| Thursday, May 7th, 2009 |
| 12:16 am |
Poke-mans
Part of the reason I've been so quiet lately.. aside from the usual 55 hour work week and hour long commute and all that fun stuff.. is that I've gotten sucked back into Pokemon. I picked up Pokemon Platinum at my workplace about a month ago, and I've barely even played it. Because I decided to beat Pokemon Pearl first. And then I decided to start yanking some of the pokemon I'd caught in Pokemon Saphire. And there's the Fire Red cartridge I bought when my Leaf Green one (and the GBA Micro it was in) mysteriously disappeared. I figure that using a combination of the two GBA cartridges and the two DS ones and both Stadium games for the Gamecube along with the bonus disk I got for pre-ordering Stadium way back when and the e-card reader with the ticket I got from Nintendo Power.. all together and with plenty of man-hours I should be able to catch everything except for Deoxes, Mew and Celeby. It just might take a while. It's quite a change from way back when I was playing Gold and Silver and was able to catch all 251 (including Mew which I got at a mall event) with the exception of Celeby. There's just so damned many Pokemon out there now. It's a major time-sink for a compulsive collector like myself... that's all I'm saying. Gotta catch 'em all, though, right? |
| Thursday, April 16th, 2009 |
| 2:22 am |
Our national debt complex
So, yeah, tax day. I didn't even realize it because I filed our taxes way back in February, but the world keeps trying to remind me. I was listening to Barney Frank on the radio this evening and I had a revelation. In addition to the Military Industrial Complex which took hold of our country during WWII we now have a National Debt Complex. As I understand it the Military Industrial Complex is that process which makes our nation dependent on being perpetually at war. Like those banks and auto companies that are "too big to fail" there are too many jobs in the US that are reliant on the war machine. And now we have the country inextricable entwined with the banks in the US.. and I think that the economy of our country is becoming dependent on our continued debt. It's just an intuition... but it feels true. |
| Sunday, April 5th, 2009 |
| 6:40 pm |
Success!
Well today I met just about all of my goals. The apartment is considerably cleaner (to such a degeree that there's a small bit of disorientation when coming into the living room and finding so much floor!) The DSi is a go - and I'm sure I'll be posing more about that soon after I've played with it more. I had a wonderful visit with my little sister who has moved back to the Boston area and is going to be around for much more time together. The only snag in the whole day has been that Tony's is still closed, so we're going to get dinner from the 99 instead. And looking at the clock I find that although it feels as though it's been a quite full day there are still about five hours until midnight! The whole night lies ahead full of cats and games and time with my wife.. and no work at all. What a wonderful day. |
| Saturday, April 4th, 2009 |
| 10:59 pm |
Anticipation
Ahh. Much to anticipate about tomorrow: 1) A day off! Yes I get them more frequently than once I did, but that makes them no less precious. 2) The DSi comes out tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a new toy. 3) I might be seeing my sister tomorrow as well... which would be very cool. 4) Sunday brunch and fish & chips from our favorite seaside chip place, which just opened for the summer this week. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. |
| Friday, April 3rd, 2009 |
| 10:52 pm |
DSi
Gamestop called today to say my DSi will be ready to pick up on Sunday. Hooray! I'm gonna have to grab a new SD card to store the free downloads. And after a thirteen hour shift today I have only a seven hour shift tomorrow.. then a day off on Sunday to clean house with my wife and play DS games. That should be fun and relaxing. I need that. |
| Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 |
| 11:19 pm |
I'm still here (you craphound)
Yeah, I've been estranged from the 'net for a while. I've still been checking in every day and lurking about to see what's up with friends but not posting anything for a while. I'm not altogether sure why. I guess I've just been lazy. I still compose entries in my head and such, they just don't ever reach the keyboard. Rest assured, though, I am well and barely even overworked. Life continues in much the same path as always. My wife and I have a new car. I keep buying new videogames. I work too much and sleep too little. I'm pondering a new form of math based on prime numbers.. but not sure how it works yet. I watched and enjoyed Watchmen. I am playing Zork Online. Etc. I may be catching a cold, and I have a thirteen hour shift tomorrow. So, yeah, the same as always. I don't know why I even bothered to post it. Meh. |
