Yes. I am still alive...

... just been lazy. It's not that I haven't had a desire to post. Ok, well, maybe I haven't really been in the mood to post anything, but there has been plenty of little quips that have come to mind worth sharing. Firing up the laptop when I get home just hasn't been worth it. That, and I've been playing video games a bit much. :D Between the release of Halo 3, Guitar Hero III, and Bioshock, I've been preoccupied, so to speak. Sad thing is, I can say I'm getting pretty good at Guitar Hero. I've 5 starred the Easy and Medium settings in both II and III (well, all except one song in II), and I'm on to Hard. I was joking with my dad on the phone the other day. I can start telling people, "Yeah. I rock at Guitar Hero. What? No I'm not a musician. I just have no life." ;) I've started holing myself up in the house, again (the cold weather isn't helping), playing games all the time. I'm determined not to return to that form of hermit-ism. Oh, I'm not giving up gaming. I just need to put the guitar down for a while. Rock Band is on my list of to get games, but I'm going to hold off for a while on that one. These things are just a bit too addictive. ;)

I keep looking at my GamerCard and laughing:
 
It's hard to believe, that in a little over a year, I've managed to acquire almost 5000 points. That's just insane (well, for me, anyway). So, time to put the controller down (for a couple of days, at least). Besides, I now have a PS3 on my desk at work (for research, of course) that needs some "hacking" done to it. That, and I'm determined not to stay indoors all winter. Did I mention I hate cold weather?

How much longer till Spring? ;)



l8rz!

Visual DNA.

Courtesy of Imagini™:

Read my VisualDNA™     Get your own VisualDNA™

l8rs.

Rush gone Emo.

I was listening to Rush's latest album, "Snakes and Arrows" again for the first time in a while. I was noticing that minus the first few songs, the album doesn't really rock like their older stuff. The songs are mopey or bluesy. WTF?! I've always loved Rush's stuff. All the way up to their "Counterparts" album was good. "Vapor Trails" was OK, but this last one is just... blah. It's like they've all become tired old farts that aren't putting any more enthusiasm into their music. It's still beautifully composed, but, just so... blah. Guess this one will go back on the shelf and I'll listen to their old stuff instead. "Power Windows" r0x0rZ!!!1!1!



l8rZ.

Bored.

I'm so frikin bored right now. I've been pretty lazy all day. I didn't go out any other than just to run a few errands. The good news is, I can now watch TV and get on the internet at the same time, now. ;) That's about the only productive thing I've done all day. Tomorrow is laundry, cut the grass, weed, and drop off the recyclables. It's actually been kinda nice not having to rush to go anywhere or do anything. I've been wrapped in a mixture of relaxation and exhaustion, today. The sad part is, I haven't done anything, so I shouldn't be tired. I fell asleep in the papasan for an hour and a half earlier this evening.  

An assumed change of events with a friend is leaving me to believe that my life is about to take an interesting turn in the near future. Since it's only my assumption, I'm not jumping the gun nor do I plan on rushing any decisions. Needless to say, my social calendar my be getting a few more additions to it here soon. What can I say? I'm a ladies man (*cough*... yeah, right). ;)



l8rs.

Decisions. Decisions.

W00+! Man, there is so much going on! I just can't decide where to go or what to do next. LOL! My social calendar has not only exploded, it's imploding and becoming a siphoning black hole. There has to be some sort of cosmic disturbance somewhere else, al la chaos theory. I can't seem to get a break. And, there are some friends I've been needing to hang out with for the better part of the last month. I mean, don't get me wrong, this totally beats sitting in front of the Xbox playing Halo all weekend. Of course, I've still been getting my game time in. I can't totally give that up.

Now what's the irony behind this? I've finally gotten all the issues worked out with Comcast, but I'm sitting here watching a DiVX anime on my desktop. Geeze. I should probably think about canceling or cutting back the cable. I haven't watched TV in over a month. Sad thing is, I don't feel like I'm even missing anything.

OK, I'm going to finish this up and start getting settled for bed. I've got an early meeting in the morning since I skipped out on one this afternoon.



l8rs.

