Archive for October, 2004


New icon

10/17/2004

Can’t sleep and bored.. changed the icon for this site (for those who can see it). Now it’s a faded blue ‘e’ thingy.

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Gaming time

10/17/2004

I was out with a friend today and decided to buy a couple of video games. The first one was Halo - which everyone raves about. The other was Dawn of War - which no one has said anything about since it’s brand new. Here are my opinions:

Halo sucks. I played it for about 30 minutes. The mouse control is terrible (even after you adjust it). The landscapes are weak, character movement doesn’t feel right and it’s downright boring. See an enemy, shoot and enemy, run to the next objective, blah blah blah. Very disappointed in it. I’ll be bringing it back for a refund next Saturday. For all this hype I heard about Halo, it sure doesn’t live up to it. Guess I fell for the hype and got screwed for it.

Dawn of War is good. Since I like it I have lots to say about it.

I won’t say DOW is awesome but it’s better than average. It’s like a big game of capture-the-flag but it’s very involved. Very reminiscent of StarCraft, almost a little too much in some places (but that’s not a bad thing). Graphics are smooth. Gameplay very engaging. Lots of things to do, lots of weapons, lots of fun. I can also see this game being a big online hit.

Worst part about DOW: The cutscenes between campaigns are horrible. They should have spent more time on those. However, the intro movie is absolutely perfect… I just wish they carried that effort to the cutscenes. To put in bluntly, the cutscenes look like they were made in 1999. That’s how bad they are - and this is a 2004 game. But fortunately the cutscenes don’t affect gameplay whatsoever (thank God).

Best part about DOW: It has something I haven’t seen in any other RPG-ish style game, the ability to zoom and pan on “the field”. You’re not just stuck with an overview. You can get right to the ground, zoom in and see live fight scenes up close. Very cool.

Controls for this game can be easily picked up by almost anyone I would think. Every single mouse command with the exception of some movement can be done via keyboard. This is one of those games where it’s a big advantage to learn the keyboard shortcuts because it will enhance gameplay a lot more.

DOW doesn’t require the latest/greatest computer to run it. It runs very smooth with stock settings. Suffice it to say, I’ll be keeping this game.

So.. Halo’s out, Dawn of War is in.

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Red Sox Win again!

10/20/2004

Being a New England native, I’m a Red Sox fan. No, I don’t know the player’s names or their stats or whatever. I’m just a fan. I’m also not one of those guys who watches sports on television. Can’t say I’m really a sports guy. As a matter of fact I’ve been watching very little tv these days. But anyway..

The ‘Sox made history tonight, coming back from a 3 game deficit to force a game 7 in the series - and that’s never been done before. Cool beans. I was happy to see them win - especially against the Yankees who seem to just dominate everyone in their path (but not tonight!!)

Things have been going A-OK for New England for several years now. The Patriots have won 2 Superbowls - something I’d never thought I’d see happen. The UCONN Men’s and Women’s basketball teams both had championship victories at the same time. Now the only one left is the ‘Sox - which I think is the most important one.

I am just not used to seeing our teams winning. It’s not that they aren’t good enough. It just always seems that they run into strains of bad luck. But luck seems to be riding on our side right now. Will the ‘Sox take it home? Don’t know. I’m too used to too many years of the ‘Sox having bad luck. But who knows, maybe this will change. Who’s to say for sure.

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Blog stuff and whatever

10/21/2004

The archives have changed slightly. Old posts are now listed properly. My version of “properly” is ascending order, meaning from oldest to newest, not newest to oldest. Old posts will be at the top, new ones at the bottom. To me this is much easier to read. You can check this out by looking at any archive whether date-based or category based.

—

I got home from werk yesterday at my usual time, ate some dinner then said to meself:


“I think I’ll rest for a few minutes.”

So I laid down. –ZONK– I was out like a light, still wearing clothes, shoes and all.

I wake up at 2:30am.


“Shit.”

This sucks because I can’t go back to bed.. I just slept a long time. I’ll be up for the rest of the day now.

I go to my computer. Three voice mails (my voice mails are e-mailed to me, Vonage rocks) and a few e-mails. Two of which were from someone I was supposed to meet last night.


“Shit.”

I e-mail her back and explain that I zonked out. Fortunately she knows I like to nap sometimes when I get home from werk so it’s not all that bad. Damage control initiated. (heh)

I check the blog and I got a comment (two, actually) from a girl I knew years ago.


“Neato!”

I comment back. Good to hear from old friends. I hope she still has long hair. (grin)

—

While I’m up doing basically nothing but waiting for the sun to come up, I decide to do laundry. Why not. I got the time.

The dryer just buzzed so I’m off to hang clothes.

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Errand runner

10/23/2004

I got to run several errands today. Finally got to get to the BANK and get some cash which was absolutely necessary (grin). Also returned the Halo game to EBX at the Crystal Mall. I thought the game sucked so I went and got a refund. Did some other odds and ends too.

It’s also getting colder outside. Brr.. It’s not too bad, I can still go out in a t-shirt and coat and survive, but I can tell the colder weather is approaching. Eesh..