| Thursday, March 5th, 2009 |
| 11:37 pm |
Insomnia
I had a really big cup of coffee during my lunch break on Wednesday night.. and was able to get to sleep okay despite the caffeine coursing through my bloodstream. But at about 2AM I found myself awake for no particular reason and unable to return to sleep. It was very frustrating. So I downloaded Kindle for my iPod and bought the first of the Barroque Trilogy by Neal Stephenson.. even though I own the hardcover and have it kicking around this apartment somewhere. It's nice to be able to read a book in the middle of the night with minimal disturbance to my wife (no turning pages and only what light my iPod emits.) Not that she wasn't disturbed anyhow.. it was just minimized. After reading a couple chapters I lay awake for a while with my brain running overtime on a variety of subjects that I often ponder (the nature of time, the nature of mortality, particle physics and such) and turning over some new notions regarding mass consciousness. And eventually I did get back to sleep. It just took a while. |
| Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 |
| 9:52 am |
Things that make me happy
What with the death of our old car (The battery died - probably the result of death of other components. But it's got a long list of other ills so we've decided it's a sign that it's time to upgrade to a car that's less than a decade old) it has been a stressful week.. but there have been bright spots so it's not all bad. The brightest bright spot has been Cinematic Titanic Live. ( behind cut because of big pictures ) |
| Sunday, February 15th, 2009 |
| 11:57 pm |
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| Saturday, February 14th, 2009 |
| 10:58 pm |
Are zombies romantic?
February 14th for me this year is 'Zombie Killing Day.' My wife and I went out for our Valentine's Day dinner on Thursday, knowing that we both would have to work today. And I had a whole bunch of game pre-orders at Amazon which resulted in my receiving both House of the Dead: Overkill and Onechanabara: Bikini Zombie Slayers this morning while my wife was at work. So I spent a few hours this morning slaying hundreds upon hundreds of zombies. It was really quite cathartic. I'll try to post full reviews of both games later, once I've had a chance to beat them both, but my initial impression is that House of the Dead: Overkill is my current favorite Wii game. It's so simple, fun and over-the-top. And the pure style they have with the 70s grind-house look is astonishing. (Details like glaringly obvious bad dubbing and continuity errors in the cut scenes.. it's just so much FUN!) Onechanabara is great too - but it makes my arm tired. |
| Thursday, February 12th, 2009 |
| 12:34 pm |
Been a while since I posted.
I've been busy lately. Busy with the store and then busy being sick. And Facebook has been consuming much of me free time on the 'net. I've been playing Dragon Wars and Elven Blood and the Mini D&D adventures on Facebook, none of which require much of a time investment, but which collectively probably eat about half an hour of my time each day. At work I have just completed a two-week project to clear space in my store by compressing the Blockbuster Favorites sections up into one third the space they used to cover. Now I just have to spend some time setting up attractive and creative displays to fill all that empty space. (Batman and Iron Man displays.. and Twilight - which we're positioning ourselves to have as the next big mega-title.) And on Tuesday afternoon I came down with a head cold.. just to make things more fun. It started right around the time of my conference call at 3PM. I was flushed and felt light headed. Then as the night went on the waterworks started. I slept very poorly Tuesday night what with not being able to breathe, and came home from work on Wednesday to nap for a couple hours in the middle of the day. My lovely and considerate wife got me delicious Chinese food last night though and I've dug through the medicine cabinet to find some Cold-Ease so I'm feeling much better now. Just a little sore throat. ANd I'm drained and tired (partially from moving many many shelves around my store.. partially from lack of sleep.) So. Day off today and an early Valentine's dinner with my wife, then a busy weekend at work. I should also have some new games to play for my Wii as well.. I'm excited about that. |
| Thursday, February 5th, 2009 |
| 10:47 am |
Shorter hours at the store...
