Have You Thanked a Veteran?

It's Veteran's Day and little did I know that I worked with a bunch of them. Some of the webcomics I read did a tribute to veterans in their own way and it made me realize that a lot of us take for granted the sacrifice they've made. So, if you see someone who you know is or might be a veteran say thanks.

On another note, it's been a couple weeks again since I've posted. I think since there's no format or a topic I'm easily get distracted and don't post anything. That or I have ADD and just don't think about it enough. I'm voting for the latter. So, I'm going to go ahead and do one of my giant updates that I do every couple of weeks/months/years to kill the last ten minutes at work.

I finally broke down and got a Twitter account. You can find my page here if you'd like to stalk me some more. I've only been on for 24 hours and have fallen into my usual early addiction with tons of updates. We'll see how long this last. You can follow me on there though if you'd like to stalk me some more. I won't mind as long as you don't send me animal parts in the mail....

I still haven't gotten back into the exercise regime. I REALLY want to, I swear. I just haven't pushed myself to that point yet. Monday is the day. I'm doing it. Cardio at least. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to start up the 100 push up program again or not. We shall see. I fully expect you all to hold me to it. I don't know how, but you'll figure out a way.

Fable (The Original) has been on the plate as of late for video games. Yes, I realize that game is from 2004 and that there are much better games with better graphics blah blah blah. With the economy as bad as it is and me being pretty broke I've decided that spending $60 on a video isn't in the cards right now. So I'm playing through all the games I bought back when I had money (or was stupid enough to use a credit card) that I never completed. I will, however, probably make an exception for Gears of War 2 but only because then I can swap it with a friend for Fall Out 3. Collaboration saves money, even out of the working world. Whuddathunk?

It's been a lot of fun so far. I'm a dark will user that has some pretty awesome tattoos. There are some small nuances that I'm getting used to (like changing between spells and remembering what set I'm on) but all-in-all it's a good time. Maybe in 2012 I can get Fable 2 to see what they've fixed in Fable....

I'd update more but I'm done at work and don't want to be here any longer than I have to. You know you'd do the same.

Asian Out

*tumble weed*

I swear, I didn't forget about this. Okay, maybe I did just a little... but really there hasn't been much to report.



I quit the 100 pushup program after I realized I had been doing the program ENTIRELY wrong. I meant to restart but ended up getting caught up in a ton of other things. I haven't even been keeping up with my Wii Fit. I imagine my trainer is going to yell at me the next time I get on that board for not working out with her. (yes, I chose the female trainer. Why would I want to stare at a dude?). I have no idea what my current weight is but I'm thinking it's not good or about the same as it was before. Bleh. I need to get back on the wagon and into the gym.



It doesn't help that the fall season TV shows are in full swing. I had to clear out a bunch of old stuff from my DVR to make sure I could record everything I want to watch. The list is immense and I'd love to add more (Heroes, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) but don't have the time nor the will to do it. Plus I have this weird thing where if I don't start from the absolute beginning of a series I can't watch any episodes. I hate jumping into the middle of a series.I hate missing back story and what not. So, maybe the next break in lineups I'll rent the DVD's of the shows I want to pick up so I can catch up on them and fill my DVR up with MORE TV to watch when I have free time.



I've also fallen way behind in video games. Like, waaaaaay behind. And the holiday release schedule is in full swing. Fable II came out yesterday. Do you want to know what I was playing? Fable I for the original xbox. I never played through it before so I'm doing it now. I did manage to get through Gears of War and Assassin's Creed over the past couple months so I've got that going for me. There are still a ton of games I own that I've touched maybe once or twice and haven't completed. We'll see if I can get through some of those before I buy anything new (not likely).



Hrm, what else. I guess the big news lately is the economy and the election. I'm not big on politics so I won't even comment on that. The economy? Yeah, it sucks and almost everyone lost a ton of money in their 401k's (woo for me being stupid and putting all my investments in low risk investments when I started working) but what can we do now? Pay your bills and quit your whining. Cut out the fat. I'm attempting to do that myself by not buying as many games or toys (I already went on my binge with my new iPod) and I'm attempting to cut back on eating out for lunch. Do what you need to do and don't rely on someone else to fix your problems. And that's my thoughts on that.



Don't forget that October is Breast Cancer awareness month. So Feel Your Boobies ladies.


Posted on SpotJots near: 1178-1199 S EISENHOWER BLVD, LOWER SWATARA TWP PA 17057 US

Hurricane Gustav

First: Thanks for getting this thing going again, Mike!

Ok, now on to business.

We have the Weather Channel on, and they are talking about Gustav. They just announced that they are not using the Superdome or the Convention Center as shelters--in other words, if you are going to evacuate, do it now. Additionally, Dan's dad said that that some or all of the major roads leading to and from Louisiana will now all be northbound.

I'm so glad that they are actually doing something this time. Although it seems odd that that something is closing huge shelters, I think (I hope) that it works in getting people out of the area. While I obviously hope that the hurricane doesn't hit in New Orleans, I'm glad that there are so many precautions being taken.

Frustration!

Week 6 Exhaustion Test

http://www.hundredpushups.com



AGRAH! I'm an idiot. I've been doing the Hundred Push Up Program for 5 Weeks now. When I first started I found you could download the entire program on a PDF to use as a guide. What I didn't know is that the PDF guide does NOT contain all the information. I checked the website the other day and found this out.



Apparently if I don't meet the goal of the minimum level during an exhaustion test I'm supposed to redo the previous week. That means I should have redone Week 4 before moving on to Week 5. Ugh.



Either way, I also found out that I'm supposed to do the exhaustion test again before Week 6. Woo. So I did that today and pushed out a whopping 28 push ups. I'm waaaaaaaaay behind. I might just go back to week 3 again and go through those weeks again.



This (amongst other things in my life) is becoming extremely frustrating. I am seeing result in that I'm losing a little flab but it's discouraging about the actual progress in fitness I'm not making. Agrah!



