Didn't know what I was going to cover exactly, so I gave it a generic title.
I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I keep forgetting.
Whenever we come to a automatic sliding door at department stores, my wife will say, "Open Sesame!" as we step up, and the doors would slide open, and we would continue upon our way to our capitalistic ways. Anyway, Zoe being the brain that she is, was going through the door with me a while back and after we exited, she turned and said, "Thank you, Sesame!"
---
So I've been flirting with this idea around, and it gets riled up whenever something like the iPhone or my Palm comes around. Portable word processing/web access. I am very much attached to the idea that I should be able to write anywhere on a device, and I know it's been possible for a while, but the devices are either too incompatible, expensive, or too much of a hassle to bother with. At this point, I think even the iPhone would be too much of a bother because touch screen text entry isn't quite as intuitive as button pressing.
The biggest obstacle is cost - how to have a device that has web access but doesn't cost a cow. Even the real basic data plan has to be paired up with a voice plan, and there's a yearly/monthly commitment that I don't really care much for.
But I have a solution on the horizon. T-mobile has a prepaid plan that I'm currently on, which ensures that I do have mobile access, but more on a pay as you go type situation so if I'm not using the minutes, I'm not being charged. The last time I used the phone for a voice call was Valentine's Day, in fact. Anyway, T-mobile also has rates for the Sidekick, which is a funky phatty phone with a full keyboard on the phone. And if I wanted to access the data, it's only a dollar a day, and that's only if I want to use it. If I don't, it'll be no charge. Anyway, I did a bit of research (code for something I do when I'm bored and looking for stuff to buy) and found that a used one will be in the ball part of 150 bucks. It's not loose change for sure, but it certainly is cheaper than a brand new smartphone. The Sidekick isn't especially smart, but the keyboard is nice. It probably is a bit of an indulgence, but the idea of being able to blog anywhere or write anywhere has always been an attractive idea for me.
---
Watched "Superman" with the kids yesterday, and found the movie to be pretty much as corny as I remembered it. I thought I just didn't get it when I was younger, but now I just realize that I probably wouldn't have gotten it if I was older. Not that it's awfully complicated, just that there are some parts of the movie which seem kinda... off. Like why Margot Kidder isn't really attractive in any sense. Or how Lex Luthor never really states why he hates Superman (although in the comics, it is fleshed out.) Or why he spends a year at the Fortress of Solitude offscreen and then he's got his costume on. Like, WHAT? Don't even get me started on altering the earth's rotation to turn back time. It'll take years to explain that to the kids and how that's not possible. He got bored and sewed himself a suit? I dunno, probably in context, that would've been a better film than it is now.
More than that, I think it's really surprising that "Superman Returns" basically lifts most of the first and second movie for his update. The whole thing is like a weird remake - there's a dichotomy, I get it, but most of the movie seems like they were working off the same producer notes. Weird.
---
Well, I had more in my head but the kids are doing their thing now. Jesus Christ, I was just typing that and Alex took a hollow tube and blew into my ear. He lost that tube.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
How 5 Minutes Inspired Me!
When people ask me what I did this weekend, I would be like, I was videotaping that and it was fun and inspiring and made me feel alive! And then they would watch the video and go... Why were they doing that? Well, it's not for everyone.
I, for one, have been fascinated by these "improv missions", which are not technically considered a flash mob, but nevertheless it's the same idea. A group of people who randomly meet up, doing something for a short period of time, and then disband. I never met any of these people before, and hopefully I will have time to do something like this again.
The American Babies book came in the mail and the wife has been devouring it like she's never read it before. It looks pretty nice, though the formatting is a little off. Hardcover and the quality is pretty good, makes me feel like a real author, almost. I'll post photos of that later.
We also did the Zoo on Saturday, and though overall it was a good experience, we were convinced after that trip that Alex could possibly not be ready for preschool. He likes to argue and not listen to directions, but most of all he doesn't quite know when to be serious. A good time would really be when Mommy or Daddy has an angry look of their faces, but poor Alex somehow interprets that as funny. So it was a bit of a stressful trip out, with him being constantly reprimanded for not showing enough respect. Sigh. He's a good kid, but he lets his excitement and emotions get in the way.
Anyway, still got loads to do, wasted a lot of last night and this morning trying to figure out the improv video. I need to be done with it for right now.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Pie Week
Well, it's not as tasty as it sounds. It simply addresses the situation at work. We're currently having problems with the boards, so they can't build any units and therefore the whole assembly line has been halted. Although shipping is slightly more fortunate in having something to do, we have no real quota to meet and no one's looking up our skirts to see what we're up to. So there's a lot of pressure gone and I'm feeling more relaxed at work. I'm seriously tired of being so stressed all the time. Of course, this will mean that the next week or month will be insanely busy, with us playing catch up. Also, after just having a 4 day weekend, we won't be working Friday because of the shortage so I'll have another 3 day weekend. Sweet.
My love affair with NPR continues. Today I've been just listening to NPR for the whole day. I used to like Whad'ya Know on Saturdays, but since they don't really showcase the whole show as a podcast, I've really taken to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." It's a great news quiz show, with great humor and interesting guests dropping by. All and all, it's a great listen that has made me laugh out loud while working, inciting some looks from co-workers. But even the Movies podcast or the Tech podcasts are top notch, going beyond the usual glossy summarized and highly opinionated slant of mainstream media and providing a much more classy way of bringing me new information. I've just been really glad to be getting all this stuff into my brain. Now I don't feel like such a drone.
