Well, my VB class is done. Thankfully. I am no programmer, and I felt pretty stupid when it was all over. I won't take an online programming class again; that was just a stupid decision on my part, to save some class and driving time. Anyhow, two more classes until Christmas vacation.. should be easy sailing from here on out.

I started playing Morrowind again and am pretty much just getting my ass kicked in regularly. It's rough in the beginning, but I really enjoy it. Usually what happens, is that I end up hitting the naked barbarian guy that keeps following me around instead of whatever rodent or creature that I'm supposed to be hitting, and he kills me. It's pretty funny to get beat up by a naked barbarian. I would finish the quest he is a part of, but he makes for good bait while I'm healing up during battle, and a nice decoy as well.

All for now..........

Another month goes by...

What's new:

I'm back in school. It's a bit of a wake up call, since I haven't been in that "student" mode for a number of years. I find that while I don't enjoy physically going to class, I do enjoy learning something. I guess paying for a class is a better motivator to learn than plugging your face into a book or online CBT. I think I'm serious about finishing this time, which I've said before.. but with the kids being a little older and less dependent, it's easier to go out and do things for the both of us, and my night work schedule makes it easier on the off-days to attend class.

Anyhow.. there really isn't a whole lot else going on besides being generally busy with life. I finished WarCraft III the other day - great game. It's nice to know that games put out by various companies will always kick ass - Bioware and Blizzard to name two, and you could include Raven and id for shooters.. even UT is probably always worth a buy. It's time to finally get back to Morrowind I think. I may hold off until the expansion comes out in a few months, since it's going to add a bunch of new features to make playing it a little less tedious. I still haven't done anything with IWD II or NWN either. I did make it to the final battle in Dungeon Siege (heh, doesn't that sound like an OLD game now?) but I probably won't bother beating it. That game fizzled out pretty quickly. What's cool is, there are a lot of projects out there using the DS engine, and even one using the Morrowind engine, to remake older games (ie. the Ultima series). Should any of these see the light of day.. well, it would be most cool.

Have a good one....

Well, I may as well update this. I am pretty sure I am the only one viewing this blog anyhow. Who wants to read personal blogs anyhow? They are boring.

What's been going on? I haven't been playing anything online. School has started again, and I am once again on that road to a degree, so things have been busy. The kids are back in school as well. I am remembering why I was waiting for summer to come.. I was anxious to be free of the daily school schedule with the kids and myself, and by the end of summer I couldn't wait for things to return to "normal". Summer tends to be chaotic.. no schedules, no daily plans. I longed for that structure to return.. Now that it's back, I'm feeling busy. I don't like being busy. I don't like having a list of things that must be done at certain times. Yeah, it means I can't slack the way I want to, or when. Which, I suppose is a good thing.

I still have active accounts on Camelot and EQ. Whether or not I will log in with them is in question. It's tough to gather the motivation anymore. The main reason I used to play is to hang out with friends and have a good time. Well, most of the friends I have played with have moved on.. plus, it's tough to find any goals in a game you can't win, or one that has a purpose so much larger than any time investment you or your friends could possibly put into it. No one of us could play daily or even weekly to keep a guild going or any rate of advancement that some of us require (myself included)

Blah.. i don't have anything else to say right now.

Muhaha.. last update 3 months ago.. This place is gonna end up looking like 75% of the Internet...

W00t I got an A in my algebra class. Algebra? No, I'm not in high school.. just very very lagging behind on finishing my college mis-education. 12 years to complete a 4-year program. It'll be 15 total before I'm done. No regrets really, just should have stuck with it instead of starting and stopping.

We finally saw Spider-Man this past weekend. It's a decent movie for sure, even though it's a bit of a "chick flick" at times. Good story, good visuals. Next up is Episode II, despite reports that the movie is sorta stinky.

Cuddly Ferret
Uh.. according to the quiz, I am a cuddly ferret. How the heck did that happen?

Wanna take the quiz? Here: Ferret Test

A funny thing happened a week and a half ago. Well, sorta funny. Julie's computer became cranky and refused to boot. After spending a few hours goofing with it to no avail, she asked about the cost of upgrading. Well, given the prices of full systems today (getting a p4 complete for under $1000), I told her it really wasn't worth upgrading individual components anymore, unless you were the overclocker/game geek type that needs have 100fps at the highest resolution. To make a long story short, we all ended up with new computers (me, Julie and both kids). Sound insane? It is. I ended up getting a dream machine (p4/1.8 with a GeForce4/4600 and lotsa other goodies), and she received my "old" P4 machine with a GeForce 3/ti500, which is by no means a slow dog. Lance ended up with HER old machine (which I managed to get running using some older hardware), which is a P3.. and Sarah got Lance's old P3 as well. So, for just under $1500, everyone got an upgrade. Kinda neat..