Posted on SpotJots near: 668-715 WERTZVILLE RD/PA-944 , EAST PENNSBORO TWP PA 17025 US

Announcement Part Deux

If anyone reads this there are a couple things to address:

1) First, and foremost, a HUGE congratulation needs to go out to Dan and Lindsay. This past Sunday the two became one (dammit, now I have Spice Girl stuck in my head) and tied the knot. It was a great weekend with the only casualty being Dan's phone (my bad) and my scraped up leg (stupid Jersey shore).

2) Sorry for not posting since June. The summer went by so fast and so much has happened that, to be honest, I forgot about the blog. I've actually been cheating on the blog with SpotJots which I have been posting to most as of late. I'm pretty sure I can link this with that and have anything I post on Spot Jot show up on here. I may have to do that today to keep both of these things running.

If you'd like to catch up with what I've been doing for the past six weeks you can check out My Spot Jots page and read what I've posted. Most of the posts are about an exercise program I'm working on call The Hundred Push Up Program. It's been a real challenge and as I approach the end of the program it doen't look like it's going to let up.

Other than that the summer has flown by. Not a lot has happened in my life. I've been off and on with my video games lately. Wii Fit has been neglected, reinstated, and reneglected now. I borrowed Gears of War from a friend and managed to get through that on Casual (read Easy) but want to try my hand at a harder setting. I finally got around to starting Assassin's Creed and have high hopes for it. Exploring the cities is a ton of fun.

I've got a pile of games that I bought in the past either used or new that I either haven't touched or only played for a moment before putting it back on the shelf. I want to get through some of those before I buy anything new but the fall line up is coming up quick. *sigh* I wish I had a free day to do nothing.

- Michael

Currently Playing: Assassin's Creed
Currently Wanting: My bed to catch up from sleep from the weekend (almost back to normal)
Currently Needs: To shave.... I haven't shaved since Sunday and it's starting to look real bad
Currently Looking Forward To: Pittsburgh next weekend for the Irish Festival
Currently Feeling: Stuffy and tired

Announcement

Considering our relatively low readership, I'm sure anyone who sees this will already be aware of the news. I figured I'd post it anyway, mainly because Mike reminded me of how I, too, frequently let things like this blog fall off my radar.

I have accepted a 12-month position at my company's facility in Riviera Beach, Florida. My start date is July 7th, which is less than a month away. We haven't even listed the condo yet, because there was someone who was interested and I wanted to minimize my costs. That has fallen through (which I think saved us headaches down the road), so we're back to finding interested parties. I am going to talk to the person I'm replacing and the person I'll be working for, but we're thinking about trying to push the start date back a little bit to give us some more time to sell.

The position will be with Engineering Operations, so I'll get to see a completely different side of the company. It will be difficult, especially once classes start up again. It should be a very good experience though, and I will get insight into the top of the business, which I wouldn't normally get until much later in my career.

It's finals week so I can't promise anything, but I'll try to post again shortly.

I think I have ADD

Either that or I have a routine of starting something and never ending it. Unfortunately for me, it seems like it is going to be much more of the latter.

So, I was all gung-ho for Wii Fit and the board and all it that was good and great with what I could do with it. And then I downloaded this.

Now, for those of you who know me, and you should if you are reading this since we don't really have any readers other than those who write on this blog, I'm a big fan of web comics. Mostly video game based but there are a few others out there that I enjoy greatly that have little to nothing to do with video games. Penny Arcade is by far a staple of any video-game-related-web-comic reader.

When Gabe and Tycho, the two main characters of Penny Arcade (and alter egos of the writers), announced a while ago they would be creating their very own video game and releasing it to the public their audience waited with drool coming from their mouths. I didn't really think much of it when it was first announced other than "Great, another video game I'll have to the list of games I need to play." Don't get me wrong, I was excited for this momentus occassion, just not as excited by the announcement so much as the actual release.

And then the game was released. Last week, in fact. The same time Wii Fit was released and when I had an incident in the family which turned into a family gathering. I really was excited about the release of the Penny Arcade game, but didn't find time last week to actually purchase and download it with the family visiting and other things going on. I was genuinely more excited about the Wii Fit release but the fact that I actually had to go to a store and pick up a piece of hardware was the girth of the excitement. Who doesn't like picking up a new toy from the store after pre-ordering and waiting what seems like FOR-EV-AR. So Wii Fit took precedence over the Penny Arcade game.

Tuesday night I found myself sitting in my room watching reruns of shows that I had seen about a million times. With the family gone and a day to go before the next game in the Pens/Wings series I found myself extremely bored. With my dad using the big screen downstairs where the Wii is currently located and my laziness in full swing I decided against moving the Wii back up to my room (and the hassle of hooking it up) and opted to turn on my xBox 360 for the first time in a long time (Well, that's a lie. My little cousing was playing Guitar Hero 3 last week but I don't count that since it wasn't quality gaming time for me). I went to the download screen to see what was available and was blasted with ads for the Penny Arcade game. After that subtle reminder my excitement for the game grew. I went straight to the download page, bought it, and watched the download bar with anticipation.

I dove right into the game creating a character that looks as close to myself as the minimal options the game gave me. In all actuality, the in game me looks a lot like myself. The narration and writing is what you would expect from the guys at PA including sarcasm, tons of humor, and a bit of sailor's mouth. The cell-shading style fits in perfectly with the art style they use in their comic and the areas look beautiful. The game play is a little odd at first and sometimes the camera isn't the best (I found myself walking up and down streets a couple times just to make sure I found everything I could inspect, but I'm one of those guys who likes to search every nook and cranny). The fighting system takes a little bit to get used (I'm still working on it, even after logging a couple hours Wednesday) and can get a little hectic sometimes when you're trying to setup your attacks and blocking enemy attacks at the same time.

