SSX 3

Every once in a while I find a game that is so much fun that I attach myself to it for hours at a time. This weekend, girlfriend and I rented NFL Streets. This is NOT that kind of game. Maybe I'm just tired of playing games like NFL blitz, and NBA street, that have no real gameplay value.

On the other hand, there are games like SSX 3, another in a series of snowboarding games. The genre is kinda old, but the game is just too much fun. Like Tony Hawk's games, and other non-sport sports games it allows you to (in this case) snowboard and either race down the mountain, free ride, or freestyle, where you get points for doing tricks while in the air.

The graphics are great, and it really feels like you're riding through real snow. Maybe that sounds a little funny since you can't really feel anything, but it gives a realistic impression of doing that. The controls are responsive, the music is good, and the characters even have some mildly humorous quotes. Anyway, I'm thinking about getting it for the gamecube, but I'm not sure if I'll play it enough to justify the big bucks. Renting it has been great though...

Roadrunner in Shreveport, LA

My parents switched from DSL internet service to Roadrunner cable internet about 6 months ago. Since then, they've had about 4 outages. Today, the cable internet service went out, and the lower channels began to appear filled with static. They can't get a cable person out there in a little truck until Tuesday. Where's Wiley Coyote when you need him?

I had planned a trip home to get away from here, and get some work done. I figured that being holed up in a room with relatively few distractions would help me to get some web site work done for a customer, but now I won't have access, so I'm stuck here.

I think it's about time to start mailing my parents pamphlets from directv and dish network. They'll get more channels for less money, and will be able to switch back to bell south's reliable DSL internet.

Cartoon Art Museum?

I can't believe my eyes... I'd love to visit a cartoon art museum. I can't think of a better place for an overgrown kid like myself, with an appreciation for art and cartoons, to go. Was that last sentence a bad one...? did I use an appositive phrase incorrectly...? maybe so, I'm living on the edge...

Hot Springs... late post

So this weekend, girlfriend and I took a trip over to hot springs AR for the day. We went to the lookout tower in the national park there, toured bath houses, visited garven gardens, and did a little shopping down town. It was a really good day. The weather was great for driving, and we both really needed to get away for a little bit.

The garden was one of the prettiest places I've ever been. The view from the tower was great, and the chuckle I got from seeing the ford dealership on the way down was wondermous. I think I'll set up a gallery of the trip for the rest of the fam to see.

Psycho Song

This is hilarious. I guess it's only funny if you've heard the original song and wondered what the heck they were saying. http://www.cramato.com. Oh, once again, this site uses Macromedia Flash.

Speaking of which, I found a great add-on for mozilla today. It's called flashblock.

Quoting from it's site:

"Flashblock is an extension for the Mozilla and Firebird browsers that takes a pessemistic approach to dealing with Macromedia Flash content on a webpage and blocks ALL Flash content from loading. It then leaves a placeholder on the page that allows you to click to view the Flash content."

This FINALLY allows me to install flash for mozilla. Previously, I only had it in IE, because of those annoying ads that popup and talk to you and go full screen on certain sites. Now, none of them popup unless I click on them... it's better than great, it's scrumtrilescent.

TechTV and G4

Bad news... Call for Help has taped it's last episode. Their last episode will be airing later today. I really liked this show. It's a real shame that comcast bought TechTV and is cancelling a cornerstone of it's programming, especially since it has been making such an improvement in the ratings.

The show catered to a technologically inexperienced audience, one of the few on television, or any site on the web for that matter, that hits the general public with the right amount of knowledge. Even as a computer science major, I found myself watching the show to find photoshop tips and other tidbits of information that I could use from time to time.

I hope, like everyone else who watches, that the show will be picked up by another network, or possibly even G4TechTV (which seems unlikely). Good luck to those who worked there... I hope the transition goes well.

Flash...macromedia Flash that is...

I really like the idea of the program, and I know that it has great capabilities. However, I've been having to use it for the last week or so for some tutorial work for newbies, and I really wanna choke someone. Getting small images lined up is a mess, and adding buttons where they should go is an extra mess.

Here's a look at what I did today. Note: I didn't do all the layout and Graphics... just the stuff after you click on the Sum and Average menu. Louis Landry is the mastermind behind the layout and the overall workings of the flash movie. I just went and built the small tutorial.

View the tutorial

You have to have flash installed to view it, by the way. Enjoy.

John Lee Hooker

There's nothing better than a good blues song... and personally, I don't think anyone sings the blues better than John Lee Hooker.

I just heard a live version of "Crawlin' King Snake" from Nov. 9, 1976 in Chicago. I can't imagine a song being more perfect. Nice bass guitar... matching John's voice, and an audience that's as excited to hear him as I am. It just doesn't get much better than that.

4 days left...

School gets out in 4 days... I can't wait to be done. I've gotta take some time out over my break to do some design work for GeorgiosMensApparel.com and some work for another customer who wants some web work done.