This week has been the first week of abbreviated hours in my store. The confusing new hours are Noon to 9PM Mon, Wed and Thurs, 10 AM to 9 PM Sun and Tues, and 10 AM to 10 PM Fri and Sat. So no more 11PM closings for me. The new schedule DOES, however, mean a few much longer days for me. I've arranged to have two days off going forward (Thursday and Sunday) but that's at the price of working a minimum of 9 hours a day on the remaining five. I'm working a whopping thirteen hour shift on Tuesdays now, which takes its toll. On the other hand I'm almost completely done re-organizing the games and older movie library in the store, which will make a lot more space and open up the center of the store for displays and specials. I've put all the previously played games up at the front of the store in a convenient location with the 3 for $20 previously played movies. And I've moved all the new games to the new release wall and organized them to make shopping through them easier. The favorites section has been cut down to one third the space it used to take up and arranged spine out rather than cover out. (I'm a fan of the new spine out display because it makes it impossible to conceal sliced product or hide new releases in the favorites section, since they would stand out against the category stickers on the movies' spines.) I am very tired and achy right now from a combination of moving shelves and movies and of long days. I really need this day off today. (Although I do need to go in tonight to oversee the carpet cleaning. I hope that will go quickly and smoothly.. should be home by midnight.) In the mean time I feel like playing some kind of game on my Wii.. what should I play? |
| Monday, February 2nd, 2009 |
| 9:24 am |
You always think "It won't happen to me"
This morning I went to download the new content for Fallout 3 and my X360 spazzed out - froze up with a ton of digital garbage on the screen. When I re-booted I had the dreaded RROD. So now I have to ship it off to Microsoft for a replacement. (At least this will solve my problem with the DVD-Rom wearing out.. I don't have to pay for RROD repairs. I just have to wait.) So I guess I'm XBOX-less for the next couple weeks. A good thing I've been mostly playing Wii games of late. I am kind of sad though- I had just been getting back into Fallout, which was definitely one of the best games to come out last year. |
| Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 |
| 5:44 pm |
Is my flist too eliteist?
I was thinking today and realized something about the people I consider my friends: they are a rather intellectual and upper middle class lot. Consider some of the people I follow on LJ and Facebook: 3 schoolteachers 2 librarians 2 lawyers and a psychologist. Virtually all of my friends have college degrees, and many have masters and even PHds. So I guess what I'm saying is that when people talk about the leftist intellectual elite they are referring to my friends. I just never really thought about it before. |
| Monday, January 26th, 2009 |
| 7:08 pm |
Console gaming
Since I can't play DS games fir a while I'm catching up on some of my backlog of console games. I broke out Eternal Sonata on the X360 yesterday and have played it a little. It's a little cut-scene heavy in the early stages of the game. I had to sit through fifteen minutes of cutscene before my first actual gameplay, and after maybe 45 minutes of game (and meeting a couple characters) I made it to the opening credits. And another fifteen minutes of people talking. It IS a very pretty game graphically but it has a couple little foibles. Due to the way it's streaming the dialog there's a longish pause between each line. The way it plays out is that one character will say something, then the camera will change angles and the other character will look thoughtful (or vapid) for about three seconds. Then they'll say something in response, and the game will change angles again and pause to grab the next bit of speech from the disk. This makes for a pretty stilted and unnatural feel to all the dialog. And since there appears to be quite a lot of the dialog, it makes me very much wish they'd just gone with speech bubbles or something to speed things up. It's not like the voice work is so stellar that I need to hear it, really. I love the turn based combat mechanics, though. And the light/dark aspect to battle promises to be quite interesting. Hopefully I'll find time to play more and form a better impression soon. |
| Sunday, January 25th, 2009 |
| 11:18 pm |
I can't have nice things.
