| ComicCon |
[Jul. 22nd, 2006|12:31 am] |
ComcCon is this weekend, thurs-sun, and Kerry and I went today (friday).
First off, claustrophobes and agaorphobes alike beware. Lots of people, crowding, pushing, crushing, sweating, eating, no doubt farting, ready, drawing, meeting, greeting, being ushered to or away from areas, and more, in a big space that's never big enough not to feel cramped. Crossing from one end of the convention hall to the other is an exercise in dexterity, constituion, and wisdom (for you D&Ders out there). But there was some total cool. ComicCon also has video game companies present, often showing off new upcoming games.
Demos of new Nintendo DS games, including (but not limited to: Starfox (looks like a nicely done Starfox64, with a new story of course), Final Fantasy 3 (remade from the original Japanese Famicon/NES game), Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, and those were just at the Nintendo "booth." Applying LIFO policies (see an old Magic: the Gathering player if you don't know LIFO), let's address the "booth" in "s first, and I'll do some game reviews afterwards, then talk about the other points of (dis)interest.
Many of the larger company's have "booths," which are bigger than my living room, open air plazas where they show off their goods in a manner that, if they were human women instead of large corporate displays, would results in indecent exposure charges. Square-Enix had a MASSIVE screen displaying video clips from FF7: Advent Children, FF(1) Mobile, FF3 for the DS, and more games, a life-sized statue of Sora from Kingdom Hearts (I'll be finding a place/way to get the pic of Kerry in front of Sora shortly, once I sleep) and a Judge from FFXII (I know little about it yet, but it stems from FFTactics Advance), and at least 4 playable kiosks of EACH of the following games: FFXI, FFXII, FF7 Dirge of Cerberus (a shooter starring Vincent), Rocket Slime, and Valkyrie Profile. They also had a display with the various figures and statues that they'll be selling in the near future: Cloud and Sephiroth WAY too big, normal sized, and various FF7-10 characters and monsters, and Kingdom Hearts figures (again, some pics later). It was crazy.
Nintendo's "booth" was predominantly DS-oriented, though there was a huge Pokemon area, with obscenely large Pokemon statues, where tournaments and games were played all day. I don't care about that stuff. I care about the DS stuff. They had the games I mentioned before and more, with overhead displays showing video demos of the games. In most cases, you got to play through a reasonably-sized section of the game: both Castlevania and FF3 let you play through for 7-10 minutes through to the game's first boss. There were also Downloadable demos for the DS, which was pretty cool.
Capcom's area was almost set up like an arcade, but instead of the old clunky machines, there were kiosks the size of old arcade machines with PS2's, PSP's, and even a couple DS's (more on that later), with a whole host of up and coming games. Admittedly, I didn't play many because it was too busy, but it was a cool set up.
There were other areas of similar size as well, but those were the major places we went to play games and check stuff out (sort of, I'll get to THAT in a sec). So, the games....
Castlevania was great. Similar to SOTN, but with two characters that can be switched out at any time of even controlled SIMULTANEOUSLY by 1 player. Same great visual style as SOTN, similar gameplay, great new concept to keep it fresh. My hope is they'll develop a 2-player coop mode via Download Play where each player controls one of the two characters. Like Contra, but with Dracula.
FF3 for the DS is NOT a remakel it is a REINVENTION. It went from a simple 8-bit (never released in USA) game with generic characters to a full 3D rendered RPG with a job class system a la FFTactics/Ogre Tactics (or FFV for those who've played it), real characters with backstories that are revealed throughout the game, and other new stuff. And it was stunning looking. I'm hoping Capcom will realize the the Mega Man and Mega Man X remakes on the PSP were great, but the DS would propel those series into the kind of sales they expected with Mega Man: Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X (btw, PSP owners, two very good games!).
Rocket Slime: Ask Kerry, she played it while I walked around the rest of the Sqeenix area. It looks like hilarious fun. I'm talking Super Bomberman fun. MAYBE even Smash Brothers Melee fun. You play Slimes from the Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior series, and shoot at other slimes with huge cannons. how can you NOT love that?
3 DS games I was really interested in seeing, all 3 impressed. To anybody who thought the DS was gimmicky and wouldn't last, I have salt and ketchup for you to eat your words. I started with that attitude, but learned quickly.
FF7 DC: It's cool being to play as Vincent, but unless the controls are customizable in the commercial release, I'll have to pa ss. It's what I call 2nd person shooter. You aren't playing in FPS style, but you are very close behind Vincent, shooting, chopping with his metal hand, running and jumping. But he's hard to control well, and the camera didn't use pilot-style up and down, which drives me nuts. I know some people say, "but up is up, not down!" to which I reply, "shut up and go play any flight game for a while, then we'll talk). Somehow it's just more intuitive. The camera also feels too close to Vincent, like Square-Enix was saying, "hey, isn't he well-rendered?". We'll see how it looks when it's released, but I'm not thrilled yet.