As it seems, I've gotten sucked into another game. My plan right now is to finish this ASAP so I can get back to the backlog of games I have not completed (if even started, poor Assassin's Creed). Since this is only an xBox Live Arcade game it can't be THAT long so I'm hoping to finish it in the next week or so. At the same time I'm hoping to get into a routine with Wii Fit. Ideally I would do my daily test every morning before work and maybe one or two workouts or games but at this point in time I need to work on getting up early enough that I get to work on time. I might have to settle for a post dinner or pre-bed timeframe for now. We shall see what develops.

-Michael

Currently Playing: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1
Currently Anticipating: Cigar Social after work and Lost season finale tonight

Introducing the Video Game tag. I'm surprised we didn't already have this tag.

*chirp chirp*

::watches the tumble weed go by::

Well, it's been a while. Over two months, in fact. I kind of saw this coming, for me at least. Things usually drop off my radar after a good month or two. I've been busy with work and family and life in general. I really should be catching up on work from the super long weekend but decided I'd do a post. So here are some thoughts on a recent purchase I made. Enjoy!

I bought Wii Fit and We Ski last week. I haven't actually had a lot of time to sit down (er, stand up) and play both games a lot. I went through the initial tests with Wii Fit which was interesting. It gives you your BMI (mine was really high, but that was expected since I'm not a small guy. Although it was higher than what I had thought it would be.... I blame the "sturdy base" I have), weight (which was the same as the last time I was at the doctors), tests your center of balance and posture (ie if you stand with your weight distributed evenly between your legs or if you lean/slouch to one side) and then does an initial test on body control (shifting weight between your legs and holding for three seconds). Although my measurements left something to be desired I did fairly well on the body control test. My "Wii Fit Age" was a good 22, two years younger than my actual age.

After all the tests you can setup goals for yourself like if you want to gain or lose weight and then a time frame to achieve your goal. I obviously opted to lose some weight. 22 lbs was the max, I set a goal of 20 lbs and a month to do it. Pretty aggressive goal which I'm probably going to push out a little farther (perhaps 3 months). Wii Fit actually told me it was aggressive saying that, on average, most people try to lose a couple pounds (2-3 lbs) every two weeks. I was pushing about 10 lbs every two weeks. In all honesty I don't see myself losing very much weight as much as toning/building muscle (it's what's happened before when I tried to lose weight). So, although I may shed some fat, I probably won't shed any weight and my BMI will remain high and Wii Fit will continue to think that I am morbidly obese (it doesn't actually say "morbidly obese" but it does place me very high on the obese scale).

Once you've completed the initial tests and setup your goal you can begin your "workout". I use "workout" because for the most part these are just mini-games that require a little more physical input that most of ther Wii games. Of course, the only ones I have tried were under the "Balance" section which works on, surprise, your balance. You'd be surprised at how much control you need to actually complete some of these games. The ski slalom game was extremely entertaining with the family. These games have various metrics to show your progress like shortest time and/or point totals.

I tried two Yoga and one Aerobic "games" too. I use "games" because they're more like instructional videos than games. The Yoga lessons take you through various positions and you complete them on the balance board while trying to maintain balance and posture. The aerobic "game" I tried was hulahooping which actually made me work up a sweat. It makes it interesting by having other Mii's throwing more hulahoops at you that you have to lean to catch and then continue hulahooping. The object is to get your counter (the number of times your hulahoop(s) go around) as high as possible.

As you go through the different "workouts" and "games" you're credited with Wii Fit Minutes (I think that's what they are). As you accumulate more minutes it unlocks new "workouts" and "games" for you to try. Also, as you do better and better on a specific "workout" or "game" it unlocks harder versions for you to try. I'm looking forward to unlocking more "workouts" and "games".

Also purchased was We Ski. Pretty obvious what this game is about, skiing, but it uses the balance board from Wii Fit. So, with remote, nunchuk, and balance board ready to go I dove into the tutorials. The controls weren't too bad. Some of the advanced moves were a little tricky to master at first but the tutorial was good enough that I could usually pick things up by the second try at most. The programming for this was just as sensitive as it was for Wii Fit so it made the game a little more difficult trying to control steering as accurately as I wanted. I had problems in both games lifting up one foot or the other and going way off course or overcorrecting. It's going to take a little bit of learning and a lot of practice to become really good but that's the idea behind Wii Fit.

Both games are sure to be challenging for a good amount of time. Even though the idea behind it is pretty simple the execution takes a lot more control. I had some family in town and they all gave Wii Fit a try and had a blast seeing everyone elses results and Wii Fit Age, My dad actually scored 47, nearly 20 years below his actual age. My mother was not that fortunate. One of my aunts got hooked and decided she wanted to get one. She and her husband will be looking for a Wii and Wii Fit when they get back to California.

Nintendo really has something with their Wii and Wii Fit. My parents and relatives can be considered the pinnicle "non-gamer" and have embraced and enjoy the Wii and Wii Fit. My dad even likes a good round of Wii Tennis. Of course, they wouldn't play without me so the barrier hasn't been breeched completely, but we're making strides. I have both my mom and dad setup in Wii Fit now and once I show them how to turn everything on and how it works they'll start working toward their goals in Wii Fit. Maybe one day I'll have to fight my dad for the Wii like we used to over the phone line before we got DSL. Wouldn't that be something?

-Michael
Currently: Procrastinating much more than I should have....
Currently Stuck in My Head: "Hold me closer tiny dancer...." (I have no idea why)
Currently Craving: a nap
Currently TV Obsession: watching the Pens lose to the Red Wings ::single tear::
Currently Anticipating: going home
Current Video Game(s): Wii Fit and We Ski, although I should really finish Super Paper Mario....

FireFox 3 Beta 4

I've recently started using FireFox 3 Beta 4, and I have to say that it runs much faster than FireFox 2 did. Of course, very few of my plugins work with this version, so that could account for the difference in speed. If so I guess I'll have to start trimming down my list of plugins...