I've lost two Nintendo DS-es in the last few months. The first one doesn't bother me too much since it was broken. When I bought Chrono Trigger I found that the left shoulder button on my white DS was broken, making it impossible for me to get the doppleganger doll. So I got myself a swank new crimson and black DS which was quite nice. Friday night I had my DS at work, and was playing Rune Factory 2 during my lunch break. Saturday morning when I was preparing to take the puppy home on the train I checked my jacket pocket for my DS with the intention of playin it on the ride home.. but it was gone! I went directly from work to home, so I can't think where it could have disappeared off to. I've searched my apartment and workplace, even the car. No DS. It's really quite frustrating! I can probably get a new DS (maybe in a few weeks after rent and bills have been paid) but I'll have to get a new copy of Rune Factory, thus losing all my progress. And the rumble pack I had in the GBA slot was a Japanese import, since they don't make a rumble pack for the DS Lite in the US. I'd hate to have to get a replacement for that. Meh. |
| Friday, January 23rd, 2009 |
| 11:37 pm |
Animal update
Well it looks like Leela's leg is fully back to normal. She's back to all her usual tricks, like hurling herself against the refrigerator to demand food. We still have a puppy visiting. She spent the entire morning in my lap and whined piteously when I locked her up in the bedroom and went to work. (I hope she didn't disturb our neighbors overmuch.) I do have to return the puppy to her mother tomorrow, so I'm going to get all the snuggling I can tonight. And I am also very tired after an eleven hour shift. But there's nothing new about that. |
| Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 |
| 9:24 pm |
My wife and I are dognappers!
My wife and I abducted our friend's dog for a night. Not because we are malicious people, but because said friend is moving and a tiny dog underfoot could be trouble for movers. But the puppy doesn't see it that way. She complained loudly about being taken far away from her mother in a strange car. Of course now that we're home she's perfectly contented and exploring with delight. And we know from experience that she's a delight to have around. So I suppose I don't feel too bad. (Our cats, however, are perplexed by this beast we've brought into their home.) |
| Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 |
| 2:37 pm |
Limping Kittie
Yesterday one of our cats developed a limp. This is Leela - the pudgy whiny clumsy one. It happened at some point in the afternoon I think. I noticed nothing unusual about her behavior when I got home from work at about 3PM yesterday, but when I got up from my afternoon nap she was favoring her right forelimb, putting very little weight on it. And as the evening progressed it became more pronounced, and clearly more painful for her. By the time my wife and I were getting ready for bed Leela was hobbling about on three legs and mewing angrily with pain every time she put her other leg down. I examined her closely and could detect no swelling, and she seemed to respond normally to poking and prodding at the lower end of the extremity (normal being squirming and looking at me like I had gone mad to be handing her paw.) I think the pain was in the "elbow" joint, where she reacted with a yelp and hiss if I attempted to feel it. I was worried that since it appeared to be worsening I would have to make a trip to the vet this afternoon (which would be tough on our already tight post-xmas budget.) This morning she did not wake me at 6 AM for food.. which made me very worried indeed, since begging to be constantly fed is her primary behavioral attribute. She did, however hobble into the bathroom after my shower and get into the tub. (Yes, she likes to sit in a wet tub... never really understood that.) Things seem better this afternoon however. When I got home from work she was climbing around behind my Wii and trying to leap up on the VCR.. knocking things down and stumbling about, which is normal behavior for her. She's still limping a lot, but I noticed her putting her leg down and resting some weight on it a couple times. And after eating this afternoon she used the injured leg to wash her face. So it seems likely that she's recovering from whatever trauma she experienced yesterday. (I can think of two primary likely scenarios: either she got in a bad fight with Addie, or she fell from one of her clumsy climbing expeditions.) I'll be keeping a very close eye on her and hoping I don't have to make an emergency vet visit. I don't believe anything is broken or she would have protested much more when I was feeling around on her leg, so it's probably a sprain of some sort. |
| Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 |
| 7:49 pm |
Brand New Day
According to my friends list there was some great event in American politics today. Sadly, I missed the inauguration itself because I was at work and had no access to any outside input whatsoever. (We have no TV, radio or internet in the store. I could probably find some way to get news feeds on my phone, but it really wouldn't be the same.) So I had to satisfy myself with watching the address on my computer when I got home. It was a great thing, but I wish I could have shared that moment with my wife and some of the people we love. |
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