Mega Man ZX: I didn't mention this in the Capcom section because I'm not sure they really wanted people to know about it. There were between 2 and 4 of each PSP or PS2 game that I saw, with display monitors hooked up to PSPs so bystanders could watch (or people with good hand-eye coordination could use the bigger screen, I guess). Except for Mega Man ZX and Phoenix Wright (the 2nd of the US versions), but for the DS. Now, I understand the lack of monitors: there's no way to hook up a DS to external video that I know of, though APPARENTLY it can be done with a PSP (I don't know how). But worse, the two games were tucked away from all the other games like a pair of electronic lepers. What the HELL????? Mega Man is one of the two reasons Capcom is still in business (Street Fighter 2 being the other reason). Phoenix Wright can't stay on store shelves! Kerry and I had to import a copy to get it. Capcom has decided that they've made enough printing runs on the games and they're just done (Kerry can correct me on this if I'm wrong or missing some info), which is foolish to me in and of itself. So why the FUCK are these two great games secluded? It was bull.
So the review itself: If you've played Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX is pretty much Mega Man Zero 5. It playes just like the MMZ games, as expected, but those games were SOLID, and ZX is shaping up to be the same. You also get to use 6 different "forms" that match the main characters from the ZX games - X, Zero, Harpuia, Leviathan, Fefnir, and Phantom (plus the unlockable form),and each has unique abilities. The Zero, Leviathan, and Phantom forms were playable in the demo as Aile (the female of the two possible chars), I didn't get a chance to played Vent (the male) as there were people waiting to play and I oddly acted considerately. Weird. The forms were excellently done and a lot of fun to use. The challenge level seems to fit in the range of the MMZ games as well: challenging at first, but variable depending on the power-ups you get, with a nicely set challenge ramp after the inital learning curve. Overall, just challenging enough that I'd keep playing and not get fed up (I have a lower threshold for frustration nowadays, too).
OK, I think that's all I'll say about the games. It was, after all, COMICCon. We scoped out the Lego area, Marvel Comics, WoTC, the Penny Arcade booth/area, then just walked around until an evening seminar (again, more later). Lego, Marvel, and Wizards were all disappointing. Marvel was all about their new video game with Activision, Marvel: Ultimare Alliance. The game looks great, but they could have had some other stuff at the booth. Or maybe it was just obscured by the MUA stuff. Lego has totally sold out. Gone are the old, beautifully designed "space" and "castle," and even "city," to be replaced with Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Batman. Maybe they needed to do it to stay alive as a company, but (a) I seriously doubt that's the case, and (b) why save a life when it costs a soul. For shame, Lego. You've sold out completely. And Wizards? I've never seen so many people playing Magic: The Gathering in one place. I was so overwhelmed by that that, if they had any new D&D books displayed, and there are a LOT of good looking ones coming out in the fall, then I missed them. Too much tapping, if you ask me. MTG went stale a long time ago. I miss the good old days, but then I have nobody to play, haven't cared about it for years, and I sold all my cards. So that's that.
We found Penny Arcade after all that, and saw (close but didn't meet) the guys who do PA. Check it out, it's an hilarious webcomic. For whatever reason, Billy West of Futurama and other voice work fame was there. I missed a lot of the details of what was going on, so Kerry will have to fill in the gaps/details, but what I DO know is that a couple guys there got a pic of me in my Vagoo shirt with Kerry in her Slime shirt, and one of them knows Ryan Sohmer. He got a shot of us with his camera phone and sent it to Sohmer. SWEETNESS!!!! Kerry also got some contact leads from out interactions with the great guys there. They were partly promoting a new webcartoon thing with Billy West in it, a great spoof on Survivor with RPG-type chars. I have the link in my bag, I'm just too lazy to get up right now. I'll update this blog with the link later.
I'm hoping Sohmer posts the pic of us at ComicCon, but we'll have to wait and see.
We then went to a video game development seminar from 5:30 to 7, when the day stuff ends. Kerry didn't get much info from it, as it was more geared toward programmers, artists, and designers, but she got a little, and the seminar didn't actually end at 7. We left after 9pm, and the guys there, one of whom named Alex Jimenez, were still talking to people.
After the seminar (more Q&A than lecture) ended, we kept conversing since the room was open. Alex gave advice about getting into games, how to learn and what was needed, and he took e-mail addresses, business cards, and reviewed a portfolio or 2. He said he'd be in touch with Kerry after looking at her website to offer his feedback on her work, and send her some info and good places to learn from; hopefully he will. He was funny, open, honest, and really helpful. And he's been in the biz for some time. He worked at Capcom for a while, contributing significantly to the original Dungeons and Dragons game, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, and he created the characters for Darkstalkers 1 and 2! He even wanted to do Marvel vs. DC at Capcom, a comic-reader's wet dream, but it failed when each company insisted that their characters shouldn't be allowed to lose. This was back in the heyday of Marvel/DC competition, when most other companies were small and not much threat to the two giants. He also did some Street Fighter work and wrote the story for the Punisher game (in one night according to the story). He had a ton of good stories and pieces of advice for everybody involved. The super-seminar alone made it worth the 2+ hour trip each way.
So, hopefully, that'll be of some help for Kerry. I'll describe a little more tomorrow when I add some updates. It's 2AM and I'm exhaused. |
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| Battery Powered Cars: A simple analysis |
[Jul. 20th, 2006|12:00 am] |
The Tesla Roadster (http://blog.wired.com/teslacar/index.album?i=0&s=1) was shown recently. The website claims it to be "powered by more than 6,800 lithium-ion batteries, can go zero to 60 mph in about four seconds [with a] top speed [of] 130 mph."
