Wednesday, April 30, 2003

This is kind of a cool coincidence. I'm busy playing Primal. I switched over to see what Enterprise was on and it turns out that the guest alien of the week is the same guy who is doing the voice of Scree in Primal.

Kind of neat.
Well, we went out to Yo Yo for supper tonight.

I usually just get the lunch tempura bento. This time I got the tempura dinner. And my wife gave me all the shrimp and crab tempura that came with her bento. It was crazy!!

I think my blood is 90% tempura sauce now.
I found this on bbspot.com and it's true. So very very true.
---
I know the popular theory is that high-tech devices run on electricity. But that theory is wrong: high-tech devices run on profanity. When was the last time you swore at a lamp? Lamps run on electricity, not profanity. Computers have several small lamps in them, which is why they need some electricity, but swearing at a computer really does make it run better.
Just went out and picked up some RAM. 512 MB of PC2700 DDR for $107. WoO!

I finally got ram when it was actually cheap as opposed to when it costs $1/meg.
Now, this is something that's just messed up. I wish I'd thought of it first...
If you have a computer and are sick of all the pop-ups and such, I highly recommend Spybot Search & Destroy. It's a great program for hunting down all of the adware and such that creeps onto your computer.

I hate the fact that it's come to the point where you have to have a program on your computer to hunt down other annoying programs therein.
And I have to remember to pick up Matrix: Reloaded tickets on Thursday or Friday at the movie theatre. I could just buy them on Movietickets.com, but I need to present my credit card at the theatre to pick them up, and IT'S IN TINY PIECES NOW!
My interview is on Thursday. Wish me luck!
Oh, and April 29th was my little brother Grant's birthday. Unfortunately, he's out west in Alberta doing training for his army stuff. Sigh. Oh well.
Julie's better now.

Monday, April 28, 2003

Julie's sick today. Running a fever of 100.5 Farenheit. If she starts coughing, I'll get out the quarantine tape.
A good saying to remember when overclocking your computer is: "If the CPU is on fire, don't set the MHz higher."
Hee hee... Mmm... Sacrilicious....

Sunday, April 27, 2003

Woo! Just finished No One Lives Forever 2. Such a great game. It's funny AND fun to play. Now... when is NOLF3 coming out?!
One of these days I'll get around to making an NES computer. I just need to find a spare NES.
Beautiful day out today. I did a bit of gardening and then read the rest of IT. Then the neighbours came outside just as I was finished the book... unfortunately they left their door open and a winter's worth of stale smoke drifted out... bleh...
I just finished IT. Woot. Time for some lighter (literally) reading.
My shoulder is really sore too. I hope it's not related to SARS :P

hee hee
Now, I just got this in my e-mail.

"Hello,

I would like to email my resume to your company. Who is the best person to
send it to?

Thank you for your help.

<name withheld to protect the innocent>"

Now, I haven't had my own business for a few years now. They could be asking about my actual job job, in which case maybe I should respond... but then again, the "TO" field in the e-mail is to Manager. Not Manager@something.com... just Manager. If I look at the source code, I can see that my e-mail addy is in there, but who knows...

I'll just ignore it and pretend it's spam.

Though I could hire someone to come and do my gardening...
ooo.... man. Generals rocks. I just did the first training mission, but man! sweet. I can't wait to get down and work on it

I was thinking that the fact that they don't have the cheesy cutscenes a la Red Alert, etc. would lessen it (I loved those) but they do a great job with ingame cinematics.

And things just blow up so durned good!
SUPER CONSOLE WARS!

Way too many injokes and references for the average mortal, but I love it :)

Saturday, April 26, 2003

sweeeeet.

Futureshop had Rainbow Six 3, C&C Generals and something else on sale for $29.99 instead of the usual $65 today. I convinced my wife to get me C&C Generals since I did not throw a snit at the bridal shower today :)

Actually, I had a pretty good time there. And we got a new DVD rack at Ikea on the way home too.
Man, the more I play .hack, the more I love it.

Sure, it's repetitive as hell, but aren't most MMORPG's?
Yay. E-mail is working again.
Well, e-mail is STILL not working. I can send, but not receive. If you've sent me an e-mail, please be patient. I'm hoping that when I wake up in the morning everything will be fixed.

Friday, April 25, 2003

Stupid Sympatico. I can send e-mail, but I can't receive it for some reason tonight. Sigh.
Man. Today was one of those days at work that makes up for all of the days where we go out to movies and generally have an easy time of it.
I hate sleeping in this late when I have to work at 1pm. Now the big question is: Do I go to Yo Yo and have some yummy tempura before work, or do I just stay here and eat some leftovers. Sigh.
I had fun at the Volunteer Banquet last night with Mr. Jeff. It was a Mardi Gras theme and there was gumbo a-plenty.

