1. Find out I got three A's and an A- (+1)
2. Find out my mechanic doesn't have the mirror he said he'd have today to fix my car. (-1)
3. The Bruins beat the Senators, 7-2 (+1)
4. Rumor has it that Amazon is going to try their hand at opening a DRM-less music store (+0.5?)
Also, it would appear that my readership entirely disappeared with the beginning of Northeastern's winter break. Oops.
Hey kids! It turns out that if you didn't burn your Damon shirt, you're in luck. Daisuke Matsuzaka wears number 18, and with just a few readily-available materials, you can update that forsaken shirt and use it again!
What you'll need
One (1) Johnny Damon t-shirt.
One (1) duct tape of the same color as your shirt.
One (1) Sharpie.
Procedure
1. Using the duct tape, tape over the word "Damon" located just above the "18" on the back of your shirt. Warning: Don't tape over the 18! This is very important!
2. Using the sharpie, write "Matsuzaka" or "Dice-K" on the duct tape.
And you're done! Enjoy your shirt all over again!
Hi, my name is Nate. And I'm here today to warn you about something very dangerous. Something called Google.
Back in high school, I discovered a little site called Google. Nothing wrong with that. Google was a search engine, not unlike Yahoo and Excite (showing my age a bit, I think). A friend recommended it to me, so I gave it a shot. When I did, I couldn't believe my eyes. Clicking the search button yielded *gasp* relevent results. Sites upon sites that really related to my query! It was a high that I had never experienced before.
It was a slow start, probably because of my dial-up internet connection at the time. But after going to college, it wasn't long before I was hitting up the big G a few times a day, I started to have certain... expectations. I had a need for a thrill, and "I'm feeling lucky" just wasn't cutting it anymore. And then, something happened.
I got a very exclusive, at the time, "invitation" to try out something new from Google. They called it "GMail". This is The Next Step, they assured me. You want that feeling back? GMail can give it to you, if you just create an account. Google understands me, I thought. They know what I want, they really care, they know what I'm going through. And they're giving me that feeling back. And sure enough, they did. From the moment I clicked on that compose button and realized that the page didn't have to refresh, I was hooked. I told all my friends, sent them invitations, brought them all in. And life was great. They rolled out feature after orgasmic feature, increasing the rush slowly over time. And, for a time, that was enough. But they succeeded only in making me hungrier, expecting more and more. And profile photos were just not gonna cut it.
So I looked anywhere I could to get what I needed. I tried Google Calendar, but it just wasn't new enough. It was too GMailish: different, but not stronger. I outgrew it in a matter of days. I was running out of services. Google Docs & Spreadsheets were just more GMail-style magic in a different context, I didn't even bother with them. Instead, I went straight to the source: Google Labs.
The back alley, pre-beta wonderland of services in Google labs was exactly what I was looking for. Around every corner was another app, offering another service: Talk, Froogle, Notebook, Earth, Maps, Video, Checkout, Scholar, Reader, the list goes on. I was hopelessly addicted. Nothing could give me the rush I so desperately sought, but Google was perfectly willing to continue making promises they knew they couldn't keep, so long as I kept the personal information coming.
Now, Google has all my email, my schedule, my to-do list, and my credit card number. They know where I live, where I go, and which blogs and news articles I read. They know who I chat with and what videos I watch. And I keep giving them more.
So, my friends, learn from my mistakes. Don't be pulled in by the promises of flashy, user-friendly interfaces. Anytime you see a program that is just too good to be true, just think to yourself, who paid someone to make that so nice? Why did they pay so much just to get me to use this "free" service? Don't end up like me, begging Google for another hit, wishing only that you had more information to give. Warn your children, tell your friends: it's not worth it.
Fresh off of Thanksgiving break, I'm being thrown to the wolves. Here's a rough outline of this week's activities:
MONDAY: 2500 word proposal due, Japanese vocab quiz
WEDNESDAY: Stats exam, Japanese vocab quiz, programming assignment due
THURSDAY: 1000 word draft of portfolio reflection due, Japanese listening and speaking test
And through all this, I have to deal with Twilight Princess sitting in the living room begging me to play it.
