La Dee Dah...
Another few days without being able to run or do anything significant, another boring post. Luckily I'm just about there and should be able to get off my ass just in time to fly home and do some fun things. Just quite irritating to be at least a week out of shape and have to get back into it. Rule #1, don't get injured. Rule #2, I have about a million rules and I label them all as Rule #1.
So I decided to go ahead and finish up the Myst series with Exile. Having completed it, I'd really like to say it's my favorite of the bunch. Unfortunately that's probably biased, because it's the most recent. I remember thinking the original Myst and Riven especially were incredibly awesome when they first came out. This one works out to about ten hours. And yes, I caved. I think it was twice I used the devil that is the walkthrough, and in both cases I'd spent about an hour wandering around trying to figure it out. The great thing about this game when compared with Riven is that solutions to problems are very near the problems themselves. When you flip a switch or whatnot you can generally tell what it did, without having to go wandering all over the map to various places you were stuck on seeing if whatever you did helped any of those problems. For those who like logic in general, I really have to plug Amateria. Quick synopsis before I get to that, you start off in one age, and can link to any of three ages at that point, in random order. The ages don't connect, and you don't need information from one of the three to do another of the three or anything like that. So if you get bored and stuck on one you can do another, but will eventually have to go back and puzzle through the one you're stuck on. Only once you've completed all three do you link to the final age and "piece it all together" as they say. I was unaware of this concept, so the two times I used the walkthrough were because I figured the answer must be in some other age and I'd missed it. Of course it wasn't, but I didn't really get that DUH feeling, because the answers were difficult as expected. Anyway back to Amateria, everything in this age is logic based, and at the end it all comes together in an amazing sequence that makes puzzling through the different aspects all totally worth it. Reminds me of my days with contraptions in the backyard, but you'd have to see old home videos to understand that. Voltaic also has a pretty sweet visual ending, so as a whole the results of your troubles are quite gratifying. The acting by the bad guy is quite good, and there are about a dozen possible endings, one of which has him rush you with some sort of hammer and knock you dead, which had me backing away from the screen in a hurry. Overall the puzzles are not as difficult as Riven, mainly because like I said they are solvable just based on what's in the general area for the most part. That's not to say they're easy, some do take a while, but they don't require copius notes throughout the game or anything.
Upon finishing I was quite sad the series was over, but then when watching the "Making Of" movies that came with the games (which you shouldn't watch until afterwards if you don't want spoilers) I saw that a new game called Uru, Ages Beyond Myst had just come out. So maybe there's some future play after all. I should mention Exile was the first game in the series to let you look 360 degrees in any direction at every turn, rather than just at a snapshot facing forward. This added to the photorealism as if you were really there, and created some cool effects. In Uru you actually can wandering around like your typical action game, from a third person or first person perspective, so it should be interesting to see how that changes things.
K done with computer game talk. In other news I leave at 6am on Christmas morning to go home, which means like a 4am arrival or something ridiculous to the airport. Probably going to extended park for two dollars a day at this place I got referred to at the airport to save the fifty bucks or something a round trip taxi would cost. Should be interesting to see what kinds of people are flying on Christmas morning. Plans call for family stuff that day, then a snowboarding trip on either the 29th or 30th depending on weather if it makes a difference, then the usual Disneyland extravaganza the 31st, then leaving again around 3pm out of LAX on the 1st and showing up back here late. Somewhere in between on the 26th-28th or 29th and so forth I'll be trying to fit in various excursions with people I won't be seeing again for quite a while, so feel free to call the cell if interested.
Saturday, December 20, 2003
Swelling...
Is kind of a cool thing. I remember when I got a massive bump on my head from racquetball the night before my flight physical that I spent a lot of time touching it and going ooooh that's neat. Yeah so yesterday I was stupid enough to play football (two hand touch mind you) for pc with my section... On some random play I got a pass and proceeded to juke my way diagonally across the field doing the same move on like six guys in a row, eventually juking my own ankle out of its socket or something. It didn't really hurt when it happened, but by the time I got home it was beginning to be annoying. It kept me up most of last night because I couldn't find a position under the blanket that didn't make it bend and hurt, and by this morning was nice and swollen. Had to cancel both my flights today, quite annoying. Was beautiful weather too, it had better be that way the week I get back when I have to do all three flights I have left or I'll be real bitter.
So what's a guy to do when he can't even walk to the fridge without hopping? Well a computer game or two is always good. Over the past few days I'd been working on one of two games I'd actually gone out and bought to entertain me for the next few weeks before I head off to ASBC, and as predicted Black and White Deluxe ate up a decent chunk of time. I got to the last level which is especially difficult and it was getting old though (this is after somewhere around twelve hours of gameplay) so I decided to move on to something fresh until I had another craving that made me go out and buy the thing in the first place (the downloaded copy isn't patchable, and the bugs in the game without the patch make it basically unplayable. The Myst trilogy was the other game in the back, with both of them only costing 10-15 bucks. My bill at most restaurants is bigger than that. I'll give you the low-down on Black and White when I finish it, but let me say my piece about Myst and its successors. For those who like puzzles, logic, or thinking in general, you really need to install these games. There is a reason that for a while this was the greatest selling PC game of all time. To date the series has sold ten million copies. TEN MILLION. Imagine what small percentage of the population are gamers, and you have to figure a huge percentage played at some point. I'd truly forgotten how much fun it is. There are two feelings that will become familiar to those that dive into the world the developers created. The feeling of having utterly and completely stuck and having no idea what to do. This is the most frustrating thing in the world. Unfortunately, it used to be a lot more so. Before Google, or the devil as I call it when it is used in reference to the term "walkthrough." A walkthrough is a step by step solution of an entire game that someone has posted on the web so anyone who is stuck can immediately go and find the solution and move on. If you're going to try any of these games, I recommend repeating the phrase "walkthroughs are the devil" repeatedly. No matter how stuck you are. This is important for two reasons. First of all, when you realize what little thing you missed, or how simple the solution really was, you will feel like the world's biggest idiot. You can try to pretend like you would have figured it out eventually, but admit it, you caved. Second, the feeling of actually solving a puzzle, and in the case of some more complex ones watching it all come together, is one of true satisfaction. I tell you I almost feel as good solving a major problem as I do winning a jackpot. Almost. Then again you don't get paid to play computer games. Then again I do.