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Hmm... I think I might be downloading A Tale In The Desert soon. Looks neat.
oh man, .Hack//infection is great. I'm only a couple hours into it but it's got the whole MMORPG/web browser/crazy stuff going on thing down pat.

Heck, even the other people you get to join your party act like people in a MMORPG... I love how they say, "C'mon. Die already!" when you're fighting something :)
I think I'm going to go back to the robot.
Ikaruga is insane. WAY too hard...

I love it!
Ah, Penny Arcade and SARS, together at last.

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Oh, and Toronto didn't just get kicked out of contention for the Stanley Cup today. NO....

6-1 for Philly. MAN!
If you put a webserver in the back of a truck, could you have a mobile webhosting service?

"We bring the web to YOU!"
I got new shoes today. I got them and a pair of sandals for $55 total at Payless. Woo!

I also bought a couple games, and The Transporter and Fast Runner on DVD.

Go me!

Monday, April 21, 2003

Ok. Today I had a few things that are starting to make me wonder if I'm in The Matrix or else just losing my mind.

First off, I was watching one of my DVD's and it started to skip a bunch. Oh well. No biggie.

Then I was listening to my CD in the car and it started skipping... EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE NO BUMPS IN THE ROAD!

Then, when I was leaving work, my car was covered in raindrops, but the ground and the street were bone-dry.

If that wasn't enough, I was watching the weather guy on the news and he sort of jumped around a bit like it was on a DVD that was skipping. Nothing too major, but for just that brief second he sort of popped from the side of the screen to the middle.

It was just odd, I tells ya!
I had a crazy nightmare last night where I was given a $575 ticket for speeding, even though I wasn't really going that fast. I was freaking out when I woke up.
Man. I'm already done watching all 28 episodes of Seasons 1 & 2 of Family Guy. yeesh.

Sunday, April 20, 2003

A very good speech by Tim Robbins about the tone down in the US right now.
Does anyone out there know what to do if you have an old monitor that uses the power supply as a feed for the video signal? I've never dealt with one myself and I'm not even sure that it's something you could fix, but if you know how to fix one, let me know.
Yay! It turns out that my save games from NOLF2 actually work. I dont have to start over from the beginning. Phew.

I just needed to set up a profile with my old profile name and then the save games worked.
Oh, I almost forgot.

I was watching this show on TNN called "EXTREME ELIMINATION CHALLENGE"

It's like Iron Chef, only without the cooking, outside and with the dubs being stuff that the announcers make up rather than sticking to the actual script.

It's kind of neat. They dub over a Japanese game show where contestants have to do some really crazy stuff and it's neat to watch the stunts.

Listening to the dialogue on the other hand is like listening to the announcers of a WWF match, only less mature and intelligible. Granted, this is the TNN we're talking about...

Saturday, April 19, 2003

Oh! I almost forgot!

Today is the day that I laid my TD GM Visa to rest.

Yes ladies and gents, Brock has cut up his credit card.

Now the slow progress towards debt reduction can officially begin.
Heh... there are 3 cruisers parked in the parking lot across the street. I wonder what's going on.

EASTER HASH BASH 2003!
Hee hee... I just put that last post through the AOL translator.
---
WAL W3 WENT OUT 2 THIS PLAEC THIS MORNNG 2 SIT THROUGH A TIEMSHAER-LIEK SEMINAR1!!11! WO1!111111 WE DIDNT EVAN GET A BOAT

IT11!1 OMG LOL WAS FOR THIS PLAEC WH3RA U G3T 2 BUY STUF AT MANUFACTURERS PRIECS!1!!11!! OMG LOL I WUD HAEV GLADLY SIGN3D UP 3XCEPT THAY WANTED MEMBRSHIP DUES OF $300 OV3R TEH FIRST 3 YEARS1!!!1! OMG WTF LOL HM.!111!11!111!!11!111 LOL NAH!!!!1!!1 LOL
Well, we went out to this place this morning to sit through a timeshare-like seminar. Woo. We didn't even get a boat.

It was for this place where you get to buy stuff at manufacturer's prices. I would have gladly signed up except they wanted membership dues of $3000 over the first 3 years. Hmm... nah.

Friday, April 18, 2003

I saw Bulletproof Monk tonight. It was decent. It was shot in Toronto, as you could tell by looking at the background of any exterior shot :)
Hmm... to cut up my credit card, or not to cut it up...

Not that I bought anything, it's just that the balance is pretty high that I owe and having one in pieces would be a pretty big detriment to my spendability.
These Ebay auctions are not only real, they terribly funny!