As we all know, all men are just pedophiles looking for an opportunity. And I thought America was bad.
So yesterday I got up at 4:45 am and set out with Josh and Cory to get me a Wii of my very own. And let me tell you: this was much more than the Gamecube launch. We stopped first at the Halifax Wal-mart, only to find 23 people camped out with sleeping bags, tents and a TV (yes, a TV) waiting for a chance to buy one of the 20 available systems. Knowing full well that none of them would leave, we moved on to Hanover. Circuit City had only 9 and the line was already full, but that Wal-mart had a whopping 32 systems available and only 18 people in line. Jackpot!
However, the Hanover Mall has a strict "No loitering" policy, so we couldn't stand in line and make it clear that we were there before other people. Fortunately for us, one kid who had gotten there early on had the foresight to start a list. So here's to you, redheaded kid. Enjoy your Wii. The line did fill up by about 7:30 and they started letting us in to give them money at 8:00. They (and, as I understand, lots of other people) did run out of extra nunchucks, unfortunately. No multiplayer boxing for me.
As for the Wii itself, well... it takes some getting used to. I've managed to run into technical difficulty in both places I've tried to set up the system. In Halifax, I set Cory's system up, but there isn't a good place to put the sensor bar either above or below the TV. The best we could do was to put it on a shelf about 6 inches above the TV and a few inches in front of it. As far as I can tell, this just makes it so the pointer is a little off from where you think it should be. Any height-dependent games become a little harder.
In Boston, I set up my own system, but Ethan's HDTV has a slight delay when taking input through standard A/V cables, and of course the Wii component cables aren't available yet. The delay is painfully clear when you've got a pointer that you're supposed to be able to move like a mouse on the TV screen.
Other than the setup issues, Wii Sports is a lot of fun. I'm not a big fan of boxing, but that's just because I suck at it. Tennis and bowling are very good, and golf is ok. The movements take some getting used to. Baseball is nearly impossible, especially once your opponent figures out how to actually pitch. Later today: I play Zelda!
With the imminent release of the Wii, I'm forced to make some tough monetary decisions. While I am certainly going to buy the console, the question becomes: what else do I buy with it?
I'll want another controller (probably like $50? I can't find a price), so that will cost me. Twilight Princess ($50) is also a gimme, and I'm leaning toward Trauma Center ($50) or Red Steel ($50) as well, but that leaves me without a good multiplayer game other than Wii Sports. Perhaps Rayman ($50)? Let's not forget the component cables ($20 and which, for some weird reason, apparently won't be available at launch?) so I can actually get a decent picture.
All in all, it looks to be an expensive weekend. But here's a fun fact. The Metro claimst that the ratio of software to PS3 sales so far is 0.98, meaning there are a lot of people out there who bought a PS3 and NO GAMES.
Also, it seems that Sony is trying to push the PSP as the handheld that will get you (re?) laid. A noble cause, to be sure, but I think the ladies might like the DS Lite better.
It has come to my attention that the following bands have not had a song in either Guitar Hero or Guitar Hero 2:
ACDC
The Eagles
ACDC
The White Stripes
ACDC
Tom Petty
ACDC
Charlie Daniels
ACDC
The Doors
ACDC
Bruce Springsteen
ACDC
Led Zeppelin
ACDC
The Beatles
ACDC
The Who
ACDC
I understand that licensing is an issue. I also don't care. Please get on this.
I'm in between classes, mourning for lik-sang and wishing there was more to see online. Also wishing I was watching Battlestar Galactica. I'm thinking I should spring for some web hosting so I can have my own nice little place on the internet. But I'm too lazy to go out and find the reasonably priced, reliable hosting that must exist somewhere.
Anyway, I agreed to take my last co-op job at Brontes over in Lexington, so I've got to get my car up to the city for January. Another thing to worry about.
On the plus side, I did get a blackboard for my room. And colored chalk!
I realize this is very old, but I had never seen it before now, and now only because I'm doing some research for a paper. Well worth a read, in a 1984 kind of way.
