Archive for December, 2006
12/2/2006
I entitled this one “visually unappealing” because I have a photo showing the place I went to yesterday, but unfortunately I forgot to bring the stupid cable for my digital camera to transfer files to my computer once again. I’m in Inverness, the cable is in Tampa. So… you will have to wait until I get back to Tampa to see the photo. Edit: Photo added. See above.
Until then, here’s a short description of what happened (can you feel the excitement?) :-)
Arrived in Inverness yesterday at my Pop’s place around 7am. Then went to get my oil changed. During the time that was happening I called a friend I was supposed to meet up with so we could do some shopping. Went home, took a shower, laid down for a minute and then…
*plunk*
Out like a light. Fell asleep.
(It should be noted, when one has just taken a shower, and then lies down for a moment, it’s just all too easy to fall asleep.)
Woke up eight hours later, then felt really guilty because I said I was going to go do shopping with the aforementioned friend but snoozed instead. Called her up, explained why I didn’t show up, and she was very understanding and said it was okay.
However, all was not lost. It was 5pm and I asked her to call the place we were going to visit to see if they were still open.
Success! They were open until 6:30pm. I got myself together, picked her up, and we made it around 6:10pm - so by the lucky stars I was able to narrowly save the day in that respect. :-)
The shop we went to was called “Magical Senses”; a small shop in Crystal River Florida that has lots of magic/mystical things, like incense, crystal balls, magic stones, books and so on. It was a neat little shop. I took a photo of the storefront (which is the pic I wanted to show here but can’t right now), and even the entrance looks interesting.
In other news: Later today I will be heading back to Tampa. I have my new music almost finished, and I will be able to post the photo then.
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12/2/2006
I just ordered my present-to-me for the holidays, a BenQ FP202W from NewEgg. Price: $260. Some might say Isn’t that a bit expensive for a computer monitor? Actually, no.
Check this out:
The lowest priced 19-inch LCD monitor I could find at any retailer: $325.
The lowest priced LCD (of same size) television I could find at any retailer: $400 (rip-off!)
My new 20.1-inch widescreen monitor, $260.
This will be fine’n'dandy for my computing stuff (obviously) and watching DVD’s, too.
As long as it doesn’t arrive with any dead/stuck pixels, I’ll be a happy guy. According to the reviews on the product, very few people had theirs arrive with that defect, so I’m confident mine will be a-okay. Hopefully. :-)
I’d never thought I’d see the day where I’d be using an over-20-inch computer monitor. But hey, it’s just the right size for movie watching at a distance and regular computer stuff, so.. why not?
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12/3/2006
It’s a few days late, but I have new tunes released. I call this collection “vg” (short for “video game”). I wanted to see if I could make some fifth generation console style music, and I think it came out rather well. Were I to put this video game style music to a genre, it would probably be a racing-type game. The music is available for download now on the music page.
Edit: I’ve added some more info on why I did this release, along with some technical info on the Alesis Fusion 6HD.
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12/3/2006
Whether you’re a fan of tech or not, this is an interesting read.
There is a big list of commercial failures in the computer and gaming industry. I can say that yes, I remember a few of these.
I remember seeing the television ads for the Atari Jaguar. Even back then I knew that Atari was desperate to sell the system. The tv ad I remember showed this teacher yelling at a class saying “64 BITS! 64 [bleep]‘in BITS!” Evidently, the whole 64-bit thing was supposed to sell this unit. It didn’t.
When I saw the Virtual Boy in stores, the first thing I thought was Man, that looks retarded. And it was. The system sucked. I never knew anyone that owned one, much less used it. However, I do remember seeing stories on the news that the system did cause headaches - literally.
I played a ton of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. The game looked absolutely nothing like the real arcade, but we all played it anyway. I mean, heck, it was better than Air Sea Battle (which truly sucked).
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12/4/2006
I admit it - I’m anxious to get my new big-ass computer monitor. ‘Tis not often that I purchase items over $100 for myself (mainly because I don’t have to), so whenever I do, I’m always anxious to get whatever it is I bought.
But, at the same time I’m also worried. See, the deal with mail order is that while it’s true you save a ton of money, you also run the risk of having a product arrive DOA. I’ve had that happen before concerning electronic items ordered this way, and it absolutely frickin’ sucks every time it happens. There is absolutely nothing good about it. You get angry, feel cheated and it just ruins your whole week.
