Shouzer

If you played the Auditorium demo before, the full version appears to be up now still isn’t up.  Good stuff.  I found another quick game, again courtesy of Penny Arcade, called Grow Tower that’s worth messing around with a bit.  It’s not as deep as Auditorium (not that either of them would really be categorized as deep), but it’s good for 20-30 minutes.

[Update:] So, I was wrong.  Auditorium is still just a demo at this point…  My bad. 

Last year, when I built my computer and got a new TV, I invested in a few surge suppressors from CyberPower for the house (namely, I got two of the 1090′s and one 895). Since I started using them, I haven’t had any real opportunities to see them in action. We’ve had plenty of power outages, but no surges … until tonight. We had two consecutive surges within about 5 seconds of each other. The surge suppressors did exactly what they were designed to do (all my of electronics kept power, while the rest of the house flickered), but it was just extremely cool to see it happen. I will never, ever go back to the generic 6-outlet power strips.

For about a year starting last summer, I was a Blockbuster Total Access subscriber.  However, when I heard that the 360 was going to be integrating support for streaming Netflix movies, I decided it was time to jump ship.  I haven’t once regretted the decision.  It’s cheaper, the selection is better, and now I can stream movies through my 360, my TiVo, or any of my PCs, often at HD quality.  Testing

The only thing that Blockbuster had going for it (at all) was the fact that you could exchange your videos in-store for free.  It started out great, but then of course those greedy fuckers decided to start limiting it to 5 times a month.  Anyway, go Netflix. 

It’s weird here.  In the summer it doesn’t start getting dark until sometime around 9pm.  But now it starts getting dark around 4pm.  Now, certainly I understand that the days are shorter in winter and that daylight savings plays a role, but still…  I don’t ever remember living somewhere else that hard such a huge range in its days’ lengths.

You’ve got to admit, it would be kind of cool to be able to tell people that you were in one of these planes.  They weren’t really that close to colliding, but they were close enough that they had to take evasive actions.  Then again, I don’t know how soon after that I’d feel like flying over the open ocean…

It’s pretty strange to see things like this, knowing that Scott was there just a few months ago. I honestly haven’t kept up on world news like I probably should have recently, so I don’t know too much about what’s going on.  It sounds to me like there’s people who feel that the current government is really just a proxy for the previous government, which was ousted a few years ago.  Yeah, that would seem to defeat the purpose.

Next up is Google Chrome.  Apparently Google doesn’t think that we have enough browsers between Firefox, IE, Safari, Opera, and whatever else is out there.  They’d rather have their own.  Honestly, I think that’s pretty silly.  Who knows, maybe it’ll be the greatest thing ever, but I doubt it.  Wouldn’t their time be better spent investing in Firefox, which is itself an open source browser?  Hell, they already employ Ben Goodger, who used to be the lead dev on Firefox.

Lastly, I thought this story about the credit card companies and Mythbusters was pretty weak.  Basically, the Mythbusters were going to do a show about RFID hacking, and Visa/Mastercard/AMEX shut them down.  How about instead of trying to hide security flaws, you just fix them?

Al came over to Motown last weekend to visit me. I’d have to say that I had a good time. It was nice having a visitor to hang out with.

On Friday night, we decided to go downtown to check out the awesomeness that is Detroit. I actually hadn’t been there since I was an intern 2 years ago so it was a bit of an experience for me as well. I printed off directions for the drive down there. We were to take I-96 to I-75, then get on I-375 before getting off downtown. We got to the exit for I-75 only to find that it no longer exists. They have completely closed I-96 and I-75 for a mile long stretch near the Canada border.

This would not have been such a big deal if they had bothered to properly guide us with detour signs. We were to take I-75 north, but when we got off the I-96, there were only signs for I-75 south to the left and forward. Al’s new GPS unit instructed us to detour through Canada, which just wasn’t an option as neither of us had our passports. I had to pull a u-turn right in front of the toll booths for the bridge to Canada. People weren’t too happy with me.

There was a guy standing there directing traffic or something. He gave us directions out of there, and Al’s GPS carried us the rest of the way. It was a nice little Friday night adventure.

I saw this over at Penny Arcade, and I thought it was pretty damn cool.  I wouldn’t have the patience (or the skill, for that matter) to do this.

I rarely ever watch commercials anymore, now that TiVo’s got my back. It might sound stupid, but it would actually be pretty hard to go back to watching regular, live TV all the time for all my weekly shows.

I was made painfully aware of that this weekend while I was watching all the NBA playoff games. In the mix of typically horrible crap between the actual games, I happened to catch a few pretty good commercials. For the record, Kyle linked me to one of them first.

Here’re the links to the first, second, and third commercials.

I took my loose change canister to Krogers today to use the Coin Star machine. I had about $123 in change, $112 after the machine took its commission. Awesome.

Included in my change collection of at least 10 years was a few coins from a dead currency, the German Mark, and about 700 pennies.

So, this is just some crazy shit. I couldn’t imagine the shock I’d get if that happened to me.

This is probably stuff you could do without knowing, but I’m bored and can’t sleep so I’m writing a post.

1. My sleep cycle has been crazy since I got back.
It feels ridiculous to call it jet lag at this point, but I feel pretty messed up. Most nights, I’ve been going to bed by 10 and then wanting to sleep for 10-12 hours. Tonight though, I’m not feeling all that tired, and it’s 11:30. I don’t understand this at all.

2. I like Mika
This is another bi-product of living in Prague for a month. I only had a few real options on TV of stuff I could actually understand: CNN International, Euronews, MTV Germany (which occasionally aired shows in their original English with German subtitles, so I got great stuff such as Parental Control and Bam’s Unholy Union), 2-3 other music video stations, and this trashy, wannabe porn station called Eurotic. Therefore, I spent a lot of time watching music videos. I saw this one a lot, and I liked it. I got the album when I got back to the States, and I enjoy it as well.