Today at work, I was scraping stickers off the floor with a razor blade and a co-worker came up and looked at me.
"Keeping busy, huh?"
"I know, it's not the best utilization of my abilities."
She smiled and nodded.
"Then again, I do work here after all."
I laughed at myself out loud, probably as some sort of self-mockery and realization that it was the sad truth. College education and I'm scraping stickers off the floor with alcohol.
I'm revisiting Band of Brothers again, having missed one of the episodes when I watched it on the History Channel a while back, and this time I'm watching it uncensored (just language) and for some reason, it doesn't come with subtitles. I'm a funny sort, I enjoy subtitles for some reason, likely due to the fact that I'm an aspiring screenwriter, but I think it also helps my comprehension. Although it does ruin a lot of comedies for me, since I'm a speedy reader. I get the jokes before they deliver them.
For some reason, today the kids are either acting super crazy therefore becoming more accident prone, or as I am always suspected, the house is slowly getting smaller. But so far tonight, Alex kicked the hard floor with his foot, Zoe tried to round off the kitchen counter corner with her head, and Alex tried to sharpen his toy sword on Zoe's hands.
The other day, when we were having our family day at Pike Place Market, we were hanging out at the park and they found a little boy to play with. Nothing complex, they just running around each other and having a good time. Anyway, at one point the little boy ran off further than usual, and Zoe reached that invisible radius between herself and me and so she stopped dead in her tracks, and for good measure, stuck out her arm to prevent Alex from going any further. She was so serious doing that too, which made me proud and laugh at the same time.
Just put the kids to bed, and we were playing "What are you going to Dream about?" The kids enjoy that, as do I, though we get a little goofy sometimes. Alex dreamt that I have two butts for eyes, and Zoe dreamt that I only had one tooth. Now their lights are off, but they're still talking quietly which is pretty cute.
Oh, one of the things Alex did again tonight was to mumble incomprehensible phrases really loud, like "Oola!" and "Nohnoh!". I told him to stop shouting it so loud and he said he was speaking Spanish. Thank you, Dora. Now they think they know Spanish.
My love affair with NPR continues. Today I've been just listening to NPR for the whole day. I used to like Whad'ya Know on Saturdays, but since they don't really showcase the whole show as a podcast, I've really taken to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." It's a great news quiz show, with great humor and interesting guests dropping by. All and all, it's a great listen that has made me laugh out loud while working, inciting some looks from co-workers. But even the Movies podcast or the Tech podcasts are top notch, going beyond the usual glossy summarized and highly opinionated slant of mainstream media and providing a much more classy way of bringing me new information. I've just been really glad to be getting all this stuff into my brain. Now I don't feel like such a drone.
Today at work, I was scraping stickers off the floor with a razor blade and a co-worker came up and looked at me.
"Keeping busy, huh?"
"I know, it's not the best utilization of my abilities."
She smiled and nodded.
"Then again, I do work here after all."
I laughed at myself out loud, probably as some sort of self-mockery and realization that it was the sad truth. College education and I'm scraping stickers off the floor with alcohol.
I'm revisiting Band of Brothers again, having missed one of the episodes when I watched it on the History Channel a while back, and this time I'm watching it uncensored (just language) and for some reason, it doesn't come with subtitles. I'm a funny sort, I enjoy subtitles for some reason, likely due to the fact that I'm an aspiring screenwriter, but I think it also helps my comprehension. Although it does ruin a lot of comedies for me, since I'm a speedy reader. I get the jokes before they deliver them.
For some reason, today the kids are either acting super crazy therefore becoming more accident prone, or as I am always suspected, the house is slowly getting smaller. But so far tonight, Alex kicked the hard floor with his foot, Zoe tried to round off the kitchen counter corner with her head, and Alex tried to sharpen his toy sword on Zoe's hands.
The other day, when we were having our family day at Pike Place Market, we were hanging out at the park and they found a little boy to play with. Nothing complex, they just running around each other and having a good time. Anyway, at one point the little boy ran off further than usual, and Zoe reached that invisible radius between herself and me and so she stopped dead in her tracks, and for good measure, stuck out her arm to prevent Alex from going any further. She was so serious doing that too, which made me proud and laugh at the same time.
Just put the kids to bed, and we were playing "What are you going to Dream about?" The kids enjoy that, as do I, though we get a little goofy sometimes. Alex dreamt that I have two butts for eyes, and Zoe dreamt that I only had one tooth. Now their lights are off, but they're still talking quietly which is pretty cute.
Oh, one of the things Alex did again tonight was to mumble incomprehensible phrases really loud, like "Oola!" and "Nohnoh!". I told him to stop shouting it so loud and he said he was speaking Spanish. Thank you, Dora. Now they think they know Spanish.
A Post From Mommy
So today Alex and I were working on his "homework" and Zoe is coloring in the next seat at the table. She announces that she has to go potty and runs to the bathroom. Sure enough a few minutes later, I hear her crying and knocking softly at the bathroom door. I immediately knew she had locked herself in yet again so I walked into the other room retrieve the knife stored away for such occasions, and while consoling her calmly unlocked the door. Picking her up I got the explanation from her.