Frikin' hell. It's Fall, again.

I am NOT a fan of cold weather. Atlanta's well known for its drastic differences in temperature between day and night during the Fall. I always hat the first cold night of the season where the temperature drops about 30 degrees from what I'm used to. I end up cuddled up in front of a space heater for about 45 minutes trying to get rid of a bone rattling chill that won't go away. I HATE being cold. Give me the blistering hot sun of a sultry Summer afternoon any day. If I'm going to be suffering from constant episodes of chills, I better be standing in at least ankle deep powder with skis or a snowboard strapped to my feet. Of course, I refuse to admit it's fall. My Jeep top is still down (but I do have the doors on). I also won't turn the heater on until November. I'm just stubborn like that. I'll just stick to my sweatshirt and space heater, for now. And to think I was running the fans at full speed the other night trying to keep cool. Cold weather sux0rz...

So where have I been for the last 2 1/2 weeks? Heh. Well, if I'd quit going out so much, I wouldn't be so broke, right now. My social calendar has exploded. Seems like I'm out doing something or other at least 4 nights a week. Also, temporarily, due to some personal issues I've had to deal with, I've found another outlet through that old fashioned method of putting pen to paper. Yes, ink and a legal pad. I know. Who physically "writes" anymore? ;) Now, I've dealt with those issues, I've vented, and I'm back to spouting BS here, again. **Aren't you so happy?** (note sense of sarcasm in that last statement...)

So what have I missed? Or, the bigger question, I guess, is, "What have *you* missed?"


Gamer News:

• Halo 3 - I've finished it twice already and haven't played it much since then. No, I haven't lost interest. I just have a new game to play that came out at the same time. :)
• .hack//G.U. Vol. 3 - 'Nuff said. Hasao and the other Avatar users (G.U.) are back in the third and final installment of the latest .hack game. This one seems to be longer than the other two. I've already put in about 24 hrs of game time and don't feel like I'm even half-way thru, yet. It's time to crack open that can of "Ren Geki", again! LOL.

TV Shows for the new Fall Season:

• Don't ask me. I've been fighting Comcast since I moved (yes, a whole month!) to get my service reconnected. I finally got a tech today that showed up and called everyone at the call center a bunch of idiots. LOL. He made a couple of phone calls; 30 minutes later, voila! I have TV! Go figure.... Guess that means I can start catching up on Heroes, now.

Anime:

• Like I said, no TV; and, I've been holding on to my Blockbuster DVDs since I moved. Just finally mailed them back. So haven't gotten anything new in a while. My Newtype USA subscription lapsed just before I moved, also. I haven't renewed it yet. Don't know that I will, either.
• Oh, Dawn, go read this post. It should answer that question you asked me about a month back.

Anything else? No, that should be it.


In preparation for some changes at work, I've re-installed my laptop, again. I've gone back to XP (screw Vista). I may be going back to doing more Active Directory support in the future. I can't exactly do that very efficiently from Red Hat; hence, the re-install. In that process, I'm back to using the Windows Live Writer to compose my blog. I've normally just written out the code, then just previewed it in previous versions. With this latest revision, I'm beginning to like the WYSIWYG interface. It kinda reminds me of WordPress. I just might keep using it.

I've got some other things I can comment on, but they can wait till a later post. I've got cleaning to do. The 'rents, my sister, and her new boyfriend are crashing for the weekend. This place looks like I haven't cleaned since I moved in. Well... actually... I haven't.... Like I said, I've been busy. :D



l8rs.

Halo 3. 'Nuff said.

So I never reserved my copy. I went with a friend and her husband last night at midnight to pick up his copy. I figured if the store had any extras, maybe I could get one. Well, an hour after the doors were opened, I walked out with my own copy. Schweet. I am now doped up on a full pot of coffee and dozing off at my desk because I just had to pull an all nighter to see how far I could get. ;) After about 5 hours of gameplay on my own (plus 2 or so in co-op), I think I'm down to the last level in the storyline. I had to play it on the Easy setting. I want to know how the fight ends. If I can managed to stay awake long enough to get through Trivia Nite, I'm going back home to finish tonight.

