They Don't Want Me

05.08.2007

Today in the mail I got a "thank you for applying but we're hiring someone else" letter from a job I interviewed for back in January. 4 months ago. And they're just now turning me down.

I'm on my 3rd job since that interview. I could have worked there and not even known it at the rate my year has been going!

It's a nice little form letter, though. Makes even more glad I've got a job now where I can develop my mad game programming skillz.

Permalink random

3 3 6 on the Floor!

04.24.2007

I got a new toy last week. I have been gaming a lot on the PC of late, and although I told myself many years ago that I would mainly play sports and driving games on one of the consoles, I kept reading that Test Drive Unlimited would not just let you drive around a virtual Hawaii, but you could go online and race against real live people instead of a low down, cheating computer.

In playing Battlefield 2142, I've (finally) learned how different it is to play against humans as opposed to the computer AI. Some days it's frustrating, some days it's comically fun. More than anything, it's more of a challenge, which ends up making it mean more when you accomplish something in game.

With that thought, along with my fondness for driving games, I went to Amazon and bought the new Test Drive. It arrived, I loaded it up, and then started playing it. The first thing I found out is that I can't play a driving game with a keyboard. Steering is way to jerky. So I dug out my Microsoft Sidewinder steering wheel. I've had this thing forever - there's a sticker on the wheel that says "Designed for Windows 98". I hooked up the wheel, installed the drivers, and then watched as the game freaked out. It was like I had really bad network lag. The motion on the screen would jerk for about 3 seconds, then the screen would refresh. I tried tweaking video settings, but it was time I realized what had finally happened: my steering wheel was obsolete.

Always one to overcompensate, I went back to Amazon and read reviews on the current crop of steering wheels. They were all pretty much the same, except for one: the Logitech® G25 Racing Wheel

It's got a leather wrapped steering wheel. Polished aluminum pedals. A clutch. A 6-speed shifter. Oh yeah, baby! So what if I always use the automatic option on the gearbox?

So now I have a new steering wheel. This thing has the strongest force feedback motors I've ever felt. I hooked everything up to the desk, and during setup there's some test sounds and motions the wheel goes through. One of them shakes the wheel back and forth like you're in a wreck, and the desk started to shake. The monitor started to move. Water started coming out of my cup on the desk! I had some tweaking to do or this thing would shake the house apart.

But now I can drive around Hawaii. And I feel way cool when I do it!

Permalink video games

WWE Quiz

04.18.2007

I found a fun little Which WWE Superstar Are You Quiz:

 

You scored as HHH/ Hunter Hurst Helmsley.

Congrats. You scored as HHH. Although he may be a heel, he still is one of the biggest and most influental superstars in the buisness. A 10 time World Heavyweight champion who is accompanied by Rick Flair, the 16 time Champ, and a true legend. You have a garenteed place in the hall of fame.

HHH/ Hunter Hurst Helmsley 63% Chris Jericho 60% Dudley Boyz 60% Stone Cold Steve Austin 50% Mick Foley/Dude Love/Cactus Jack/Mankind 50% Undertaker 50% Randy Orton 50% Carlito 50% Shawn Michaels 50% Kane 44% Big Show 43% Stacy Keibler 40% Chris Benoit 37% Kurt Angle 30%

I scored as HHH, as I should. I like this quiz!

I shouldn't have scored so high as Chris Jericho, though. And I might question my Carilto-ness over my Big Show-ness. And me being Stacy Keibler before Kurt Angle is a little odd. But I still like my Triple H-ness!

Permalink random wrestling

Yes Mom, I'm Still Alive

04.17.2007

Nothing of merit going on right ow, but here's what's keeping me busy these days:

• Trying to learn the basics of Virtools for work.
• Spending way to much time still playing Battlefield 2142.
• About to start playing Test Drive Unlimited
• Just finished up tweaking the Flash intro page for Canebrake to where the "skip" and "continue" buttons work as they should, along with a progress bar for the loading screen instead of just some countdown text. I've still got to work on their real estate section.
• I also need to see if I can add a way for users to resize the text on the Parsons Chiropractic site like I've seen on some news websites. I think I've found out how to do it, the key is if it's possible without redoing a lot of stuff on the site already.
• There's some stuff around the house that I probably need to do, too....

Permalink

Analog to Binary to Big Bucks

04.11.2007

Today was the last trip to Movie Stop to trade in my final batch of VHS tapes for store credit. For the past 2 months I've been going and trading tapes in on Wednesdays for store credit. I've amassed $29.95 in credit at 10¢ for most, 15¢ for others. Today I traded in another 40 tapes (at 15¢ each) for another $6.00 credit. So now I had $45.95 burning a hole in my pocket!

My timing was just right, because the store was having a 40% off sale on their TV Box Sets. One of the batches on my Amazon Wish List has been the 24 series - I've watched a few episodes here and there with Gina and her mom, but this is one of those shows you really have to watch from beginning to end. Being that I hate watching a show like that on normal TV when schedules are apt to screw everything up, this is the perfect thing for me to get and watch at my leisure. The cheap price at Amazon was $34.99/season. With the 40% off the MSRP at Movie Stop, it was $31.79/season. The only drawback was that Movie Stop was missing Season 5, but I can always pick that one up later.

Another series I had been wanting to watch has been Band of Brothers. I've seen a couple of episodes on the History Channel, and it intrigued me. It too had been on my Amazon list, but it hadn't gone lower than $52.99, or $26.99 for a used copy that may or may not actually include everything. Movie Stop had a used copy for $44.99, which I added to my stack. (After buying everything and looking at my receipt, it rang up at $34.99, so maybe the box set sale applies to used box sets too?).

Even though Movie Stop runs a little high on their prices, I was able to save some money and use my credit with a little luck and timing. With store credit, sales, and taxes I kept $54.11 in my pocket that I would have spent at Amazon. All it took was 2 months and 338 VHS tapes.

Permalink movies/tv/dvd