"Wilbur (our cat) locked me in the bathroom", she tells me in between tears.
Ignoring her statement, I asked her if she locked herself in again and got the reply:
"No, Wilbur do it," She tells me, still in tears and obviously very upset.
I told her that I really didn't think Wilbur did it when Alex walks in from the other room and interrupts me.
"Mom."
"Yes, Alex."
"Wilbur can do that. He know how."
At that point I had to give up because, as we all know, there is really no winning over preschool logic. So there you have it. Wilbur the cat I guess is some mystical creature. Not only can he lock a bathroom door that a three year old cannot manage to unlock but he can do it when he is sleeping under the kitchen table. I know he can be a grouchy cat but he must really have something against three year old girls to be doing this kind of mischief.
"Wilbur (our cat) locked me in the bathroom", she tells me in between tears.
Ignoring her statement, I asked her if she locked herself in again and got the reply:
"No, Wilbur do it," She tells me, still in tears and obviously very upset.
I told her that I really didn't think Wilbur did it when Alex walks in from the other room and interrupts me.
"Mom."
"Yes, Alex."
"Wilbur can do that. He know how."
At that point I had to give up because, as we all know, there is really no winning over preschool logic. So there you have it. Wilbur the cat I guess is some mystical creature. Not only can he lock a bathroom door that a three year old cannot manage to unlock but he can do it when he is sleeping under the kitchen table. I know he can be a grouchy cat but he must really have something against three year old girls to be doing this kind of mischief.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
A Bit About Movies
Last night my wife wanted to go on a date, since everybody was home. So we decided to go to the movies, and she was curious about Cloverfield, but I was really itching to watch "No Country for Old Men." And in typical Coen Bros style, the movie is top notch. Javier Bardem is just a complete badass in it, more menacing than most villians in my movie memory. There's such an air of evil and unpredictability about him that he's walks around like the Grim Reaper himself. I highly recommend it although if you're looking for tidy endings, don't expect one in sight.
Following up with the anime front, I finished "Tokyo Godfathers" and although it's an older movie, I highly recommend that one as well. It's a gem and a testament that all anime isn't about wide-eyed characters in sci-fi premises. This is a comedy about three homeless people, a gay man, a middle aged guy, and a teenage girl who suddenly find themselves tasked with finding the parents of an abandoned baby girl. It ranges from touching to laugh out loud funny at times, and it's certainly worth a look. There are so many little moments that sometimes I find myself missing them as I read through the subtitles.
Alright, now a bit about the kids. They've been polar opposites lately, Zoe's been easy to converse with, happy and carefree, and just fun to be around. Alex has been... not so much. We're hoping that it's just a phase, but he's walking around like an Id with a chip on his shoulder. He wants things his way, has selective hearing, and gets incessant about his demands. His infamous thing right now is that after the movie at night, he wants to listen to the music at the end of the credits. In reality, a parent will know that he doesn't really care who the animator's caterer is, he's just stalling for bedtime. But when we turn off the TV once the credits roll, he will bawl out loud as if you just told him in an instant that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Chocolate Flavor weren't real, but also in my freezer. He will turn a perfectly okay evening into a high stress situation whereby he won't calm down until he gets his way. Of course, this gets me absolutely livid to the point of unreasonable and irresponsible, and he gets more worked up. It's a last ditch attempt of control by him at the end of the day, but he doesn't know that it's because he's tired, he won't get his way, and he'll never win this fight.
Yeah, he's been a little tough lately, not listening to general instructions or being obsessive about toys. He'll want toys he can't have, food he shouldn't have, and do things that he shouldn't do. He probably was like me when I was little, a little boy wanting to be an adult so that I could do whatever I wanted to do. Of course, this all sounds grand when you're a kid, but then when you're an adult, you just want to revert back to being as oblivious as a child.
Oh, another thing that's been giving me a lot of enjoyment, other than the PS3 and it pretty pretty graphics, (Uncharted is one of the nicest looking game I've ever seen), is something seemingly out of left field. Get ready for it, it's NPR. That's right, National Public Radio is making my days at work 100 percent more interesting, since there's so much time to zone out and listen to the same songs that I have, instead I listen from everything from movie reviews to satire, stories and news, and even a great game show called, "Wait, Wait, Don't tell me", whereby the grand prize is a voice greeting from the announcer on your home answering machine. I listen to them as podcasts, so I can start and stop them whenever I need to. But it's kinda sweet because I get to go outside my own existence, and I suppose it's a little like college whereby I get new knowledge everyday, which keeps my brain happily stimulated.
Well, time to plan the day with the family. Hard trying to keep it within budget too.
Following up with the anime front, I finished "Tokyo Godfathers" and although it's an older movie, I highly recommend that one as well. It's a gem and a testament that all anime isn't about wide-eyed characters in sci-fi premises. This is a comedy about three homeless people, a gay man, a middle aged guy, and a teenage girl who suddenly find themselves tasked with finding the parents of an abandoned baby girl. It ranges from touching to laugh out loud funny at times, and it's certainly worth a look. There are so many little moments that sometimes I find myself missing them as I read through the subtitles.