This kind of thing really shouldn't surprise me anymore. Cell phone companies are right down there with cable companies in my book. They just seem to find a way to charge you for everything. For instance, T-Mobile lets you download ringtones to your phone for $1.99 apiece. This in itself is a bit outrageous when you consider that Apple lets you download a song to your computer for half that price. But consider also that the only way to retrieve the ringtone is by using T-Mobile's internet-via-phone service, which costs an extra $5.99 a month. (Disclaimer: I'm not picking on T-Mobile in particular here, they just happen to be the service I have the most experience with.)
So naturally, I go looking for a way around this. My new phone, the "entry-level" model Motorola v188, came with a built-in mini-USB port, as well as support for mp3 ringtones. Huzzah! Motorola, in their infinite wisdom, has delivered me from the iron fist of the wireless companies. The savior of the little guy is ushering in a golden age of information connectivity. Oh, wait. You can't actually use the USB port on the phone unless you (surprise!) download Motorola Phone Tools for the low, low price of $29.99. Sigh.
Every other type of connective device on the market comes bundled with drivers to let you connect it to your PC. So why do the wireless companies insist on holding us back? Do they really think that in an age of camera/video/music phones, they'll be able to continue getting away with this? People are going to be outraged when they can't transfer the pictures they've taken using their sweet new cameraphone unless they pay a nominal fee to their wireless provider.
With any luck, Apple and Microsoft will get on board the mobile phone bandwagon soon with a truckload of PC/Mac compatible phones and devices. As far as I can tell, tougher competition is the only way we're going to keep them honest.
I remember switching to Gmail and being in awe of its sheer awesomeness. It just felt... right, if you know what I mean. It's hard to put a finger on it, but the old Yahoo and Hotmail systems just felt clunky. I suppose that's why so many people have made the switch to Gmail already.
But it looks like Yahoo still has some tricks up its sleeve, because I logged in the other day to verify some account I had to set up for some reason, and was asked nicely if I wanted to try the new Yahoo mail beta. Why not, I asked myself. Not like I care about this account anyway. Suddenly there was a guy in a purple suit walking around on my screen giving me a "tour" of the very-different-and-very-ajaxy Yahoo mail beta. And I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed. They've come out of the gate with a lot of features and a lot of help available to make sure you get the most out of them.
It's got an integrated RSS reader, should you choose to use it, and also includes Calendar and Notepad applications. Overall, it looks like they ripped off all the best parts of Gmail, but polished them up and added in some of the more glaringly-absent features. For instance, the free Intellisync program to sync up your Yahoo calendar with your PDA, Outlook, etc.
I'm certainly not leaving Gmail anytime soon, but that's mostly because changing email addresses is a pain. If I was choosing my first email provider, though, I'd be seriously considering Yahoo right now.
We could all learn a lesson fromthe Amish. It's hard to remember the last time Christians in the media managed to muster up some love and compassion.
Myspace is big enough they might actually have the muscle to force the record companies into submission and distribute unprotected files instead of the DRM'd crap we have now. The only question is: will they have the guts to do it?
So I'm moving out on the Thursday and, unless there is some unprotected wireless to latch onto at my new place, I'll be without internet access or television until the fifth. It's a frightening prospect, but at least I still have my DS.
So I spent the weekend in New Bedford playing in the annual Cancer Strikes Out lob softball tournament along with a pretty good bunch of friends/releatives/friends of friends.
Because of some very bad luck (we played the only two teams organized enough to have actual uniforms), things looked a lot worse than they really were. Our final record was 1-3 (our only win coming by forfeit), but we were able to make two of the losses pretty close games, and certainly caught the "Bombers" (last year's champs, by the way) off guard when we scored 12 runs against them in our first game. We lost, 17-12, but they were clearly not used to such close games.
Our second game, this time against "Degeneration X", was far uglier. They scored 12 runs in the first two innings and never looked back. We were able to shut them down after that, but the damage was done and we lost 12-2.
On day two, we returned to the field, battered but not beaten and sitting in a solid 8th place out of 12. We were all ready to take on "Not Your Average Joe's," a team we felt pretty confident we could beat. It was easier than we thought, however, as they didn't even show up. Win by forfeit, 11-0. A disappointment to be sure, as we all wanted to play, but it bumped us right into the quarterfinals against - well, what do you know - "Degeneration X." A perfect opportunity to show them what we were really made of.
