This past year was a good one. A great one actually. I got married, I bought a house, I had a beautiful new baby boy, and my beautiful baby girl is getting smarter by the day. For some reason, however, it never seemed like I got around to being happy.
Why not? I'm just not really a happy person. It seems like I've spent my entire life just trudging through it step-by-step, always looking forward to a future happiness that I expected to one day achieve. It sounds stupid, but I really have always thought that. It's like my book collection--I buy a ton of books. Some to read right away, some just to have, and most with the thought that I will read them at some point in the future. It doesn't matter that I have hundreds of books that I haven't read yet, or that I don't really read as much as I used to, I still fully expect to one day sit down and finish each and every book that I own (as well as those I've yet to buy).
So, rather than come up with the normal new year's resolutions, I'm going to aim big. I'm going to do what I can to enjoy life now, to count my blessings and try to be as happy as possible. I predict this will last all of 2 hours in the new year, but a guy can dream, can't he?
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Radster or Tradio?
Today I went grocery shopping but was first magnetically pulled in to a nearby store I had always meant to check out, mainly out of curiosity. It's one of those dollar-store, remainders of items that never sold type stores. Anyway, pretty dumpy place, as expected, but I did see one totally awesome item I've never even heard of before.
A toaster/radio. That's right, a toaster with a radio built in. Freakin' rad. Though I wonder how the toaster part doesn't burn up the radio part, but I guess the genius that had the bright idea in the first place probably figured out that part easily enough.
No, I didn't buy it. I'm still waiting for the microvee.
A toaster/radio. That's right, a toaster with a radio built in. Freakin' rad. Though I wonder how the toaster part doesn't burn up the radio part, but I guess the genius that had the bright idea in the first place probably figured out that part easily enough.
No, I didn't buy it. I'm still waiting for the microvee.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Old School
Bought a Playstation One today. I've been trying to play Final Fantasy Tactics on my Playstation 2 for the past few weeks. The first night it worked, then I could never get the disc to read again. It started getting to me. I'd hit the power button and it would start making a horrible grinding noise. After a minute it would go to the screen that said 'disc error'. I'd hit reset, eject, play with the disc a little--nothing.
So last night I bid on one on Ebay. I figured there can't be much competition, and the price was right--$5.00 bid with $10.00 shipping. I got sniped at the last minute so I had to make a stop to a local game store that I visited a few months ago called Game Trader, in Beaverton.
Normally I tend to go to Gamestop. I enjoy their magazine, Game Informer, and the people are usually pretty nice, if a bit geeky (sorry kettle, pot calling). I went by yesterday though, and they informed me that they don't sell the PSone anymore, and the guy suggested Game Trader.
Game Trader is a little skeezy. Well, it's in the Beaverton Mall which is a little skeezy. Actually it's a decent strip mall with major box stores, but there's a little section where you can go inside and somehow all the shops inside are these weird places that cater to specific types. There's a cowboy boot emporium, a Hello Kitty store, a pet shop, and Game Trader (though Powell's Bookstore just opened up a satellite store there, so maybe the place is on the rise).
Game Trader is great for its selection of old school gaming gear. I wouldn't say they had everything you need (I tried to find a copy of Ogre Battle and failed), but they had multiple PSone systems and games, N64, NES and SNES, NeoGeo and more. The guy working there was really nice as well and I'm glad I went. Maybe it's not really skeezy, it's just not polished and glitzy like the EB Games and Gamestop places with only newer type games.
Anyway, I went home and booted it up and Final Fantasy Tactics appeared on the screen and for the next hour (until the baby started crying), things were right with the world.
So last night I bid on one on Ebay. I figured there can't be much competition, and the price was right--$5.00 bid with $10.00 shipping. I got sniped at the last minute so I had to make a stop to a local game store that I visited a few months ago called Game Trader, in Beaverton.
Normally I tend to go to Gamestop. I enjoy their magazine, Game Informer, and the people are usually pretty nice, if a bit geeky (sorry kettle, pot calling). I went by yesterday though, and they informed me that they don't sell the PSone anymore, and the guy suggested Game Trader.
Game Trader is a little skeezy. Well, it's in the Beaverton Mall which is a little skeezy. Actually it's a decent strip mall with major box stores, but there's a little section where you can go inside and somehow all the shops inside are these weird places that cater to specific types. There's a cowboy boot emporium, a Hello Kitty store, a pet shop, and Game Trader (though Powell's Bookstore just opened up a satellite store there, so maybe the place is on the rise).