Some vendors will eat the shipping cost for returns. Others won’t. So if you have an item arrive DOA, you sometimes have to pay extra shipping just to get a replacement. This is why vendors like Dell are great to work with, because they spend a ton of money on shipping just to keep customers happy - and that’s not a bad thing at all. When you get a replacement part from Dell, there is a return shipping label in the box. You take the new part, install it, then take the old part, put it in the box, slap the label on it, call the shipper and he comes and takes it away. Very simple. Very easy. Very cool. You spend nothing. Awesome.
NewEgg’s return policies are fairly decent. They’re not as good as Dell, but I do consider them above-average. At least they spell everything out in plain English. The verbiage is lengthy, but that is a-okay because it’s not vague. Better to be lengthy than just a little two-sentence write-up.
Aside from electronics, I think where people screw the pooch the most is with automobile warranties. Some auto dealers will attempt to sell you on “extended” warranty plans, but sometimes they aren’t even worth the paper they’re printed on.
Case in point: My last car (2000 Oldmobile Alero) had one of those extended plans. However, what I didn’t know is that it was not a GM warranty (it was by a company called API). It was a separate warranty that came into effect after the primary one expired. Also, I found out that no one would honor it except the dealer I bought the car from.
In addition, I found there was a lot that this warranty did not cover. So I requested a print-up of the contract and read it top to bottom. Then I knew what was covered and what wasn’t. In several instances I had to “read the rule book” to the dealership when they tried to give me a bullshit reason for not wanting to fix my car.
For example:
(After bringing car to dealership and speaking with mechanic concerning oil leak in front of the motor.)
“I noticed an oil leak in the front of the motor.”
“We didn’t find any oil leak, sir.”
(Head to another Chevrolet dealership but don’t tell them you’ve already been to another one, have the mechanic perform diag and give confirmation that yes, there’s a problem there. Go back to other dealership.)
“You remember saying there wasn’t a problem in the front?”
“Yes.”
“Well, [name of other dealership] says there is. Here’s the diag sheet they wrote up stating where the problem is. Would you like to take a second look at it?”
(Mechanic’s face turns white)
“Yes, we’ll take a look at it.”
(Wait a few hours)
“Yes, we found the problem. It’s fixed, but your warranty doesn’t cover it. You will need to pay [insert hundred of dollars amount here].”
“No, that’s not true. My warranty plainly states on paragraph five section B that this is an engine issue and is therefore covered.”
(silence…)
“One moment, sir.”
(placed on hold)
(comes back)
“Oh, yes! You are right. It’s covered. You can come on down and pick up the car.”
“Thanks.”
It does not matter what car you own because this always happens.
You can tell I’m a bit “seasoned” with this, eh? :-)
My tip for today: Always read your return policies and warranty contracts. Every word.
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12/5/2006
Apologies go out to the author but this is funny
I read this on another blog about how the author “spent a fucking hour” writing a big-ass post, only to hit a key by mistake and wiped out the whole thing.
(snicker..)
Yeap. I’ve done that a few times m’self. This is why when I have anything over two paragraphs long, I copy/paste it to Windows Notepad (or Dreamweaver) first to prevent stuff like that from happening. When finished I copy/paste back. This is good advice for any blogger whether new or seasoned.
I had to lose about ten or so long posts before I trained myself to edit elsewhere before posting, because it is just too easy to hit a key and *poof*.. all gone.
And by the way, the fact he used the word “sumbitch” (in reference to a sheriff from this movie) was also funny. I like that word. The sheriff in that movie also spoke a line which is the inspiration for the title of this post.
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Eat ‘em and smile
No, I’m not referring to David Lee Roth. I just checked out a weather hazard for Connecticut. The forecast? Wet snow. Not boatloads of it or anything, but, wet snow is wet snow. And it sucks.
Forecast for Tampa? One word: Lovely.
Yes, I’m rubbing it in. I can’t help it. Well, I could but I don’t want to. :-)
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12/6/2006
Something interesting about car washes in Florida (and other warmer states most likely) is that one or both sides are wide open. Note the huge opening to the left. The above is one of those touch-less washing stations at a local Mobil in Riverview.