Speaking of plugins though, I've just discovered ScribeFire, which makes blogging quite a bit more convenient. You can post / edit from any page, and they claim you can copy formatted text from a page into the editor. So far, I'd recommend it.

--Dan

Music and Moods

Have you ever been listening to music, not really paying attention to what's playing, and then all of a sudden the next song starts and it so perfectly describes how you're feeling at that very moment? As if your mood somehow modified the electrical field emanating from that 1.5kg mess of wiring called your brain just enough to influence the randomness of your music player's pseudo-random number generator? Forget the fact that my iPod wasn't on random... Oh, I know! It must have been the sun-spots!

[/sarcasm]

Anyway, it struck me that I often forget just how powerful music can be. I will sometimes go for a while without listening to any music, and then sometimes I can't imagine getting through a day without listening to music. It is truly amazing how it can affect our moods, our perceptions, and our realities.

I'm not really sure why this warranted a post, but I happened to think about the blog while I was listening to Counting Crows, and then Time and Time Again started playing and I decided it should be posted...

--Dan

Introducing the Random label, for posts that are at the very least mostly random.

Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent

Even with a price drop.

Looks like Microsoft has dropped the price of Vista in hopes to try and get more people to adopt it. I think it's too little too late and the only way they'll get new subscriptions is with "pre-configured" computers from Dell and what not that won't offer XP on them. Sucks to be the consumer but when you're as big of a bully as Microsoft is you're going to have casualties.

-Michael

Currently: trying not to think too much
Current Video Game: None, still trying to catch up on Lost

HD Format Wars part 3

Slashdot reports that Toshiba is getting a pretty sweet deal on the purchase of a facility from Sony, with Sony chipping in for 40% of the cost! Maybe it's me, but this _really_ makes it seem like Toshiba just sold us all out and handed Blu-Ray the keys to the kingdom.

In case you think Blu-Ray may have been the wiser option, one of the comments sums up the additional "features" that Blu-Ray offers. As you can tell, these aren't so much features as they are restrictions and shortcomings.

--Dan

MAFIAA

Slashdot reports about an RIAA training video in which the RIAA claims that pursuing piracy "leads to bigger and badder wares, like handguns, drugs, terrorist orgs, and hardcore repeat offender criminals." While I am 100% certain that some pirates are criminals for other reasons, I am equally certain that the connection is a result of the number of pirates and the statistical improbability of not finding any other crimes among a group of people so large.

This past weekend I tried to watch the latest episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles from Fox's website. This is a 100% legal method of viewing the content that is endorsed by the studio. It didn't work. The connection was so slow that the stream stalled about every 10 seconds, until the software handling the stream decided to downgrade my quality to the point where it was unbearably pixelated even on the smallest window they would allow. Since Fox did not offer any way to buffer the content (I tried leaving the window open overnight thinking it might buffer, but it didn't), I was forced to 'pirate' this content that was available to me for free. I am not a "bigger and badder" criminal. I am a simple consumer TRYING to follow their rules, but unable to do so.

A friend from college pointed me to this presentation by Larry Lessig. In his presentation Larry mentions how the current government / MAFIAA has essentially created a state where the majority of the citizens are criminals. The more I try to stay current with events, the more I feel as though we're getting uncomfortably close to Orwell's predictions in 1984.

--Dan

Lunar Eclipse

Well, if you didn't already know there was a lunar eclipse tonight. Actually, less than an hour ago. In my excitement that I actually remembered I managed to find my dad's DSLR and the tripod and was able to snap a few good pictures of the eclipse. Unfortunately I missed the total eclipse (NOT of the heart) but I still managed to get some good shots. I took the top three and posted them on Facebook. Unfortunately, Facebook limits the size of the pictures so I uploaded the hi-res photos to Freewebs. Below are the links.

Eclipse 1

Eclipse 2

Eclipse 3

It's late and I'm too tired to make thumbs so you'll just have to go for those links there. Remember, I took these with a Nikon DSLR so the hi-res pics will take little to download if you don't have a real quick connection. Enjoy!

-Michael
Currently: Excited and Tired
Dreading: Trying to get to sleep
Current Obsession: Lost
Current Video Game: N/A.... must.... watch.... Lost

Exciting and Scary

I4U News has an article describing the new Emotiv EPOC High Fidelity Brain-Computer Interface. This thing is straight from the dreams of every Sci-Fi geek, and it signals the beginning of a revolution in leisure activities. The ability to have computers react to our thoughts means we will be able to create much more immersive video games, as well as bringing us that much closer to realistic virtual reality.

That said, this thing scares the poop out of me. It's probably my years worth of watching B-Rated science fiction flicks on the SciFi channel, but I can't shake the feeling of foreboding that I get just thinking about where this will take us. Are we going to create virtual parks and surrender our natural parks to the highest bidder? Are we going to start increasing the range until our thoughts are read by billboards in order to provide 'targeted advertising'? It isn't much of a leap from that to Orwellian thought-crimes. Imagine the future depicted by the Terminator movies, and give the robots the ability to read our minds.

With anything that is this exciting, I'm a little scared of where it might lead in the long run. I guess we'll just have to wait and see for now...

--Dan

A Huge "D'OH" Heard from Microsoft

So the Game Developers Conference (GDC) is going on as we speak. This is the not so flashy gaming conference where new and exciting projects are shown by developers. This is not the same as E3 (or E for All, as it is known now) which is open to the public and there booth babes, swag, and demos galore. As expected, Microsoft has their own setup at GDC and, much to their chagrin, on of their xBox 360's has been plagued with the Red Ring of Death (RRoD). Quite funny for those who are not involved (as in EVERYONE except the hardcore fanboys and the Microsoft employees working the booth (as well as the rest of the xBox department....).

As someone who is on their third xBox 360 (only one lost to the RRoD) I still find it funny. Just goes to show when you rush something into the market, something wrong will happen. BUT, the worst part is that this thing has been out for YEARS and they're STILL having problems. Maybe Bill needs to rework these things...

