Still awake...

as usual. I need a 28 hour day. I'm usually awake for 18-20 hours, but I like to sleep for about 8-10. Actually, what I really need to do is start making myself slow down about 2 hours before I need to go to bed. I just go balls to the wall all day and all night. Nights usually consist of long gaming hours, but I've gotten better at making myself quit by midnight during the week. I need to shoot for 10p or 11p, I guess. So here I am trying to kill time, hoping maybe I can just stay awake the whole night. I need to stop off at the MARTA headquarters tomorrow AM and get my pass replaced anyway. I just haven't had the best of luck with magnetized cards lately. I somehow managed to de-magnetize my Disney Park Hopper (Christmas vacation) before the first day. It only took about 2 min to get it replaced, so not that big of a deal. Now, I've managed to do the same with my MARTA pass this month. I'll be glad when work finally switches us over to the new rifid system MARTA's using.

I'm going to come out and say it, finally. I am so done with Windows. Having access to a Microsoft MSDN subscription, I've been lucky enough to play with the Betas and have an advanced RTM (release to manufacturers) copy. It's designed for my laptop, but I've put so much effort into getting Fedora Core 6 running, I'm not ready to part with it, yet. Good thing, too. I dropped Vista on my home PC (I just keep Windows around so I can stream music and videos to the 360) this weekend. I've had nothing but issues trying to access my NAS. This new TCP stack (in non-geek speak: networking features) is ridiculous. Of course, I wanted to install the Home Premium edition (with the Media Center integrated), but the only licenses we have access to are for the Business version. Our tests at work have gone very well. Vista Business and Ultimate run beautifully in an Active Directory environment. However, now that I'm trying to use it at home, oh, it's a whole different ballpark. Luckily, `robocopy` is now a standard application (advanced replacment command-line application for `xcopy` previously only available through resource kits). Every time I try to access the NAS, Explorer locks up and never comes back from la-la land. I have liked the new Sidebar and Aero interface since I first saw it, tho. And, Vista now includes a Photo Gallery, Calendar, and Contacts application, which are really easy to use. I never was able to get my iPAQ running Pocket PC 2003 to sync as of RC2, but that's about the time Core 6 was released, so I didn't really spend that much time with it. Vista is now in the hands of our Windows admin at work. I'm trying to get out of as much Windows support as possible and move more towards Linux. Getting back to the original problem: at least I'm now able to get my files off the NAS (I only use it as a back up, anyway); although, it is taking forever. In a nutshell, if you're thinking of upgrading, think twice. All you'll get over XP is a new Start Menu, prettier windows, and 3 new applications. And if you're lucky, like me, a major headache trying to access network shares on your home network. Half of the important stuff built-in to Vista can be downloaded and installed onto XP (like IE 7, Media Player 11, and Windows Defender). And XP is going to be supported for another 3-5 years. Wait and let the companies that create your favorite applications (like PhotoShop, et. al.) catch up. Besides, I think there will be another major hardware boom to challenge the Core Duo's either this summer or next fall. Me? I'm sticking to Red Hat, Fedora, and possibly Ubuntu.

Wow, that gripe wasn't supposed to last that long. Game-wise, since I've, for the most part, completed Ninety-Nine Nights, I've gone back to playing Final Fantasy X-2. I'm going to see if I can't get it finished by the end of the month. Lost Planet for the 360 comes out Friday, and I'm either going to get it or Final Fantasy XII next month. BTW, I'm looking for a copy of Soul Calibur II for the PS2 if anyone knows where I can find one for cheap (new or used, I don't care). After this last episode with GameStop, and with their continually increasing prices lately, I'm not too happy with them anymore. Speaking of new games, I'm dying to get .hack // G.U. Vol. 2. Vol. 3 (final of the trilogy) is set for release in Japan next week, but there's still no release date, yet, for Vol. 2 Stateside. However, in my searching tonight, I've noticed that there's a DVD for this storyline that goes along with the game, .hack // Roots, that's scheduled for release Mar 20. W00+! Birthday present!

Ok, I think I've managed to kill enough time here. I can go catch up on my On-Demand Anime for the rest of the morning till I have to leave for work, now that my Comcast box is working, again. You know, I would think that this is common knowledge, at least with those dumbass contractors they hire for installs and repairs. There's this thing call modulation degredation that happens once you split out your signal. It was one of the basics I learned in my early Electrical Engineering courses in college. But then again, cable companies have been dealing with this problem for years. This was fairly common knowledge when I was a kid: "Don't use more than one 2-way splitter on the tv cable or the picture gets all fuzzy." Of course, you can split it more these days since they're pumping a much higher frequency through the lines with HD and internet and all. But, my point in all this, my box stopped working just before I left for vacation. I didn't have time to worry about why until actually this past weekend. I figured the box just finally died (I've had it a good 4-5 years). No, one of those dipshit contractors came out and moved my primary line to an overloaded 5-way splitter. Now I have to call them to come out and fix it because they don't have the damn things labled. I could probably do it during one of my 4am late nights, but I'm not going to go unplugging everyone in the complex's cable just to figure out which line is mine. I'll just deal with the cable running from the spare bedroom for now (it's out of the way for the most part). Ok, enuff bitching.



l8rs.