December 2005 Archives

Yesterday evening I turned on my computer and checked my email as usual... after a few minutes I got a whiff of burning electrical components. I cracked the case, and discovered that the fan on my video card had stopped spinning. I quickly powered down the computer and tried pulling the card out, but it was really hot! Dave suggested that I might find a replacement fan at CompUSA, so off we went. The fan they had was 25 bucks which was cheap enough, assuming my card wasn’t totally fried...

I stuck the fan on the card and booted my machine back up. The fan worked, the card worked, I was happy. For about 2 minutes... Then my screen started tweaking out with weird multi-colored lines everywhere! I powered down the computer again, and found that the fan had fallen off the card! Apparently the adhesive couldn’t stand the heat the GPU was outputting... Well, NOW was my card hosed?

After much searching for a way to more permanently attach the fan, I realized that I could pull the pins from the old fan and use them with the new fan. With pins in place, I popped the card back in the slot, and started up the machine... and nothing happened. The computer made a weird beeping sound, and it sounded like it was stuck on boot up... well crap, I killed my card.

Or I forgot to plug the card and fan into the power source... Weird how things don’t work when you don’t plug them in. So, the card is working now. But I had to test it out by playing some WoW, right? It was only for the card’s sake... I’m not addicted!

My iPod died. I’ve had it for 10 months, and now it’s dead. In the past 10 months, Billy constantly pointed out the foolishness of carrying around a hard drive, and apparently he was right.

Since it’s been less than one year, it’s still under warrantee, so for a “mere” $30 for shipping and handling Apple will

(1) repair the product at no charge, using new or refurbished replacement parts,
(2) exchange the product with a product that is new or which has been manufactured from new or serviceable used parts and is at least functionally equivalent to the original product, or
(3) refund the purchase price of the product.

That’ll be nice, until it breaks again...

Yesterday I went to the dentist. When the dental assistant was taking down my information, she asked me how old I am. “Twenty-seven” I replied. Later when the dentist came in, the assistant was standing over me, and she said “You don’t look 27!”

Later I was thinking, “wait, does she mean I look younger or older than 27?” And then I thought “wait, which would be better?” And then I realized that either way is fine. If I look younger, it means I’m aging well. And if I look older, it means I look mature for my age. Ether way is good, just as long as I don’t look exactly 27!

1998 was the year my life forever changed... Sure, I got married... but more importantly I saw The Big Lebowski. I remember that fateful night as if it were yesterday. Micah came over to hang out, and we decided to rent a movie. We ran out to Hollywood Video and after perusing the new releases rack for a while, we decided on Lebowski (neither of us knew much about it, I remember saying “Oh, I think it’s a funny movie about bowling or something.”)

On the way back, we stopped at an AMPM/Subway to get some dinner and ran into my dad. That has nothing to do with the story, but like I said, the details of that night are indelibly marked on my brain. So, Micah and I went back to the apartment, ate our sandwiches, and watched the movie. And I was instantly in love (with the movie, not with Micah and/or Subway). I remember that Dave came over the next day and I said “You HAVE to see this movie!” and I watched it for the second day in a row.

Since that weekend, I have watched the movie around 15-20 times, and I’m not kidding when I say that it changed me. I started reading Raymond Chandler books (because I heard that Lebowski’s story is Chandleresque). I started listening to CCR (Duder’s tunes), and practically a day doesn’t go by that I don’t throw out a Lebowski reference or two. This, my most favorite of movies, is woven deep into the fabric that is me.

So, why do I gush about it today? Because last Sunday night I saw it for the first time in the theater! Kara discovered that it was playing at the Clinton and she surprised me with this fantastic information. Seeing it on the big screen was a real treat; there were about 10 other people in the theater, so hearing their reactions gave me a fresh perspective on it. And I still love it!

I'm such a deadbeat dad... I forgot Less Than Me's birthday this year! Back on November 26th, LTM turned two years old. Who knew that I'd have so much to say about so little? Last year's birthday message accurately predicted quite a few of this past year's topics. But then there was also: quitting MS, my trip to New York, moving back to Portland, the spitbag, Great America, the couch platform, and of course, World of Warcraft.