Imaginary Girlfriend

Lint of the Month Club

Imaginary Pet

Imaginary Internet Girlfriend
Oh, I also applied for a job as a computer support person up at the head office of my organization. It'd be pretty cool if I got it, what with my having to do that stuff for free as it is, and since my brother-in-law is also applying for it, I just have to give it a try :)
go figure.

No sooner do I get my Homestar Runner T-shirts than they put out a Homesar shirt.

So I ordered it. It only cost me $11 though since I had a coupon from the last order what with it being backordered for a month :P

Stupid Dark Cloud 2. I'm pretty much done the game, but I think that in order to properly finish it, I'll have to spend a tonne of time working on levelling up the secondary character in order to beat the final boss. Meh. I'll just play Primal or Splinter Cell or something instead.

I had the same problem with the first Dark Cloud. The game itself isn't terribly difficult. Not easy, but not too bad. Then the end boss is some hellish denizen of the depths who requires you to spend an extra 10 hours of tweaking your weapons and characters in order to beat... bleh.

It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't already 60 hours into it and just wanting to finish it. Sigh.
My hand is really sore for some reason. It started to hurt around 8pm or so while I was at work. It's wierd. It's only the back of the hand, and it seems to be some kind of muscular problem what with it only hurting if I flex my hand.

Hmm... *checks the SARS symptoms*

Nope. Sore hands are not a symptom. So much for getting quarantined.
Happy birthday Mom!
Hee hee. A keyboard for l33t d00ds.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Wow. Someone beat Zelda: Link To The Past in under two hours!
Free Comic Book Day on May 3!
Ok. Wasabi is VERY VERY cool. Go watch it now.
Picked up Wasabi on DVD today (gotta love used DVD's). And I can't wait to watch it... I mean, Jean Reno goes to Japan. How can you go wrong?
Cool. Too Much Coffee Man: The Bust!
Got my T-shirts today! Woo!

I already took Strongbad out for a spin. Tomorrow: TROGDOR THE BURNINATOR!
I'm still reading Stephen King's IT. Only 700 pages to go. Man, that book is heavy.

The weirdest thing was that my brother's fiance was at my parents' place this weekend and she was reading IT too! Very creepy.
On the home front, the washroom is pretty much done (as far as I know) and all of the other lighting, etc. is up.

Yay!

Thankfully my friend Tony and my Dad did most of the work. If I had done much more I'm sure we'd still be putzing around :(

I had to teach a course today too. It went pretty good for being the first time I've done it. Hopefully nobody got in an accident on the way home from the driver improvement course :)
Wow. Spirited Away is amazing. I think I'll have to watch it a few more times before I can say where it exists in the pantheon of Miyazaki movies, but suffice it to say, it more than deserved the Oscar it won.

Also watched a bunch of Family Guy eps afterwards. Gotta love that show :)

Now if only my shirts would arrive.

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Cool!

"The Earthbound series appears to be coming to the Game Boy Advance.

Nintendo has released a TV advertisement in Japan that reveals that Mother (known as Earthbound in North America) and its sequel are currently in development for the Game Boy Advance. The advertisement features Mr. Saturn and a number of screenshots from both games, but it is not known if the two titles are part of a compilation or if there will be any changes made to either game. The ad also reveals that Mother 3 is in development for the Game Boy Advance.

Mother and Mother 2 are scheduled for release on June 20 in Japan."

I loved Earthbound way back when...
Had a good day on Monday. Pretty much all of the project we had to do are finished, though we still have to do some ducting up in the attic and also put the tub surround up.

I wish I didn't have to teach this Driver Improvement course today (Tuesday). I'm tired and I haven't had a shower in 2 days. Actually, I'll be ok. It's the class that is in for a rough time :)

Thankfully my Dad and my friend Tony are down and really helping out (ie. they know what the heck they're doing and keep me from hurting myself). And Tony is light enough to not come crashing through the ceiling whilst putzing around in the attic.

Monday, April 14, 2003

Squenix is looking for Beta Testers for Final Fantasy XI. I applied for the windows version. It'd be pretty neat if I got selected!

Sunday, April 13, 2003

Well, I'm back from Sarnia.

Went and saw Anger Management last night. It was ok, but I think the best part of the movie was seeing the new Matrix Reloaded trailer before it started :)

Time to destroy my bathtub.

Friday, April 11, 2003

I think I'm going to avoid the game and movie stores this weekend while I'm in Sarnia. I've sworn off spending any more money on non-renovation projects until May. I'm sure that if I do go to either a game store or a movie store I'll see some incredible deal that I just won't be able to find around here and I'll cry.