Alright, now a bit about the kids. They've been polar opposites lately, Zoe's been easy to converse with, happy and carefree, and just fun to be around. Alex has been... not so much. We're hoping that it's just a phase, but he's walking around like an Id with a chip on his shoulder. He wants things his way, has selective hearing, and gets incessant about his demands. His infamous thing right now is that after the movie at night, he wants to listen to the music at the end of the credits. In reality, a parent will know that he doesn't really care who the animator's caterer is, he's just stalling for bedtime. But when we turn off the TV once the credits roll, he will bawl out loud as if you just told him in an instant that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Chocolate Flavor weren't real, but also in my freezer. He will turn a perfectly okay evening into a high stress situation whereby he won't calm down until he gets his way. Of course, this gets me absolutely livid to the point of unreasonable and irresponsible, and he gets more worked up. It's a last ditch attempt of control by him at the end of the day, but he doesn't know that it's because he's tired, he won't get his way, and he'll never win this fight.
Yeah, he's been a little tough lately, not listening to general instructions or being obsessive about toys. He'll want toys he can't have, food he shouldn't have, and do things that he shouldn't do. He probably was like me when I was little, a little boy wanting to be an adult so that I could do whatever I wanted to do. Of course, this all sounds grand when you're a kid, but then when you're an adult, you just want to revert back to being as oblivious as a child.
Oh, another thing that's been giving me a lot of enjoyment, other than the PS3 and it pretty pretty graphics, (Uncharted is one of the nicest looking game I've ever seen), is something seemingly out of left field. Get ready for it, it's NPR. That's right, National Public Radio is making my days at work 100 percent more interesting, since there's so much time to zone out and listen to the same songs that I have, instead I listen from everything from movie reviews to satire, stories and news, and even a great game show called, "Wait, Wait, Don't tell me", whereby the grand prize is a voice greeting from the announcer on your home answering machine. I listen to them as podcasts, so I can start and stop them whenever I need to. But it's kinda sweet because I get to go outside my own existence, and I suppose it's a little like college whereby I get new knowledge everyday, which keeps my brain happily stimulated.
Well, time to plan the day with the family. Hard trying to keep it within budget too.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Lulu Would be a Good Pink Poodle Name
But no, I didn't get a new pet. If I were to get any kind of pet today, it would most likely be a pet rock. They're low maintenance, easy to look at, and probably listen better than some little boys.
Anyway, I finally got around to finishing the reformatting of the American Babies blog, whereby I cut and paste all the entries from the webpage onto a Word document, and then manually reformat it so that it looks normal on a Word Document. Anyway, I uploaded the thing to Lulu.com, so I will be getting two hardcovers in a couple weeks. It's 23 bucks for a copy, and I don't make any royalties off it. It's also available for download as a PDF if you were so inclined.
http://www.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID=2028768
So now the last few years of my life can be in handy book form, internet free!
Today's kinda a lazy day, the weather's a little cold and uninviting, and since my wife has to work today, we canceled the plan to go watch the Chinese New Year shindig at the local Uwajimaya, since it started way too closely to my wife's work start time. So I've been doing my taxes today (and finished them) and then working on this book deal. It would be nice to have it in a hardcover so that we could just read about stuff without having to go online. I don't know why, just would be.
So as implied earlier, our little boy is going through a behavioral phase right now, one which his ears simply fail to function correctly. A good example would be the art kit we had on the table. He asked my wife if he could play with it, and she replied, "Later." Then he turned to me and asked me the same exact question, and I said, "Mommy said later." Then he turned to my Mom and asked, and got a time out. For a little boy, he's got a lot of sass and attitude, flat out refusing to listen and being persistent and stubborn. So I don't reckon it's fun for him either, having to live on the stairs in a semi-permanent state of time-out.
Skimming through the blog and I actually find myself missing the writing process, being creative and smartass-like is one of my underdeveloped superpowers. But nowadays, I just don't really have the energy and time to devote to that, which is a shame really. My jokes don't fly at my workplace, because I'd just have to explain it too much for it to work. Luckily, one of my co-workers has a relatively good grasp of the language, so quite a bit of my jokes work. They're not quality grade, but it gets laughs.
"Anna came by me and touched me," said Jaime.
"Where and how often?", I replied.
Yeah, sex jokes are it.
I reckon as some time passes, I'll find some more free time to do more creative things, but it seems to be the trend for most of my fellow bloggers. Most of them have either stopped altogether, or have reduced it to occasional obligatory postings or one line postings.
Holy cow, that side project of mine of uploading every photo I have to Flickr just got scarier. So far I've got about 2000 photos uploaded, but glancing at my entire library, looks like I've got about 24,000 to go through. To make things trickier, I try not to upload while I'm at work because my wife and Mom do use the internet, and the slowdown is noticeable. I also try not to do it at night because of my Mom's KylinTV, which is a IPTV device that uses broadband to retrieve Chinese programming from the internet. So I'm just stuck uploading about 50 at a time. And yeah, I'm doing it rather indiscriminately. Any and all photos gets transferred.
Been into Anime lately, trying to catch a little bit more than I usually do. I don't always partake in what traditionally is thought of when someone mentions "Anime", which is like sci-fi robot fare, Dragonball type shennigans, or the like. I recently watched "Paprika" which has a sci-fi backdrop, but mostly has great fantasy type visuals and a theme of duality. "TEKKONKINKREET" was animated by the people who did the animated sequence in Kill Bill which I didn't care for, but I liked it fine in the movie. I've got "Metropolis" and "Tokyo Godfathers" coming up, so I'm hyped for that. Just finished "The Kingdom", which I imagine leaves people a little uneasy even though it's a ficitional thriller. Civilian bombings and beheadings are a little too iffy for entertainment value right now.