Good Timing

Here is a page with a number of good photos.

I've found that getting just the right picture seems to be very much a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Lindsay has an amazing picture of the Monorail from our trip to Disney World, which would have been impossible if we didn't have such perfect timing.



I think that a good part of becoming a photographer is learning how to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment. I've gotten a few pictures with my cell phone that have good timing, but are such a low resolution they will never qualify as good photographs. I also have plenty of pictures with my camera that have poor timing and don't capture what I want, but have plenty of pixels to spare.

--Dan

[EDIT] Added the Art label, to be used for posts displaying or discussing art or artistic techniques. This includes literature, drawing, painting, photography, music, videos, etc.

MANRANTS

I was talking to someone from work yesterday and he told me about a site he runs called MANRANTS. It seems to be somewhat similar to Protean Paradise; it's just a bunch of friends who post about whatever they'd like to write about. The style is a little different, but they do have some funny articles. I especially like the Open Letter To Congress, asking them to forgo the sports related inquiries and get back to congressional issues.

Enjoy!
--Dan

"What Games Teach"

And here come the webcomics. Well, one more at least. I have a bunch that I get updates from via Google Reader (thank god for RSS readers). This one caught me by surprise though. It's from Digital Unrest, another video game web comic. This one can be a bit crude and pervous so I'm going to give the "Viewer Discretion is Advised" warning if you decide to go through the archives. You've been warned, you'll get over it.

So the topic of the comic is what we've learned from video games. Actually, it's more what we've replaced in our memory with video games. It shows that things we hear and see in video games can sometimes translate into real world ideas and situations but we translate them into what we've seen into videogames. For those of you who don' know, the video referenced in the comic is Bioshock. I've only played the demo on xBox 360 but I got the basic idea. It's an underwater city created by scientists who wanted a better life. They go on to create "plasmids" which are injections that cause genetic mutations to give humans powers like lighting things on fire or controlling electricity. Crazy stuff, really.

Anyway, it's interesting on how video games affect each of us individually. For the longest time when I was a kid, everytime I heard "RPG" on the news about a war I thought of "Role Playing Game" and got really confused. I didn't know what a Rocket Propelled Grenage was until later in my life when I started playing FPS's with them. Have you ever heard something in real life that reminded you of a video game first instead of its intended meaning?

Linux trial

I'm a big fan on Linux. It's more stable and reliable than any Windows I've encountered and lets face it, it's free. Not to mention that almost all of the software you'll want to get to run on Linux is free.

So why don't more people use Linux? Frankly, it's mostly a momentum problem now. Linux used to be hard to use and slightly cryptic, but it's made great strides and is (I think) as easy to use on a daily basis as Windows is. People don't switch because they have perfectly good, mostly working Windows computers that they're comfortable with. Why fix it if it ain't broken, right?

Well, now you can have your tired old donut and try some of the delicious brownies too! Okay, okay, bad analogy... I'm trying to say you can try Linux without getting rid of Windows. There are two main ways of doing this: Installing on-top of Windows with software such as VMWare or Wubi, or booting from a LiveCD that lets you try Linux with no installation whatsoever. I've used and recommend the LiveCD and VMWare approaches, but I have to say that Wubi seems pretty interesting.

Give Linux a fighting chance and I think you'll find that the only real reason to stick with Microsoft's Windows is for games, and before you know it Linux will catch up on that front, too!


--Dan

PS - The VMWare option involves running a virtual computer inside of Windows. Windows is slow, so a virtual computer inside of Windows is going to be slow too. Don't take the speed of Linux running in VMWare to be representative of a final installation.

Introducing the Linux label, for all things Linux related.

HD Format Wars continued

In response to Mike's post on the HD Format Wars, apparently Toshiba has decided to halt production of all HD-DVD related technology. And you didn't think Protean Paradise had any influence on the world around us!

Anyway, here's the Slashdot article.

--Dan


Introducing the Sarcasm label, for sarcastic posts that aren't necessarily funny. Consider this our way of letting you know that we're being sarcastic, in case you didn't pick it up.

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Ok people, who here watches Lost? I once again find myself completely obsessed with this show. This season is completely back to where Lost should be, and I am becoming quite eager to watch old episodes.

I used to read spoilers for the show, but I've pretty much stopped doing that now. I never liked reading big spoilers, just smaller details. I especially enjoy discovering small nuances, like how the characters are connected or aspects of the island that are (s-l-o-w-l-y) beginning to come together. I usually just get my information from E!Online, in the Watch with Kristin section. She does an update after every episode, and she mentions small facts and ideas for future plot lines. There are spoilers at times, but she puts up a warning before posting those. Also, she doesn't post huge, show-altering spoilers, which is good.

There are several other good sites, but my html is sort of shaky, so I'll leave those for another post. For now, pick up some Season 1 DVDs and enjoy the wonder that is Lost!

Bureau of Communication

Dear reader,

It is with great honor that I present to you with The Bureau of Communcation. This website presents you with fantastic forms which you can fill out in a exceptionally awesome manner similar to Mad Libs. Although the number of forms is undersized, new and improved forms will be added. I thoroughly believe that you will find great humor with this site.

Yours truly,

-Michael

Currently: Procrastinating, what's new
Currently Feeling: a little wired after the Starbucks
Currently Hoping: to hit the powerball tonight with my coworkers
Current Fascination: Everything Apple

What're we going to do with you, George?

George Lucas, the genius who gave us Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi has already let many of his fans down with the prequels. Now it looks like he's about to do it again with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which will be an animated movie released this August.

I4U reports that George is also developing an animated TV series about the Clone Wars. For those of you who aren't aware, previous Star Wars appearances on TV include The Star Wars Holiday Special which is "notorious for its negative reception." (Wikipedia) The new Clone Wars series will have more direct involvement from George, but already sounds like it's shaping up to be horribly disconnected from the rest of the story.