If you don't get stuck, Myst is only about 5-6 hours or so. In reality, it might be something like double that. Although I'd never even beaten the game prior (I'd got stuck when it first came out in 93, before walkthroughs) I had the advantage of having the memory of how to solve many of the puzzles. Thus about 2/3 of the game went through very quickly. Speaking of quick, since the game is so old, and modern computers are so fast, the game runs MUCH faster than previously. Literally split second load times for each frame, you can migrate around islands in seconds. Funnier still is the fact it only takes 2mb of hard drive space. As a good comparison as games travel through time, Riven takes up what at the time was a tremendous 85mb, or forty times the space of Myst. Then you have the more recent Exile, which takes up an astounding 2.1 gigs, or 2100mb or so. Cha-ching. Anyway back to the games, as a whole, the difficulty of the puzzles of Myst are not very difficult. I didn't use a walkthrough then, and I didn't use one this time either. Now if you move to the next title in the series called Riven, you're taking a big step. First of all I recommend playing them in order if you care that much, because the storylines make a lot more sense that way, kind of like a movie series. Second, the puzzles in Riven are much more difficult. Individual puzzles are still very doable, but there are a few greatly complex ones that require applying a whole bunch of stuff you've learned along the way to one conundrum. When I first played this game when it came out (I bought it, but later let someone borrow it and they never gave it back, the bastards) I made it a pretty good distance with no walkthrough, I'd say about halfway. Then I caved and used it for what turned out to be the most difficult quagmire, then for some reason stopped and never finished the game. This time around obviously getting back to that point was relatively easy, although I only really remembered premonitions about different parts of the game. There are really a couple parts that are just ridiculously fiendish. You'd literally just have to click all over the screen at times to randomly accidentally flip some hidden switch or push some hidden button. The vastness of the world makes it impossible to know where you should be doing this, as if you're stuck on one island logically it will seem like something somewhere else will unlock that door, or open that hatch, or whatever, when in reality the answer is right in front of you and wandering around everywhere else gains you nothing.
Riven as a whole is more like ten hours if you have an unfair advantage of previously playing parts of it like I had, and I'm guessing at least twenty or thirty otherwise. Definitely one of the longer games out there, and more difficult. I'd really seriously like to watch someone else play it. Someone of high intelligence especially. Other than the previously mentioned fiendishly difficult parts, there's really no reason someone smart shouldn't be able to beat this game. It's just interesting to see what kinds of things get different kinds of people stuck. What is completely obvious to me seems impossible to someone else. It's kind of like that who looks up when they walk into a closet thing. Some people check their back seats every time they get in a car, some people would carry around an alligator back there for days before noticing. Being observant helps tremendously in these games, you might walk down a hall or path like twelve times before finally spotting what you needed to. I seriously recommend it to anyone smart enough to enjoy the challenge. If you want hints ask me, it's much more satisfying to receive a bump in the right direction and come to the right conclusion yourself eventually than just reading it in plain text and going OH DUH.
So yes, get your hands on a copy of this game if you like a challenge. It's simple, takes five seconds to learn how to play, and can provide hours of entertainment. Did I mention the worlds, Riven's in particular, are asbolutely beautiful? I'm seriously looking for some of the stills to use as desktops. They truly look like what a fantasy world would be, to the point you pretty much feel like you're there. I won't give away any details, but at one point I literally flinched in a big way and started away from the screen due to an event that occurred. Pretty rare that you see that in a game that doesn't involve grenades at point blank range.
Ah, the clock strikes midnight, guess it's time for sleep. Tomorrow, I'll try out the third installment in the series, Exile. Never played it, and I'll be darned if I'm not going to beat it without using a walkthrough. Hm triple negative there. Think it made sense. Should be interesting to see how long it actually takes... This whole can't walk thing is rough I tell ya.
Is kind of a cool thing. I remember when I got a massive bump on my head from racquetball the night before my flight physical that I spent a lot of time touching it and going ooooh that's neat. Yeah so yesterday I was stupid enough to play football (two hand touch mind you) for pc with my section... On some random play I got a pass and proceeded to juke my way diagonally across the field doing the same move on like six guys in a row, eventually juking my own ankle out of its socket or something. It didn't really hurt when it happened, but by the time I got home it was beginning to be annoying. It kept me up most of last night because I couldn't find a position under the blanket that didn't make it bend and hurt, and by this morning was nice and swollen. Had to cancel both my flights today, quite annoying. Was beautiful weather too, it had better be that way the week I get back when I have to do all three flights I have left or I'll be real bitter.
So what's a guy to do when he can't even walk to the fridge without hopping? Well a computer game or two is always good. Over the past few days I'd been working on one of two games I'd actually gone out and bought to entertain me for the next few weeks before I head off to ASBC, and as predicted Black and White Deluxe ate up a decent chunk of time. I got to the last level which is especially difficult and it was getting old though (this is after somewhere around twelve hours of gameplay) so I decided to move on to something fresh until I had another craving that made me go out and buy the thing in the first place (the downloaded copy isn't patchable, and the bugs in the game without the patch make it basically unplayable. The Myst trilogy was the other game in the back, with both of them only costing 10-15 bucks. My bill at most restaurants is bigger than that. I'll give you the low-down on Black and White when I finish it, but let me say my piece about Myst and its successors. For those who like puzzles, logic, or thinking in general, you really need to install these games. There is a reason that for a while this was the greatest selling PC game of all time. To date the series has sold ten million copies. TEN MILLION. Imagine what small percentage of the population are gamers, and you have to figure a huge percentage played at some point. I'd truly forgotten how much fun it is. There are two feelings that will become familiar to those that dive into the world the developers created. The feeling of having utterly and completely stuck and having no idea what to do. This is the most frustrating thing in the world. Unfortunately, it used to be a lot more so. Before Google, or the devil as I call it when it is used in reference to the term "walkthrough." A walkthrough is a step by step solution of an entire game that someone has posted on the web so anyone who is stuck can immediately go and find the solution and move on. If you're going to try any of these games, I recommend repeating the phrase "walkthroughs are the devil" repeatedly. No matter how stuck you are. This is important for two reasons. First of all, when you realize what little thing you missed, or how simple the solution really was, you will feel like the world's biggest idiot. You can try to pretend like you would have figured it out eventually, but admit it, you caved. Second, the feeling of actually solving a puzzle, and in the case of some more complex ones watching it all come together, is one of true satisfaction. I tell you I almost feel as good solving a major problem as I do winning a jackpot. Almost. Then again you don't get paid to play computer games. Then again I do.