Anybody know what's needed to make batteries?
Yup, electricity and/or manufacturing and separation of the charged species. Know how electricity is produced?
Generators. So, how do most generators make electricity (not counting nuclear, pronounced NU-klee-ur, not NUKE-u-lur, BTW)?
Burning fossil fuels. Last one: Anybody know the MAXIMUM efficiency of such conversion?
50%
That doesn't factor in the battery production cost.
Congratulations, Tesla Motors. You're wasting an assload of fuel to make a car.
Call me a pessimist, but how is this helpful? It doesn't really bridge any gap to hydrogen/fuel cells. Two things are needed to get to that stage: cheap, efficient hydrogen (H2) production from WATER, and high hydrogen storage capacity materials. My research is part of the latter. The group I'm in works on materials for various gases, including H2 and methane (CH4), which is, it seems, the best stopgap measure, unless we can get our collective asses in gear and figure out a good cheap way to make fuel-grade ethanol.
Let's stop the dicking around, shall we?
Thanks |
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| this is exactly WHY I wear sunglasses and headphones all the time... |
[Jul. 15th, 2006|01:25 pm] |
I was walking to the bus stop today (too hot to walk to the school), and as I was walking past a guy, he asked what I was listening to. I told him (Billy Joel at the time), and he made some brief conversation about it. It was only mildly annoying, but it is true that a big part of my whole sunglasses/headphones thing is to keep people from talking to me; if it weren't so warm out, I'd wear my coat, it adds to the "leave me alone" effect.
Then I got to thinking of a good idea next time somebody asks me what I'm listening to like that, especially if I'm listening to jazz or easy pop type stuff. When they ask, I can say something like, "it's this new band called 'satan's on my car pool,'" or something equally or more offensive. I could even start off with, "it's a great new easy-listening band" or "a jazz ensemble that's just hitting the scene" and then give a name like the one above, or something like "the sister-rapers" or something absurd and horribly offensive to common tastes.
I doubt I could ever pull it off, especially without busting out laughing, but it sure did make me laugh.
Non-work to do list:
Kerry
Use my WoW trial
Flesh out D&D concepts
Make dungeon map or two
Kerry (again)
Cub
sleep
Cub (the OTHER way)
NWN with the gang
Get Jen and Jay onto NWN and/or ready for D&D.
Ciao
PS. I like Cub's idea for a slogan (see previous post). Though maybe "I think something just burst inside me" would be good too |
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| Dave Comments on TV Ads Pt 2 |
[Jun. 26th, 2006|09:42 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | couch | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  stomach ache | ] |
| [ | music |
| | non | ] |
I just saw an ad for Frosted Mini Wheats. It ended with the phrase, "with 8 layers of fiber, it's the breakfast that stays with you."
Now, perhaps I missed the boat somewhere on the CONCEPT of fiber, but shouldn't 8 layers of fiber make it the breakfast that shoots through you? I think "it's the breakfast that gets you fuckin' GOING" would be a better slogan.
If they want to make a breakfast that stays with you, they should try Cheesy Meat Poofs. THAT'LL stick with you for DAYS. |
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| quickie *snicker* |
[Jun. 18th, 2006|08:43 am] |
Just saw an ad on the TV. The guy who won the latest American Idol was singing for a Ford Clearance Sale commercial. How appropriate that he seems to have skipped straight to doing commercials, even though we'll probably see a coaster CD come out soon.
Feeling kinda sick, but I have to go grade some exams, then I'm hopefully REALLY done teaching forever. Research is finally picking up. Weather's nice. Got a fantastic girl.
All in all, life's good. |
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| "Normal" Update |
[May. 9th, 2006|04:12 pm] |
As I mentioned before, I am trying to update my LJ more often (more often than NEVER, anyway). So here's what's up in my life:
It was good to go home for a couple days, despite the fact that the flights are very long. I loved seeing my family, even the birds. I must be going crazy, I know, but except for Pesto getting a little riled up and biting my mom, I really liked being around them. I guess I must have just missed my pets. Who knew?
I especially loved getting to see Jen and Tim, since we're normally so far apart. the fact that the three of us were in town at the same time is a significant event, such that it had to be taken advantage of. And of course, seeing Noelle was also quite nice; she had saturday night free, so it was like even more planets were aligned. Now if only JJ could have made it up to NH.... oh well, 5 out of 6 ain't bad (did you forget about Kerry? Such an insult will not go unpunished).
I now have my iBook's memory maxed out, courtesy of Kerry's dad. He bought me a RAM upgrade for my birthday, which was very nice. He also gave me his iPod mini, since he claims he barely used it. I plan to send him a thank you card soon.
Speaking of mail, I didn't get to send my Mother's Day gift to my mom. I got it while in NH, but didn't get to sign the card or wrap ithe gift in any way, so I'm going to mail it to her. MUST do that wednesday, or else I'll REALLY have to express mail it... I may be able to get away with Priority Mail tomorrow, we'll see.
The potentially big news is that Kerry may get a good internship working at a music company. Specifically, the composer who runs/owns/is the company writes for TV and movies, and knows a lot of people. She had an interview with him that went very well, and she'll hear from him by friday. We're kinda banking on this as an opportunity for her, so if you're ready this, say a prayer to your respective deity, or perform whatever good fortune ritual your religion/philosophy prescribes for such a situation.
