superior, nay l33t abilities) and the end-game "raid" (and with any luck...multiple "parties").

Not to mention playing solo is unfulfilling.

What to do?

Back off for a while. I have several projects... well, not on the "go"... that I want to work on. Plus the whole reconnecting with lapsed friendships etc.

That doesn't mean I won't, if the opportunity arises, decline a party invite for a quick instance run.

Okay, ran that analogy too long.

Stray Lemming = 'Poo'

Condolences to Stray Lemming who, according to him, feels like 'Poo'.
Message Ends

Rocket Surgeon: Scope Creep

Okay, yet another delay on the project.

With all the whoop-de-do at work already reported, looks like we are going to get much more heavily involved with Java (we've been almost exclusively a MS shop for years) with some new tech coming in. So since I'm now on the Integration team, I have to bone up on Java.

I did take some in school, but very little. So after some surfing I picked up Head First Java to start off with and Java After Hours for more advanced stuff.

Yes, yes, I'm focusing on gaming stuff. But if you can program games, you've pretty much got this coding thing sussed.

So ultimately, P:RS will be a Java game, which also means it will be playable on multiple platforms. Which means that people I know will actually be shang-hai'ed into being beta testers. Fortunately I do know some QA people...

Booze
Now those who know me know I like to have a tipple now and then. For those who really know me, "now and then" is actually hardly ever. Mostly because I drive. Alot.

But I think a stiff one for "medicinal purposes" is in order. I do notice I sleep better and wake up (as opposed to "rise from the grave") a tad more refreshed. So a nightcap will be integrated into the regular routine.

I know that's not extremely interesting but January is boring, in general.

Answerologists RULE!

Kudos to all the folks at Answerology who gave me an honest answer to the 'What the hell happened?" question.

I'd say the general consensus is I came on too strong. Which was probably me overcompensating for being to 'stoic', although a few opined that she could have handled that better as well (story of my life). Mea Culpa, once again.

And my ex called tonight (at the point where I had finished my 4th vodka 7). So we're having lunch so we can exchange the last of the stuff (I have some play tickets, she has my apartment keys).

Kinda weird hearing from her. But trust me, getting back together is not gonna happen.

I Take it Back, It Does Suck

So the girl I thought I was doing so well with blocked me on Lavalife.
Don't know what I did wrong. We exchanged many emails, a few phone calls, and everything seemed to be going swimmingly. We had great conversations, shared compliments, found out we had alot in common.
I should note that during our last phone call, her phone went dead. I had asked her out for coffee next week the day before, but she had to go out of town for work for a week.
So I sent the following:

Technology, whaddaya going to do about it?
Anyway, we got cut off before I had the chance (ie built up the confidence) to tell you that, well, I think you're pretty amazing. Now here's me being forward this time :)
Even after a short time, I can tell you are a great person, funny, bright, fun, positive outlook, quirky. Just brings up a huge sigh and goofy grin on me when I think about it.
So anyway, if I seemed a little energy-less, well, I can't wait to meet you, and a whole week... that's like, what, seven days? Argh! Heheh.

So needless to say I'm looking forward to hearing from you :)

She read that and then blocked me.

I give up.

A Poem

Okay I haven't updated in a couple days because, well, it's been a dull couple days.

So here's a poem:

On Lavalife, I set up a profile
To each girl, I sent a wry smile
But with no reply
I figured I'd try
AdultFriendFinder, for a while


Sent this to Regina Lynn who said she'll use it (maybe) in an upcoming Podcast.

Work, Play and Poetry

Alright no specific topic today, but a couple of rants, maybe a rave, and at least one serendipitous moment.

Work

For those in the know, I had previously spewed alot of venom and vitriol about my current place of employment, which I subsequently removed from the blog. This was because I was scaring even myself.

But sometimes things swell to the top and explode. Like volcano. Or a zit. Or like when I forgot to put the top on the blender when making a smoothie last night. There's another analogy here, but I'm single and only have a vague recollection.

Now there has been no less that 3 reorganizations in the past year. And from what I can see each has been progressively motivated by politics. The last one is (I'm speculating, the same way that a person speculates that falling off of a 40-story building does not bode well) that this last one was purely political in nature. My new manager is looking to build up head-count as well as get himself promoted (for the third time in three years). So I have a new boss, who was once my old boss.

This current re-org has forced the usually shuffling of people from one cubicle to another cubicle. Now my previous fattening-pen at least was by a window, was away from the high-traffic areas and allowed at least a modicum of privacy.