So we all waited for noon, when our game was to begin. 11:30 came and went, and only one player (Ookie "the cookie", as they called him) from Degeneration X had shown up. The minutes ticked away and no one showed up. Noon came and went, and the tournament director said that if they hadn't shown by 12:30, they'd forfeit the game. Finally, at 12:15, the rest of Ookie's team showed up and we managed to get a game started.
We won the coin toss for home advantage and, after allowing no runs in their half of the inning, exploded for a quick five runs of our own in the bottom of the inning. There were more than a few confused faces on the opposing bench, unable to comprehend that this was the team that they had so mercilessly crushed the day before. As the game progressed, their confidence had been obviously rattled, as we saw ball after ball booted, bobbled, and thrown away by Degeneration X. Unfortunately, we weren't able to silence their very potent offense, and watched ball after ball sail over the outfield fence and into the next field over. Where there was, in fact, another game going on. We ended up losing a close one, 13-10.
Individually, everyone performed admirably. Tellef, batting leadoff, scored five runs (out of six times on base) and made some tough catches in the outfield. Ethan went 5 for 9 and scored a couple of runs. Lauren played a solid second base and drove in a couple with a clutch hit in the first game. Jed, after going 0 for 3 in the first game, took some batting practice and went 6 for 6 after that, driving in four runs. Jen, despite a frustrating time at the plate, made several amazing catches in left and right field to keep runs from scoring. Cory also had a frustrating time at the plate, struggling with some questionable calls from our scab umpires. However, he would find his stride and crank out a home run in the final game. Gabby hit a solid 3 for 7 despite a bad knee, and on top of that, she played catcher! Andrew was also 3 for 7 and made a couple of great plays at shortstop in the final game. Erin was our star third basegirl (at least for the first day) and went an impressive 4 for 8 with three RBIs. Alice, who was only able to make it for the first day, played very solid defense at third and second even though the only glove she had was a catcher's mitt! She also held her own when one of the huge guys on Degeneration X slammed into her at second (he was out). Kit played a very good first base and was 3 for 6 overall. Sarah, who only made it for the second day, was our second-day star third basegirl and immediately made her presence known by almost taking Josh's head off with a laser beam of a throw to first. She was 2 for 3 in the one game we played that day.
But without a doubt, our MVP for the weekend was Joshua Borsari. On the mound, he struck out something like 7 or 8 batters over three games and went 7 for 8 at the plate with two home runs and six RBIs.
After the last game, we all wished Degeneration X the best of luck (read: asked them to beat the Bombers for us) and went out to Quizno's and/or Wendy's to have some well-deserved lunch. And a delicious lunch it was.
ESPN Classic ran a special counting down the top 20 worst chokes in sports history. The Red Sox were in there two or three times, but it was the Yankees who took number 1. Bet you can't guess what for.
Dear Red Sox Nation,
I know we're going through difficult times right now, dropping four excruciatingly painful games in a row to the Yankees and watching all hope of winning the division (and probably even the wild card) slip through our grasp.
Our starters, except for Schilling, can't find the strike zone and don't seem to be able to make it through the fifth, and our bullpen is even worse than the starters. You know you've fallen upon hard times when Julian Tavarez is the most reliable guy out there.
You've been spoiled, Red Sox Nation, and, for the first time since Red Sox Nation officially became another way for the team to take your money, you're finding out what it really means to be Red Sox fans. You're not supposed to be optimistic. The Red Sox have a time-honored tradition of falling apart down the stretch, and apparently somebody just didn't get the memo in 2004.
I'm sick of Red Sox nation and I'm sick of the ridiculous expectation of amazing success from these Red Sox. They are certainly not the team that won in 2004 (nice job, Theo) and most importantly, they are still the Red Sox. And they get all the baggage that comes with it.
Sincerely,
Nathan Palmer
"They [Gen Y] aren't spoiled as much as 'overincented.' Growing up, they were given incentives for every behavior their parents wanted to encourage. And so, they have no internal motivation."