Well, that's it for me. Nature calls, and as always, they're calling collect.
Anyway, I finally got around to finishing the reformatting of the American Babies blog, whereby I cut and paste all the entries from the webpage onto a Word document, and then manually reformat it so that it looks normal on a Word Document. Anyway, I uploaded the thing to Lulu.com, so I will be getting two hardcovers in a couple weeks. It's 23 bucks for a copy, and I don't make any royalties off it. It's also available for download as a PDF if you were so inclined.
http://www.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID=2028768
So now the last few years of my life can be in handy book form, internet free!
Today's kinda a lazy day, the weather's a little cold and uninviting, and since my wife has to work today, we canceled the plan to go watch the Chinese New Year shindig at the local Uwajimaya, since it started way too closely to my wife's work start time. So I've been doing my taxes today (and finished them) and then working on this book deal. It would be nice to have it in a hardcover so that we could just read about stuff without having to go online. I don't know why, just would be.
So as implied earlier, our little boy is going through a behavioral phase right now, one which his ears simply fail to function correctly. A good example would be the art kit we had on the table. He asked my wife if he could play with it, and she replied, "Later." Then he turned to me and asked me the same exact question, and I said, "Mommy said later." Then he turned to my Mom and asked, and got a time out. For a little boy, he's got a lot of sass and attitude, flat out refusing to listen and being persistent and stubborn. So I don't reckon it's fun for him either, having to live on the stairs in a semi-permanent state of time-out.
Skimming through the blog and I actually find myself missing the writing process, being creative and smartass-like is one of my underdeveloped superpowers. But nowadays, I just don't really have the energy and time to devote to that, which is a shame really. My jokes don't fly at my workplace, because I'd just have to explain it too much for it to work. Luckily, one of my co-workers has a relatively good grasp of the language, so quite a bit of my jokes work. They're not quality grade, but it gets laughs.
"Anna came by me and touched me," said Jaime.
"Where and how often?", I replied.
Yeah, sex jokes are it.
I reckon as some time passes, I'll find some more free time to do more creative things, but it seems to be the trend for most of my fellow bloggers. Most of them have either stopped altogether, or have reduced it to occasional obligatory postings or one line postings.
Holy cow, that side project of mine of uploading every photo I have to Flickr just got scarier. So far I've got about 2000 photos uploaded, but glancing at my entire library, looks like I've got about 24,000 to go through. To make things trickier, I try not to upload while I'm at work because my wife and Mom do use the internet, and the slowdown is noticeable. I also try not to do it at night because of my Mom's KylinTV, which is a IPTV device that uses broadband to retrieve Chinese programming from the internet. So I'm just stuck uploading about 50 at a time. And yeah, I'm doing it rather indiscriminately. Any and all photos gets transferred.
Been into Anime lately, trying to catch a little bit more than I usually do. I don't always partake in what traditionally is thought of when someone mentions "Anime", which is like sci-fi robot fare, Dragonball type shennigans, or the like. I recently watched "Paprika" which has a sci-fi backdrop, but mostly has great fantasy type visuals and a theme of duality. "TEKKONKINKREET" was animated by the people who did the animated sequence in Kill Bill which I didn't care for, but I liked it fine in the movie. I've got "Metropolis" and "Tokyo Godfathers" coming up, so I'm hyped for that. Just finished "The Kingdom", which I imagine leaves people a little uneasy even though it's a ficitional thriller. Civilian bombings and beheadings are a little too iffy for entertainment value right now.
Well, that's it for me. Nature calls, and as always, they're calling collect.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Overcompensating for Suck Month
February has been a little kinder for us, even though I think a lot of it has to do with our over compensation of the last month. Yesterday was my first Friday off in a few months time, and I kinda weaseled my way into getting the day off even though everyone else in my line was working. So even though I was happy to have some time off to goof around, I still felt a little guilty being home yesterday. But damnit, I shouldn't really have to feel guilty about working 40 hours a week, do I?
The PS3 has been really good to me. The Orange Box is really cool, although I've been spending time split between the different games. One of the conditions of having a PS3 is that I can't really play games that are inappropriate for the kids to watch, and seeing how the consumer base of the PS3 is geared toward Teens and up, it can be a little tough finding anything to do on the PS3 with the kids. Burnout Paradise is great with the kids around, and Portal is a good one as well. I tend to play Portal only when my wife is around, mostly because it's interesting for her to watch and I like to show off my analytical skills. The Playstation Network is addictive as well, having classic titles that work on the PS3 and the PSP. That's pretty cool. Right now I'm playing through Uncharted: Drake's Treasure, a rental that I had considered buying. I'll say this, it has a really great visual presentation, at times just beautiful and engrossing. But at the same time, the game seems to be incredibly short - I played for 3-4 hours last night and I've already completed 40% of the game. But it sure is pretty.