3. I still haven’t unpacked my suitcase.
Mmmm…..procrastination. There’s mostly a bunch of crap in it that I never use. Although, I have actually used things and then put them back in the suitcase, like my belt. I have no idea why I did that. Maybe I’m an idiot.

4. Mother’s Day is coming soon.
Anybody have any gift ideas for me? I’m drawing a blank this year. Actually, I suck at buying presents, so I draw blanks on almost every occasion such as this.

5. Can I say that I lived in Europe?
Is a month in Europe enough to say that I lived there? One of my life-long goals is to live on all 6 continents, and if I can count Europe, I’m half-way there. I don’t think it really counts, but I’m also not sure what constitutes living in a place. Is it a month? 2? 3? 4? Or is it some other intangible thing?

Yeah, sorry for just wasting that minute of your life, or 5 if you watched the video.

There seems to be a great amount of confusion on the topic of boredom so I thought an in depth discussion of it here might be helpful. The typical boredom conversation runs like this:

“How are you doing?”
“Not bad, a little bored though.”
“Oh, why don’t you ________.”

This suggestion is far from useful; in fact, it is counterproductive. Boredom is not the absence of something to do; it is the absence of entertainment. Bored people seek enjoyment, but all the while, the need for productivity looms over them. Therefore, the last thing a bored person wants to hear when he/she is bored is a suggestion of some chore or self-improvement item to relieve the monotony. There is always something to do, but that does not mean that it will be fun.

Sure, I could be utilizing this long break of mine to better myself. I should be studying for the GRE which I am taking Friday, learning Czech for my upcoming trip, exercising, or helping around the house; but I would rather spend my days in a fruitless and deteriorating attempt to amuse myself. Does that make me lazy? You had better believe it.

Well, as anybody of any sense, I realized long ago that the pink and red Starbursts are far superior to their yellow and orange brethren. Why they still insist upon associating themselves with such lowly members of the Starburst race is beyond me. So, obviously, I decided to email Mars, Inc. and find out if it was possible to buy packages of single colored Starbursts. Here was the reply I received, much to my dismay:

Thank you for your email.

Wish we had better news. Currently, there are no plans to package individual flavors. We appreciate your feedback and have shared your comments with our Marketing Team.

Have a great day!

It was certainly no surprise that they appreciated my feedback. After all, I’m basically an expert on candy. What did surprise me a bit was that they claim to have “shared [my] comments with [their] Marketing Team”. Hm… Did “Marketing Team” really need caps? I doubt it, honestly. That’s another issue altogether, I suppose.

More importantly, does that mean nobody over there has ever actually thought to sell those things in red and/or pink only varieties? Are you kidding me? Hell, the only reason I don’t buy Starburst on a daily basis is because I refuse to choke down the other flavors, and it’s simply a waste to throw them out. Kyle would probably eat them, but that’s much more of a workaround than an actual solution. As you can see, I’m confounded.

I’m thinking somebody should probably start a petition. As you all most certainly know, petitions always get the job done. Shoot, I can definitely almost guarantee you this one will work. So Scott, I leave it to you. I’ll even be your first signature.

If you’ve known me for the past year, you know that I frequent a little site called SlickDeals way more than I should. While I have reached unhealthy levels of messageboard reading, I have gained new and creative ways to shop. Never again will I pay MSRP for an item. Let me give you an example.

There’s this Christmas present I’ve been wanting to buy for Ashley and its MSRP is $350. That’s a load because if you check any of the major retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, Staples, Amazon, Buy.com, Target, Wal-Mart), you’ll find that half of them have it listed at $300 on a weekly basis. There’s the first trap you could fall into: not shopping around. So 300. That’s still too much for me. Check the online retailers. Amazon, Buy.com, and a few other specialty stores. Find 275 here and there. Nope. Try Pricegrabber.com and Froogle.com (they need to become your friends). Find a real nice price at 254.99. Do I purchase? Of course not? I’d be leaving some savings on the table. Go to Staples.com, home of the 110% price match. That means if you find a price that is lower than their, they’ll drop their price and give you 10% extra of the difference between the two. For an added bonus, I check eBay for coupons. Sure enough, there’s a $30 off $150 coupon for $3. Get that. Call 18003STAPLE. Talk to a CSR. Will you price match? Yes, but I have to include the overnight shipping price ($16) in the lower total. Bull. Hang up. Call again. Will you price match? Yes, I will. The new lady only needs to include 2 day shipping ($2). That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Ok, do the PM. Add the coupon. Call it a day. So that MSRP of $350 got shaved to a slender $236 with just a little work.

Online shopping really is where it’s at.

Quite possibly the single greatest innovation that is a direct result of the internet is online shopping. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure if you can still call it shopping. Somebody might want to check that. Every time I go shopping, my feet end up hurting from standing around all day. Shopping online results in little more than the lower half of my body going to sleep as I sit for hours at my computer.

I’ve almost finished getting gifts for everybody on my “list”, and I barely moved. There’s really only one word for that–glorious. I suppose fantastic or amazing would work just as well. So there’s about three words. Just the same, it’s great. Oh, there’s four.

Anyhow, I’ve lost focus. Not only is my hand the only thing moving when I order online, but the stuff gets delivered to my doorstep. I don’t even have to walk to a register. It’s just here. They usually give me a tracking number and everything so that I know when when it should be here. Everything should be that easy

To top off the whole experience, I could have been in nothing but my underwear; my skivvies, if you will. Oh sure, I was fully clothed this time, but what about next time? Or the time after that? It’s hard to tell. It might be something to keep in mind when you’re unwrapping my gifts.