Bungie has really stepped up on the engine. I am impressed! The in-game movies are astounding; the fully-functional environments are beautiful (you can smack the plants now, and they move!); and, the soundtrack is impressively complementary, as always. The gameplay on the new controller took some getting used to (I keep throwing out the "items" because I'm still used to reloading with that button), but the controller is well mapped and basically the same. It's customizable, of course, in case you don't like the new layout. I will definately be playing this one over, and over, and over.... and over, and over, and over... LOL. Now I just need to set up a way to do the whole trilogy one right after the other (it still takes me almost a whole weekend to get through just one game on the Easy setting).

K. Need the rest of my lunch break to eat somthing... I'm jittery. :)



l8rs.

AWA-Con 2007 pics are up.

Paruse at your lesiure:

flickr

l8rs.

Runner's Bliss.

I've rediscovered that bit of euphoria most runners experience:

Above the small stitch in your side that is a reminder of you're not a young as you used to be.... Above the cramp developing behind your left knee screaming, "You didn't stretch enough"... Above the burning in your lungs caused by years of carbon monoxide damage, there is that amazing sensation caused by the over-firing of synapsees. There is that sensation of pins and needles against your skin as the cool wind whips against your sweat drenched arms, legs, and cheeks. You pick up your pace to enhance the sting. You ignore everything else around you. You block out all thoughts. In that single moment of bliss and adrenaline, you are reminded that you are alive. Then you grin... because you have just found your true peak.

*THAT*, my friends, is "Runner's Bliss," the euphoria that drags us out in the middle of the day in these sultry late summer afternoons.



l8rs.

Going for the gold... and getting the silver.

See, now this is why I don't like posting about the deep speculations of my personal life. I end up getting way too many questions about the situation which I should have just kept to myself. Either way, I'm done being "mopey and lame" about the whole thing. I'm done "walkin' off the w33pies" (as Largo calls it). And, I'm accepting the course of lives that are, in half, my choice and agreeance. Unfortunately for me, I can be a deeply emotional person. There are times when the initial situation will go fine and everything is cool. Later, I'll begin to over-anaylze. My thought process will drive me absolutely batty until I can work everything out in my head. I then end up apologizing to friends (and family) for being such a dumbass and worrying too much. So, I'm done over-analying. I'm back to having a smile on my face. And, I'm happy-go-lucky, again, because life is too short to sweat the little stuff.

And, this is the last Emo post you will ever get out of me. ;)

---

Now, in all honesty, there must be something really wrong with me. I still haven't ordered my copy of Halo 3. No, it's not because I'm still trying to choose which of the 3 different versions I want. It's actually not because of finances; I put that money away a long time ago. ;) I guess I'm just assuming that if I order it online, I'll still get it shipped the day of release. You know, I should probably make sure there's a Best Buy or GameStop near me, now, so I can go pick it up that morning before work. ;) I finally just found a Blockbuster the other day. How long have I been living here? 3 weeks? Slack-ass....

Oh, another personal w00+! In less than a week, I've already managed to shave 5 minutes off my run. The hardest part about getting back into running is that I really shouldn't be doing this for time but for the sheer exhilaration of it. Running, when I was younger, had a side effect of being mentally relaxing. Reprogramming myself is going to be the most difficult part. Well, I guess I can just use the time to help with the traning for my two goals:

1. I want to make it up all 4 flights of stairs at work without getting winded. I came pretty close today, but normally, somewhere between the 3 and 3 1/2 mark, I have to take a deep breath. I'll recover by the time I get into my office, but it's still been an annoyance to me.
2. By the end of the year, I want to be able to run 6 miles without having to stop.

I've had no problems going non-stop with my current 2 miles since my second day out. I just had to find a new pace. My mind was still running at my old pace from high school my first time out, but my aging decrepid body's not quite ready to keep up with it. :p

Well, it's getting pretty late, and I have to get up early these days if I want to get a parking spot at the train station. I'm outtie.



l8rs.