Game Trader is great for its selection of old school gaming gear. I wouldn't say they had everything you need (I tried to find a copy of Ogre Battle and failed), but they had multiple PSone systems and games, N64, NES and SNES, NeoGeo and more. The guy working there was really nice as well and I'm glad I went. Maybe it's not really skeezy, it's just not polished and glitzy like the EB Games and Gamestop places with only newer type games.
Anyway, I went home and booted it up and Final Fantasy Tactics appeared on the screen and for the next hour (until the baby started crying), things were right with the world.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Who's in control of my videogames?
My wife doesn't play videogames. She thinks there are too many buttons to push and too much stuff to do, so I introduced her to Animal Crossing. She absolutely loved it, both because it was cute, but also because of its simplicity.
Now, I never had as much trouble with controls. I was always quick to pick up on things (maybe because I read the directions first) starting with the Atari 2600, straight on through to the Super Nintendo. Then I started noticing a disturbing trend...too many buttons.
The Nintendo 64 screwed me up with the trigger down beneath, as well as the d-pad and the analog joystick and the 6 buttons to the right and the start buttons. That's 14 buttons that you can push. My mind boggled. So much boggling took place that I never bought a Nintendo 64...I just couldn't hack it.
The Playstation, however, was still manageable. This one had two analog joysticks and bunch of buttons, but at least they made a little more sense, and I didn't have a problem with this, except for maybe the shoulder buttons. With 4 of these it was sometimes easy to forget which buttons controlled which functions. I mainly tried to play easy games that didn't have huge manuals.
The X-box controller wasn't so hot either. It introduced the black and white buttons, which were horribly placed, not to mention that the controllers were huge in size. It took four hands just to hold the bastard. They eventually introduced a smaller version for those of us with baby-hands.
With the X-box 360 controller they got a little closer to a great controller. The shape is nice and fits comfortably, the buttons are pretty intuitive, and it's got a glowing green button, something that the Atari 2600 definitely could have used. Maybe Atari would be in the top 3 of video game makers if they had included this option.
That's why I want to buy a Wii, it has like 3 buttons. How can you go wrong?
Now, I never had as much trouble with controls. I was always quick to pick up on things (maybe because I read the directions first) starting with the Atari 2600, straight on through to the Super Nintendo. Then I started noticing a disturbing trend...too many buttons.
The Nintendo 64 screwed me up with the trigger down beneath, as well as the d-pad and the analog joystick and the 6 buttons to the right and the start buttons. That's 14 buttons that you can push. My mind boggled. So much boggling took place that I never bought a Nintendo 64...I just couldn't hack it.
The Playstation, however, was still manageable. This one had two analog joysticks and bunch of buttons, but at least they made a little more sense, and I didn't have a problem with this, except for maybe the shoulder buttons. With 4 of these it was sometimes easy to forget which buttons controlled which functions. I mainly tried to play easy games that didn't have huge manuals.
The X-box controller wasn't so hot either. It introduced the black and white buttons, which were horribly placed, not to mention that the controllers were huge in size. It took four hands just to hold the bastard. They eventually introduced a smaller version for those of us with baby-hands.
With the X-box 360 controller they got a little closer to a great controller. The shape is nice and fits comfortably, the buttons are pretty intuitive, and it's got a glowing green button, something that the Atari 2600 definitely could have used. Maybe Atari would be in the top 3 of video game makers if they had included this option.
That's why I want to buy a Wii, it has like 3 buttons. How can you go wrong?
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Book Corner
Ok, couple stuff for you about some books.
First off, there is a book that came out a few months ago by a British author named Joe Abercrombie, called, 'The Blade Itself'. If you can find a copy, it's worth it. I ordered it from Powell's online (Powell's in Portland is seriously one of the greatest bookstores I've been to in my life), but I don't think it has been released in the US, so you'll probably pay a little more for an imported copy.
Anyway, it's a fantasy novel, but not high fantasy, maybe more of a gritty, highwayman type store with great characters and a story that keeps your rapt attention at all times. The only problem is that this is only first in a series, so now I've got to wait probably another year or two to read the next book.
Then I've been reading a bunch of stuff by a guy named Tim Powers. Same thing, lumped in the fantasy category, but I'd say his stuff is more fantastic than fantasy. He takes historical figures out of their context and kind of mixes all kinds of genres. I've read 3-4 of his books now and each one was completely different. 'The Drawing of the Dark' might be a good one to read first to get a sense of his style, or maybe his book, 'Declare'.