Cheers for now, I'm off to teach :-P |
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| time, money, and other pink floyd titles |
[Apr. 28th, 2006|04:33 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | The Lab | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  devious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Johnny Cash - A Satisfied Mind | ] |
I just gave my group meeting presentation for research. It went pretty well overall.
The basic gist is that the research I've got going on and planned should make a good, complete thesis, but I need to "multiply [my] errorts" and systematically finish things up. I suspect this means I'll be spending more time in lab; it'd be better if I weren't teaching, but I suppose I'll have to make do. Omar wants me to able to write things up soon, both in terms of publishing papers and in terms of my thesis, and the delay from the move has really slowed me down. But I have a plan for everything I want to make, and things should be speeding up.
Speaking of the move, we're finally hearing about getting reimbursed. The word is that on May 3, and by the end of the 1st week of May, Kerry and I (and the rest of the group) should be getting our money back. 'Bout damn time, I say. It's been superlatively nice of my parents and Kerry's parents to loan us money to get by, and to give us money for the car (it needs new brakes, rotors specifically); I'd like to be able to pay back the loaned money from my mom, and then pay down as much of my credit card as possible. So, soon is good.
I didn't get to sya it in my last couple posts, but LA is quite the city. When Kerry's sister Emily and her (Em's) friend Lauren came to visit, while they were out with Kerry, the three of them encountered Peter Falk in an elevator in Beverly Hills. I don't think they had a conversation, but being in an elevator with Columbo is pretty cool. Not Columbo the yogurt, that's not exciting at all. Columbo the character. Yogurt? "We have no idea what you're talking about"
That's just one example. LA is just...interesting. Being a suburban white boy from southern NH, it's new to see so many different people. Kinda too many, it's gets very noisy out here. But the weather is *usually* nice, we live in a nice area, and it's cool to be in a cultural center. This past sunday, Kerry and I went to a composer's salon, and they had some awesome performances: a woman who researches pre-Columbian (not Columbo) music, makes her own clay flutes, and plays them. Pretty cool, especially when she played the double flute. It is set up such that when she plays it, the notes combine to form a sound that is localized to your ear. I don't know if any of you readers have heard localized sound, but it's A. MAZE. ING. It's actually an hallucination; your brains literally creates the sensation of that sound as it tries to "decode" the waves. It's very different from normal from normal sound, which is obviously identified as being external, or from playing music in your head, which is definitely internal. Ear-localized sound is in-between; it's not outside you but it's not inside you. It's sounds like your ear is actually producing the sound. Trippy.
There was also a more "classical" piece for oboe, english horn, two types of flutes, and piccolo (I guess that's a third type of flute, really). 5 instruments, 2 people. They switched instruments, and I give a lot of credit to people who can do that. It was a good piece too, from what I remember
Next up was a 3D-visual/music piece which was made from "natural sound;" the composer sets up big, simple structures that "capture" sound from natural movements, like wind. What is REALLY is, despite the composer's self-hype, is sound created by the interaction of nature with the structures. It's Heisenbergian: what is obtained by this interaction is not really the sound of nature, because the interaction alters the "sound of nature." Now the boil-down of Heisenberg's theory is that by observing something you are interacting with it, and therefore change it. So even at best, "capturing" the sound of nature changes it. It's a fine line, because by that logic you could say that any time you listen to music, you change it from what it originally was. But this is, in my opinion, beyond that. But it was good. It was neat that he did this at Burning Man, which is a big festival that he said involved a fair amount of destructive works of art (the burning of the wooden man at the end, I suppose, I don't know much about it), so he set up a big "instrument" to create. Really, Burning Man is a big arts festival. Read about it on Wikipedia.
This guy also had some music based on what he learned about Korean music: it's very lyrical and tone-sensitive, reflective of their languae, where the same word in a different tone has a totally different meaning. Take THAT, english language. It highlights that music is often a reflection of the language of the area/time/person(s) involved. Fun stuff to think about, better than making stuff even.
Lastly were two guys who did mostly electronica, but that's a serious distillation of what they do. One of them essentially has his whole studio in his PowerBook. It was amusing that we were listening to dance elctronic music and considering it academically. We hsould have been dancing.
So, yeah, cultural fun that we couldn't find in AA, Mich. Kerry went to salons in Minneapolis, but not like that, or so she tells me. The variety is really cool.
I'm sure there's a lot more than just what I've cited, but I don't have the time to write it all, nor you the time to read it.
That's it for now. We have a dinner at Omar's house soon, so I'm gonna chill until it's time to leave
- Dave
PS. Bonus points for anybody who can tell what other Pink Floyd titles were referenced. |
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| What a bad day |
[Apr. 25th, 2006|05:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  gloomy | ] |
You know how, some days, you wake up and you know it's going to be a stinkfest? Today has been, and still is, one of those days.
I woke up feeling like awful, and have continued to feel as such all day. My iPod mini is now an iPod buried, my stomach hurts, and when I came into lab today, my 50 g reaction had been destroyed. To put that into perspective, 1 g is almost 12 baby aspirin, about 3 normal size apsirin. A 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper has 27 g of sugar. Fifty grams is a lot. So, now I have to go teach. Fun on a stick.