You know you've been going to a club too often when...

... not only do you know the dances, you are the one starting them. I never thought it would come to the day that I would be leading the lines at Cowboys. The place was actually quite dead last night for a Thurs. Must have been the rain. ;) Most of the usual "regulars" (i.e., my sister's friends) never even showed up.

While I'm on my bar-scene rant, I came to an interesting realization last night. Why is it I always flirt with the bride-to-be and her little troup of friends every time I go? Is it that I'm that self-concious about the whole no ties deal? I mean, yeah. I just go there to dance. But am I that worried (or too chicken shit) about asking a girl to dance? Either way, I had fun and that's all that matters. :p~ The only thing that sucks is that drive back home. It's even worse now that I've moved to the south side of town. It's too bad there's not any other decent country clubs closer (that I've found, so far). I guess I could try further south, but that would be just as far of a drive.

BTW, I've started running, again. Not too happy with the fact that on my second day out, it took me a little less than 25 minutes to run 2 miles. I don't think I ever ran that slow even when I was in the yearly mile road race as a kid. This is embarassing. (For those of you who don't know, I ran for the cross-country team in high school.) The good side is I'm not quite as out of shape as I thought. The last 7 (well, actually, I guess I should say 14) years of smoking hasn't hurt me too bad.

...

I should have slept in instead of rushing out the door so quick to make it here on time. It's pretty dead at work for a Fri. Of course, now that I say that, people are going to swarm into my office at 4:45 this afternoon wanting me to fix complicated stuff or something really important is going to blow up.

Awite, The other stuff I need to work on isn't supposed to happen until this afternoon. Guess I'll go txt msg my friend and annoy her while she's on her lunch break. ;p~



l8rs.

Football mania.

Now what's the irony in all this. Usually about this time every year, I'm balls to the wall, gotta watch my Jackets, strapped to the couch on Saturdays. This year, the only thing I seem to really want to do that has any relation to football is attend a local Packer tailgate party. Huh. Weird. Well, I do have my moods.

This is probably influcened by my recent return from the beach, but I'd rather just play sand volleyball. ;)



l8rs.

Grab a hold and white-knuckle it all the way.

I guess it's time for an update.

I feel like an eternity has passed, even though it's only been a month. Not in posting terms, but life in general. As I mentioned in my last post, I met someone. Also, in that time frame, I've moved, started a new semester at work, and generally just tried to keep my shit together. Things went from simple and boring to wild and extremely interesting (to say the least).

I can tell the summer is over. Today was the first pretty warm day we've seen since last month's heat wave. Too bad I was way too hungover to enjoy it. One of these days I'll learn that Jager and I must operate in small doses. ;) Now I'm sitting outside in a sweatshirt with the laptop. The cool evenings of the Fall are approaching. I love this time of year, but it only reminds me that old man Winter will be trailing soon after with his chilly breath. The cold and I don't get along, in case you didn't already know that. Even though I haven't been settled in long enough to really enjoy it, living in a house has it's advantages. Not just for the fact that the Fat Dog has so much more room (and a yard), but for times like now. I'm on the back deck looking at the stars (what 3 I can see being so close to the city), typing this. I just don't get any better than this. Well... yea it can get a whole hell of a lot better, actually. But you get my point. It's better than still being cramped up in that apartment.

Alright, alright. Here's the nitty gritty you've all been bugging me about. I met a girl. Crazy thing, at my age, you don't just meet a girl anymore. Yeah, there are those that turn your head, catch your attention, or even your digits. But then there's that one. The one that thinks and says and does everything that makes your heart skip a beat in excitement. The one that makes you start going down that mental list of what it is you are looking for in forever. The one that puts a check next to every item on that list. The one that makes you keep telling yourself over and over "There is no way. This can't be real." The one you can share chugging a beer, having an intelligently thought provoking conversation, discussing your emotions, and then non-chalantly asking and answering what your ideal wedding looks like in your head. All in the course of about 2 weeks. This all seems so surreal everytime I think about it. Also, it seems so much longer than just 2 weeks. It's like we've known each other for years. OK... don't get so worked up. Fairytales do happen (tho, rarely, from what I've seen). This could be real. This could be it. She could be the one. "You are the one, Neo." LOL!