At work somebody left a copy of a John Grisham book lying around, 'The Partner', and like a sucker I picked it up just to see what all this Grisham novelty is all about. Turns out it's pretty good and I'm about halfway done after reading it at just two lunchtimes. It sucks when you make fun of popular bestsellers then find out that you kind of like reading them. Sort of like the DaVinci code. After that I had to go read all his other books, even the bad one.
I need more time in my day.
First off, there is a book that came out a few months ago by a British author named Joe Abercrombie, called, 'The Blade Itself'. If you can find a copy, it's worth it. I ordered it from Powell's online (Powell's in Portland is seriously one of the greatest bookstores I've been to in my life), but I don't think it has been released in the US, so you'll probably pay a little more for an imported copy.
Anyway, it's a fantasy novel, but not high fantasy, maybe more of a gritty, highwayman type store with great characters and a story that keeps your rapt attention at all times. The only problem is that this is only first in a series, so now I've got to wait probably another year or two to read the next book.
Then I've been reading a bunch of stuff by a guy named Tim Powers. Same thing, lumped in the fantasy category, but I'd say his stuff is more fantastic than fantasy. He takes historical figures out of their context and kind of mixes all kinds of genres. I've read 3-4 of his books now and each one was completely different. 'The Drawing of the Dark' might be a good one to read first to get a sense of his style, or maybe his book, 'Declare'.
At work somebody left a copy of a John Grisham book lying around, 'The Partner', and like a sucker I picked it up just to see what all this Grisham novelty is all about. Turns out it's pretty good and I'm about halfway done after reading it at just two lunchtimes. It sucks when you make fun of popular bestsellers then find out that you kind of like reading them. Sort of like the DaVinci code. After that I had to go read all his other books, even the bad one.
I need more time in my day.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Supah Nintendo
Did I mention that my son's middle name had to start with an E so his initials would be NES, same as the Nintendo Entertainment System?
It's true.
It's true.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Tickle Me Video
http://www.fisher-price.com/us/products/demo/vendordemo.asp?sku=H9207&vendor=toysrus
I'm sorry, but this is the worst case of toy porn since the Oozinator.
I'm sorry, but this is the worst case of toy porn since the Oozinator.
Charity
http://www.childsplaycharity.org/
http://www.powells.com/schoolbook/
I don't want anybody to get me wrong...I'm not an altruistic person by nature. I don't walk around wondering how I can better my world or humanity in general, but I have been thinking lately about how I could donate to charity more.
When people call or knock at my door to solicit money for charity, I usually give nothing, or maybe a token donation. Not because I don't want to give, but I have reasons for not doing so.
First of all, I'm mistrustful of charities and how much of their collected donations go for administration costs. I've heard the figure is sometimes upwards of 80%, which, if true, is just sickening. Even if it's closer to 20-30%, it still seems pretty high.
Secondly, I've been thinking over the past couple years that it's probably not a bad idea to donate to charities or organizations that I support, and go to them, instead of half-heartedly giving to those that come to me.
That's why I love this Child's Play charity. It was started by two guys in Seattle who run the Penny Arcade website. It's an online comic-strip dealing with video games and nerds. I don't even read the comic strip very often, but I heard about their charity a couple years ago and it sounded like something I could get behind.
Basically, they set up wish-lists on Amazon.com. Each wish-list is for a different children's hospital around the USA and the World. You pick a hospital you want to donate to and buy an item directly from the wish-list and Amazon sends it right to the hospital. Most the items are video-game related, but some are children's books, little toys, all different things to help the sick kids that are stuck in the hospital. You can also donate money directly to the charity, but the Amazon thing is cool because you know exactly what they'll be receiving from you.
Last year, when my daughter was small, she had a little musical mobile on her crib that played music and flashes a little light show onto the ceiling. It was often the only thing that would help get her to sleep at night. In fact, she still uses it each night to fall asleep to. So that's what I bought for the Seattle Children's Hospital. I liked thinking of it being used to help a little sick child to fall asleep and maybe feel better just for a little bit. This year I wanted to donate some video games and books.
The cool thing is that there are no administrative fees. All the money and items go directly to the hospitals. These guys set up this charity to combat the idea that video games make kids into little murderers and are a total waste of time and it's definitely proving something in that over the past 3 years they've donated well over a million dollars to these hospitals. That's something I'm proud to give my money to.