Later |
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| F**kin' Seattle, or "My brother's city owes me an iPod" |
[Apr. 25th, 2006|03:35 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | The City of Angels | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | depressed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah | ] |
So here's the story (NOT of a man named Brady, nor of a lovely lady, though one was there):
Kerry and I went to visit my brother Kevin and his new wife June in Seattle. My parents paid the exorbitant amount of money to fly us, which was quite nice, so yay. I brought my iPod mini, which is quite possibly the greatest music-playing device ever created; true, it can only hold a max of 6GB of music (8GB or possibly 12 if you sell a kidney to buy a larger Microdrive to self-upgrade it; more on that later). I didn't actually USE the iPod during the entire trip, since I was traveling with my lovely fiancee and visiting with family, so there was little need and opportunity to listen a personal musical device.
The trip was nice, thanks for asking. We had a lovely couple days there, despite the chill and rain. I didn't even hate Seattle yet. All that would change soon, after we got back home.
You see, the Seattle airport requests that you take small electronics out of your bags and put them into small, clear, plastic bags "for expedience and convenience." Convenience my @$$. They don't actually care, as it saves no time whatsoever, because (realized in hindsight), the X-ray devices CAN SEE THROUGH BAGS. But like a good American sheep, I complied. This compliance cost me dearly.
As I was removing my baby, my pride and joy iPod mini 6GB (silver, but I planned to make it black eventually), so that I could put into one of Seattles "moron bags" as I shall forever call them, the iPod cried freedom and leapt to the ground. Okay, not exactly; it slipped out of my hand, and crash-landed on the cold, hard ground. I looked it over, and it looked fine. but it wasn't.
The next day, I turned on my iPod to the SadPod face. A reset didn't help, so I did a Restore on it (this erases all data and restores the original factory settings, then updates the firmware). All looked well, but I wouldn't be writing this if that were the end. As I loaded songs back onto the iPod, I noticed a problem. After about 1.15GB were loaded, the iPod froze, which then froze iTunes. I had to pull the plug, reset the iPod, restore it, and try again.
After a couple trials, I discovered that 6GB had gone down to 1.15 of writable space. Every disk checking utility I could find/try said the disk was fine, but it wouldn't write more than a paltry 1/5 of its original capacity. So I did what anybody of my means, knowledge, and moderate naivete would do.
I went to eBay.
Interlude: A rundown of how the iPod mini "works." I opened up the mini, pulled out the guts, and took a look. It has a motherboard, screen (more or less hardwaired on) a battery that connects, the headphone adapter piece that connects, the click-wheel, which connects at the bottom and stays in the casing when you take out the motherboard assembly, and the drive, which looks like a beefed up CompactFlash (CF) drive but is really a Microdrive: a very small harddrive that, except for the small size, is just like a computer hard drive. Is has platter-shaped disks and a reader head. It also connects via a CF interface. These are fairly commonly used in certain high-end digital cameras. They come in capacities ranging from ~3GB to a max of 12GB, though I've never seen any bigger than 8GB.
Long story short: You can replace a broken click-wheel, drive, or "dying/dead" battery by opening up the iPod, taking off the part to be replaced, and putting the replacement on. My goal was to do just that with the drive.
Back to the main story... I found a 4GB drive that the seller claimed came from a working iPod mini and was assumed to be working. $40 + $10 S&H. I bought it. It didn't work. $50 bucks down the crapper.
Next I went to BestBuy, bit a bullet, and laid out some real fake "cash" (thank you Mr. Plastic) for a new 6GB drive. I opened up the iPod, switched out the drives, formatted the drive with the iPod utility, and got it up and running (all apart-ish). For kicks, I took out the click-wheel to see the whole empty case. If there was ever a time to paint this puppy black, now was it, because I never wanted to perform iPod surgery again. It's kind of difficult to put the motherboard back into the casing because everything has to fit tightly to give the whole device the narrow profile. This very fact proved to be the ultimate downfall.
I opted not to paint it, deciding silver is fine as long as it now functions like a good little iPod. So I put the click-wheel back in, scraping some plastic off the slect button m(I told you it was a tight fit for everything!) I went to slide the motherboard back in and was met with some resistance. I had encountered this before, so I was unconcerned. But the resistance was a little harder to overcome than usual. Well, I finally got the board back in, and went to start up the iPod, but nothing happened. I connected it to my iBook, and got the "Error Folder" icon on the 'Pod, indicating something very wrong. So I took the board back out, and a little black piece of plastic fell off the board.
A little black piece of plastic with metal prongs.
For those that don't know, this is a big problem. I think it's a transistor. It's pretty damn important that it be on the board, otherwise Apple wouldn't have put it one the board to start with. And by important, I mean the iPod is a piece of lifeless plastic and metal without it.
Electronics are like that: you need every part for the device to work. Son of a... well you know.
So now I have an dead iPod mini. I returned the Microdrive to Bestbuy, thank goodness for their good return policy, so I'm not out the $135 for the drive. I still have the transistor, but I have no idea how to solder it back on, if such a thing is possible. I know where it goes, and the orientation (it broke off in such a way that one can tell), but it'll never get put back on, and even if it does, I don't know if I can safely put the board back in the case.
