Hey yall,

It has been a very busy time lately. I got a job 2 1/2 months ago and I've been working 40 a week. I have been tired. I am back in retail where I said I would never go back, but oh well. It is nice to have a little money in the bank again. :)

Finally I can pay off a bill and just in time to maybe pick up that new PS3, need that to play God of War 3! 8)

I'll try to be around more, but for now I just come home from work watch some shows, eat supper and go to bed. Watch racing on weekends and soon some football as well.

I haven't read anything other than magazines and the internet for a while so I went looking for some classics the other day. I thought I might try to read "The Iliad" or "The Odyssey," couldn't find those so I bought "The Aeneid" by Virgil. It is a pretty tough read and about half of it is unintelligible, but I can get the gist and there was actually a really funny part with Aphrodite and Cupid playing a trick on Queen Dido. Don't Judge Me! :P

Later.

I have reached Level 30!

And it only took me 4 years. :lol:

Isn't Boston the only area that really says that? Wicked Sick, that is.

Also, I never properly thanked smokeydabear076 and hush404 for their artwork for my banner, sig, and last avatar. Thank you guys. :)

Speaking of Wicked Sick!:
Natassia Malthe

I think I will go to bed now. Good night.

Is it just me or does the new Prince of Persia look like a cell-shaded Final Fantasy wannabe?! Crap in my opinion. I have no desire to play it, of course I can't (no next gen) but I wouldn't if I could.

The Thanksgiving Holiday is over here in the States and it turned out pretty good here. It was stressful helping my parents get the house ready for the rest of the family, but once they got here everything went smoothly. The kids had a good time and my XBOX proved valuable at occupying my pre-teen nephew with Unreal Championship. He loved that game. We also tried Medal of Honor Rising Sun on the PS2, not quite as good but he seemed to like it so I gave it to my sister to give to him for Christmas. He has a PS2 but not an XBOX.

Last week I continued playing Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 that I hadn't played in about a year. I was almost to the end of D-Day, and now I am on D+7, the next to last level. I like its gameplay, although sometimes my guys seem to get shot too easily and can't hit the broad side of a barn. I had to replay a part where you have to blow up 3 tanks, separately, from a church balcony about 20 times. Tank shells are hell!

Also, since I unpacked my PS2 I decided to pick up where I left off in God of War. I was in Pandora's Rings and had to go through the room with the saws on the floor and fight the shielded undead over an opening floor. I admit I had to check out Gamespot's Game Guide to destroy the shields (square, square, triangle). I am onto Poseidon's Challenge swimming a bunch. Currently I am trying to get past the part where I have to hide in underwater floor openings to avoid a wall that will crush me.

Lastly, non-game related, I'm tired of por... I mean adult film stars trying to sell me "enhancement" pills. Most of them I have never seen, but they all look like dirty actors. Who wants to see that during their favorite show or football game?

With the recent revitilization of Vista by Microsoft and the ad campaign, Apple couldn't sit idly by without making a point.  So they go to their bag of tricks and pull out the same commercial format they've used for the past what feels like 2 years, I guess all those creative people using Apples don't work on commercials.

So here we have Apple criticizing Microsoft for spending lots of money on advertising while they should be 'fixing' Vista.  Yes that is a great marketing tactic, accuse your competitor of advertising too much in the last few months when you've been doing it for the last half decade.  Yes, very smart and witty. :roll:

Frankly I like the Microsoft commercials ("I'm a PC") and thought they were a tasteful poke back at Apple for their drawn out campaign of bigotry, that's right I'm going there.  Apple is supposed to appeal to the sophisticate young vibrant artsy crowd, who are, at least I thought, more appreciative of diversity and tolerant of other viewpoints.  Guess none of that applies to computers and software.

By no means am I passing judgment on either OS, but I've used Vista on my dad's laptop and it ain't all that bad. Nevermind the popups asking if you really want to run such and such program, it functions well, looks attractive, and any hangups are likely Sony's fault.  So a word to Apple. You make a good computer, we get it, no need to bring yourself down. And Microsoft work on making Vista better, like you weren't already, and get the next version out so businesses don't languish with XP forever.

So far in the past week I've applied to jobs in Santa Barbara, Fresno, Bakersfield, California; Houston, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Fairbanks, Alaska; and Columbia, South Carolina.  Also, Logan, Utah is a possible option for grad school.

Soon I will be applying to one that gives me the option a choice of a few cities, of which I would choose Atlanta, Georgia or Seattle, Washington.

None, in the Northeast yet but it's early and Europe is a possibility with some private companies I've come across, many in Germany and Sweden.

So will I be in your town.  Hanging out at the local bar/pub/club.  Stick around and find out.

The Happening

A crap of a movie. No twist, no surprise, just bs.

1/5

The Incredible Hulk

An enjoyable movie, with great story progression.

4/5

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

A fun look at horror flicks, and a decent slasher of its own.