If you don't get stuck, Myst is only about 5-6 hours or so. In reality, it might be something like double that. Although I'd never even beaten the game prior (I'd got stuck when it first came out in 93, before walkthroughs) I had the advantage of having the memory of how to solve many of the puzzles. Thus about 2/3 of the game went through very quickly. Speaking of quick, since the game is so old, and modern computers are so fast, the game runs MUCH faster than previously. Literally split second load times for each frame, you can migrate around islands in seconds. Funnier still is the fact it only takes 2mb of hard drive space. As a good comparison as games travel through time, Riven takes up what at the time was a tremendous 85mb, or forty times the space of Myst. Then you have the more recent Exile, which takes up an astounding 2.1 gigs, or 2100mb or so. Cha-ching. Anyway back to the games, as a whole, the difficulty of the puzzles of Myst are not very difficult. I didn't use a walkthrough then, and I didn't use one this time either. Now if you move to the next title in the series called Riven, you're taking a big step. First of all I recommend playing them in order if you care that much, because the storylines make a lot more sense that way, kind of like a movie series. Second, the puzzles in Riven are much more difficult. Individual puzzles are still very doable, but there are a few greatly complex ones that require applying a whole bunch of stuff you've learned along the way to one conundrum. When I first played this game when it came out (I bought it, but later let someone borrow it and they never gave it back, the bastards) I made it a pretty good distance with no walkthrough, I'd say about halfway. Then I caved and used it for what turned out to be the most difficult quagmire, then for some reason stopped and never finished the game. This time around obviously getting back to that point was relatively easy, although I only really remembered premonitions about different parts of the game. There are really a couple parts that are just ridiculously fiendish. You'd literally just have to click all over the screen at times to randomly accidentally flip some hidden switch or push some hidden button. The vastness of the world makes it impossible to know where you should be doing this, as if you're stuck on one island logically it will seem like something somewhere else will unlock that door, or open that hatch, or whatever, when in reality the answer is right in front of you and wandering around everywhere else gains you nothing.
Riven as a whole is more like ten hours if you have an unfair advantage of previously playing parts of it like I had, and I'm guessing at least twenty or thirty otherwise. Definitely one of the longer games out there, and more difficult. I'd really seriously like to watch someone else play it. Someone of high intelligence especially. Other than the previously mentioned fiendishly difficult parts, there's really no reason someone smart shouldn't be able to beat this game. It's just interesting to see what kinds of things get different kinds of people stuck. What is completely obvious to me seems impossible to someone else. It's kind of like that who looks up when they walk into a closet thing. Some people check their back seats every time they get in a car, some people would carry around an alligator back there for days before noticing. Being observant helps tremendously in these games, you might walk down a hall or path like twelve times before finally spotting what you needed to. I seriously recommend it to anyone smart enough to enjoy the challenge. If you want hints ask me, it's much more satisfying to receive a bump in the right direction and come to the right conclusion yourself eventually than just reading it in plain text and going OH DUH.
So yes, get your hands on a copy of this game if you like a challenge. It's simple, takes five seconds to learn how to play, and can provide hours of entertainment. Did I mention the worlds, Riven's in particular, are asbolutely beautiful? I'm seriously looking for some of the stills to use as desktops. They truly look like what a fantasy world would be, to the point you pretty much feel like you're there. I won't give away any details, but at one point I literally flinched in a big way and started away from the screen due to an event that occurred. Pretty rare that you see that in a game that doesn't involve grenades at point blank range.
Ah, the clock strikes midnight, guess it's time for sleep. Tomorrow, I'll try out the third installment in the series, Exile. Never played it, and I'll be darned if I'm not going to beat it without using a walkthrough. Hm triple negative there. Think it made sense. Should be interesting to see how long it actually takes... This whole can't walk thing is rough I tell ya.
Friday, December 19, 2003
A Different View of the World...
Yesterday was by far my favorite day flying thus far in NIFT. The obvious explanation is due to a couple things. The wind for the first time wasn't a big deal, so the vast majority of the ride was smooth as silk. The other thing was the day was absolutely beautiful, and you could see for fifty miles in any direction. Luckily we happened to be doing a cross country, so it was my longest flight thus far, and by far the most comfortable. Took a bunch of pictures along the way of just what it looks like to be just chillin at six thousand. Another cool thing about the flight was due to the winds the active runway was runway 3, which is the runway always used by the major airlines. I got to taxi all the way over to that side of the airport alongside the terminals with gates and whatnot, and we performed the runup right alongside a massive Southwest plane. I found it quite hilarious that someone was crammed in coach looking out their window at me in my dinky Cessna out for a stroll. I felt even sorrier for the Continental plane behind them, because we actually got to take off in front of them, so hundreds of people had to wait while we putt putted down the runway. It's also kind of fun to be on the radio with tower and ground as they give these massive jets orders to hold short of the runway because we're on a five mile final, as was the case when we landed on the return trip. We did a touch and go way down in Live Oak County at an uncontrolled airport. Those are kind of fun, because first of all I'm actually beginning to enjoy trying to land properly, and then just being able to do the aircraft equivalent of flooring it and taking off again is pretty cool too. The other neat thing was all the navigation calculations I did during the trip planning to compensate for the wind and whatnot were pretty much right on, which is always a good feeling given my career track. I should also mention we flew a low level on Tuesday which was good times as well, where you just skim along about five hundred to a thousand feet off the ground and use dead reckoning to navigate; stuff like "there's a river" "ok here's the river on the map we need to go south" to follow along a predetermined course. Low enough you can see dogs running across lawns or what kind of clothing is hanging from a line is pretty cool. Only three flights left, doubling up tomorrow with a cross country and the second low level, and then backed up the last flight until after I get back from the holidays to allow more time to study for the FAA test while I'm sitting on planes in transit and sitting around home.
