So... It's been a month.
My workplace's move is beginning next week.. Moving westward.. twice as far. Anyhow, it's been busy. Hopefully it goes smoothly.
We've been kinda buried in schoolwork, work and whatever time is left for whatever else. We've been able to check out Fable some. It's pretty fun, with a few new ideas, mainly that your fame has a lot to do with the game. It's not the deepest game, but it's certainly fun.
The big news is that Everquest II comes out next Tuesday. I didn't think I was as interested in it as I am now. Free time is a big problem right now, so there's no guarantees. One thing to keep in mind is that playing EQ2 won't be like our last few months of EQ classic. EQ was all about the raids because that's what was left to do in the game.... all the levelling up and exploring had been done over and over again since 1999. Meaning, we won't have to spend 5 hours a night in high-end encounters, hopefully it's a couple hours here and there, as we can. EQ2 is totally new.. In fact, there is so little info about the game outside the major cities (Qeynos and Freeport) that it will be exciting to relearn it all again. It takes place 500 years after the original game and apparently a lot has changed.. The gods have left, which is one reason you can choose any class for any race! That's right.. dark elf druids! There has been no mention of dragons or other continents.. So it's almost as if you have to re-discover the entire game, which can be good. I am sure some old school places still exist (I've seen shots of Befallen, etc).. so it'll be fun.
Those who are able, from our little group of friends, will hopefully be building a guild (resurrecting Dalharen d'Oloth). Check us out - www.dalharen.com
That's all for now..
Friday, November 05, 2004
Friday, October 01, 2004
Par For the Course
So.. I figured since I had been a "good boy" and done most of my homework for the week, that I would sit down to play some PlayStation last night, since Julie had to work. I had some ferret maintenance to do and basically figured on a good 90 minute gaming session with some Xenosaga (no, I didn't sneeze).
So, there I was sitting on my side of the bed with the PS controller in my hand and the cord extended nearly to its capacity, when I remembered that I wanted to let the ferrets out to play. I had just beat a boss battle (took me a while to figure out where I was, I hadn't played the game in many months) and was watching one of the 50,000 cinematics (yeah, the game has too many, but at least the voice acting and dialog isn't horribly cheesy).. Anyhow, I got up, hopped over the cord to get to the ferret cage, then returned to my spot. The only difference between my trek to the cage and back was the inevitable trip over the controller cord.
So, there's this horrible "smack"ing noise, accompanied by a thud (no ferrets were injured; they were still stretching and yawning their way out of the cage). The game cinematic starts to skip and the sound goes all funky. I got up to see what had happened and saw the PS2 face down on the floor and my controller plug had gotten ripped out from its socket. After making sure no ferrets were about, I observed the situation. I rebooted the machine but the DVD wouldn't load. I tried to eject it and the tray was stuck. I tried to jimmy it out but it was frozen and I was afraid I'd break it. Well, after a few more minutes of inspection, I knew it was time for surgery.
I was very concerned that I'd find damage to the laser or DVD mechanism, but I had to find out if I could fix it. I wanted to cry.. my beloved PS2 was injured, possibly dead. Of all the material purchases over the last few years, the PS2 was probably one of the most cherished.
So, I collected the fuzzies, popped them back into their lair and promised them I'd be back. I went downstairs to located a "fix it" guide, which I found here. Thank you Mr. Rowley. His guide covered fixing problems with the laser eye reading DVDs, but it pertained to my problem as well since it involved taking apart the DVD assembly.
So.. the process took about 30 minutes, but I was able to disassemble the PS2, re-align the DVD drawer and remove my poor Xenosaga disc (which was undamaged) and test the drawer motors. I brought it back upstairs for the moment of truth. I booted the machine with the XS disc inside and at first the PS2 seemed to hesistate.. or maybe I just never noticed the length of boot time.. Regardless, the game loaded just fine!!
So.. I let the fuzzies back out, snuggled a few of them to ease their tempers, and reloaded my last save. I basically got to re-do the boss battle, watch the ill-fated cinematic from before, take care of the fuzzies (they got extra treats for being good sports) and head to bed.
It's just funny how things are so par for me.. This is one reason why I never try to plan certain things.. They never go as you think they will. I'd rather be spontaneous.
Have a good day.
So, there I was sitting on my side of the bed with the PS controller in my hand and the cord extended nearly to its capacity, when I remembered that I wanted to let the ferrets out to play. I had just beat a boss battle (took me a while to figure out where I was, I hadn't played the game in many months) and was watching one of the 50,000 cinematics (yeah, the game has too many, but at least the voice acting and dialog isn't horribly cheesy).. Anyhow, I got up, hopped over the cord to get to the ferret cage, then returned to my spot. The only difference between my trek to the cage and back was the inevitable trip over the controller cord.