No, I haven't seen Episode II yet. No, I haven't even seen Spiderman. We're hoping to buzz out this week and see them both (well at least I hope to). I haven't really been playing anything lately either, just some Final Fantasy X on our shiny, new ($299) PS2.. Yeah, thanks Sony. Prices are now $199 for the PS2.. I should have known. Heck, you can even pick up a Gamecube for $150 now. That's insane. The fact that the XBox didn't sell as MS had hoped, has caused everyone to enter a price war, which is ALWAYS good for us gamers! Now, if they would just include more than ONE controller and maybe a damn memory card in the initial box, and we could call it a deal. The PS2 ended up costing $500 after everything was purchased (one game, one controller, an S-video cable and switchbox, and a memory card). Sigh.. Oh, that S-video switchbox comes in handy. I got sick of swapping cables when I wanted to watch a DVD or play one of the two gaming systems hooked up using s-video. I'm an ultra geek and really can't skimp on things like that.. what's the point of NOT using optical sound and s-video if your hardware supports it, right? Hee hee

Does anyone actually read this besides me? Do I care? If I updated this more often I could almost consider it a life journal.. Hey, that's a thought.

I don't think there's anything new and exciting in the music scene. I may have passed up the opportunity to hit ProgPower in Atlanta. I am not sure yet, I haven't checked the site to see if tickets are gone. It's a long shot, but a lot of my favorite bands are there, including a rare East appearance of Devin Townsend (the guy always tours the west coast and Japan), and the first ever show in the US for Blind Guardian, a most-excellent fantasy-metal band from Germany. We're still deciding whether or not we want to spend a day sitting in the grass at Blossom for Ozzfest. Yes, very cool show, but hanging out in the lawn for 15 hours? Hmm.. The Euro Ozzfest is basically the same, but two really awesome bands from northern Europe will be there, which was a total shock to me - After Forever (the grunting vocalist left the band) and Within Temptation. Wowzers.. I think that would tip my decision if they came to the US show for sure. Half the bands at Ozzfest I have never heard of (and maybe don't want to). I am turning into a grumpy old metal fan that sticks to his 5 best groups.. hehe

Welp, time to hit the sack.. it's 3:00am and even though I couldn't sleep two hours ago, I think I can now.. bye!

Morrowind.. Delivered and installed.. Wowzers.. The first thing I felt when I was creating my first character was "this game is huge". I actually had to read the manual, and I've played/finished the last two chapters in the series. I can't believe it's only 1 CD (the other is for the construction set). With games like Baldur's Gate using up to 5 CDs, I just can't believe it. Well, the music is great, the graphics are great and there is sure enough content to keep anyone busy. Even in the starting town, there is a bunch to do and explore - an underwater dungeon, a murder investigation, a bandit cave and some more things. All of which you would miss if you hurried off and went to Balmora for your first assignment.

Anyhow.. Dungeon Siege? I'm in chapter 5. I'm also still playing Heroes IV, but I wanted to wait for a patch to be released because I really thought the game was too easy so far. I'm hoping they bumped up the AI in v1.4.

Nothing else is really new.. just getting excited about summer coming. Looking to take some time off of work and slack.. er.. do family stuff..

Wow!! In a strange twist of fate, another one of my favorite bands, The Gathering, are now collaborating with one of my originally favorite bands, Voivod. Well, at least one member. Denis (Piggy) will be playing guitar for The Gathering on a track for their new CD. WOW! I love when I hear a favorite band has been influenced by Voivod.. they are underground and "not big". It's nice to see how much they are a part of other bands' music.

Anyhow.. in other music news.. Layne Staley.. dead. I really don't have anything to say about it, other than it's devastating. I'm not the kind of person that idolizes musicians (or other people for that matter), but to lose such a great voice is really depressing. Sure, a musician passing before their time is not uncommon. So many have died before Layne, but something about him being MY age now, is closer to losing a friend. It's like growing up with Led Zeppelin and having Bonzo die.. growing up with the Beatles and having Lennon die. Staley is the Bonzo/Lennon of MY generation, and others like him. It's very sad.. He'll be missed. Time to crank up some 'Chains in admiration/reflection of a great one. Check Julie's blog for her farewell...