So that's my nutshell right now. I'm dealing with emotions I boxed away those oh so many years ago. My hard-core badass composure is crumbling. I feel like a putz. And I'm doing my damnedness not to do anything stupid to scare her off. There is one thing that I'm not quite sure about (or I've just forgotten over the years of self-induced separation). Is it normal for your stomach to fill up with butterflies just because you look at a picture of someone?

I am turning into such a damn pansy....



l8rs

Holy crap I'm tired....

A little over three weeks ago, all I was concerned with was trying to show up to work on time and the next video game that would preoccupy my boredom. Since then, my world has turned upside down.

A week and a half ago, I burnt the midnight oil (so to speak) so hard that I crashed after 4 days. I'm getting to old to do that during the week. This past week, I've been running on nothing short of adrenaline and caffeine. Sleep, unfortunately, has not been much of an option between the multiple runs both days over the weekend (good 12 hour days that I haven't pulled off in a long time) for the big stuff and two days of late night cleaning and cramming the remaining miscellaneous junk in the Jeep after work. I barely have anything unpacked. Last night was supposed to be something of a relaxing evening with someone I first met three weeks ago. The evening was perfect, everything went great, and it was relaxing. But you know how it is when your sleeping arrangements change.... I haven't slept next to someone in about 5 years. Needless to say, I'm lucky if I got any more than 45 minutes of snoozing in at a time. It's not her fault, she slept like a rock. Since I burnt out the last of my adrenaline on Tues, I'm left with just caffeine to keep me going today. Thank goodness there's only two more days left in this week. I am definately looking forward to my 3 day vacation this weekend. ;)

So, I know some of you are asking, "Someone?" Yes. Someone. :) I'm going to leave it at that for now because I don't want to jinx anything.

BTW, It's about that time... less than a month left:

Schweet!

l8rs.

Somebody put Vick in the pit!

I was soooo going to aviod this as it really chaps my ass.

I just finished reading Eric's blog on the whole Michael Vick trial, and I couldn't hold back any more. Celebs really piss me off when they do something so stupid and inhumane then expect us, the reason for their idolization, for a slap on the wrist and no supper. I say fsck that! Put his ass down there in the fighting pit and let him survive. If he doesn't, string him up out back and see if he survives. He needs to be somebody's biotch for a little while.

There. I said it. Vick, how could you be so damned stupid and inhumane. I'm ashamed to call you our QB.... Know this: karma's a bitch. I hope you get yours.



l8rs.

This is just.... wrong.

Hey, I love video games, too. I like to think I have a life outside of them, tho. Apparently, this guy is very confident in his geekiness.

Yes, that is a SEGA tatoo on a leg.

Speaking of lives... I have one right now, so my posting is probably going to dwindle away to nothing for a while. Yay me! :)



l8rs.

BTW, I have a little more than 2 months to make my launch date for the webcomic I set last year. Think I'll make it? Guess we'll have to see. ;)

Rumors abound...

I'm going through my blog subscriptions from the last week to kill time before my road trip. The guys over at the Xbox 360 Rally have been eating up the rumor-mill, and I just have to throw in my $0.02 worth (because it's not worth $0.10).

To start off, I'm peeved that Sony is discontinuing the 60G PS3 model. Not that I plan on getting a PS3 any time soon, but in addition to that statement, they will no longer be using the "Emotion" hardware chip for games backwards compatibility (in favor of a software solution, al la 360). This was the primary selling point for me with Playstation in the past, and an extremely pisser point when I bought my 360. Now I'm going to have to scour eBay for a 60G model once the new Ratchet and Clank and Final Fantasy games are released. The point? Is Microsoft ditching the Core? For their sake, I hope not. This next-gen (if you can still call it that) console war between MS and Sony is getting ridiculous. It's starting to sound a lot like the HD-DVD and Blue-Ray competition. Meanwhile, Nintendo is sitting back in their corner laughing.