Now, not so much. I'm on the corner of an intersection, which has already become a 'hub' for standup meetings.

Some of you are saying 'so get some headphones!'. Which I have. But they don't help because I inevitably get tapped on the shoulder for my input (I've been with the company seven years, which makes me an old-timer). Not great for the concentration.

So the second thing is, I don't trust my boss (who was my boss two bosses ago). He's a smart guy, but frankly his outlook on development is the complete opposite of mine: he wants to deliver something, anything to keep the clients happy. At the opposite extreme is myself, who has no problems delaying a project if it doesn't meet quality standards. There will be a definite wailing and gnashing of teeth over this.... He's short term, I'm long term. Which means I'm left holding the bag on the 'oversights' that inevitably occur when he's in charge.

That, and it looks like I'm stuck working with 25 year old technology again.

There's more about work I want to gripe about, but I gotta save something for later.

Play

Okay, a reader (by which I mean a person I physically threatened until he read my blog) had asked me to describe the phone conversation and the girl I was talking to. I would but that's personal for her. I don't want to reveal anything about people (unless it's nasty and I don't like them) without their knowledge, I'll only publish my own thoughts on the situations I find myself in.

That being said I called her the next day. Now I actually thought that this was good thing, as I do hear (okay I read on Answerology) that women hate it when guys wait too long. So I thought I was blazing new trails and opening up the lines of communications between the sexes.

Instead, I think I came off as clingy. Well, ball is in her court now. What do you think the odds are she'll just pick it up and move to the next pitch (you know, the one that has the much more handsome, tanned, tennis instructor).

Hmmmm, maybe there's a self-confidence problem in there somewhere. I'd find out more, but worried I could be right.


Project: Rocket Surgeon!

... is delayed. Not because I'm lazy (well, not entirely anyway), but because MS has started another online course on C# and game design, but using 3D graphics!

It actually is a much, much better course than the first. So I looked at what they did, and I did, and pretty much scrapped what I did.

So the new game is to take Rocketmen! and turn it into a real-time 3D space battle! Which means I have to change the rules as presented by the original game, but also means I can simplify them greatly. The sessions continue for the next two weeks, so I'll take those before I delve into my own code. Besides, they provide a pretty okay 3D engine. And I can make my own 3D models!

Poetry

ummm, actually, I'll save this one for later. Let's just say it involves a limerick, a blogger who knows much, much more about technology and sex than I, and, well, I still have to find out.

Check for gills! Shawks!

Okay, Maybe it Ain't So Bad

I'll be damned.
Just got of the phone with a fantastic girl I exchanged emails with on, well, Lavalife.
Yeah, yeah, I know I made disparaging comments on on-line dating, my experiences with on-line dating and people who on-line date. On-line.
Sometimes I forget that you gotta go through a lotta dross to find the gems. Now I know it's too early to know if things will work out at all, still haven't done the notorious face-to-face experience yet. I always do something dumb like forget to shave, get tongue tied, or mention comic books or cartoons far too often (ie once).
But I gotta say, we had a great conversation, she's very interesting, different, had a much more varied and broad life-experience than me. So needless to say, I'm very intrigued.
And she has a wonderful laugh....

And if she ever, ever reads this blog: I'm sorry about the cracks I made here about silver jewelry and astrology! I was going for the funny! Ah crap, blew it again.

Workin' Out is kinda Weird

For those who actually care, I've been going to the gym at a pretty regular rate over the past three months. While the gym is a natural place to get yourself all fit, it's also an amazing place to people watch.

Captain Eight-ab: Tall black guy with no waist at all. Spends more time posing in front of the mirror than actually working out

The Pec-inator: Very, very obvious pectoral implants. I'm surprised he doesn't keel over.

Spaghetti-Strap Frankenstein: Body-builder, wears those really dumb 'shirts' which are just two shoelaces holding up a dish towel. Has very obvious face cosmetic surgery and hair-implants.

The Hotness: Fake and bake tan, gotta-be fake bosoms, wears next to nothing and is supremely aware of who is looking at her.

Dynamite Joe: Every see Million Dollar Baby? Well, I swear to the gods, the dumb, skinny kid everyone picks on in that movie was inspired by this guy at my gym. Nice enough and polite, but talks about his workout through his entire workout very, very loudly!

Roadrunner: She's on the treadmill when I get there, she's on the treadmill when I leave, every single time I'm there! She must do a marathon a day!

Up-Close-And-Very-Personal Trainer: He's helping the girls 'work-out' by giving them advice (asked for or not) and looking down their sports bras the entire time.