Yesterday was by far my favorite day flying thus far in NIFT. The obvious explanation is due to a couple things. The wind for the first time wasn't a big deal, so the vast majority of the ride was smooth as silk. The other thing was the day was absolutely beautiful, and you could see for fifty miles in any direction. Luckily we happened to be doing a cross country, so it was my longest flight thus far, and by far the most comfortable. Took a bunch of pictures along the way of just what it looks like to be just chillin at six thousand. Another cool thing about the flight was due to the winds the active runway was runway 3, which is the runway always used by the major airlines. I got to taxi all the way over to that side of the airport alongside the terminals with gates and whatnot, and we performed the runup right alongside a massive Southwest plane. I found it quite hilarious that someone was crammed in coach looking out their window at me in my dinky Cessna out for a stroll. I felt even sorrier for the Continental plane behind them, because we actually got to take off in front of them, so hundreds of people had to wait while we putt putted down the runway. It's also kind of fun to be on the radio with tower and ground as they give these massive jets orders to hold short of the runway because we're on a five mile final, as was the case when we landed on the return trip. We did a touch and go way down in Live Oak County at an uncontrolled airport. Those are kind of fun, because first of all I'm actually beginning to enjoy trying to land properly, and then just being able to do the aircraft equivalent of flooring it and taking off again is pretty cool too. The other neat thing was all the navigation calculations I did during the trip planning to compensate for the wind and whatnot were pretty much right on, which is always a good feeling given my career track. I should also mention we flew a low level on Tuesday which was good times as well, where you just skim along about five hundred to a thousand feet off the ground and use dead reckoning to navigate; stuff like "there's a river" "ok here's the river on the map we need to go south" to follow along a predetermined course. Low enough you can see dogs running across lawns or what kind of clothing is hanging from a line is pretty cool. Only three flights left, doubling up tomorrow with a cross country and the second low level, and then backed up the last flight until after I get back from the holidays to allow more time to study for the FAA test while I'm sitting on planes in transit and sitting around home.
Monday, December 15, 2003
Some Mondays...
Are better than others. After a lackluster weekend of not getting a whole lot accomplished, I went to bed relatively early last night motivated to get off my ass this morning. And so I did. At 5am, even. Boy did I have flashbacks to what life was like for about twelve weeks. And boy am I glad those weeks are over. Getting up that early is a lot easier when you're getting eight hours of sleep per night instead of four or five. So yeah, was up way before the sun, and went off and ran the equivalent of a 10k again. What puts me in an especially good mood is that I did it in about 50:30, or just over an 8 minute average mile. This goes way back to about junior year in high school to find the last time I ran that far that fast. It isn't anything ultra amazing, as a freshman I ran one in 42:25 or so, which is under a 7 minute average, but it's really showing how far I've come. A couple years ago I could barely run one mile in 8:30, and I wasn't even attempting to run a 5k without walking. Now I can run a 10k nonstop at a faster pace than I used to run a mile. It's a really great feeling when you finish a solid lengthy run. Just about your whole body is tired, and you actually feel like you did something. It reminds me of the feeling after a race, the switch from utter torture during that last mile to jubilation as you cross the line the victor. Suddenly the weakness just leaves the body and you feel like you could go dance all night long. It also does wonders for the ego, I lose at least three pounds every time I run, even on cold days when I barely sweat at all. I've been holding steady at the 175 mark, but I continue to improve my endurance and keep adding more arm work, and have finally gotten around to throwing ab work in as well. One of the things that really works for me is watching some kind of motivational clip when I first wake up on days like these. Whether it's the Where Eagles Fly music video thing about F-15s, or something like a "The Thrill of Victory" segment from ABC, or even the finale to one of my favorite performances or shows, it really makes you wanna get up and get busy. Least it works for me. Even to the point I don't even listen to music when I run, I just use the time to think about everything going on, and dream about what might eventually be.
We have 1:30 muster this week instead of 8:30, which means more sleeping in if I feel the need. I'm just going to take over the FAA study book for the test I have to take at the end of NIFT and use that time to get a couple hours in each day. Basically just have to memorize the answers to about 730 questions and I'll ace the test. We'll see how that goes.
Are better than others. After a lackluster weekend of not getting a whole lot accomplished, I went to bed relatively early last night motivated to get off my ass this morning. And so I did. At 5am, even. Boy did I have flashbacks to what life was like for about twelve weeks. And boy am I glad those weeks are over. Getting up that early is a lot easier when you're getting eight hours of sleep per night instead of four or five. So yeah, was up way before the sun, and went off and ran the equivalent of a 10k again. What puts me in an especially good mood is that I did it in about 50:30, or just over an 8 minute average mile. This goes way back to about junior year in high school to find the last time I ran that far that fast. It isn't anything ultra amazing, as a freshman I ran one in 42:25 or so, which is under a 7 minute average, but it's really showing how far I've come. A couple years ago I could barely run one mile in 8:30, and I wasn't even attempting to run a 5k without walking. Now I can run a 10k nonstop at a faster pace than I used to run a mile. It's a really great feeling when you finish a solid lengthy run. Just about your whole body is tired, and you actually feel like you did something. It reminds me of the feeling after a race, the switch from utter torture during that last mile to jubilation as you cross the line the victor. Suddenly the weakness just leaves the body and you feel like you could go dance all night long. It also does wonders for the ego, I lose at least three pounds every time I run, even on cold days when I barely sweat at all. I've been holding steady at the 175 mark, but I continue to improve my endurance and keep adding more arm work, and have finally gotten around to throwing ab work in as well. One of the things that really works for me is watching some kind of motivational clip when I first wake up on days like these. Whether it's the Where Eagles Fly music video thing about F-15s, or something like a "The Thrill of Victory" segment from ABC, or even the finale to one of my favorite performances or shows, it really makes you wanna get up and get busy. Least it works for me. Even to the point I don't even listen to music when I run, I just use the time to think about everything going on, and dream about what might eventually be.
We have 1:30 muster this week instead of 8:30, which means more sleeping in if I feel the need. I'm just going to take over the FAA study book for the test I have to take at the end of NIFT and use that time to get a couple hours in each day. Basically just have to memorize the answers to about 730 questions and I'll ace the test. We'll see how that goes.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
Cool Sounding Words...