Acually I take it back. There are 5 broken transistors/other parts, 3 of which are still partially attached but probably can't be fixed. It's solid gone man. Maybe I can sell the screen on eBay or something.
All this happened because of the trip to Seattle, specifically the airport's policy.
Rest in peace, iPod mini 6GB. You left this mortal plane before your time.
"Maybe there's a God above/and all I've ever learned of love/was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya/
and it's not a cry that you hear at night/it's not somebody who's seen the light/
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah"
-Jeff Buckley, 1966-1997 |
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| the end of the world |
[Jun. 13th, 2005|09:30 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  weird | ] |
| [ | music |
| | tool: aenema, eulogy | ] |
anybody know the difference between armageddon and the apocalypse? It occured to me while listening to "aenema"
mmm...nothing like a nice 9:30 pm dinnertime X_X |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 10th, 2004|06:53 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | depressed, then ok | ] |
| [ | music |
| | nne, previously el cielo | ] |
A pretty blah day, I mostly worked on cleaning stuff out the Matzger lab, then did some chemistry in the hood I had just cleaned.
I have to shelve my polymer project, which is bullshit cuz I'm almost done and I like it more than my MOF bullshit. Fuck record-breaking MOFs, fuck H2 and CO2 storage, I really don't care. I'm sick of feeling like I have no control. I'm also sick of being alone, classes, being depressed, just everything right now. I hate that I just don't care about meeting new people, but when I talk to most people, I just don't give a shit about what they're saying or talking about.
I hate money, which is no surprise since I have none. Seriously, I got 200 bucks to get through the month, and 1/4 of that is going to cable/internet. Why the FUCK do I even have cable? I'm getting sick of TV: the more I see the more I want to throw my TV out the window. One these days, me, the TV, and the axe are gonna have a nice long chat, I just know it.
I'm still waiting to be inspired enough to play my sax, or to do more than play the same two songs on my guitar. I just don't know what to play, especially on the former. I feel so aimless and listless, it's like I don't even know what I'm doing out here.
Of course I'm jsut being whiny, which is unforgiveable and I should snap out of it. I'm sure I will soon enough, but I think this kind of ennui fades into the background rather than going away. I come home and just feel so drained I don't even want to cook dinner, nevermind play music. It's bullshit and I know it, but poop.
Anyways, with no segue except this...
I'm brainstorming ideas for Kerry's B-day and our 5 year anniversary, so if you can think of anything good (and Kerry, if you think of anything you REALLY want), let me know. I have ideas I think are really good, but I need more so I can figure it all out.
OK, glad I got to rant, even it was the same shit as before. Once you have read it, it'll be like me getting stuff off my chest, so thanks, I feel a lot better now. I should be able to get by for awhile longer |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 6th, 2004|12:28 pm] |
Having gotten the faux-deep thought out of my head and out of the way...
it's almost time to change my screen name(s) again. I like to let them evolve, and since I feel vaguely like I'm moving past the whole zero thing, it might be time for something new (and draco temporalis is kinda long for an AIM-name). We'll see. I doubt this handle will change tho
so, in response to Jen's...
001. name : Dave
002. nicknames : David, Honey (by you know who ;-) ), pudding (by I know who), hey you, sexy, gigolo, x, zero, goober, poncho, dork, etc...
003. sex : male (will e-male ever become a sex/gender?)
004. birthday : 09 April 1981
005. age : do the math
006. star sign : Aries
007. place of birth: Memorial Hospital, Nashua, NH
008. current residence: Ann Arbor, MI
009. hair colo(u)r : Light brown
010. eye colo(u)r : , Hazel, Blue, green, gray
011. height : I think 5’7” or so last time I was the doctor
012. do you cut yourself? : no, I can't think of any justification for self-infliction of pain
____BODY iLLS + SKiLLS
013. do you bite your nails : no, I keep them too short to bite (yay guitar playing!)
014. can you roll your tongue : yes, in at least three ways
016. can you raise one eyebrow at a time : yes, manually (everybody reach up to your right eyebrow, and push it up with your hand, it's easy)
018. can you blow spit bubbles : can and will
019. can you cross your eyes: i think so, but it's been a while since I tried
019a. I can also see magic eye pictures, which SHOULD be included on this thing
020. colored hair: it's not white (which I suppose is a color anyway)... periodically, but not right now. Only when I can get cute girls to do it for me
021. tattoos and where : noy yet. maybe eventually (but I could get disowned, so maybe not)
022. piercing and where: eyebrow, the sequel (lasting much longer so far, too)
023. do you make your bed daily : I bought it, so somebody made it once, I feel no need to reinvent the, uh, wheel, as it were
024. what goes on first shirt or underwear : underwear (girls, I think shirt first then a bra would be wildly amusing)
025. which shoe goes on first : probably left, but I slip 'em on, so I don't notice (I will now tho)
036. speaking of shoes, have you thrown one at someone : somebody? I don't think so, but I occasionally chuck a shoe at THINGS
037. how much money is usually in your wallet? : $5 or less. Mr. and Mrs. Plastic get me through
038. what jewelry do you wear 24/7 : see number 22. Previously: a silver ring, but that's with Kerry right now
041. would you rather be on time and look ok or late and look great : I'm usually late anyway (today IS tomorrow), and I prefer STYLE!