This year it's all about "The Next Generation." No, not you Jean-Luc, I'm talking about the next-gen videogame consoles. Just how long can I hold out before picking up a 360? Will Sony toss that stupid boomerang controller? (and not catch it when it comes back)? Will Nintendo really lead a revolution with their channel changer? Will I be able to tear myself away from WoW, to actually play on these new systems?!?!

Well, here's to year three of inconsequence. Oh, and I want to give a shout out to the active commenters. You are the ones that make running this site so much fun!!

This morning I went to a different bus stop than usual. A professional looking man, also waiting at the stop, turned toward me and asked:

Man: “Do you have any extra tickets?”
Me: “Yes.”
Man: “Oh, because I just realized I forgot my wallet at home.”
Me: “Well, do you have cash?”
Man: “Yeah, but it’s in my wallet at home.”
Me: “Oh.”
Man: “Do you think I could borrow a ticket and repay you next time I see you?”
Me: “I don’t usually use this bus stop, so I don’t think we’d see each other again.”
Man: “... I guess I’ll see if the bus driver will let me on.”

When the bus arrived, he talked to the bus driver and then turned around and left the bus, dejected. I had one last chance right there to give him my extra ticket, but I stayed quiet.

I got on the bus and sat down to contemplate my handling of this interesting situation (which seems like a perfect scenario to print up on a Scruples card). Here are the facts: the ticket costs $1.80, so it’s no skin off my back. At the same time, the next bus comes in 15 minutes, so it’s not like the man hosed for missing this bus.

So, I’m ok with my descision. I don’t think I was being a dick, but then I definitely didn’t going out of my way to help the guy. But... what would you have done?

I have mixed feelings about this year in videogames... It seems like so much attention was being given to the next generation that this last year of the current generation was seriously neglected. I was planning on making up a list of the top 5 games of 2005, but there just weren’t that many stellar games this year. In fact, I can’t even come up with three titles... so for this year, it’s just the game of the year.

But, what a game. God of War for the PS2 was absolutely incredible and is easily the best game ever released on the PS2. The gameplay and controls are almost perfect, it feels as though the controller was custom designed for the game. The story and cutscenes are very high quality, an excellent reward for passing tough sections. And the graphics and animation are beautiful as Kratos cuts through wave after wave of mythological creatures. God of War would take game of the year in most years, but in this year of lackluster titles, its brilliance is blinding.

Another thing to note from this past year is the longer staying power of top tier games. Halo 2 was released over a year ago, and it still gets good playtime by every gamer I know. World of Warcraft was released around the same time last year, and it now has 5 million players worldwide! Pikmin 2 was another 2004 title I spent a good number of hours with this year, even after I beat it. So, last year’s solid line-up kept me busy during this year’s drought. I’m guessing that this trend of longer lasting games will continue... With downloadable content on Xbox Live, developers are better able to keep their games fresh and exciting. I guess that’s a good thing, but I’d like a little more variety than I got this year...

Dear Google,

I heart you soooo much. You have helped me out so many times in the last few years, and I really appreciate it. Your search engine almost always returns relevant pages, and that means a lot to me. Your image search also comes in very handy when I need a quick picture for my website or to send to a friend. I also enjoy your news site, I check it many times each day, and I usually find something new and interesting every time I visit. When ever I need to translate some foreign text, you’re the site I turn to. And when I’m out and about with my cellphone and I need an address or phone number, your SMS service comes through for me every time. But by far, my most favorite thing about you lately has been your maps and local service. Like just last week, I was really in the mood for falafel for lunch, but I had no idea where I could get it. So I went to your local site and typed “falafal near 97204.” First off, yes, you were right; I DID mean “falafel” and not “falafal.” And, you did a great job finding a Lebanese restaurant very close to me. I really enjoyed that lunch, and the whole time I thought about how great you are. What amazes me the most about you, is that you do all this great stuff for me, and you don’t expect anything back in return! I mean, wow, you are really quite generous to provide many valuable services for free. I want you to know that I’d love you if you stayed exactly the same, but I also very much appreciate how you are always trying to better yourself. I often browse through your labs section, and when I see all the new things you are working on, it gets me excited about the future you. So, keep doing what you're doing, and I'm sure we'll stay close for years to come.

Yours truly,
Jake

Dave: I don’t read Micah’s blog all that often.
Me: Too bad for Micah.
Dave: I don’t read yours either.
Me: Too bad for you.