Today was my last big day as far as school is concerned. I had my final in Capstone, and gave my presentation to the Triage team at 3 for ENTR 460. The final went well, and so did the presentation. They really liked the "attention getter" I used with the color orange and google. *Google doesn't know the difference between orange (the fruit) and orange (the color)... that was the general idea, but with visual aids, and in a more organized manner*.

Anywho, I didn't mess up too badly... I only forgot one part of the presentation, and I recovered at a later point in the presentation. We had a reception at 6, so we got to mingle with everyone, and hear some good stories of success and failures of the important people on the Triage team.

Presentation day...

ENTR 460's presentation is tomorrow at 3. I hope we can do well... We have a good presentation. We even came up with a good attention getter involving oranges.

I found a pic that made my day today...

Capstone

Senior Capstone class is no joke... and I ended up having one of the easiest jobs in the class. Our assignment for the quarter was to bring the Watson project (no public URL as of now) from Beta to a Production release. I was placed on the documentation team, along with three other people.

Fast forward to the end of the quarter. We've already done a presentation to the higher ups at school, but we've still got to finish this project by Friday. Everyone's been working non-stop for a week or so because Mike, the teacher, has finally gotten around to giving comments on everything. So, in addition to all my other classes, I now have a stack of things about as tall as a giraffe on it's tip toes.

I've been working since about 5 this afternoon, and I'm stinkin tired of looking at this project and documenting every little nook and cranny. Oh well, another meeting at 10 tomorrow with ENTR 460 group, then another at 2 for Capstone. Monday, my Final Exam in capstone, and then my final presentation to the Triage team at tech for ENTR 460. After Monday, it's all Downhill as far as I'm concerned.

Rain means happy plants.

It's been raining for about three days. My plants love it. I, on the other hand, do not. I can't wear sandals because of the puddles and this means that I have to wear shoes.

I hate shoes.

My feet aren't the greatest things to ever grace any of the human senses, but having them closed up in some pair of shoes instead of being able to wiggle them around in public... that's just a shame.

Anyways, here's a pic of my plants looking smug because it's raining and I can't wear my flip flops. They've actually lasted over two months now, unlike the last batch of plants and kittens.

Godwin's Law

I had never heard of Godwin's Law until today. Someone on slashdot was comparing ol' president bush to hitler, and someone commented " Invoking Godwin's Law in a first post? Wow. Game over." I didn't realize what he meant, but someone else explained...

Godwin's Law
Godwin's Law prov. [Usenet] "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful.

Funny stuff...

School Work

I really hate the way school has me so busy this quarter. I get a rare moment before sleep, or in between classes to relax and surf the net, or play Unreal... but it seems like I'm moving from meeting to meeting just piling up more work to get done. I can't wait for this quarter to be over. It does make it a little better to get out of meetings at night and relax, and walk through campus for a bit. It's really nice out there at night... and just what I need after a long stressful meeting.

Keeny Hall at Louisiana Tech University 9:30 PM or so...

If only the world had more pepe's...

UT2004

UT2004 is probably the most addictive game I've played in years. I just played for two hours straight. Hmmm... I spent an hour updating some user docs for school, and it felt like two hours. I spent two hours playing UT2004 and it felt like 30 minutes. I've learned about relativity.

Maybe I'll have more time to play that over my break between spring quarter and summer's 1st session. I probably won't be playing any time soon with finals coming up here in a week or less.

I think my Entrepeneurship class forgot to get a meeting together tonight. Oops.

Last night's 6 month dinner went well. I had a lot of work to do, so I ended up offering to take her out instead of cooking, and moving the cooking to Friday. I got her a card and took her to Log Cabin (probably our favorite restaurant in Ruston). She gave me a toolbox filled with things I like... cheez its, dr pepper, and gum. I just realized that I have the same taste in food and games as a 12 yr. old kid
...
sweet.

6 months...

6 months ago, today, I started a new relationship. I know 6 months isn't a long time... my last serious relationship lasted 4 years or so, but things are going well. I'm gonna try to do something nice for her at dinner tonight... maybe I'll make some kind of chicken something or other. Who knows... I've got a few herbs out back I've been wanting to try out, maybe I'll get fancy and use some of those in a chicken dish. That reminds me... I better go water them.

Movable Type Testing

I'm just getting this movable type system set up, and lemme tell ya, it's pretty nice so far. I know a lot of people are adamant about blogs being of the devil, but I think it will be a nice way to keep record of what's going on day to day. At the very least I'll be able to look back and see what I was thinking at any given moment. This is all assuming that I'm able to keep up with posting regularly... so we'll see.

Hmmm... this new shoutcast station is great. Paradynamic Roadhouse, playing Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and a lot of other classic blues stuff. Haven't heard any John Lee Hooker lately, but I'm keepin my ears open. Wow, their website is horrendous.