042. do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it : twirling is more fun (though there are more fun ways to eat spaghetti
043. how many cereals are in your cabinet : for now? one. tonight? hopefully at least three
044. what utensils do you use eating pizza : hands (hmm... I think I need to start experimenting with pizza and utensils now)
045. do you cook : food+heat=cooking! yay!
____GROOMiNG
046. how often do you brush your teeth : twice a day (dentist be damned)
047. how often do you shower/bathe : once a day
048. how long do these showers last : 5-10 minutes
049. hair drying method : air dry (more epxeriments possible here)
050. do you paint your nails : hmm... nope, not my style
051. do you swear : fuck yeah
052. do you mumble to yourself : fuck yeah
053. do you spit in public :fuck yeah
054. do you pee in the shower: when the absolute need arises (so rarely)
055. whats in your cd player : C...D....? oh, the things I rip from for my MP3 player!
056. people you talk most on the phone with : as in plural? well, then...Kerries
057. what color is your bedroom : mostly white
058. do you use an alarm clock : inasmuch as my Palm Pilot counts (heh heh, palm pilot sounds like some crazy guide where to put your hands...)
059. name one thing and person you’re obsessed with: a person/thing, eh? I'm not obsessed with people, but I guess you could say I'm obsessed with MMX/Z
061. ever sunbathed in the nude: not yet, sadly. Except for frying (foods), most things are more fun in the nude
062. window seat or aisle : window
063. whats your sleeping position: a little intimate there, huh? variable
064. what kind of bed do you like : one with a Kerry in it
065. in hot weather do you use a blanket : yes, since I have AC/fans running
066. do you snore : yup
067. do you sleepwalk : sadly, I don't think so
069. do you sleep with a stuffed animal : no
071. do you fall asleep with the tv or radio on : neither at the moment
072. do you sleep in the nude? : nope
____WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU
074. watched bambi : at least a decade ago.
075. cried : within the last week or two
076. talked on the phone : last night
077. read a book : yesterday
078. punched someone : probably several years (since last time JJ and I saw eachother)
____MUSiC
079. is music important to you : yes
080. do you sing? : ALL the time and EVERYwhere
081. what instruments do you play? sax, guitar, vocals (when are we starting a band, guys?)
082. what do you think of Eminem : like most rebels and rebellions, he eventually resorted to the same tactics as those he rebelled against
___ABC’S
A - Act your age: fuck you
B - Born on what day of the week: no clue
C - Chore you hate : tying shoes
D - Dad’s Name? Michael (Kerry's too)
E - Essential makeup item? none will do
F - Favorite actor? none I'd screw
G - Gold or silver? both are coo'
H - Hometown? Nashua, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor too
I - Instruments you play? see above, you crazy foo'
J - Job title? student, researcher, philosopher too
K - Kids? probably not, but you never know, do you?
L - Living arrangements? Sadly, too far from the zoo
M - Mom’s name? Sherry (I got as far as I could with the rhyming scheme. I mean, too far from the ZOO?!)
N - Number of people you’ve slept with? depends on the connotation: innocently, probably 9 or 10. sexually, none
O - Overnight hospital stays? No, but some damn early morning ones
P - Phobia? acroagorophobia; whatever the fear of stupidity and ignorance is
Q - Quote you like? "Ain't nothing to lose but our winnings, and only the winners are lost" -Tom Robbins
R – this must be caR, based on Jen's response, but since I don't have on right now....)
R - Relax!
S - Siblings? Kevin and Whitney
T - Time you wake up? around 7:30 - 8
U - Unique habit? I doubt any; remember people, UNIQUE means ONE of a kind, it's not just extremely unusual.
V - Vegetable you refuse to eat? shrooms (for now, I WILL try them someday)
W - Worst habit? Screw that, there are not BAD habits
X - X-rays you’ve had? four or five single crystals, dozens of powder patterns (yay chemistry!)
Y - Yummy food you make? By definition, all food I make is yummy
Z - Zodiac Sign? We've done this, so..
Z - Zany? You bet I am!
Well, that was long, but I hope I made it less tedious to read. If you actually took the time to read it, go you! Yay for taking time out to do something delightfully useless. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 6th, 2004|11:34 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | afterglow | ] |
Sometimes I feel like my life is some great battle. The hardest fight is fighting to keep my life from being a great battle. I fight tooth and nail not to feel like I'm fighting tooth and nail... |
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| an expansion |
[Jun. 20th, 2004|09:36 pm] |
By simple mental analysis, it seems as if trying to destroy a TV would be like putting down a beloved pet and quitting smoking or heroine rolled up into one. To elaborate:
The last couple weeks, I have been trying to work more and harder, partially to offset my recent week off and my upcoming one. This in itself would be no big deal, as working still leaves plenty of hours for, well, not working.
However, the situation becomes more involved when you couple what just might be a drug-like addiction for having the TV on. I end up watching TV until at least 12:30 or 1am, and subsequently don't get enough sleep.
This got to the point where I was sick on friday. It was the usual, not necessarily induced by the work/TV problem, but I have long suspected that a poor night's sleep adversely affects my GI problems, so a buildup of bad nights' sleeps probably dramatically increased the likelihood of being sick.