The Geek: Wears T-Shirts with cartoon characters and weird sayings on them, always cleans his bench even if he just uses it to take a break. Always has a hard-bound book with him.

The last one is me, of course.

That's It!

I've had it up to here with on-line so-called "dating"!
I mean c'mon? There's 900,000 people where I live. If half of them are women, that's 450,000 women!

Say even, I dunno, 10% of them are in a 'date-able range' that's like, 45,000 women at an age I would not consider myself a cradle robber or robbie! Lot's of choice!

So say, because i'm 37, about 15% of them aren't married, cuz I don't date married women. Er, actually with the luck I've been having, any, really. Anyway, that's still 6,750 women! More than enough!

Okay, granted I don't want to date a single mom, so that's gonna reduce the number by about another 90%, add that I don't want any kids, that's another 90%... that's 67 and a half.... now I can be pretty picky, looks-wise.....

Ummm....

Okay, I'm moving to Toronto. Or New York. Or ...

Going Along Swimmingly

Okay since I was chastised for not blogging every single day, here's a little something.

Now when I have dreams, I have dreams. Full technicolour and surround sound. One of the best reasons for me to go to bed (or at least to sleep, me and the couch are like this).

So here's a snippet from last night.

I'm just off the coast, it's a steel-grey sky. But on the surface of the water is a town, except the streets are water. It's fully populated, I can see people on the sidewalks, gardening etc.

Swimming down these streets are myself and, below the surface, a group of killer whales. I feel this is very cool and exciting, although I'm a bit nervous about being mistaken for a baby seal. It's a whole pod of them, including a couple of calves, but I'm just swimming down the street with them. They know I'm there (and not in a "Oh look! A seal!" kind of way).

So I pop up onto the 'sidewalk' to have a break. Two of the orca surface and turn into very cute women. One, dressed in brown shorts, a brown shirt tied and the midriff and short light brown hair with brown eyes, the other dressed in a black t-shirt, light-grey tights and with long black hair and steel-grey eyes. I know they are elemental representations of Earth and Sky (stormy) respectively. We have a great conversation (can't remember about what) and I had the exact same feelings of exhilaration, enjoyment and nervousness as when I was swimming with them as Orca.

They dive back into the water, turning back into Orca, and I continue swimming with them. But I don't feel nervous anymore. End of dream.

In a Dry Season, no Rain Will fall

Okay I have reached a very subtle, but quite significant threshold in a newly-single person's life.

The time since break-up has now far exceeded the longest period during the relationship that I haven't had ... relations.

Now if I'm like most of the freshly solo people out there, a certain frustration, nay a desperation comes into play. You find yourself short-tempered, grumpy and even, dare I say it, frustrated for no apparent reason. Granted in my case it can be hard to tell.

Suffice it to say, that at this mental plateau, it is extremely annoying for a singleton to hear their downstairs neighbors 'making love' both enthusiastically and at great volume.

And in this particular case, the mental (and physical) discomfort is compounded an order of magnitude when your downstairs neighbors are, in fact, lesbians.

All's Quiet on the Western Front

Well except for Thursday, where I once again had gastro-intestinal discomfort. You don't need the details.

So today's random thoughts are advice for ladies posting their pictures on the Interweb datin' sites

1. A picture of you kissing a guy as your profile pic may be sending the wrong message. Example: here's what you have to better than. Now blanking him out in Photoshop or similar and putting 'Your Face Here' sends the right kind of message.
2. Having a picture of flowers, kittens, your dog, rainbows etc as your profile pic says 'I am too embarrassed to put my picture up'. To a guy, that's essential a road sign saying 'No Stopping'.
3. If you do put up a picture of yourself, please make sure it's recent. I've seen quite a few mid-thirties gals having really nice pics. The Hypercolor sweatshirt sort of gives away when it was taken.
4. If you are going to use the services of a 'Glamour' photographer (ya know, sexy poses in skimpy outfits, roaring fireplaces and a bear skin rug, that kind of thing) make sure you get your money's worth. Some of the so-called 'Glamour' shots make women look like tranvestites with way too much makeup and some of the most awkward looking positions that no human should be able to do without some serious chiropracty.
5. Use a picture where you are smiling, not: scowling, looking like you are about to throw up, obviously drunk out of your mind, giving the finger or yelling at someone outside the frame.

I'm pretty sure the same could apply to guys, but I'm not into that sort of thing. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Porno!

That should get me some traffic....