According to I4U, "Key characters such as Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala will be joined by new heroes like Anakin's padawan learner, Ahsoka." I may be the only one, but I think that if Obi-Wan followed Qui-Gon around and Anakin followed Obi-Wan, Ahsoka would probably have followed Anakin. Why have we never met Ahsoka before? This part of the story can't take place after Episode III*, so why wasn't Ahsoka seen or mentioned AT ALL in that movie?

I guess I'll just have to wait and find out, but I strongly doubt I'll bother paying to let George further ruin what was once a great story.

--Dan


* I assume you know why Ahsoka can't be Anakin's padawan after Episode III. If not, I'll avoid ruining the story for you.

Yankees!

I've been directed several times now to add a post here, so I guess it's time I start.

BASEBALL, you guys. Pitcher and catchers report tomorrow! If you click on the link, it has a countdown. Do it, and bask in the wonderful glow of the best sport in the history of man.

...

:)

//

Additionally, is anyone else entertained by the presence of "scooters" as one of the possible labels?

Now accepting applications

So I haven't really advertised this blog at all, just mentioned it in conversation to some people. Until now that is... If you're just finding this blog and wondering why you didn't get an invitation to post, I didn't know you were interested. Please take a minute to read the posts tagged "origin" and "our philosophy" to make sure you really want to post HERE, and feel free to let me know if you would like an invitation. I'm not sure how Blogger is set up, but if you are coming here through one of the other authors you're welcome to ask them for permission to post. If they don't have rights to invite authors, they can give me your e-mail address.

That was all. I'm really going to work on my paper now. I hope!

--Dan

Why I can't write papers for school...

I am not a fan of papers, specifically papers for school. I don't mind writing for work, probably because I'm getting paid to do it and it's a direct result of the other work I've done. It also helps that it has a purpose, whereas papers for school are meaningless exercises that will ultimately have no affect on my life. I have written or co-written sizing studies, system manuals, and plenty of presentations for work. Yet here I sit, less than 24 hours until my 'Protocol Design Paper' is due, and I haven't started yet. I've started the protocol design, but not the paper...

Why do I have such a hard time writing for school? Is it just the fact that I'm not getting paid to do it? Maybe it's the fact that I know the writing will ultimately be skimmed once by some TA who has no qualifications beyond having taken this particular class before, and then discarded? I have had my own manuals passed back to me for reference, so I know they are getting used. I have used the system that was purchased based on my sizing study... I have never once looked back at an old school paper. Maybe the grade, the reader's comments to tweak future papers, but never the actual paper.

Of course, the kicker is that as I sit here writing this, I am really just procrastinating. I do that a lot when it comes to homework in general. I realized today that I had managed to forget the fact that I couldn't hold a decent GPA, work, and have any kind of down time when I was in college. Sophomore year I worked about 20 hours, took a full load of classes (15 or 18 credits), and managed to pull mostly A's. I also spent the majority of my Friday and Saturday nights doing homework until 5 or 6 in the morning. Last year I worked full-time and managed two B's in the classes I was taking for work, which amounted to a paper every week. But we were in teams, and I managed to take the technical role on almost every single assignment. I would bust my ass for the first few days working on a MatLab script, a quick program, or whatever, then spend the last few days just writing about what I had done and how the results looked. That was useful, because I'll reference it whenever I need to remember the topic. Did I mention that I also barely got to see Lindsay, and we live together?

Really, I am lucky that for the next year and a half of grad school, I'll be able to do all of my work from home and not have to worry about going for weeks on end where I only see Lindsay while we're getting ready in the morning. Yes, that happened... For about 6 weeks last May / June, we would barely have qualified as roommates to an outside observer. By the way, have I told you how great a girl Lindsay is?

Anyway, enough procrastinating... 'Nothing to it but to do it', right? I'll try putting on my headphones and cranking the music WAAAAY up. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow at 1800 hours.

--Dan

[EDIT] Changed label to "introspective" which is intended for any post that examines the author's own tendencies, faults, etc.

The end of smelly socks?

Lindsay might be relieved by this since I know how clean Dan is....

It looks like scientists in China have come up with nanotechnology that will coat fabric (currently only wool and silk). This coating will allow the fabric to feel the same but will react to sunlight by actually cleaning the fabric. From the Gizmodo article:

"The titanium dioxide-based coating bonds to silk and wool and uses sunlight to automagically decompose dirt, stains and microorganisms..."

Just remember to leave that pile of dirty clothes by the window and open the blinds.

-Michael

Current Games: Haven't played any since the weekend. Too busy playing with my laptop
Currently Feeling: Sleepy, stupid OSX Update not working last night
Currently Desire: To go outside and play in the snow. That or to go home and curl up in the sac
Currently Craving: Something crunchy
Today's Dumb Dare: "Light incense at your desk"

NADD

What is NADD?

Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder as coined by Rands in Repose.

This article was linked in the "Nerd Handbook" Dan posted below. I took the time go through both and was delightfully pleased with what I found. For the most part both articles represent truths in the life of a Nerd. Now, not all of the ideas pertain to all nerds since we do come in difference varieties but any nerd out there can relate to at least half of the things mentioned in either article.

Onto NADD though. I found this essay especially true to all nerds. As a quick test take a look at what's going on your screen right now. What do you have open and what are you working on? If it's more than three things and you're actively working on all of them then you probably have NADD. Currently I have open Outlook with my work e-mail, Firefox with four Tabs (GMail/Chat, Work Related, MacRumors Forum, and the blog to check editing), Access for work, Terminal Session, and an IE window to make this post. Now, granted, I'm only using five of those actively, but still. I obviously suffer from this affliction known as NADD.