The other thing I got involved in this year is a drive by Powell's Bookstore here in Portland to put 50,000 new books in Portland's schools. It's an easy one to contribute to and the premise is simple. You buy a book donation for $5.95, and Powell's donates 10 more books to the schools. So a $6.00 donation buys 11 books for schools, $12.00 buys 22, and so on. What can be easier?
I don't know that it makes up for my bad qualities, but I like the feeling I get from giving to these worthwhile charities much more than writing that stupid $10.00 check because the local police officer's association guy on the phone guilted me into helping them take some kids to the local circus. You get the feeling that if you say no then the police are going to come harass you for not giving, and you end up feeling like the only clown is you.
That's my positive post for the next year.
http://www.powells.com/schoolbook/
I don't want anybody to get me wrong...I'm not an altruistic person by nature. I don't walk around wondering how I can better my world or humanity in general, but I have been thinking lately about how I could donate to charity more.
When people call or knock at my door to solicit money for charity, I usually give nothing, or maybe a token donation. Not because I don't want to give, but I have reasons for not doing so.
First of all, I'm mistrustful of charities and how much of their collected donations go for administration costs. I've heard the figure is sometimes upwards of 80%, which, if true, is just sickening. Even if it's closer to 20-30%, it still seems pretty high.
Secondly, I've been thinking over the past couple years that it's probably not a bad idea to donate to charities or organizations that I support, and go to them, instead of half-heartedly giving to those that come to me.
That's why I love this Child's Play charity. It was started by two guys in Seattle who run the Penny Arcade website. It's an online comic-strip dealing with video games and nerds. I don't even read the comic strip very often, but I heard about their charity a couple years ago and it sounded like something I could get behind.
Basically, they set up wish-lists on Amazon.com. Each wish-list is for a different children's hospital around the USA and the World. You pick a hospital you want to donate to and buy an item directly from the wish-list and Amazon sends it right to the hospital. Most the items are video-game related, but some are children's books, little toys, all different things to help the sick kids that are stuck in the hospital. You can also donate money directly to the charity, but the Amazon thing is cool because you know exactly what they'll be receiving from you.
Last year, when my daughter was small, she had a little musical mobile on her crib that played music and flashes a little light show onto the ceiling. It was often the only thing that would help get her to sleep at night. In fact, she still uses it each night to fall asleep to. So that's what I bought for the Seattle Children's Hospital. I liked thinking of it being used to help a little sick child to fall asleep and maybe feel better just for a little bit. This year I wanted to donate some video games and books.
The cool thing is that there are no administrative fees. All the money and items go directly to the hospitals. These guys set up this charity to combat the idea that video games make kids into little murderers and are a total waste of time and it's definitely proving something in that over the past 3 years they've donated well over a million dollars to these hospitals. That's something I'm proud to give my money to.
The other thing I got involved in this year is a drive by Powell's Bookstore here in Portland to put 50,000 new books in Portland's schools. It's an easy one to contribute to and the premise is simple. You buy a book donation for $5.95, and Powell's donates 10 more books to the schools. So a $6.00 donation buys 11 books for schools, $12.00 buys 22, and so on. What can be easier?
I don't know that it makes up for my bad qualities, but I like the feeling I get from giving to these worthwhile charities much more than writing that stupid $10.00 check because the local police officer's association guy on the phone guilted me into helping them take some kids to the local circus. You get the feeling that if you say no then the police are going to come harass you for not giving, and you end up feeling like the only clown is you.
That's my positive post for the next year.
Carmudgeonly, Me?
I'm a people person. In that I dislike people in general. It's nothing new, I've been working on it for well over 10 years now. I'm giving myself the benefit of the doubt that when i was in my late teens-early twenties I wasn't as bitter as I am now. It's been so long now that the years all roll into one.
Oh sure, there are people that I like just fine, some that I even enjoy being around. And while having a wife and two relatively new children has helped me to see some of the good that life has to offer, I still see humanity in general as a bunch of fucktards in need of a good dressing-down.
So with that said, welcome to my new space on the internet,
Mark.
Oh sure, there are people that I like just fine, some that I even enjoy being around. And while having a wife and two relatively new children has helped me to see some of the good that life has to offer, I still see humanity in general as a bunch of fucktards in need of a good dressing-down.
So with that said, welcome to my new space on the internet,
Mark.
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