3/5

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"I'm so...startled."
-Stan's dad, South Park

Four Things I Need to Do (according to Yahoo)

Yeah, it's lame, but it is time for me to look closer at my health and extending my life. Ok, so it's not lame, but who wants to talk about it, but I thought I would share these helpful tips.

1. Kick the Coke Habit, soda that is. Cutting out unnecessary sugar is such a concern nowadays and apparently there is concern that sodas in particular could increase your risk for diabetes (obvious) and heart disease (not so obvious).

2. Get a Leg Up! One I hadn't really thought of, but makes total sense, is to keep your legs strong. This improves balance, flexibility, and endurance. In old age this will help you to avoid injuries associated with falling, such as broken bones.

3. All about the jeans...I mean genes. This is not something you can control, but I guess it's nice to know, well not really for me at least. If your mom was 25 years old or younger when you were conceived then you are twice as likely to live to 100 years old as us 'late' babies. The suspected reason being that the best (re: healthiest) eggs are developed and used first.

4. Big, Bad Purple Eater. You'll love this one! If not you're some pinko commie. :P Eat and drink Purple. That means grapes, red wine, blueberries (close enough). All get their color from polyphenols, which can reduce risk of heart disease and possibly guard against Alzheimer's disease.

Pre-Bailout Video

My Senator fighting a loosing battle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSzLJzJC5zY

4k TVs

Technobabble: 1080p? That's so…2008

If you bought an HDTV in the past two years, there's one term you probably heard over and over again: 1080p. This term, indicating a TV with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels scanned progressively, is considered the pinnacle of modern HDTV goodness. Add in a 120Hz refresh rate, and you've surely reached nirvana.

Well, maybe not. Get ready to learn a new term: 4K.

So…why is this better?
A 4K display comes in at 4096 x 2160 pixels, almost four times the resolution of a 1080p display. When people first started talking about HDTV, they often used the visual of a basketball court. With a standard-definition set, you could see the basketball and the wooden court floor. An HDTV, proponents said, would allow you to see the grain of the wood and the texture on the basketball. Imagine what you'll see on a display with four times the resolution: molecules, atoms, quarks…

OK, so maybe that's an overstatement. For now, 4K action is largely confined to the realm of high-end digital projectors. You'll find these used in museums and movie theaters, or in medical applications where the extra resolution can mean the difference between catching a problem and missing one.

Only a handful of companies are even manufacturing cameras capable of capturing video at that resolution, so don't go looking for 4K broadcasts from TV networks any time soon. But there's some evidence that TV manufacturers are already thinking about 4K in the consumer market.

Attack of the giant screens
Remember the big 150" plasma TV Panasonic showed off at the International Consumer Electronics Show back in January? That was a 4K set. On a screen that size, 1080p resolution would look as grainy as your old standard-definition set.

So what does 4K mean to you right now? Not a lot. But here's my prediction: as the HDTV market becomes saturated, TV makers are going to need something new and exciting to talk about. Pixel count on TVs is like horsepower in cars. Start looking for 4K TVs to quietly enter the consumer market in 2010. They'll be expensive, but once you see one at your local Circuit City, you'll know that the TV guys are serious.

—Matthew West
(CircuitCity.com)

Is it just me or is his math just a little off? Isn't a 4096x2160 TWICE as many pixels as a 1920x1080? You just can never get ahead of technology. :?:)

EDIT: Nevermind, I did the math and yes it is almost four times the pixels. Numbers do funny things sometimes.

BATracer Sim

I've been enjoying this online racing simulation. I found it through the Formula One Passion Union here on Gamespot. It's addictive and actually pretty tough. The statistical variances such as weather changes and driving **** are pretty in-depth.

If you want to join, click.

The ridiculous penalties against Hines Ward (WR Pittsburgh) this week show just how sad and corrupt the NFL has gotten. They could do a lot more to a lot of others if they really cared about players' safety.

As Troy Polamalu said something like "football is now a game of pansies."

Is the new movie "Changeling" any good? I hope so, the main character from one of my favorite TV shows, "Burn Notice," is one of the main characters.

Hey all,

I've been spending time with family over the last week and a half. I'm not sure if I really want to elaborate, but it's been a sad week, but also a really beautiful week full of family gathering and reminiscing of years past.

Well, my grandmother died last Friday. That was tough to write... So of course it was a difficult time, but it was also great to see the whole family and tell stories. BTW she had 8 children (my mother included), 21 grandchildren, 30+ great-grandchildren (more on the way), and 23 step-grandchildren. The last of 14 children alive she was the matriarch of an expansive and often confusing family tree (i.e. my grandmother's step-children were all older than her). There are some large generation gaps, such as I have a first cousin (half- or step-) who is in her 80s, I'm in my 20s. :)

Look I'm rambling.

Anyways, I'm back and hope I didn't miss much.