In gaming news.. Morrowind went gold. I just about fell out of my chair. Five years (six?) in the making. I'm doomed. I may never leave my desk for months. Someone remind me to shower.. I'm currently plunging through Dungeon Siege.. man, it's Diablo all over again. SAVE ME!

Ack.. i'm slipping already.. more than 10 days go by without my worthless spam!

Well, I finally received my copy of Dungeon Siege. I'd like it a lot more if I didn't keep forgetting to save every so often - the autosave almost never saves. Anyhow.. it's pretty and pretty fun, i'm still looking for the depth though. I do like the levelling system and the amount of cool stuff you find every 15 minutes or so.. a new spell, a new weapon.. something. It keeps you playing.

On the other hand, I checked out Might and Magic IX, something I was very excited about. I've played the M&M series since IV/V (btw, if you never played them together as the "World of Xeen", you really missed out!) and I've finished them all except M&M 6 - that temple near the end with all the jackal-headed guys was just insane. Anyhow.. MM9 uses the Lithtech engine.. yeah, maybe version 1.0 of Lithtech. This game looks worse that MM8 did (and MM8 looked fine except for the creature models - they were 2D sprites). I'm bummed about MM9 in general, but I may still play it.

Hey good news on the music front - Jason Newsted is recording with Voivod and the original singer is back, "Snake". It could have been a dream with Jean-Ives back on bass, but we'll take the Metallica outcast anyhow.. He's been a fan of the group for a long time, so maybe he'll be a good fit. A lot of the Voivod purists are in an uproar over it, though. Hey, I'm just happy another CD is coming..

Well, back to some slacking...

Well.. back on the subject of gaming... I just finished Wizardry 8. Yikes.. what a long game. Next up: Might and Magic 9. Also, my copy of Heroes of M&M IV just arrived, so I've been plowing through that. Wow, another great installment in the M&M series! Online? I'm not playing anything online right now. Just got off a 2.5 year EQ addiction and cancelled Camelot, so.... I'm done with that for a while. Dungeon Siege is in the mail, though! That should rock. Thankfully Morrowind has been delayed until May.. whew.

I'll have to deck out the links area with something worth clicking on. I visit a ton of gaming/music sites that I always wished I hadn't had to search for.. as in, once I find a good site, I like to remember it and return.

We also took a plunge and bought a PS2 a few weeks back (this was a trade agreement.. she got two ferrets, I got a PS2.. did I get duped?? "twice the food.. twice the poop.. twice the insanity". If you didn't know, we have 4 ferrets now. Ugh.

Aside from family, my most personal and favorite loves have to be board/computer gaming, science fiction and music. If you haven't noticed by now, the site theme _is_ music and science-fiction oriented. What does it mean? Hmm.. should I tell you?

"Dimension Hatross" is an album by a sci-fi metal band named Voivod. They've been around for nearly 20 years and hail from Quebec, Canada. Most of the band's work deals with a character called the "Voivod" or, a post-nuclear vampire. Sounds funky, doesn't it? Well, it is. The story continues on each album, although they did take a break for a time and do some other non-concept stuff, but they are back on track now. "Hatross" is a word created by the main writing force for the band, Michel Langevin, basically from the words "hate" and "atrocity". It's a psuedo-world created by the Voivod in his laboratory, that he projects himself into to explore. It's VERY far out there, but also very good. The other albums deal with his exploration of the universe and himself.. what he is, was and could be.

So, why use the name for a blog? Well, the history goes back a bit farther than the Web. Years before the web (circa 1987), dialup BBS (bulletin board systems) flourished. If you know what they are, great, if not, go read a nostalgic web site about them. I ran a few BBSs back then, the first being "The Ultimatum" and the second, most famous (if you could call it that), being "Dimension Hatross" The system focused very strongly around music, sci-fi and gaming. It was a blast to run, but alas, the Web came along and basically made those old dialup systems obsolete.

Anyhow.. you get the idea.. The colors/theme and wacky quotes and messages you'll find throughout the site (it's just one page right now - ha ha) will always be taken from the Voivod context. Have fun while here, and hopefully I'll put something here for someone to DO beside read my drivel. Thank you.. drive through...

Hello and welcome to my BLOG. Yeah, yeah, ok it's not so original anymore, but it sure beats messing with all the HTML myself. And this is all I really wanted anyhow - a place to blab to really no one, unless someone happens to drop by. The place looks pretty generic right now, but if you know me, I like to really customize my environment, wherever it may be, so hopefully it will look better soon.