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Legalese

10/23/2004

Being a college educated man (hold your applause), I am educated in many things. Two of which I know best, fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view are media law and customer contractural agreements. I have drafted and finalized several legal documents over the years, and one thing is for certain: I hate doing it. But it’s unfortunately necessary or you’ll get taken to the cleaners. Over the past few hours I’ve been drafting new versions of my legal documents for my up and coming biz.

Why do I write my own legal documents? Simply put, I think I do a better job at it. I’ve paid attorneys in the past to write stuff up for me, read it over and have found hole after hole after hole. To fix those holes you (of course) have to pay more to fix them. And it’s not like you can just go shopping around for good contract writers. You have to pay for it every time. Ugh.

I think it’s best if you learn to do it anyway, especially if you run your own biz. I mean yeah, there will be some things you’ll need an attorney for every now and then, but, the majority of the time you won’t. That’s just my opinion.

The way I write legal documents is simple (in theory): I think of every single possible way a customer could screw me - and I mean every single conceivable way possible. Then I write to accommodate for it.

My favorites (just as a matter of it being interesting) are chance occurrences better known as “Acts of God”. In every insurance contract you will see an Act of God clause. The Act of God clause basically means this: Say you’re a house builder. If you build a house for someone, finish it, and lightning destroys it a day later, you’re not liable if the clause exists in the original agreement. However, if you don’t put that God clause in there, the person you built the house for can legally sue you for damages. Crazy but true. The homeowner could simply say “The builder should have checked the forecast.”

Anyway I could talk about it all day - but I won’t. (grin) So it’s back to contract writing I go..

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3rd time’s a charm.. maybe

10/24/2004


“A third casino in Eastern Connecticut would have “pronounced and immediate effects,” according to a leading business group’s 2004 report on business strategy.”

Yep you heard it right. A third casino here in Connecticut. Right now Connecticut lays claim to the largest casino in the world, Foxwoods. I’ve been there several times. Carpets are usually dirty, but the buffet’s good. I like Mohegan Sun much much better. Way cleaner, better shops. Better overall experience.

But seriously.. a third casino? Is Connecticut turning into Las Vegas all of a sudden? Sheesh.

I mean yeah, the casinos created lots of jobs, BUT (big BUT there), the majority of them are LOW PAYING jobs - something we DON’T need. Unofficially the median average income in this state per individual is $40,000 a year. Most jobs at the casinos start at $20,000 - half of the median average.

The plus: More jobs in this state, good thing. Before the casinos came around this state really wasn’t doing too well in the employment department.

The minus: House and apartment prices going through the roof, no one can afford to live there with the small starter wages.

But like it or not, if a 3rd casino is coming, it’s coming and there’s no way to stop it. I’m just hoping the execution of this casino is done the right way - where it properly prepares for increased traffic congestion, housing needs and so on.. else it will turn the area into a big slum.

Full story here

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Sounded like a good idea at the time..

10/25/2004

The archives here have changed back to the way they were. Archives by month and category are now listed with newest at top and oldest at bottom. It was the other way ’round, but I found that newest at top is a bit easier when you go to read it. This directly goes against what I said about it earlier. Blah. (grin)

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Best eBay listing —EVER—

10/25/2004

THIS absolutely kicks ass: READ THIS EBAY LISTING.

Here’s a small excerpt from it:


“I received this stupid pen on my birthday years ago from my ex-wife, and even before I divorced her flabby body, I hated the pen. I have no idea why she bought me this piece of crap. Sure, it writes fine and could “seem” kind of cool, but I hate it. The color is ugly, it barely fits in my banana sized hands, and it comes with some weird carrying case. King Kong could barely write with it. Every time I open up my drawer and see this waste of space, I am reminded that I used to be married to that skank who gave me a stupid pen for my birthday.”

Read more of this - it is absolutely frickin’ HILARIOUS.

I will be capturing this to PDF later for download on this site. That’s how much I think that listing rocks.

–[EDIT]–

Here it is in PDF version in case the link doesn’t work above. You’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) to read it.

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Curse broken

10/28/2004

Although this must be on every single blog in the world by now, here’s my entry:

!!!!RED SOX WINS WORLD SERIES!!!!

Unbelievable.

—

In other news:

I have started work on Team oTc’s web site. Yeah yeah I know, I said I was through with web sites for a while. But, oTc really needed somebody to do a site for them so I volunteered. Right now it’s just a news poster and message board but that will get spruced up as time goes on. Much thanks to Iz and Atma for letting me do their site for them - I know they wouldn’t just hand their site to anyone.

In closing:

It’s nice to know there are those out there who APPRECIATE WHAT I DO FOR THEM compared to some people I know who are so unbelievably STUPID that they can’t even begin to realize the amount of EFFORT I put into things.

To oTc I say thank you. To others who like to chastise me (and you know who you are), try pulling your head out of your ass for a change and grow up - if that’s even possible. Then again, most people who chastise me were born on the shallow end of the gene pool and contribute to society as a waste of space.

This concludes our broadcast day. (grin)

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