Yeah, kinda needed the Friday off just to catch a breather - I've been so submerged into work that whenever I dream, it's usually about work. I wake up, work, and promptly go into slipshod parenting and then bedtime. It's been so exhausting and seemingly unrewarding that I've developing a dronelike gaze in my eyes. And I try to apply the maxim of "having be able to make enough" to justify not working on Friday. I need to be able to work less and make more, really.
The kids have since recovered a little from their illnesses, and right now it's found new hosts in my wife and now starting to affect me. I'm trying to keep it at bay, hydrating, taking vitamins and scarfing down Balance Bars as if it were really healthy.
Zoe has a way of calling certain things with a "Ba" prefix, like Baputer (Computer), Bapiano, and the other day, when Zoe was naming off family members when she said that her mommy's name was Balaine, which was pretty cute. Alex himself has been sweet at times, coming into bed and saying, "I like you Daddy. You're my favorite Daddy." Which is quite a compliment considering the other Daddy candidates. His recent thing has been coming into our room in the middle of the night. My wife had told him that when he needed something, he should come into our room instead of shouting at the top of his voice in the dead of the night for something that he needs. So the other night, at 2 in the morning, he comes into the room, and says out loud,
"Mommy? Mommy?"
My wife, confused and half asleep, mutters, "She's not here."
"Mommy?"
(Regains composure) "What Sweetie?"
"Night night."
The other night was a similar deal, when he wanted a kiss at six in the morning. Thereafter, I believe he sat in our bed waiting for us to wake up, so needless to say, he was tired the rest of the day, doling out his tiredness in bite size tantrums.
But overall, the kids have been pretty good, just getting the feeling that they don't see their Daddy as much as they should be. Anyway, day with the family today, can't spend all day blogging about games now, can we?
The PS3 has been really good to me. The Orange Box is really cool, although I've been spending time split between the different games. One of the conditions of having a PS3 is that I can't really play games that are inappropriate for the kids to watch, and seeing how the consumer base of the PS3 is geared toward Teens and up, it can be a little tough finding anything to do on the PS3 with the kids. Burnout Paradise is great with the kids around, and Portal is a good one as well. I tend to play Portal only when my wife is around, mostly because it's interesting for her to watch and I like to show off my analytical skills. The Playstation Network is addictive as well, having classic titles that work on the PS3 and the PSP. That's pretty cool. Right now I'm playing through Uncharted: Drake's Treasure, a rental that I had considered buying. I'll say this, it has a really great visual presentation, at times just beautiful and engrossing. But at the same time, the game seems to be incredibly short - I played for 3-4 hours last night and I've already completed 40% of the game. But it sure is pretty.
Yeah, kinda needed the Friday off just to catch a breather - I've been so submerged into work that whenever I dream, it's usually about work. I wake up, work, and promptly go into slipshod parenting and then bedtime. It's been so exhausting and seemingly unrewarding that I've developing a dronelike gaze in my eyes. And I try to apply the maxim of "having be able to make enough" to justify not working on Friday. I need to be able to work less and make more, really.
The kids have since recovered a little from their illnesses, and right now it's found new hosts in my wife and now starting to affect me. I'm trying to keep it at bay, hydrating, taking vitamins and scarfing down Balance Bars as if it were really healthy.
Zoe has a way of calling certain things with a "Ba" prefix, like Baputer (Computer), Bapiano, and the other day, when Zoe was naming off family members when she said that her mommy's name was Balaine, which was pretty cute. Alex himself has been sweet at times, coming into bed and saying, "I like you Daddy. You're my favorite Daddy." Which is quite a compliment considering the other Daddy candidates. His recent thing has been coming into our room in the middle of the night. My wife had told him that when he needed something, he should come into our room instead of shouting at the top of his voice in the dead of the night for something that he needs. So the other night, at 2 in the morning, he comes into the room, and says out loud,
"Mommy? Mommy?"
My wife, confused and half asleep, mutters, "She's not here."
"Mommy?"
(Regains composure) "What Sweetie?"
"Night night."
The other night was a similar deal, when he wanted a kiss at six in the morning. Thereafter, I believe he sat in our bed waiting for us to wake up, so needless to say, he was tired the rest of the day, doling out his tiredness in bite size tantrums.
But overall, the kids have been pretty good, just getting the feeling that they don't see their Daddy as much as they should be. Anyway, day with the family today, can't spend all day blogging about games now, can we?
Sunday, January 27, 2008
January was Suck Month
I don't know what it was about January, but it just sucked royally. I should be a little careful though, the month isn't quite over. Better look out for saws dropping from the ceiling or the like.
Right now, the kids are sick - they are coughing a great deal, first hitting Alex and then moving through to Zoe. The doctor ruled out strep throat and is testing for whooping cough, but it's still pretty inconclusive. One night was so bad that he'd cough and wake up crying, leaving my poor wife to stay up with him most of the night, sitting in the rocking chair consoling him. She definitely earned a Mother of the Year award for that one. I slept mostly because I knew I couldn't do any less than 5 and a half hours of sleep. I would implode or have some structural failure if I tried.
So now Zoe has it, but we're laying on the cough medicine, which he hates, to at least let them have some rest at night. Being sick and sleep deprived makes for a very cranky and irritable kid. They're on the mend, but we're kinda trying to take it easy, stay indoors, and watch Daddy waste away his weekend with PS3 goodness.