Next on the list, the 360 price drops are getting insane. The Premium went from $399 to $349 and, now, to $329? Talk about trying to make up for bad blood with the "red ring of death" problem. To top it off, come September (just in time for Halo 3), the Premium consoles should be having their own little HDMI ports! Now the question begs, is it really worth an extra $170 for a 100G more and a black exterior (as apposed to white)? Sounds like MS is up to something devious... but what? ;)

Ok, so my ranting is done. I need to get on the road. A 4hr road trip awaits me, and I need to hit my destination before 6:30p. 3nj0i mulling over those rumors and keep an eye on the Rally for more detailed coverage than I'll ever give. :)



l8rs.

Totally stoked!!

Ok, so remember how I said my 360 needed repairs? Well, it turns out, I got it back a whole lot faster than I had anticipated. To top it off, they just sent me a whole new unit. I'll have to post a scan of the letter, next time. It just needed a new DVD drive, sheesh. Well, I guess with all the changes to the support infrastructure and the 3 year extension on all systems, they're just canceling out any risks by making sure all systems meet the new internal hardware requirements. So, anyway, I'm totally stoked to have it back. I've been jonesing to play some Guitar Hero.

Well, after a completely unproductive post, I'm going to get back to cleaning my DVR off. It's at 99%, again.... You'd think I'd learn by now quit recording shows that I'm never going to watch.



l8rs.

The city stinks, today.

I don't know what happened downtown this past weekend, but almost every block around my building reeks of garbage; the lobby of my building smells like a seafood processing plant; and, there are industrial size portable air filter units all over the floor. On my way back from grabbing lunch (yes, it's another late lunch as usual), I kept looking around for the garbage dumps but never found any. Now, City of Atlanta is well know for it's crappy sewage system (no pun intended), but it's never smelled this bad before. Pee-eww!



l8rs.

The E3 "Business Summit".

It has begun. The once highly coveted mecha of all video gamers has now gone corporate media. My opinion of this transition is it's just another mass marketing ploy to get gamers all hyped up about hardware and or software they won't be seeing for probably another 6 months to a year. As you can tell, I'm all wrapped up in that hype. ;) Pretty much the only tracking point for us gamer lackeys is G4TV's and GameTrailer's coverage. Other than looking forward to the release of Halo 3 (and any media related to it), the Unreal engine v3, and the next-gen version of Ratchet & Clank, I don't really know if there's anything worth looking forward to. Hence, I have my eyes glued to G4's coverage.

I'm stuck playing my original Xbox and PS2 for the next month. My 360 has fallen victim to the gremlins that most have. No, not the red rings of death, just a simple dying DVD-rom. I don't see what all the biotchings have been about. I called their tech support; 15 minutes later, I had an RMA and a box on the way to ship it to them. Admittedly, I'm not to happy with the turnaround time (5 days shipping the box, 5 days returning 360, 7 days in the shop, and 5 more days returning it back to me). But, I can't complain too much if this 30% failure rate is true. There's no proof in that #, but Microsoft has bitten the bullet, and announced yet another extension of the warranty to 3 years. I need a bigger hard drive. Yes, there is a seemingly continuous price drop in hardware, lately, (including the console drops), but I still have no desire to drop that much for a 360 Elite. I don't have HDMI, and won't anytime soon.

Also, I'm still trying to convince myself of a good reason to get a PS3. The discounted price and Heavenly Sword (along with other seemingly empty promises) just haven't been enough to convince me to make that type of "investment". Sony probably would have done a whole lot better if they had taken their time and waited a year for the game producers to get some games made. ...Oh, this is new..... I just found out that all future PS3's will not have the emulation chips for backwards compatibility. They're using a software solution this time around (like the 360). That blows. I hope that all games are backwards compatible and not just a select few (like Xbox titles). That has been Sony's bonus, in my opinion.

Ok. I've been trying to type this for too long. Not to mention, I went link happy in this post. I'm gonna get back to the end of this E3 coverage, then go to bed drooling over the all the hopefuls I might get to see in my local store in about 5 months.



l8rs.