And because I don’t feel like writing a separate post, I’m going to note other happenings that have been going on here. :-)
————————-BenQ FP202W monitor arrives
My BenQ FP202W 20-inch monitor arrived today. I like it a lot. Works very nicely with DVD movies and for regular computing stuff it also works exceptionally.
The funny thing is that 20-inch doesn’t seem as big as you would think it’d be. I mean, yeah, this is a big monitor, no doubt about that, but it’s nice that it doesn’t have that colossal factor to it, i.e. it’s usable and not a big paperweight.
Many reviewers of this monitor state it’s very annoying that all the control buttons (for color, brightness, etc) are on the right and not visible. I have to agree with this; that is a bit annoying. But as almost all the reviewers also said, once you have it set the way you want, you never have to adjust it afterwards, so it’s a minor trade-off.
This is the first time I’ve used a DVI input instead of regular VGA style. This monitor does both, and you can choose which input you want on the fly with the OSD (nice touch), so you can effectively have two computers plugged into this thing. I notice the difference between DVI and VGA almost immediately. Fonts are clearer, DVD picture is better and so on. It’s nice to have.
I was fortunate enough not to receive this monitor from NewEgg with any dead pixels at all, however, we’ll see if it still doesn’t have any after a week. Normally if any dead/stuck pixels happen, it happens within the first week or so of use. Crossing fingers. :-)
————————-Weird only because I’m not used to it
It’s December so people have started putting up Christmas lights and decorations. I find it weird. Why? Because it’s sunny and lovely outside. It isn’t cold at all. This is yet another one of those things that my brain has to get used to. When I see Christmas decorations I think “cold”. But it isn’t. And that’s perfectly fine with me. :-)
————————-Marathon video run
Last night I had to rebuild my big box with an entire new installation of Windows XP which took way too long, but it had to be done. Because of this I couldn’t do any video editing. I have three projects I need to get done today. They will be done, I have no doubt of that, but I would have preferred to start on them yesterday. Oh, well.
So I’m off to do that. :-)
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12/7/2006
It just hit me as I was starting to write this that it’s less than a month until 2007 rolls around. This year feels like a big blur to me, and it isn’t even over yet. :-)
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Flash geek stuff. Ignore this. Seriously.
I’ve been trying (repeat: trying) to finish a project whereas a random Flash video loads with clickable links within, then once finished “forwards” (i.e. goes to scene 2) once completed. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. This evidently takes an act of Congress just to get working and I’m getting extremely frustrated at Flash right now. It’s late in the eve, I’ve been trying to get this stupid thing to work all day, it doesn’t work, so I’ll head up north to Pop’s place and work on it there. The long drive will do me good.
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12/8/2006
Nu Shooz
I bought a new pair of sneakers recently. As usual, they’re Starter “Walking” footwear, because, well, I walk with them. It’s kind of funny that there are a ton of people out there that literally can’t remember the last time they ran anywhere.
I wear supports in my shoes due to the fact I have flat feet (ah, another factoid about me I bet you didn’t know about). This time around I decided to be brave and get those Dr. Scholl’s “gellin’” thing-a-ma-doo’s.
My official review: Comfy. “Outrageously” comfy? No. Just comfy. You’ll get the same comfort level out of most other add-in insoles.
It’s safe to say that the comfort of your feet largely depends on the quality of shoe you buy. If you go cheap, an insole isn’t going to turn that shoe into an “outrageously” comfortable thing.
So you know, the footwear I wear isn’t “Florida standard”, which is anything open-toed. Down here there is literally no reason to wear close-toed shoes other than for professional reasons, such as an office job (and even then it sometimes isn’t required).
Eventually I will get something open-toed sooner or later. :-)
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Yet another Connecticut contact
A girl I dated fourteen years ago contacted me on MySpace yesterday (hi Jen). Cool beans. She’s turned into a gamer girl which is nothing short of awesome, because girls who use computers and play video games just rock your socks. Truly. They are the ones who “get it” in my opinion.
For those who don’t want to do the math, I’m thirty-one now, which means fourteen years ago I was seventeen.
Pretty neat, eh?
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12/9/2006
Ordinarily I reserve writing one of these until right before or after December 25, but this year I’m doing my annual “year in review” post a lil’ bit early. It my site - I’m allowed. :-)
This is long so I made it an extended entry.
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