Anyway this is just a random musings post. At work we had a software security product demo by a guy who used to work for VeriSign. He mentioned that the whole reason the company got off the ground was the Internet porn boom. So I started thinking about porn (it was a really boring presentation).

I have to say that beyond my teenage years I've never been a huge fan. Sure I've watched (or rather, used) pornography but a couple of things always struck me

1. Really, how many angles of people having sex can there be? And with that kind of extreme closeup, you could probably use latex Muppets and it would look the same (although I understand there are segments of society that has that sort of thing as a preference...)
2. .. and with the volume of silcon enhancements (both male and female) it's getting darn close to that.
3. The sex always seems more mechanical than erotic. And so bloody predictable. And you know how it's going to end...
4. At the back of my mind there is always one thought: I'm not getting any and those two (or more) are paid for it. It's their means of getting a paycheck. People arrange for them to have sex with little or no effort on the performers own (until the camera rolls). Imagine the following scene on the set:

Man With Hair Implants: Excuse me? Are you Mr. Scoreseasy? The director?

Mr. Scoreseasy: Why yes! And you must be Woody Tripod. Ready for today's
shoot?

Man With Hair Implants: Sure am! Who am I working with today?

Mr. Scoreseasy: Well, Sonia Slicks in the first scene, then the Bosom Twins
in the pool scene. And Lisa Lollypop in the final scene.

Man With Hair Impants: Hey I like Lisa, she has some great recommendations
from her book club!

And can you imagine what would happened if you called in sick because you just don't feel sexy today?

Shameless Self-Promotion

Okay now that I've actually starting to tell friends and complete strangers about this blog, readership may skyrocket into the double-digits! Pass around the link, for nothing more than the laugh you get when they say "And you know this loser?"

Tuesday

Never could get the hang of Tuesdays....
Monday. Everyone hates 'em, there's even a song about not liking Mondays. Now for me, Mondays are okay, you're (presumably) rested from the weekend, with a faint patina of hope on your soul. Tuesday rolls in, and that small reserve of energy you've built up over the weekend has been expended, and you still have to do whatever it is you do for four more days! Bleh.

Breaking More than One Bad Habit
Alright, here's what happened. Went to a little convenience store by work in the afternoon to get myself some snackage. Now today was supposed to be the last day I allowed myself to have smokes: only 5 today. So I go into the store, get a bag of Hickory Sticks and a lotto ticket, and I walk out with a pack of smokes without even realizing it! It had become part of the daily routine: snack-food, stupidity tax and nicotine. The nice old guy working the register doesn't even ask anymore, I don't question it. I'd chuck 'em but they are $11 a pack.
So the revision is, no smoking at work. Good thing Stray Lemming moved to another floor or he'd kill me. Or me him.

So I Didn't Go See George RR Martin

He has a book-signing today in town. Was going to go, but decided to duck out. Okay, lame out. But I have my flimsy justifications.
When I was getting me English-as-a-first-language degree, I met a lot of authors. Many. And almost all of them struck me as stuck-up elitist jerks. So I have a natural derision of auteurs. Now I'm not saying Mr. Martin is a stuck up effete intelligentsia type. But authors, as a breed, make me snarl. And I'm trying to become one, which is probably another 6 months on a couch in a well appointed office....
Second reason is I'm not a big autograph fan. I know I could get some coinage on eBay, but I don't whore myself out that way. Much. And besides, I think if a writer has anything interesting to say, they will say it in their work.

On-Line Dating

Looks like I provoked an emotional response on Lavalife. Sent a smile, got one back. Somewhere in between she had updated her profile in a way which made me pause a bit (I'm picturing cheap silver jewelry, chakra crystals and palm readings). But I wrote her anyway. Meeting people online is just like meeting people in real life, except with more spelling mistakes and bad grammar. So we'll see what happens.
PS the 'adult entertainer' is back on LL, this time with two profiles. Wonder if she remembers me? And if she would be pissed that I was the one who squealed on her.

Coda

Did laundry, dishes and cleaned up the non-linoleum half of my apartment today. Also looking at the mirror, there's some muscle tone forming 9course it may just be tumor). Screw the self-help books, if you want to improve your looks and living conditions, just be single! Which of course obviates the reasons you want to improve yourself. Hells, if I wasn't concerned about, er, things, you know... I'd gain 80 pounds in cheeseburgers alone. And leave the wrappers everywhere!

How To Install a Mother-#&%*ing Board

So I did manage to install my dual core, 2.2 Ghz motherboard with 2Gb of RAM.