Work was hard. I'm on my feet for the 10 hour day, walking back and forth, doing lifting and sorting and the like, and holding in repressed anger at my co-workers for redefining the personification of "Lameass". In addition to that, we had a few 58 hour weeks, and either one or two days off. I don't care who you are, but after you work that much, you really start to lose sight of everything else, like who you are and people around you. I was dreaming about work, it was so bad. My coworkers and I got into a high tension discussion about my supervisor taking roll call in the morning, and marking people up for tardies and ultimately firing the repeat offenders with as little as one warning.
Their argument was that it was just a few minutes, and that shouldn't matter. I argued that if it was a big deal for them, then just show up on time. Work starts at the same time everyday. My co-worker accused me of living too closely to work (7 minute drive), and that some people had to commute on the freeway and traffic was what it was. I said again, work starts the same time everyday, and a lot of people show up on time or early. Then I put it to him this way, if the supervisor came to him and said, I'm going to take a few minutes from your lunch today, how would he feel, since we were practically stealing time when we show up late but still filled in the timecard as 40 hours. He said it doesn't matter, since we leave work a few minutes early anyway.
At that point, I do this thing when I'm done talking to him, which is to say, "I don't know." repeatedly until he leaves me alone, then I just put on my earphones and walk away. It's much like aruguing with children when I'm at work. They want it their way, have no logic to back it up, and can't see more than 2 seconds ahead of what the consequences will be.
One of my other projects in the new future, in addition to finishing the wedding, planning the trip to California, and all the other daily crap that I ignore, will be to go through some emails from my wife and pull up excerpts of kid adventures. I've neglected to report a lot of their shennigans and so I'm trying to remedy that.
Right now, the kids are sick - they are coughing a great deal, first hitting Alex and then moving through to Zoe. The doctor ruled out strep throat and is testing for whooping cough, but it's still pretty inconclusive. One night was so bad that he'd cough and wake up crying, leaving my poor wife to stay up with him most of the night, sitting in the rocking chair consoling him. She definitely earned a Mother of the Year award for that one. I slept mostly because I knew I couldn't do any less than 5 and a half hours of sleep. I would implode or have some structural failure if I tried.
So now Zoe has it, but we're laying on the cough medicine, which he hates, to at least let them have some rest at night. Being sick and sleep deprived makes for a very cranky and irritable kid. They're on the mend, but we're kinda trying to take it easy, stay indoors, and watch Daddy waste away his weekend with PS3 goodness.
Work was hard. I'm on my feet for the 10 hour day, walking back and forth, doing lifting and sorting and the like, and holding in repressed anger at my co-workers for redefining the personification of "Lameass". In addition to that, we had a few 58 hour weeks, and either one or two days off. I don't care who you are, but after you work that much, you really start to lose sight of everything else, like who you are and people around you. I was dreaming about work, it was so bad. My coworkers and I got into a high tension discussion about my supervisor taking roll call in the morning, and marking people up for tardies and ultimately firing the repeat offenders with as little as one warning.
Their argument was that it was just a few minutes, and that shouldn't matter. I argued that if it was a big deal for them, then just show up on time. Work starts at the same time everyday. My co-worker accused me of living too closely to work (7 minute drive), and that some people had to commute on the freeway and traffic was what it was. I said again, work starts the same time everyday, and a lot of people show up on time or early. Then I put it to him this way, if the supervisor came to him and said, I'm going to take a few minutes from your lunch today, how would he feel, since we were practically stealing time when we show up late but still filled in the timecard as 40 hours. He said it doesn't matter, since we leave work a few minutes early anyway.
At that point, I do this thing when I'm done talking to him, which is to say, "I don't know." repeatedly until he leaves me alone, then I just put on my earphones and walk away. It's much like aruguing with children when I'm at work. They want it their way, have no logic to back it up, and can't see more than 2 seconds ahead of what the consequences will be.
One of my other projects in the new future, in addition to finishing the wedding, planning the trip to California, and all the other daily crap that I ignore, will be to go through some emails from my wife and pull up excerpts of kid adventures. I've neglected to report a lot of their shennigans and so I'm trying to remedy that.
My Foray into Next Gen Gaming
(Or, how I was an Xbox360 owner for about six hours.)
So, part of my twisted bargaining process was to convince my wife, you know, I've been working like 106 hours for the past two weeks, a bit of next gen gaming might cheer me up (or something.) So I told her I was going to sell that video camera I never use to front the money for an Xbox 360. Well, when Friday rolled around, I had reached a fever pitch obsession so I asked my wife if I could get an advance on the system, and she said yes. So off I went to get the somewhat reasonably (but ultimately lackluster) Xbox360 Arcade, which was $279.
Unboxing the 360 was a little comical - Everything was just oversized. The console itself is bulky, which is fine and all, but the power AC brick was ridiculous. The plugs itself was also crazy big. But I made the space for it, elevated some shelves, and fit the 360 in the entertainment center.
To shorten the story, what I was impressed with was this: The arcade games are fun. Boom Boom Rocket is a fun game. I ordered three games online for pickup, excited to get some decent gaming in. However, my 360 had a different opinion.