-Jeanine O'Donnell
I'd say she's pretty close to some truth, there! Where's Stephen Colbert when you need him...
This is a fruit of the loom ad. I've never seen this particular version on TV, the ads that actually get played are shorter. I tried to hunt down an mp3 of the song, but I could only find the short 1-minute version.
Yeah, I guess I'm just crazy busy and can't find enough time amongst all my important things to update my blog. That might be a lie.
Actually, I've spent a lot of time lately playing Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, a game I highly recommend and a bargain at just $20 now. I just beat it yesterday, so that might help to explain the sudden update.
I guess it's a good thing that I've been playing so much, because it's helped to distract me (or at least dull the pain) from the Red Sox as of late. Looks like it will yet again be the pitching that is our undoing. And the yankees getting Abreu today.... it makes me sick. Guys like Mike Mussina and Bobby Abreu should not be playing for the Yankees. Guys like Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez should be playing for the Yankees. They can have Julian Tavarez too.
I had both of my midterms on Thursday of last week, and (hopefully) blew them both away. Physics has been wicked easy, Database less so, but I think I'll survive. Everything in that class is a little... muddy, I think is the best word for it. The windshield is constantly dirty. You kind of know the basic idea of what's in front of you, but you're out of washer fluid and the wipers just sort of smear things around. Then you get home and forget to refill it, and get mad again the next day when the same thing happens.
So today, Tellef, Lauren, and I were down at Beaconsfield throwing the softball around when a bunch of people started showing up with bags of equipment and throwing their own softballs around. I was thinking "crap, they're going to take the field and we're going to have to move" when one of them came over to us and asked if we wanted to play. To which we replied "Hell yes." So the three of us played softball with Ted and Kim and friends, who (small world) happened to all be Northeastern law students. So that was a lot of fun. Hopefully we can run into random people who want to play softball with us more often.
My dreams of a dual-screen PC/Mac setup are finally realized. And it was way easier to do than I care to admit.
For all you parents who are too busy to actually take an interest in your kids' lives, fear not. Nintendo and their partners are doing everything they can to make sure that you can continue to blame their obsession with violence on video games.
That said, I wish it was Q4 already.
Two Things I really hope will happen at E3:
1. Nintendo tells us the whole Wii thing was just a publicity stunt. They're sticking with Revolution.
2. Shigesato Itoi announces a US Mother 3 release date for the near future.
Two Things I'm worried will happen instead:
1. Nintendo tells us the whole Wii thing was just a publicity stunt. They liked Penny Arcade's Idea better.
2. Shigesato Itoi doesn't even show up to E3. Just before the event, he announces that he's not releasing Mother 3 in the States, stopping production in Japan, and recalling all the copies already sold.
Doug Mirabelli is BACK.
And it's about time.
And I swear I'm not just going to talk about the Red Sox all the time here.
I knew that Jimmy Fund ad was a trick. (by the way, that last photo belongs to scottmccracken)
Could you rename Fenway station to be anything other than "Fenway"? I'd really appreciate it if you could take some more steps to convince people coming to town just for the Red Sox game that they don't have to cram themselves onto the D line and would be much better off going to Kenmore.
Also, I really don't see how you're going to pull off the Charlie card thing on the Green line.
I made a political blog because sometimes I can't resist talking about those types of things. I know that lots of people would rather avoid that crap, so I made it separate from this one.
Give Me Back My Money
He was looking for an apartment. And in the characteristic long gap between blog posts, he found one. Then he got sick of referring to himself in the third person.
We got a place just a block south of Comm ave in Allston, and a short walk from the 65 and 66 buses that can take us to the 39 bus along huntington that can take us to northeastern. Get all that? It's got three bedrooms, so I'll have a room of my own for the first time since I moved out of home. Wow. That didn't even occur to me until just now.
So lately work has been crazy and even more people are quitting. Seems like about every week we lose somebody else. It's a little scary because people are quitting faster than they can be replaced. What happens when all the developers with the option to quit are gone? I guess I could ask for a raise at that point.
I need some new DDR pads.