I've always wanted to come up with a really cool sounding word. If I could find one that was totally unique, I'd probably use it as a permanent nickname or something. A word like Samurai. Just rolls out of the mouth and exudes power. You are correct in thinking I must have headed out to see The Last Samurai yesterday. This was quite a feature. I'll have to give it 6 M's out of 7, a pretty rare score. Speaking of score, that was possibly my favorite part of it. Whereas some scores are passive and some people think the best score is the one you don't notice, I disagree. The score of this movie took a very active role, and served to further the drama at every level. I've never had any problems with Cruise as an actor, which usually leads his movies to be at the top of the agreement list when heading out with a female to see something. I was over at the Regal Cinemas under the loop on Pat Booker, and was pretty impressed with the theater. The sound was pretty good, not an IMAX or anything, but at least the theater I was in was gigantic. Definitely the kind of place you want to see those rowdy crowd movies like LOTR or Star Wars. But anyway back to the movie, I really enjoyed the performances of all the actors. Cruise's love interest in particular did a tremendous job putting those non verbal looks on her face that let you feel yourself what she was feeling. The storyline itself had a couple hard to belief aspects, but had they been left out there would have been a lot less closure. This one jerked quite a few tears/sobs out of the audience, so be forewarned if that isn't your thing. Pesonally that's what I look forward to, movies that make you feel.
I also forgot to blog about The Life of David Gale which I got around to watching a few days ago. This was another superb movie, and who knows maybe I'm in a giving mood, but I'll have to give this one... well okay I won't I'll give it 5.5 M's. Only because it didn't have that extra oomph to get to 6. As crime whodunnit type movies go though, this one was great. I've always enjoyed Kevin Spacey, and Kate Winslet held her own as his counterpart. There were plenty of twists involved, and the only weak part of the movie is the final outcome is entirely predictable, although that's difficult to avoid. At any rate an interesting one to go see with someone on the other side of the death penalty issue as you. For conversation sake if nothing else. It shows some bias, but gives ammunition for both sides. So yeah, couple good films.
I should also mention that they showed the preview for Troy which was the most impressive I'd seen in a while. We're talking very large scale movie here, with some impressive panoramic scenes of just how gigantic the army that fought was. Yeah it's probably mostly computer generated, but what do you expect. Definitely one I'll go see for the effects side of things if nothing else.
On the other side of entertainment I also blew through Deus Ex - Invisible War a few days ago. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of good things to say about it. If you're a fan of the original by all means play it, but don't expect a higher level of entertainment. Unfortunately the engine requires a tremendous level of computing power, to the point my 1.7ghz gf3 system couldn't handle anything about 640x480. This is the first sign that it's soon finally going to be time to upgrade after over two solid years with this machine. I'll probably hold out for the hl2/doom3 era though. Back to the game, the inventory and gui are quite clumsy, and it's difficult to move between menus, so if you're instantly attacked it is unlikely you'll be able to turn on any biomods and pull out the most useful weapon at the same time before you're hit. The game is also entirely too easy, I had a ridiculous amount of credits at the end, and way too many extra biomod canisters and weapon mods, I could have upgraded everything multiple times over. This is a complete turnaround from the original game, where you really had to pick and choose your upgrades unless you abused the infinite credit bug during that one conversation. The game itself is much much shorter, with me finishing it in something like ten hours of gametime. It's one of those that keeps track as you go, so you can tell how bad your obsession with your computer is. It doesn't count all your loads after dying though, so in reality it's probably more like twelve. But the original was something ridiculous like thirty, and even then you hand't really done EVERYTHING due to the non-linearity. This one tries to be non-linear as well, but you really end up in the same places no matter what path you choose. There are four endings to play with, but I wasn't even interested enough to play through the other ones after choosing the one I did. There are some really cool lighting effects I'm sure, but my system couldn't handle them so they lost their luster at the lowest settings.
There was one really fun thing about the game though, and that was maxing out your strength biomod to the point you could pick up the body of a bad guy, and launch it about fifty feet in the air, and watch it slam up against a wall and crumple down to the ground. This type of realism with the body actually crumpling in a nonscripted motion is something I didn't expect to see until hl2, so it entertained me at various points in the game. Also interesting is the default is to play as a female character, and you actually have to change it to make it a male one. Just shows how creepy computer geeks would much rather watch a female barbie looking model running around taking guys out. I personally changed it to the one that looks most like me like I always do, but hey, that's narcissism for you.
Hm yeah think that's enough entertainment talk for the day. It's finally getting out of the 30s at night, so running in the early morning instead of midday should be doable.
I've always wanted to come up with a really cool sounding word. If I could find one that was totally unique, I'd probably use it as a permanent nickname or something. A word like Samurai. Just rolls out of the mouth and exudes power. You are correct in thinking I must have headed out to see The Last Samurai yesterday. This was quite a feature. I'll have to give it 6 M's out of 7, a pretty rare score. Speaking of score, that was possibly my favorite part of it. Whereas some scores are passive and some people think the best score is the one you don't notice, I disagree. The score of this movie took a very active role, and served to further the drama at every level. I've never had any problems with Cruise as an actor, which usually leads his movies to be at the top of the agreement list when heading out with a female to see something. I was over at the Regal Cinemas under the loop on Pat Booker, and was pretty impressed with the theater. The sound was pretty good, not an IMAX or anything, but at least the theater I was in was gigantic. Definitely the kind of place you want to see those rowdy crowd movies like LOTR or Star Wars. But anyway back to the movie, I really enjoyed the performances of all the actors. Cruise's love interest in particular did a tremendous job putting those non verbal looks on her face that let you feel yourself what she was feeling. The storyline itself had a couple hard to belief aspects, but had they been left out there would have been a lot less closure. This one jerked quite a few tears/sobs out of the audience, so be forewarned if that isn't your thing. Pesonally that's what I look forward to, movies that make you feel.