So, there's this horrible "smack"ing noise, accompanied by a thud (no ferrets were injured; they were still stretching and yawning their way out of the cage). The game cinematic starts to skip and the sound goes all funky. I got up to see what had happened and saw the PS2 face down on the floor and my controller plug had gotten ripped out from its socket. After making sure no ferrets were about, I observed the situation. I rebooted the machine but the DVD wouldn't load. I tried to eject it and the tray was stuck. I tried to jimmy it out but it was frozen and I was afraid I'd break it. Well, after a few more minutes of inspection, I knew it was time for surgery.
I was very concerned that I'd find damage to the laser or DVD mechanism, but I had to find out if I could fix it. I wanted to cry.. my beloved PS2 was injured, possibly dead. Of all the material purchases over the last few years, the PS2 was probably one of the most cherished.
So, I collected the fuzzies, popped them back into their lair and promised them I'd be back. I went downstairs to located a "fix it" guide, which I found here. Thank you Mr. Rowley. His guide covered fixing problems with the laser eye reading DVDs, but it pertained to my problem as well since it involved taking apart the DVD assembly.
So.. the process took about 30 minutes, but I was able to disassemble the PS2, re-align the DVD drawer and remove my poor Xenosaga disc (which was undamaged) and test the drawer motors. I brought it back upstairs for the moment of truth. I booted the machine with the XS disc inside and at first the PS2 seemed to hesistate.. or maybe I just never noticed the length of boot time.. Regardless, the game loaded just fine!!
So.. I let the fuzzies back out, snuggled a few of them to ease their tempers, and reloaded my last save. I basically got to re-do the boss battle, watch the ill-fated cinematic from before, take care of the fuzzies (they got extra treats for being good sports) and head to bed.
It's just funny how things are so par for me.. This is one reason why I never try to plan certain things.. They never go as you think they will. I'd rather be spontaneous.
Have a good day.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Welcome to My Demsion
Look out.. the "Budman" has a blog. Too bad he changed the topic for his first post, it was rather humorous ("Welcome to my Demsion"). We're still trying to figure out what a "demsion" is.
Anyhow.. Days are starting to fly by again. With Julie working, me working normal hours, and the kids in school, there is so little time for much else. Oh yeah, we're in school too. I can already feel that this Christmas will be a WELL deserved break.
My new job is really cool. I get to actually DO something now. I don't need to look for "busy work" or answer 50 damnable CPU tickets every day. Things I do here actually mean something. Everyone told me after I lost my former job that I'd come to a point where I could thumb my nose at it and feel good that I've moved onto something better. Well, that time has come. I feel needed here and that I am actually providing a needed service. So, I've been giving the Old Corp my middle finger salute when passing by on the freeway and it feels good. I am much happier being out of UberCorp's grip. I am learning some cool shit here, too. Things are actually set up smartly here.. and because it's a smaller company, they don't use these bloated applications to provide simple tasks. Hey, get this, we actually use group policy to roll out applications and Windows updates. Imagine that. And it works ;)
Anyhow.. games.. Man, I'd like to play some. Sly Cooper 2 is out, Ratchet 3 is out, Prince of Persia 2 is out, and I wouldn't mind finishing games I already have. EQ? It's dead. There's just no way we can continue. I miss it dearly though; I can't stand reading about it and not being there. It was such a fun time. At least we accomplished some milestones during our stay. Oh, Elder Scrolls 4 ("Oblivion") was just announced. Cool!! I think one of my first blog entries was for Morrowind, two years ago. Fable is also out for the XBox. With Julie working at BB, we end up using her free rentals a bunch, since you can get games as well as movies. I've rented Drakengard and Jak II (both look cool) and the kids are drooling over Pikmin 2 right now. It's fun..
Julie is getting used to her new job, but not used to working I think ;) I'm proud of her, though, and no matter what happens, it's a positive thing. Family life is back to "normal" now after a few strange summer, but I think we're all on track again. Lance has become Mr. Football and Sarah is about to become Miss Bowler (yeah, we actually got her excited about something athletic). We'll see how that works out.
Anyhow.. Days are starting to fly by again. With Julie working, me working normal hours, and the kids in school, there is so little time for much else. Oh yeah, we're in school too. I can already feel that this Christmas will be a WELL deserved break.