I would love my life. Basically, our landlord is selling our unit because he can't make as much rent money off it as he wants to, because the building inspector won't let him put in a third bedroom. Which leads me to believe that even if he had kept the bedroom, he would have jacked our rent up in September higher than we could afford anyway. UNFORTUNATELY this leaves us looking for a new place in September. You know September, that month when everybody in the universe is searching for an apartment in Boston. Seriously. When we wanted to rent a place for January, we couldn't even really start looking until a couple of months before. This time, there are like a million places already listed. And they get rented out by other people in like five seconds. Stupid people. When I graduate I'm moving to the middle of nowhere.
So... lately I've had SO MUCH to talk about that I don't know where to start here. Actually, it's one of those things where I have so much to talk about that when I sit down in front of a computer monitor I only remember the stupid little things that no one cares about. So without further ado: things you probably don't care about. Seriously, you probably wouldn't miss much if you stopped reading here.
So Mother 3 is coming out in Japan in March. I really wish somebody would give up a US release date, but until then it's wishing I knew Japanese and slogging through mystery presents that seem to be opening up every day. Looks like there's a special edition Mother 3 Game Boy Micro coming out as well, not that I think I'd spring for that. In any case, this whole Japan release thing is a terrible tease, but I can't seem to stay away from it. Could somebody please write a letter to Shigesato Itoi and ask him about an American release date? I'd really appreciate it.
I've also been spending time working on artisene.com (you can't see any changes, don't bother looking. unless you want to see the same old page, in which case go right ahead.), but I'm running into some snags. Those being that my server is the trusty eMac Helga. Originally, all the development was on Helga, too. Unfortunately, she has a screen reminiscent of a 200 watt bulb with text rendered in watercolors, and she was really taking a toll on the old eyes. So I said, "Hey, Nathan. Why not just copy everything over to the PC, do the development there using all the full-featured doohickeys and gizmos that are out for that Windows environment, and then copy the finished product back to Helga?" Brilliant, right? But it turns out that after doing some development on this machine, I've installed a bunch of things that weren't on Helga to make the site work. Now if I were to copy it back over as is, it is highly unlikely to function. This makes life very difficult. Guess I'll just let that sit in the back of my head for a while...
I've also been considering purchasing some new ddr pads since our old ones have mostly shuffled off this mortal coil. Only problem is a lack of space given our current living room setup. Knowing how frustrating it is when the mats move around, I also have to take into account that we're going to want some kind of semi-permanent setup to keep them from sliding too much. That means big changes for the living room layout and puts quite an emphasis on the need for a couch or loveseat instead of having just our chairs. Anybody looking to get rid of one?
Also, for whatever reason, I've found myself in more and more conversations that just seem to find their way over to politics lately. I don't think I'm driving them that way, they just sort of end up there. And the more people I talk to, the more I realize that nobody likes politicians.
[tirade]So why do we vote for them? Because they are the ones who organize and spend millions of dollars on their campaigns, I guess. I suppose in the past, there was nothing to be done about that. BUT. We have the internet now, folks. Anybody can put their thoughts up in an instant for the world (except maybe china) to see. And so I propose that we put a real person in office. Somebody who is honest, and who actually cares for people. So if anybody is up for it, I'd like to see Dennis Carman in the race for president of the United States at some point. [/tirade]
It's late. I should be in bed. Check out my silver medal if you haven't already.
Just when I get good at something is just when I lose interest in it.
This insightful moment brought to you by me staying up too late.
So my attempts to get Rails running on Helga came to a grinding halt as I watched attempted install after attempted install of mySQL fail in one way or another. Even after a supposed successful install, I kept getting permission denied errors.
Long story short, there won't be much to the Artisene site until I can figure out how to get this database going. I may try sqlite if I can't make mysql work eventually, but in the meantime I'll be trying to get rid of all the botched (?) installs. That should be a project unto itself.
I've also given up on radrails because it can't seem to quit properly. Every time I try to stop a server from radrails or quit the application, it locks up and I end up having to force quit. So I'm thinking of just getting a nice text editor and getting good and friendly with the command line.