• 10:35 am Finish pot of coffee
• 10:36 am Locate Windows XP Professional SP2 CD
• 10:37 am Find huge scratch on CD
• 10:58 am Finish burning new CD from ISO
• 10:59 am Disconnect Computer from nest of cables at back of box
• 11:00 am Reconnect computer to download latest BIOS updates from motherboard manufacturer
• 11:06 am Disconnect Computer from nest of cables at back of box
• 11:08 am Attempt to find clean surface to do work
• 11:11 am Clean off kitchen table
• 11:12 am Crack Case
• 11:13 am Remove power leads and IDE cables from motherboard and attempt to remove same
• 11:23 am Locate final screw holding old motherboard in case
• 11:23 am Remove Hard Drives from case
• 11:23:02 am Try not to have a cigarette
• 11:33 am Place new motherboard into case
• 11:45 am Find find last screw under stove
• 11:46 am Really try not to think about having a smoke
• 11:47 am Reconnect drive IDE cables and power cables
• 11:49 am discover odd red liquid on new motherboard
• 11:50 am attempt to find Band-Aid
• 11:58 am go to car to get first aid kid
• 12:02 pm use kleenex and duct tape as handy replacement to bandaid
• 12:05 pm plug in mouse and keyboard, power and network cable into case and switch on
• 12:05:30 pm try again
• 12:06:20 pm try again
• 12:09 pm try and find manual for new motherboard
• 12:11 pm read manual, discover motherboard need another power lead: 12v ATX four prong square lead
• 12:12 pm attempt to find above lead on power supply
• 12:18 pm Remove power supply
• 12:20 pm Re-install power supply
• 12:25 pm shower to go out to get 12v ATX four prong square adapter at computer store
• 12:50 pm decide to check power supply one more time for lead
• 12:52 pm plug in 12v ATX four prong square lead
• 12:53 pm turn computer on
• 12:54 pm reverse installation of mouse and keyboard, restart computer
• 12:55 pm smile as BIOS boots
• 12:55 pm swear as BIOS report over-clock error
• 12:56 pm reset BIOS to factory settings and restart computer
• 12:57 pm Windows loads!
• 12:58 pm install drivers as prompted
• 1:25 pm restart computer
• 1:26 pm attempt re-install of graphics card driver
• 1:31 pm remove graphics card and reboot
• 1:34 pm reinstall graphics card and reboot
• 1:36 pm have a cigarette
• 1:49 pm arrive at office and look up problem on Microsoft Support site
• 2:12 pm look up problem on Google
• 2:13 pm find resolution on Google boards
• 2:33 pm get home and install non-Microsoft driver for video card
• 2:35 pm set desktop to max resolution
• 2:36 pm remove sound card and restart
• 2:37 pm re-install sound card and reboot
• 2:44 pm tell landlady that I will keep the swearing volume to a minimum
• 2:45 pm invent new alcoholic beverage: Vodka, Red Grapefruit juice and Ginger Ale, christen new drink a "Morgan Webb"
• 2:55 pm reinstall original sound card driver
• 2:56 pm install sound card patches
• 3:10 pm restart computer
• 3:11 pm Windows prompts that OS needs to be re-registered due to hardware changes
• 3:12 pm try and find registration key
• 3:18 pm realize that key is on USB storage device
• 3:18:10 pm realize that USB storage device is plugged into computer at work
• 3:19 pm have another "Morgan Webb" and cigarette
• 3:22 pm find business card that has registration key written on it
• 3:23 pm re-register Windows
• 3:24 pm Blog it!

So yay! I have my new-kick ass machine up and running. Only problem now is that it doesn't recognize my CD burner or DVD drive. Another time, after I have another "Morgan Webb"

Nixon's Baaaaaack!

Last night someone told me that I look like a younger Richard Nixon. I totally blame this on my Dad who insisted on calling me 'Tricky Dick' growing up.
That is all. Have to burn some tapes now.

Quadruple The Readership!

First off, props to Stray Lemming (see sidebar for link) for expanding readership to 4! I got a few laughs, which is the ultimate goal of this whole endeavor (for today at least).

Heart of Gold
So I did get the new computer 'heart': dual core CPU, 2 gigs of memory and liquid cooled motherboard. Ready to rock the 3D animation world! Just gotta drop a grand to get the software... Will be installing this weekend, and considering my ineptness, you probably will never hear from me again as I fry both the old and new systems.