I also forgot to blog about The Life of David Gale which I got around to watching a few days ago. This was another superb movie, and who knows maybe I'm in a giving mood, but I'll have to give this one... well okay I won't I'll give it 5.5 M's. Only because it didn't have that extra oomph to get to 6. As crime whodunnit type movies go though, this one was great. I've always enjoyed Kevin Spacey, and Kate Winslet held her own as his counterpart. There were plenty of twists involved, and the only weak part of the movie is the final outcome is entirely predictable, although that's difficult to avoid. At any rate an interesting one to go see with someone on the other side of the death penalty issue as you. For conversation sake if nothing else. It shows some bias, but gives ammunition for both sides. So yeah, couple good films.
I should also mention that they showed the preview for Troy which was the most impressive I'd seen in a while. We're talking very large scale movie here, with some impressive panoramic scenes of just how gigantic the army that fought was. Yeah it's probably mostly computer generated, but what do you expect. Definitely one I'll go see for the effects side of things if nothing else.
On the other side of entertainment I also blew through Deus Ex - Invisible War a few days ago. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of good things to say about it. If you're a fan of the original by all means play it, but don't expect a higher level of entertainment. Unfortunately the engine requires a tremendous level of computing power, to the point my 1.7ghz gf3 system couldn't handle anything about 640x480. This is the first sign that it's soon finally going to be time to upgrade after over two solid years with this machine. I'll probably hold out for the hl2/doom3 era though. Back to the game, the inventory and gui are quite clumsy, and it's difficult to move between menus, so if you're instantly attacked it is unlikely you'll be able to turn on any biomods and pull out the most useful weapon at the same time before you're hit. The game is also entirely too easy, I had a ridiculous amount of credits at the end, and way too many extra biomod canisters and weapon mods, I could have upgraded everything multiple times over. This is a complete turnaround from the original game, where you really had to pick and choose your upgrades unless you abused the infinite credit bug during that one conversation. The game itself is much much shorter, with me finishing it in something like ten hours of gametime. It's one of those that keeps track as you go, so you can tell how bad your obsession with your computer is. It doesn't count all your loads after dying though, so in reality it's probably more like twelve. But the original was something ridiculous like thirty, and even then you hand't really done EVERYTHING due to the non-linearity. This one tries to be non-linear as well, but you really end up in the same places no matter what path you choose. There are four endings to play with, but I wasn't even interested enough to play through the other ones after choosing the one I did. There are some really cool lighting effects I'm sure, but my system couldn't handle them so they lost their luster at the lowest settings.
There was one really fun thing about the game though, and that was maxing out your strength biomod to the point you could pick up the body of a bad guy, and launch it about fifty feet in the air, and watch it slam up against a wall and crumple down to the ground. This type of realism with the body actually crumpling in a nonscripted motion is something I didn't expect to see until hl2, so it entertained me at various points in the game. Also interesting is the default is to play as a female character, and you actually have to change it to make it a male one. Just shows how creepy computer geeks would much rather watch a female barbie looking model running around taking guys out. I personally changed it to the one that looks most like me like I always do, but hey, that's narcissism for you.
Hm yeah think that's enough entertainment talk for the day. It's finally getting out of the 30s at night, so running in the early morning instead of midday should be doable.
Friday, December 12, 2003
Tellin it Like it Is...
Took one of those nifty "find out what you're attracted to" type tests through match.com that was actually pretty elaborate, and this is one of the results its spewed out at some point:
"Unique Tastes In Women: You are open to seeing a variety of women as attractive. Sure, women with "movie star" good looks catch your eye, but you are often equally wowed by more normal "cute" women. You're not one to judge people based on their looks. In fact, you're genuinely drawn to women that others might dismiss. Maybe it's because you don't buy into society's checklist for "mainstream" attractiveness. Instead, you notice unique features like a cute nose, beautiful eyes, or a cute butt, that make some women special in your eyes. For you, attraction is about the total package."
I mean hello, could they have been any more right. I could not have written it better myself. Well I could have, but it would have taken a while. After more jibberish it goes on to say:
"Open: You have a more open and accepting view of what makes a woman attractive than a lot of other men your age. On the test, you didn't pick the most "popular" women, but instead seemed to focus on your own personal tastes. This doesn't necessarily mean that looks are less important to you than other men. You simply have a unique set of criteria and keep your eyes open for special qualities that make a woman who may seem ordinary to most, extraordinary to you."
This may seem like BS, and who knows maybe it is and there are only like three possible results, but they sure did hit it right on the button. So, where they at? Hilarious responses as well as heartfelt ones to the below post by the way, keep em comin.
Took one of those nifty "find out what you're attracted to" type tests through match.com that was actually pretty elaborate, and this is one of the results its spewed out at some point:
"Unique Tastes In Women: You are open to seeing a variety of women as attractive. Sure, women with "movie star" good looks catch your eye, but you are often equally wowed by more normal "cute" women. You're not one to judge people based on their looks. In fact, you're genuinely drawn to women that others might dismiss. Maybe it's because you don't buy into society's checklist for "mainstream" attractiveness. Instead, you notice unique features like a cute nose, beautiful eyes, or a cute butt, that make some women special in your eyes. For you, attraction is about the total package."
I mean hello, could they have been any more right. I could not have written it better myself. Well I could have, but it would have taken a while. After more jibberish it goes on to say:
"Open: You have a more open and accepting view of what makes a woman attractive than a lot of other men your age. On the test, you didn't pick the most "popular" women, but instead seemed to focus on your own personal tastes. This doesn't necessarily mean that looks are less important to you than other men. You simply have a unique set of criteria and keep your eyes open for special qualities that make a woman who may seem ordinary to most, extraordinary to you."
This may seem like BS, and who knows maybe it is and there are only like three possible results, but they sure did hit it right on the button. So, where they at? Hilarious responses as well as heartfelt ones to the below post by the way, keep em comin.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Audience Participation
Ah yes. Good times. Given I was bored enough to finally add that About Me section to the right, I figure someone else might actually be bored enough to respond to this. Note I didn't write this personally, I just jacked it off someone else's blog. These things tend to go around, and for once I'm actually curious/bored enough to post it on mine. Best way to respond would be via e-mail, using that handy dandy link that's also to the right. Let me repeat for effect, I wrote none of the below questions, other than number 20. That will be very obvious. Note there's no reason to spend more than five minutes on this, if you even feel like doing it at all. It's for entertainment value, and not to be depressing or an ego boost per se.
1. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
2. Am I lovable?
3. How long have you known me?
4. When and how did we first meet?
5. What was your first impression?
6. Do you still think that way about me now?
7. What do you think my weakness is?
8. Do you think I'll get married?
9. What makes me happy?
10. What makes me sad?
11. What reminds you of me?
12. If you could give me anything what would it be?
13. How well do you know me?
14. When's the last time you saw me?
15. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
16. Do you think I could kill someone?
17. Describe me in one word.
18. Do you think our relationship is getting stronger/weaker/or staying the same?
19. Do you feel that you could talk to me about anything and I would listen?
20. Name one person you think would be right for me.
Ah yes. Good times. Given I was bored enough to finally add that About Me section to the right, I figure someone else might actually be bored enough to respond to this. Note I didn't write this personally, I just jacked it off someone else's blog. These things tend to go around, and for once I'm actually curious/bored enough to post it on mine. Best way to respond would be via e-mail, using that handy dandy link that's also to the right. Let me repeat for effect, I wrote none of the below questions, other than number 20. That will be very obvious. Note there's no reason to spend more than five minutes on this, if you even feel like doing it at all. It's for entertainment value, and not to be depressing or an ego boost per se.
1. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
2. Am I lovable?
3. How long have you known me?
4. When and how did we first meet?
5. What was your first impression?
6. Do you still think that way about me now?
7. What do you think my weakness is?
8. Do you think I'll get married?
9. What makes me happy?
10. What makes me sad?
11. What reminds you of me?
12. If you could give me anything what would it be?
13. How well do you know me?
14. When's the last time you saw me?
15. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
16. Do you think I could kill someone?
17. Describe me in one word.
18. Do you think our relationship is getting stronger/weaker/or staying the same?
19. Do you feel that you could talk to me about anything and I would listen?
20. Name one person you think would be right for me.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
NIFT is so nifty!
The young man stared at the expanse of pavement in front of him. It seemed to stretch nearly to the horizon, with the heat rising off it making the distant areas blur and wave to his eyes. Suddenly, the young man is jolted back from his subconscious by an authoritative voice in his ear. "Cessna 1581Romeo, you are cleared for takeoff." Suddenly his mind was ajumble with a million things at once. Calmly in his other ear came the voice of his instructor. "Release the brakes, throttle to full, right rudder to compensate for left turning tendency, wait for fifty five knots, pull up." So easy on paper. With the touch of a few fingers, the plane starts hurtling down the runway, and before the young man is fully aware, the wheels have left the ground. He's flying.
There were two really cool things about that first day. The first was hearing my own voice inside my headset. It's kind of like when you hear yourself on someone else's answering machine, and say something like "that so does not sound like me." It's as if you have a third person perspective of the whole thing. Your instructor is in the seat next to you, but since you can't hear him over the engine, you see his mouth move, but hear his voice in your headset. It's really just a cool thing. Little boys love playing with walkie talkies, I guess that never really gets old. I did way more on that first flight than I expected, including controlling the airplane the majority of the time. We didn't travel far, and in fact just went over and circled the downtown area a couple times. This however was one of the neatest things ever. It's not like a commercial plane where your window view is terribly restricted, you pretty much have panoramic views wherever you look. Just passing over areas of downtown you've driven through before a bunch of times and seeing them from over a thousand feet in the air is just cool.
As it turned out I went out again later that same day, and traveled to an uncontrolled airport to practice some landing runs without actually landing. I always figured landing would be the hardest part, and it pretty much comes with experience, knowing when to add power or reduce it, and knowing whether you're too high or low, and too fast or slow. Did I mention flying at night is the coolest ever. The way my instructor's schedule has been working out just randomly has had me doing more night hours than normal, and I'm certainly not complaining. I've been catching onto the navigation material very quickly, which allows us a lot of time to just enjoy the view between checkpoints. I've completed 4 flights so far, with 9 more to go including all manners of lessons.
Interestingly enough, I'm not at all enthusiastic about getting my Private Pilot's License. I guess I'm just more comfortable chilling out somewhere else in the plane telling the pilot what to do than actually having to worry about 47 berjillion checklists on a constant basis. The fact that the navigation material has come easy to me has me feeling pretty confident about JSUNT, but that's easy to say beforehand. I should have all my flights done by December 23rd and thus go home NIFT complete, but weather tends to rear its ugly head occasionally so might end up with a flight or two after the break. Either way I should have some chill time before I leave on the 15th of January for Alabama again. I'm actually looking forward to getting back there now that I'm free to do as I please, and see it from the other side.
The young man stared at the expanse of pavement in front of him. It seemed to stretch nearly to the horizon, with the heat rising off it making the distant areas blur and wave to his eyes. Suddenly, the young man is jolted back from his subconscious by an authoritative voice in his ear. "Cessna 1581Romeo, you are cleared for takeoff." Suddenly his mind was ajumble with a million things at once. Calmly in his other ear came the voice of his instructor. "Release the brakes, throttle to full, right rudder to compensate for left turning tendency, wait for fifty five knots, pull up." So easy on paper. With the touch of a few fingers, the plane starts hurtling down the runway, and before the young man is fully aware, the wheels have left the ground. He's flying.
There were two really cool things about that first day. The first was hearing my own voice inside my headset. It's kind of like when you hear yourself on someone else's answering machine, and say something like "that so does not sound like me." It's as if you have a third person perspective of the whole thing. Your instructor is in the seat next to you, but since you can't hear him over the engine, you see his mouth move, but hear his voice in your headset. It's really just a cool thing. Little boys love playing with walkie talkies, I guess that never really gets old. I did way more on that first flight than I expected, including controlling the airplane the majority of the time. We didn't travel far, and in fact just went over and circled the downtown area a couple times. This however was one of the neatest things ever. It's not like a commercial plane where your window view is terribly restricted, you pretty much have panoramic views wherever you look. Just passing over areas of downtown you've driven through before a bunch of times and seeing them from over a thousand feet in the air is just cool.
As it turned out I went out again later that same day, and traveled to an uncontrolled airport to practice some landing runs without actually landing. I always figured landing would be the hardest part, and it pretty much comes with experience, knowing when to add power or reduce it, and knowing whether you're too high or low, and too fast or slow. Did I mention flying at night is the coolest ever. The way my instructor's schedule has been working out just randomly has had me doing more night hours than normal, and I'm certainly not complaining. I've been catching onto the navigation material very quickly, which allows us a lot of time to just enjoy the view between checkpoints. I've completed 4 flights so far, with 9 more to go including all manners of lessons.