I've heard of the 33% failure rates of the 360s, and the many many comments about people who are on their 2nd and 3rd console. But since some time had lapsed and the Arcade is a newer incarnation, maybe they had sorted it out. Boy, was I wrong. For the rest of the evening, I had the 360 freeze on me in the middle of gameplay off a brand new disc, during server connections, online, and once after I booted it up during the intro screen. It seriously froze like 5-6 times in one night. No error code, no official looking screen that gave any indication of a problem, just froze. Googled "xbox freeze" and the comments were overwhelming. This isn't just a fluke, it's a dangerous trend. By the end of the night, I had went from ecstatic gamer to disappointed consumer.
So the next day I returned the damn thing, and got a PS3. Now, the price tag is way heftier, about 400 bones for the 40 Gig, but now I see that it was certainly a much better way to go. Sure, no Bioshock, Halo 3 or Gears of War, but not frozen screen or dealing with tech support in another country either. Having owned both for short periods of time, I would highly recommend the PS3 over the Xbox anyday.
The Arcade version of Xbox is no frills, which was what I thought I needed, but consider this - there is no hard drive, and the included memory unit is only 256 mb, which isn't really all that much. The save files for these games are huge. To buy an addition memory unit, it would be 50 bucks. And by that time, you're already at $329, which is only 20 bucks away from actually getting the Xbox Premium, which comes with a 20GB Hard drive, headset, and HDMI cable. And without more memory, forget about music storage, trailer or demo downloads, or anything. You would have to be a really casual gamer who has it for visitors or really enjoy deleting save files right after you complete the game.
Now the next thing would be to endorse the Premium 360, right? Actually, no. At $349, the Premium sports a 20GB hard drive, but for 50 bucks more, a PS3 will see the 20 and raise it another 20, for a whopping 40GB drive. In addition, you get a Blu-Ray player. 50 bucks for 20 Gigs and a Blu Ray player, I think that's reason enough.
So, I'm enjoying my PS3, albeit full of guilt because it cost more than I started out with, but so far it's just awesome. Burnout Paradise is lots of fun in it, and I got Orange Box and Portal is one of the few puzzle games that I'll actually enjoy. Downloaded more demos and have yet to try it yet, but I'm sure this console will last me quite some time, like my PS2 has.
And no, it hasn't frozen once.
So, part of my twisted bargaining process was to convince my wife, you know, I've been working like 106 hours for the past two weeks, a bit of next gen gaming might cheer me up (or something.) So I told her I was going to sell that video camera I never use to front the money for an Xbox 360. Well, when Friday rolled around, I had reached a fever pitch obsession so I asked my wife if I could get an advance on the system, and she said yes. So off I went to get the somewhat reasonably (but ultimately lackluster) Xbox360 Arcade, which was $279.
Unboxing the 360 was a little comical - Everything was just oversized. The console itself is bulky, which is fine and all, but the power AC brick was ridiculous. The plugs itself was also crazy big. But I made the space for it, elevated some shelves, and fit the 360 in the entertainment center.
To shorten the story, what I was impressed with was this: The arcade games are fun. Boom Boom Rocket is a fun game. I ordered three games online for pickup, excited to get some decent gaming in. However, my 360 had a different opinion.
I've heard of the 33% failure rates of the 360s, and the many many comments about people who are on their 2nd and 3rd console. But since some time had lapsed and the Arcade is a newer incarnation, maybe they had sorted it out. Boy, was I wrong. For the rest of the evening, I had the 360 freeze on me in the middle of gameplay off a brand new disc, during server connections, online, and once after I booted it up during the intro screen. It seriously froze like 5-6 times in one night. No error code, no official looking screen that gave any indication of a problem, just froze. Googled "xbox freeze" and the comments were overwhelming. This isn't just a fluke, it's a dangerous trend. By the end of the night, I had went from ecstatic gamer to disappointed consumer.
So the next day I returned the damn thing, and got a PS3. Now, the price tag is way heftier, about 400 bones for the 40 Gig, but now I see that it was certainly a much better way to go. Sure, no Bioshock, Halo 3 or Gears of War, but not frozen screen or dealing with tech support in another country either. Having owned both for short periods of time, I would highly recommend the PS3 over the Xbox anyday.
The Arcade version of Xbox is no frills, which was what I thought I needed, but consider this - there is no hard drive, and the included memory unit is only 256 mb, which isn't really all that much. The save files for these games are huge. To buy an addition memory unit, it would be 50 bucks. And by that time, you're already at $329, which is only 20 bucks away from actually getting the Xbox Premium, which comes with a 20GB Hard drive, headset, and HDMI cable. And without more memory, forget about music storage, trailer or demo downloads, or anything. You would have to be a really casual gamer who has it for visitors or really enjoy deleting save files right after you complete the game.
Now the next thing would be to endorse the Premium 360, right? Actually, no. At $349, the Premium sports a 20GB hard drive, but for 50 bucks more, a PS3 will see the 20 and raise it another 20, for a whopping 40GB drive. In addition, you get a Blu-Ray player. 50 bucks for 20 Gigs and a Blu Ray player, I think that's reason enough.
So, I'm enjoying my PS3, albeit full of guilt because it cost more than I started out with, but so far it's just awesome. Burnout Paradise is lots of fun in it, and I got Orange Box and Portal is one of the few puzzle games that I'll actually enjoy. Downloaded more demos and have yet to try it yet, but I'm sure this console will last me quite some time, like my PS2 has.
And no, it hasn't frozen once.
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