Example: My computer has been shutting down when doing CPU intensive tasks (ie gaming). So after blowing out the small civilization of dust-bunnies in my box (they had advanced beyond the Bronze age to the scavenging Gold from Circuits age) it was still happening. So after I ordered the new hardware, I noticed that the CPU fan wasn't rotating very much. $10 bucks later (after buying a new CPU fan) the problems stopped. So I dropped a grand for nothing. But I'm still excited about the new gear: I'll take the old motherboard and get a new case and hard drive for more work-related programming.

Rocket Surgery Delayed due to Rising Health Care Costs
Still working on it, but translating code to thought process is more intensive than I thought. Putting a graphic object model together, so first entry will be when I get a first draft done of that.

A Novel Idea
So last night I had a great idea for a novel. Because this is the internet and my follow-through is horrible if not downright criminal, I won't be describing it here. However I will write at least one chapter by the end of the month to hand around to friends.

This is me: great ideas, too lazy to implement. Worked for 37 years so why change now?

The Shack-Up Question: A revisionist history
So I've been giving some thought on a previous post on me and relationships. You may recall I expressed some distaste at the idea of moving in with a significant other (when I had a significant other). Further contemplation has concluded two things:

• I really don't mind the idea of living with someone, I've done it before and wasn't too bad (the living together part anyway). As long as I can do what I want to do (with some understandable curtailment of volume of course) I don't see a problem.
• At the time of the post, I subliminally knew that this would not happen with my S/O at the time. Her continuous derogatory remarks on what I did in my own time may have had something to do with that. Plus I didn't get much "me" time when living in separate domiciles, living under the same roof wouldn't have helped matters at all.

Coda

That's about it for now, I'm actually looking forward to updating this site (positive re-enforcement does wonders) on a semi-regular basis. Oh and for those so inclined, here's one of my profiles from a dating site. Enjoy!

First off, call me Moby, everyone does. Glad ta meetcha!So let's see, start with physical:6'2" eyes of bl...er, brown.Hair is brown, with a little salt on the sides, and a slightly receding hairline.

Did I mention I'm 37? I'm 37 (thus the salt and hairline, hey it happens!)

Body type is thin but working out quite a bit (when you're single you seem to have the time, but you knew that already).

I'm a computer programmer (so gainfully employed, I understand that's a "positive"). Living and working and playing (but not quite as much as I want to) in Calgary. Close to downtown, no suburban wasteland for me!

Hmm, let's see, no kids, trying to quit smoking (this is hard, but I keep on keepin' on).

Personality wise, I try to balance the smart and smart-azz sides of myself, with varying success. I'm a huge reader (just drop waaaay too much at bookstores), like skiing, biking and recently got bit by the travel bug! (Trip to Mexico and 2 to Italy in the past two years!). Oh yeah and movies, lots of movies! From cheese to foreign films, only ones I'm not thrilled with are slasher films (but zombie films rock!) Akira Kurasawa all the way!

Oh yeah, I'm a geek. Have the T-shirt and everything. Get really weird looks when I wear it to the gym!

So I'm looking for..... er, well, I'm trying not to build up too many expectations. Someone who feels the same would be great: no schedule to keep, just take life (and people) as they comes. Almost everyone says sense of humour, but if you can quote Monty Python, I'm already smitten (I did say I'm a geek, right?) So anyway, there I am, an open book (with full colour illustrations and small, easy to read words, just the way I like 'em).

Until We meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

MMO No Mo'

Okay just cancelled my accounts with City of Heroes, City of Villains, World of Warcraft and There (though to be honest I forgot I even signed up for There).

So now your asking yourself 'Why Should I Care'? You shouldn't but it's my damn blog.

MMOs really thrilled me at first, the interaction, the huge worlds to explore the open ended gameplay.

But lately it's just been a grind. CoH/CoV just doesn't have the variety to keep my interest anymore. WoW, well after waiting 30 minutes in queue just to deal with net-kiddies is just frustrating. And There, it's a 3d chat-room. Never been much for chat-rooms, although the do have some amazing avatar technology. With voice, when you say something, it is able to good a good job at making your avatar speak with the same facial expressions.

So gaming now will be single player (unless I get a FPS with internet play). Right now, that's Fate, Space Hack, Fable (but almost done). So I'm gonna go pick up some more games (no idea what though).

On the tech side, my CPU keeps overheating, even after putting in 2 additional fans and scrubbing out the heat sinks. Time to upgrade anyway. Dual core baby!

Ummm, yep, still single...

Happy New Years and all that

Man I feel sooooo hungover.

And the weird thing is that I didn't have anything to drink. Which means I'm actually just sick.

Fuck.