Granted, I'm not sure what I will be doing in Sarnia instead. It's not like it's a real hotbed of fun and excitement at the best of times and all of my friends will be working on Saturday :P
Well, we're going to Sarnia for the weekend. Yippee... zzz...

I'm going to be back on Sunday and then I get to spend about 3 days with my Dad destroying a bathroom and renovating the house some more. One of these days I'm going to take a vacation and actually not wreck my house.
Mmm... Matrix Reloaded trailer.

Thursday, April 10, 2003

Well, I just finished Zelda: The Wind Waker. Woot! Excellent, excellent game.

Now to get to work on something else!

(Oh, and I have already lost the bidding war on that joystick. Oh well. I didn't really need it nor was I willing to spend anywhere near as much as it will likely go for.)

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

I know for a fact I won't win this, but if by some fluke I did, it would be pretty cool to have.

THE ATARI JOYSTICK (signed by Scott Kurtz of PVPonline)

Yeah, I'm an uber-geek.
I was watching The Daily Show just now and heard a great quote.

"We may kill Saddam Hussein, but we won't win the war until we kill the idea of Saddam Hussein.
So what we need to do is develop a bomb that can kill ideas."

Isn't that called Survivor? :)
This just in... yet another game widow goes insane.

"The Mainichi Daily News reports that a woman in Nagoya, Japan faked being the victim of knife attack to get the attention of her game-playing boyfriend. The woman admitted to local police that her report of being attacked by a 'knife-wielding cyclist' was filed in hopes of drawing the attention of her boyfriend who apparently spends quite a bit of time playing computer games. Police weren't understanding about the matter and plan to pursue formal charges against the woman for filing a false report."

Watch out for those knife-wielding cyclists.
This is too cool. How to make the Enterprise out of a floppy disc.
Silly Japanese food. I went out to get some yummy tempura and ended up buying 5 DVD's... grr...

Still, 5 DVD's for $60 is a pretty good deal. I got 8 Mile, I Spy, Legend of the Red Dragon, Novocaine and Resident Evil. Got lots of movies to watch now (like I was running low before).

The tempura was yummy too. I even ate my whole orange!

Monday, April 07, 2003

I want one of these. Mmm... Next time I upgrade, we'll just have to see...
Heh... This is good. It's a Hacker FAQ for Managers and also a Manager FAQ for Hackers. Should be required reading.

Sunday, April 06, 2003

Yay! I finished Renegade. Last level is freakin' insane... but I finished it.
I really hate that ice. I think my brain is still sloshing around from the vibrations of my banging the shovel into the ice in the driveway at work (and at home).

I couldn't even get my car out of the parking spot today. I had to get a ride to work!

Saturday, April 05, 2003

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour tonight. I'm off to bed because it's technically 12:46am by my reckoning what with my having to get up at 7:21am... time for bed!
I'm THIS close to finishing Renegade.

I really like it though. Very nice C&C feel to the whole game. Sure, it's not the greatest FPS ever, but it's fun and that works for me!

Friday, April 04, 2003

Well, the weather so crappy I couldn't go to work, so I was able to just sit back and play Zelda all day long.

Ah, gotta love snow days for grownups :)
You know the weather is bad when you see geese flying south again.
Hee hee... I think that I'm not the only gamer to feel this way.

Holy crap!

The weather is bad up here. Freezing rain, then snow, then more rain, then sleet, then chunks of ice that wedge in my ear. I was going to just sleep over at the group home but the person coming in said the roads weren't bad.

HA!

Though it did only take me an extra 15 minutes to get home. Hopefully the roads are at least plowed or something tomorrow when I go in.

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

"Consummate V's! I said consummate V's!"

Man, I can't wait for my geekarific shirts to come :)
Woohoo!

My package o' fun from Homestar Runner has finally been shipped. Yippee!

Soon I'll be stylin' with my new Trogdor shirt!
|/!+?!)
+.@?+]/
|?!!%?%
If I were a NetHack monster, I would be a shopkeeper. I'm exceptionally polite and helpful, but get angry when people try to take advantage of my trusting nature.
Which NetHack Monster Are You?

Tuesday, April 01, 2003

Just what the world needs. A George Foreman iGrill. Yup. It hooks up to your computer.

Man. I don't know if it's the war or what, but there has been a real dearth of April Foolsity this year. None of the game sites seemed to post any fake news, I didn't hear any goofy things on the radio or on TV and nobody lit my beard on fire!

I mean, what's this world coming to?
There was a really neat program on Ideas tonight about urban legends. I didn't want to get out of the car, but the people whose house I have to park in front of started looking at me funny after I'd been sitting there for over 10 minutes.
Hee hee. Go to Homestar Runner today (April Fool's!). King of Town has taken over!