I just can't seem to avoid them lately. Everywhere I go, there they are, showing off their stuff. How can one help but feel the desire that they try so hard to instill? In malls, stores, and subway stations I find myself trying to ignore them, but my gaze is pulled by some unseen force. I feel my heart rate rise simply from the fact that they are near. My conscience tells me it is wrong, but some piece of my heart takes control and says "It's ok." Despite an entire life of lessons to the contrary, I break down. I pay the four dollars for a box of girl scout cookies.
So increasingly large chunks of my spare time are going to my DS lately. I just got Animal Crossing and I'm hooked on it all over again. Except now I could connect to other towns all the freaking time since people don't have to physically bring their memory card over to do it. Ethan, Lauren, and I had a three-way going earlier and it was most impressive. It saddens me to think that now I can't play all day since I'll be at work.
I really want to try the wi-fi stuff, but I haven't had a good reason to try it yet as all the people I know who own the game are right here. Still, if anyone wants to trade friend codes, by all means give me a yell.
Oh, and as you might have noticed in an earlier paragraph, I mentioned that we were playing Animal Crossing with Lauren. That's right, she bought a DS and the game today. I'm so proud.
So I've started my new job, and there just isn't a whole lot for me to do right now. Everybody is really busy, so they don't have much time to teach me how to do things. I'm sure it will all work out soon enough, but these first few days have been a bit boring.
In other news, there is a little fruit stand in South Station that I see every morning just as I get off the escalator. It is called "Panema." (yes, they spelled it wrong (or they spelled some word I don't know?)) And so every morning as I reach South Station I have the one word I know from that song stuck in my head for about ten seconds.
Helga is back up and now even connected to the Internet. Now my own laziness is the only thing standing between me and getting artisene.com really up and running. Here's the to do list, as I foolishly see it:
1. Figure out some database thingy for Mac.
2. Get Rails going.
3. Figure out how to make it serve pages outside the local network.
4. Become a Ruby god.
5. Code up artisene.com
6. Profit?
I beat Trauma Center. It had a few tough levels, but overall not too bad. I've decided that the bonus levels are nigh impossible, but the story mode was a lot of fun. Just started Castlevania, too. It plays almost exactly like Aria of Sorrow, which is a good thing. I like the "infusing souls into weapons to make them stronger" thing, because now I actually have a use for all the souls I collect. I never seem to remember that I have them in the heat of battle. I always just run right in there with whatever sword or axe or whatever I have and seem to do all right. I bet actually using my magic power would make those boss fights easier. The only thing that really bugs me is the end of the boss battles. The magic seal thingy appears and you have to draw it on the screen to finish off the boss. Unfortunately, you don't have the stylus in your hand. You're playing Castlevania. So you're left with two options: a) get fingerprints all over your precious touch screen. b) scramble for the stylus. I invariably seem to choose option b. I haven't had to use any complicated seals yet, but I can see that coming back to bite me later on. Of course, I have no idea what happens if you don't draw the seal quickly enough or if you screw it up. I'm sure it's not good, though.
Ugh. Well, work in the morning and all. Need sleep. Goodnight.
And I'm mostly moved in to the new place. I'm lacking a desk at the moment (it's being delivered Wednesday) and therefore am typing this from my computer sitting on the floor. Also, Comcast seems to have decided that we only needed one cable jack in the whole apartment to actually work, so the router is sitting upstairs giving me a wireless signal that wobbles between "low", "weak", and "none". Very convenient. There are some minor problems like flickering lights and dripping noises coming from the bathroom, but I'm sure we'll get them worked out in good time.
Reid, Murf, and their respective girlfriends Caitlyn and Meg came up to ring in the new year at the new apartment with myself, Bailey, and Ethan. We all ate out at Uno's and then came back for a quick game of Munchkin and finally hit midnight while watching The Blues Brothers. I can now say that I began 2006 by watching Nazis die. Caitlyn had a wonderful sending "greetings from the future" to all her friends an hour behind out west.
And I bought myself a copies of Trauma Center: Under the Knife and the new Castlevania. Trauma Center is so awesome that I haven't managed to even open Castlevania yet. Oh, and Ethan bought We Heart Katamari. It's everything we expected.