My new job is really cool. I get to actually DO something now. I don't need to look for "busy work" or answer 50 damnable CPU tickets every day. Things I do here actually mean something. Everyone told me after I lost my former job that I'd come to a point where I could thumb my nose at it and feel good that I've moved onto something better. Well, that time has come. I feel needed here and that I am actually providing a needed service. So, I've been giving the Old Corp my middle finger salute when passing by on the freeway and it feels good. I am much happier being out of UberCorp's grip. I am learning some cool shit here, too. Things are actually set up smartly here.. and because it's a smaller company, they don't use these bloated applications to provide simple tasks. Hey, get this, we actually use group policy to roll out applications and Windows updates. Imagine that. And it works ;)
Anyhow.. games.. Man, I'd like to play some. Sly Cooper 2 is out, Ratchet 3 is out, Prince of Persia 2 is out, and I wouldn't mind finishing games I already have. EQ? It's dead. There's just no way we can continue. I miss it dearly though; I can't stand reading about it and not being there. It was such a fun time. At least we accomplished some milestones during our stay. Oh, Elder Scrolls 4 ("Oblivion") was just announced. Cool!! I think one of my first blog entries was for Morrowind, two years ago. Fable is also out for the XBox. With Julie working at BB, we end up using her free rentals a bunch, since you can get games as well as movies. I've rented Drakengard and Jak II (both look cool) and the kids are drooling over Pikmin 2 right now. It's fun..
Julie is getting used to her new job, but not used to working I think ;) I'm proud of her, though, and no matter what happens, it's a positive thing. Family life is back to "normal" now after a few strange summer, but I think we're all on track again. Lance has become Mr. Football and Sarah is about to become Miss Bowler (yeah, we actually got her excited about something athletic). We'll see how that works out.
Friday, September 10, 2004
The Fall of Summer
Ugh. Summer's over and it's back to school, back to work, back to business. I rather enjoyed slacking around the house this summer. It's funny how things worked out.. I left my last job on June 7th, the first week of my kids' summer vacation, and started my new job on August 30th, basically the beginning of the 04/05 school year.
Yeah, so I get to drive in rush hour traffic now. I don't mind it too much; it only really bothers me when it takes me more than twice as long as it should. A half hour I can deal with, but 45 minutes to go 20 miles? C'mon! There's construction going on, so hopefully when it's all finished things will be better.
Julie's workng, I'm working, the kids are in school and we're all coming and going at different times. It's nuts, for sure.
Oh, hey.. just announced today.. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Wow!! What's funny is, they have it listed for the PS3 and XBox2.. which basically means 2006, but I'll take it! I guess I should finish Morrowind. Oh yeah, and I got an official invite for the WoW stress test. Yeah, thanks.. Why couldn't I get it when I had the time to check it out? Doesn't matter, I can't sign on to an online game, I don't want that kind of addiction again. Yeah, EQ is dead. I think we're done, for good. We'll see.. I just can't keep up with it, even if I wanted to play it. The last few months we were always playing catch up.. "gotta get 200 AAs, gotta get better gear.... more mana.. more HP". Blah.. I just want to kill stuff, and you can't kill the good stuff without all the above. Forget it.. I'll stick to Morrowind where I can truly be a god, and it's free..
Welp, I'm at work and now I'm gone.. so.. bye!
Yeah, so I get to drive in rush hour traffic now. I don't mind it too much; it only really bothers me when it takes me more than twice as long as it should. A half hour I can deal with, but 45 minutes to go 20 miles? C'mon! There's construction going on, so hopefully when it's all finished things will be better.
Julie's workng, I'm working, the kids are in school and we're all coming and going at different times. It's nuts, for sure.
Oh, hey.. just announced today.. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Wow!! What's funny is, they have it listed for the PS3 and XBox2.. which basically means 2006, but I'll take it! I guess I should finish Morrowind. Oh yeah, and I got an official invite for the WoW stress test. Yeah, thanks.. Why couldn't I get it when I had the time to check it out? Doesn't matter, I can't sign on to an online game, I don't want that kind of addiction again. Yeah, EQ is dead. I think we're done, for good. We'll see.. I just can't keep up with it, even if I wanted to play it. The last few months we were always playing catch up.. "gotta get 200 AAs, gotta get better gear.... more mana.. more HP". Blah.. I just want to kill stuff, and you can't kill the good stuff without all the above. Forget it.. I'll stick to Morrowind where I can truly be a god, and it's free..
Welp, I'm at work and now I'm gone.. so.. bye!
Saturday, August 21, 2004
New Job
I accepted a job yesterday. It's a new direction for me, mainly because I will be the "one" instead of "one of many". It'll be nice to have control over what's going on, instead of working with 25 other people to get a job done. It's a smaller company (comparing the two really isn't fair, due to completely different markets), but they are growing. I am hoping I can excel and flex some brain muscles now. I start on the 30th and I'm pretty excited about it.
Oh, and I know some areas of the site look funny without templates and such, but I'll get around to fixing things up. I had to remove the old comments system and use Blogger's, and the comments pages look silly now, and I'm not sure they even work ;) But, since maybe 2 or 3 people visit my page, I'm not really concerned about it right now.
Oh, and I know some areas of the site look funny without templates and such, but I'll get around to fixing things up. I had to remove the old comments system and use Blogger's, and the comments pages look silly now, and I'm not sure they even work ;) But, since maybe 2 or 3 people visit my page, I'm not really concerned about it right now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)