-Michael

HD Format Wars

I've been out of the format war going on between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray mainly because I don't have a TV that can do 1080p (my Samsung only goes up to 1080i) and I don't buy a lot of movies. The rest of the world, though, has been eagerly awaiting the outcome and successor. Those in the HD-DVD camp have received another crushing blow. Netflix, popular online DVD-Rental site, has selected to go Blu-Ray exclusive according to Reuters. After most of the major studios making the shift to Blu-Ray and now Netflix, does HD-DVD have a chance? It looks like Sony may have learned from their mistakes with their UMD

Now... to save up for a PS3 to do Blu-Ray.

-Michael

Introducing the Tech and Entertainment Labels. Pretty obvious for these two. Tech deals with technology, new and old. Entertainment is anything relating to movies, music, etc.

XKCD

If those four letters don't induce a higher level of happiness in you then you must fall into one of these categories

1) You're not a geek, nerd, dork, engineer, etc
2) You are one of the above but have been disconneted from the internet since forever
3) You live in a hole
4) You don't have internet (which wouldn't make ANY sense since you're reading this)

XKCD is a great comic for those who have a geek or similar mindset. Randall Munroe does a great job mixing science and all things dorky with humor and seamlessly blends them to entertain his audience. I must admit that some of his comics go over my head, but for the most part if you've ever had to take anything higher than Calc 2 you should be good to get most of these jokes.

Here's today's comic. Who doesn't like creating medieval toys of distraction?

-Michael

Last Game Played: Professor Layton Demo
Currently Feeling: sleepy
Looking Forward to: lunch
Currently Wondering: Why isn't Nancy on AIM?

The Nerd Handbook

I just had to post this, because it's frighteningly accurate. Lindsay will probably be getting a printed and bound copy of this on Thursday...

The Nerd Handbook


--Dan

[EDIT] I got this from LifeHacker and didn't realize until after I'd posted that the comments on LifeHacker were worth reading as well... Enjoy!

Weekend

Well, it's a little after 10 (as I start this post) on Sunday which only means one thing.

The weekend is over. *sigh*

Well, almost over. Before the end of the weekend I thought I'd post real quick.

So the weekend was pretty boring and I'm okay with that. Boring means relatively cheap. And after last weekend (a three day bender in Pittsburgh (I told you the whole city was a distraction to me)) a cheap, boring weekend is all right with me.

A good amount of the weekend was spent with my lovely Macbook Air. I successfully loaded World of Warcraft but after taking a bit of a break from it (read that as "after not playing for a couple weeks...") I forgot how to play. Well, it's not that I forgot how to play so much as I need to relearn my strategy and keyboard layout. Playing without a mouse and extra keypad (yes, I bought an extra keypad just to play WoW) is something new to me not to mention playing with only one mouse button is going to be an interesting. For those of you who don't play, if you've ever wanted to play you can get the original version (without the expansion) for only $10 at Circuit City. Really, though, if you're new to World of Warcraft the Battle Chest (that includes the expansion) is $40 which is the same as getting the discounted WoW and the expansion.... so, yeah.

I have learned a good deal about my Mac though. Keyboard shortcuts are coming along. The biggest help was learning that the Apple key is the equivalent to the Control key on a windows machine. Also, the Control key on the Mac is the Alt key. The Mac Option key? I'm not really sure. It's got a mix on Control and a random extra key for more shortcut. Trying to re-memorize keyboard shortcuts has been tough and frustrating. I'm pushing one combination of keys thinking it does one thing but instead it does something else (I can't say how many times I've disabled the shortcuts to the Dashboard and Expose....). Even with all the setbacks, progress is being made and I love my Mac (I'm using it right now to type this up!).

A good part of weekend was spent with a friend playing video games. We rented Tony Hawk: Proving Ground for the the Wii. First, I'd like to let everyone know that this was the first time I have rented ANYTHING from a Blockbuster in, oh, FIVE YEARS! Don't ask me why, I just never get to Blockbuster. Well, it cost almost $10 to rent it (I think it was about $8, I don't remember because I didn't pay (Thanks, Friend!)) which blew my mind. I almost said "I remember when you could rent a game for under $5 but stopped myself. Then the clerk said something that caught me by surprise. "The game is due back next Sunday." I almost shat myself. A whole week to play a game?! All of a sudden that $10 price tag wasn't so bad. I may have to frequent that establishment more often to feed my game addiction. Beats buying them, new or used.

Now, back to the game. I haven't touched a Tony Hawk game since Tony Hawk 2 for the Dreamcast (yes, you read that right, Dreamcast). It's not that they weren't fun before, they just seemed a little monotonous. Go up a ramp, press a bunch of random buttons, get a butt load of points, the end. This game was different though. Sure, you still had the jumps, button smashing, butt loads of points, but it didn't end there! The one player mode had a bunch of different stories to go through to progress. There were specific tasks that needed to be completed including building one where you had to build your own trick park for a demo. Actually pretty challenging and a good time figuring out how and what to build to maximize your points. With the time I've got I may actually see how far I can get.

And with that ends my weekend. It's not almost 11 and I have to prepare for another wonderful week at work. If all things go as usual I expect a good deal of updates while I'm at work.... We shall see.

Buenos Noches

-Michael

Current WIi Game: Tony Hawk: Proving Ground (Super Paper Mario is on the back burner until I have to return this)
Current 360 Game: Guitar Hero 3
Currently Watching: 100 Most Outrageous Moments (yeah, I'm lame)
Currently Wanting: A longer weekend
Currently Ashamed that: I haven't been to the gym in almost a week
Currently Happy that: the Pens are #1 in their Division
Currently Feeling: Hungry

Diamond[s] in the Rough

Here are a few links I've found recently, along with my thoughts on the topics.

Make an Earbud Cord Caddy - wikiHow
I have purchased a few headphones just because they came with what looked like a good carrying case, but they never work nearly as well as they should. This looks like it will be a good low-cost way to make a customized carrying 'case'. When I get around to making one I'll try to remember to let you know how it works out.