As a result, I spent most of friday and saturday, and a substantial portion of sunday, plopped in front of the TV. Sure I'd like to play sax or guitar, or draw, or go out, or do SOMETHING, but somehow, the TV turns on and I get, to quote, "Scissor Lock"-ed and lose a lot of will to do other stuff.
This also becomes a problem because I have been working myself to the point of high stress and exhaustion, and actually felt like I needed fri, sat, and sun to rest, but when I'm not working I usually feel lonely and depressed, which makes me not to work but just stay home and, you guessed it, watch TV
It seems like television must be some sort of evil contraption designed to enslave the human race. Whoever called religion the opiate of the masses never saw a television (which, when you consider the chronology of the quote and TV, makes a lot of sense). People say that many antidepressants, like Prozac, make you numb so you can't feel anything; TV does the same job, and possibly less expensively, depending on your health insurance.
I'm just saying that I hate it, but I can't break free from it.
but it won't stop me from trying. My axe is in the other room...
___________________________________________________________________________________
"Does anybody feel this way?
Does anybody feel like I do?
Though half of me is gone,
the lonesome part is there
I cannot find the other half..."
Dredg
Never more than now have song lyrics rung so true |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 20th, 2004|09:19 pm] |
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Someday, I swear I will put an axe through my television set... |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 25th, 2003|10:37 pm] |
i was going to put in some lyrics I adjusted to my situation tonight, but my login failed when I went to submit it, so instead of rewriting them, I decided screw it, it's not worth it, considering it was a deliberate attempt at self-expression that nobody I know would see, since nobody I know even knows about this, except maybe Jen...
Fuck it all, I'm so damn tired |
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| Michigan, etc. |
[Aug. 26th, 2003|09:23 pm] |
Well, I've been out in Michigan for about a week and a half now, and I just got my DSL service working today. I haven't updated because I limited online time using dial-up (only because I HATE dial-up, so I only used it for essentials). I could have done with it, but so many good websites are too big for dial-up to adequately cope. Anyway, the last week or so has been decent; not spectacular, but decent. I started orientation last tuesday, and it has predominantly been attending presentations of faculty members research so we can see who we want to work with for a semester (a research rotation). However, these last two days have been GSI (another acronym for TA) training, during which I have learned the following:
1) TA's are responsible for EVERYTHING
2) TA's are responsible for NOTHING
Seriously. In lab, we are liable for all safety issues, equipment, etc. Even if the students are MORONS and don't listen to my safety instructions, or they are too dumb to be safe, it's my fault. If they screw up something in the lab, it's my fault. Etc. etc. etc. However, when it comes to grading or other educational issues, we pass the buck to instructors as much as humanly possible. If they think they were graded unfairly, we pass the buck. If they "need" a grade boost for some "extremely valid" reason, we pass the buck. You get the idea. Oh, and...
3) No dating students
Why anybody would want to do that is beyond me. I couldn't care less, since I'm very happy being "with" Kerry. The distance really sucks, and I wish she were her, but we both have to do what's best for each of us individually. If that means she's in Minnesota and I'm here, so be it. I love her and I want her to be happy, so we'll make it work.
Um... so, that's that. Let's see, what else is going on... I have cable. I swore I wasn't going to get cable. I figured taht without TV, I'd break out of my semi-apathetic lifestyle of lazing around as much as possible, and I would a) practice sax, b) practice guitar, c) actually work on the campaign (on the strange assumption that my D&D groupd will be able to meet enough to play), do stuff like this, read more, write more...in general, be "productive," by which I mean be creative and/or have fun. But no. Instead, I spent a fair share of my free time lazing around watching VIDEOS of TV shows, movies, and more videos of tv shows. Over and over. Like watching long strings of reruns. So I figured I might as well get a vague sense of VARIETY in my reruns, with gaps between shows I like filled with shows I never thought I'd watch. So I got cable. $12.50 a month cable, so I only get like 35 channels or so, and at least 5 or 6 are local access channels. So now I'm watching stuff I never thought I'd watch. But it beats work. Eventually, I'll actually start classes (I'm taking advanced organic chemistry and a macromolecules, i.e. polymers course), I'll be TA-ing, and working in a lab, so I won't have much time to watch TV. Maybe then I'll break out of this inertial limbo. But I doubt it. It's too much work. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 23rd, 2003|06:28 pm] |
it's 6:30 pm, I'm watching the simpsons right now, a nice break...
yesterday really sucked. i tried in vain to find a good, or even decent, way to get from here, through michigan, to minneapolis, for about 6 hours off and on. every time i tried to take a break, my mom would come and offer another idea. granted, i appreciated the ideas, but i needed a real break from looking. what really pissed me off was that I was trying all day to get it touch with alamo to try to rent a car, and i couldn't until the very end! so, irony being what it is, i finally got through to alamo, and that's the way we're going for the big move. if i could have gotten in touch with them in the FIRST PLACE, LIKE I WANTED, everything would have worked out just fine, but no, such was not fate.
so now, we have a good way to get out there, and it will be my first time riding in an SUV for so long, which should be nice. hopefully they'll have a CD player, cuz it'll be LONG trip.
*Sigh* In other news, I'm almost done working on a world map for my D&D campaign. I hope my players will like the upcoming events, sonce they THINK they know what's coming, but the truth is....
Mwa ha ha ha ha.... |
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