9 ways Star Wars can inspire you to save money.
I'm a geek, and I'm also trying to save for a wedding... What better inspiration to save than Star Wars? May the Force [of Frugality] be with you!

Get Some Rest!
This post contains some suggestions for relaxing quickly. While this isn't quite as good as sleep, it is better than nothing.


Adding the "linkroll" label for any post that contains a list of links with brief descriptions. This should not be used for posts with significant discussions.

Happy New Year!

That's lunar new year. Today begins the new Lunar Calendar and this year is the year of the Rat. Here's to prosperity and luck in the new year.

Now where's my Li Xi???

-Michael

What you see

is what you get. Unfortunately for you, all you get to see is a blog post and maybe a picture, if you're lucky.

I'm Michael, the love-able minority of the group. As Dan said, we were college buddies "back in the day". Now that I think about it, we have been out of school for a couple years. My how time flies. I've tried blogging/maintaining my own website before with no success. I seem to have a knack for forgetting to update. I blame my lack of attention span and abundance of distractions. For this blog I'll most likely be talking about those distractions.

"But Mike!", you say. "Distractions are bad!" Not all of them are bad and the ones that are? Eh, you'll get over it. Distractions in my life include computers, video games, web comics, TV, music, movies, road trips, Pittsburgh (yes, the entire city is one giant distraction for me), sports, friends, alcohol, life (in general), things I find amusing and random thoughts that come into my head. I think that last one is the main perpetrator of my distractions.

Most of the things I'll comment on will be from the web that I've come across from my many feeds on Google Reader. If you don't already have an RSS reader I highly suggest it. I take no responsibility in the decline of productivity. You have been warned. Here is an example of an article I might share. Ok, well, maybe not something like that in specific, but who doesn't like Legos?

Other topics of discussion will include things that I'm currently doing doing/playing/living. My current distraction is the Macbook Air. Yes, I bought one. Yes, I'm crazy. I'm one of those guys who likes to have the "latest and greatest" if/when I can. Hell, I've spent over ten hours in a Wal-Mart TWICE for video games. I'm crazy like that but it's what makes me ME. For those of you who are wondering, yes, I love my Macbook Air.

That's just a taste of what's to come. I'm sure eventually I'll figure out a specific set of things to update on or even come up with a schedule/system for my updates. Until then, expect random, interesting blogs from me.

As a means of keeping track I'm going to try and remember to end my posts with current items, ie what I'm playing now or updates on things. This section won't always include the same information so be prepared for some random things. See below if you don't understand what I'm trying to say. I don't think I even understood what I tried to say.

[Edit] So I completely missed the post from Dan asking us to explain any new labels. My bad. I tossed on the "Introduction" label so it's easier for new readers (or all readers at this point) to find out more about the people writing these posts. [/Edit]

-Michael

Current Wii Game: Super Paper Mario (I think I'm almost done)
Current 360 Game: Guitar Hero 3 (Ready to start the Hard tour)
Newest Toy: Macbook Air
Currently Thinking: "When was the last time I updated my site...."
Currently Want: Utili-Kilt (I like to pretend I'm Irish/Scottish/Celtic)
Newest Site Registered To: Mac Rumors Forums
Biggest Time Waster of the Day: Google Reader, of course. Although this came in at a close second.

Ctrl+Alt+Del hilarity

Today's Ctrl+Alt+Del is pretty hilarious... I hope you enjoy it!

http://cad-comic.com/comic.php?d=20080206

Also, I'm introducing the "funny" label... You can probably guess that this should apply to any comics, jokes, or anything else that is considered humorous.

Rope Drop

I was thinking about what I want to see this blog evolve into, and I decided to open authoring to some friends. Ultimately, I'd like to see this become a site where we can all (readers and authors alike) examine ourselves and our reality, and hopefully grow closer to realizing our own 'Paradise'. Along the way I expect we'll see song lyrics, quotes, poetry, tips and tricks, 'life hacks,' recipes, giddy rambling about the latest gadget, and pointless pontification. Basically, we'll see all kinds of seemingly random stuff with one common 'thread': it makes us happy to write about it, and hopefully it makes you happy to read about it.

That said, I'd like to welcome two new authors, Lindsay and Michael. Lindsay is my fiancee', and Michael is a friend of mine from college. We look forward to their first posts!

One thing I would like to try to do is maintain some sanity as far as the labels are concerned. To that end, I think any new label should be explained in the first post that uses it. I'm introducing the "our philosophy" label, to be used for any posts which define our philosophy or rules for this blog.

With that, consider the park open! I'll leave it to Lindsay to explain the reference...

BANG!

This post is the 'big bang' of Protean Paradise, the creation of this insignificant little universe.

I'll try to guess the most obvious questions that will come to your mind:
1. What kind of blog is this?
2. Where does the name come from?

I'll answer question 1 as succinctly as possible: this is a blog about whatever I feel like writing about. I like a lot of things, so I will write about a lot of things. This leads me to question 2.

Where did I come up with a name like Protean Paradise? Well, first and foremost, alliteration is fun. Additionally, I have used the nickname Proteus here and there since the days of Prodigy (insert the appropriate disclaimer, etc. here), although I did not use it on Prodigy itself. Proteus, if you are unfamiliar, was one of the Greek gods. He was old, could tell the future, and most important to this discussion, a shape-shifter. Protean Paradise refers to my protean (changing) views of what 'Paradise' would be.

We all want different things, and we all change what we want as time passes and life happens. I used to want to change the world and leave my mark on history. Now I am focused on my family, history be damned. Neither of these is better than the other, they're just different.

[EDIT] Introducing the origin and philosophy labels. Origin is intended to link only to this post, so that anyone who may be curious can quickly see where it all started. Philosophy should be used to label any posts that try to explore the 'big questions' of life. This should not be confused with the philosophy or rules of the blog.

[EDIT] Added Mike's Introduction label, described in his first post... I think this qualifies as my introduction, anyway...