Interestingly enough, I'm not at all enthusiastic about getting my Private Pilot's License. I guess I'm just more comfortable chilling out somewhere else in the plane telling the pilot what to do than actually having to worry about 47 berjillion checklists on a constant basis. The fact that the navigation material has come easy to me has me feeling pretty confident about JSUNT, but that's easy to say beforehand. I should have all my flights done by December 23rd and thus go home NIFT complete, but weather tends to rear its ugly head occasionally so might end up with a flight or two after the break. Either way I should have some chill time before I leave on the 15th of January for Alabama again. I'm actually looking forward to getting back there now that I'm free to do as I please, and see it from the other side.
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Bit Behind...
Things are finally pretty much squared away here with the ol puter. Ended up with both a new hd and cdr/dvd combo drive, although as it turned out the only thing that actually required replacing initially was an IDE cable. Strangely enough halfway troubleshooting that problem and planning on buying a new hd thinking that was the issue, my cd began to die and eventually went kerplunk. The majority of the machine was put together the night before September 11th, so as computers go it had been getting pretty old anyway. So having to replace a hd although unnecessary at the time might have become necessary when it crashed and I lost everything in the near future. Least that's what I'm telling myself to avoid thinking I actually wasted money. It also gave me double the storage of the old one anyway.
Well lets go ahead and get all the geeky stuff out of the way in one post. Those not interested read no further. Ok on the computer game front I finished a couple more just for kicks. Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy was more of the same for Star Wars buffs. Basically any game that lets you twirl around a light saber satisfies many a little boy's desires. This one actually took it a step further and later in the game lets you choose from a single saber, two sabers with one in each hand, or the double bladed saber made popular by Darth Maul in Episode I. Compared with Jedi Knight 2 however, not much by way of any new gameplay. Actually the former was much lengthier and more fun in my opinion, even without the double saber. For those who want more of the same though and can never get enough, or the diehard fans, this one might be worth entertaining yourself with.
Next we have my preferred game out of all those I've played recently, that being Call of Duty. This is probably the only one I'll actually reinstall now that I've started with a fresh hd. Another first person shooter, another game where you shoot up Germans. That seems like it's a storyline that will never get old. This has a lot of things going for it though. It's a spinoff of the Q3 engine, which frequent readers will know is my alltime favorite at the moment. This means anyone can adjust their mouse sensitivity to their preferred setting through the console, and not worry about trying to get it right by guessing and checking. Being able to instantly zoom in on a bad guys head without over or under correcting is quite handy in fast paced shooters, this one being no exception. This game has an extra kick if you've seen the movie Enemy at the Gates. This is a dramatic movie, and some of the most dramatic scenes are actually replicated in the Russian missions of Call of Duty. The fact that gameplay has evolved enough to include scenes which are basically cinematic is a pretty nifty thing. You really feel like you're living the movie in this one. As a whole, very thorough entertainment. This is the first game I've actually considered purchasing for the multiplayer aspect, depending on what kinds of mods develop and what the player base is like. Either way I'll probably play through it again on a harder difficulty level. Neither of these games was over eight hours btw, don't remember the exact lengths. Sadly I've heard from early reviews of the Deus Ex sequel that it is much shorter than it's predecessor. That's a real shame, since that is probably the last good really long game I played. Games that enterain for more than a day or two are always welcome.
Think that's all the geeky stuff for now. Major things happening on the military aspect of things, and I'll have to update the NIFT journal part of this blog before it becomes a JSUNT journal. Will try to get back on the daily deal here. Actually was staying up tonight waiting for a call back, I'd called someone on their birthday earlier today and they said they'd call me back later tonight, and didn't thus far. Well the night isn't over yet I suppose.
Things are finally pretty much squared away here with the ol puter. Ended up with both a new hd and cdr/dvd combo drive, although as it turned out the only thing that actually required replacing initially was an IDE cable. Strangely enough halfway troubleshooting that problem and planning on buying a new hd thinking that was the issue, my cd began to die and eventually went kerplunk. The majority of the machine was put together the night before September 11th, so as computers go it had been getting pretty old anyway. So having to replace a hd although unnecessary at the time might have become necessary when it crashed and I lost everything in the near future. Least that's what I'm telling myself to avoid thinking I actually wasted money. It also gave me double the storage of the old one anyway.
Well lets go ahead and get all the geeky stuff out of the way in one post. Those not interested read no further. Ok on the computer game front I finished a couple more just for kicks. Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy was more of the same for Star Wars buffs. Basically any game that lets you twirl around a light saber satisfies many a little boy's desires. This one actually took it a step further and later in the game lets you choose from a single saber, two sabers with one in each hand, or the double bladed saber made popular by Darth Maul in Episode I. Compared with Jedi Knight 2 however, not much by way of any new gameplay. Actually the former was much lengthier and more fun in my opinion, even without the double saber. For those who want more of the same though and can never get enough, or the diehard fans, this one might be worth entertaining yourself with.
Next we have my preferred game out of all those I've played recently, that being Call of Duty. This is probably the only one I'll actually reinstall now that I've started with a fresh hd. Another first person shooter, another game where you shoot up Germans. That seems like it's a storyline that will never get old. This has a lot of things going for it though. It's a spinoff of the Q3 engine, which frequent readers will know is my alltime favorite at the moment. This means anyone can adjust their mouse sensitivity to their preferred setting through the console, and not worry about trying to get it right by guessing and checking. Being able to instantly zoom in on a bad guys head without over or under correcting is quite handy in fast paced shooters, this one being no exception. This game has an extra kick if you've seen the movie Enemy at the Gates. This is a dramatic movie, and some of the most dramatic scenes are actually replicated in the Russian missions of Call of Duty. The fact that gameplay has evolved enough to include scenes which are basically cinematic is a pretty nifty thing. You really feel like you're living the movie in this one. As a whole, very thorough entertainment. This is the first game I've actually considered purchasing for the multiplayer aspect, depending on what kinds of mods develop and what the player base is like. Either way I'll probably play through it again on a harder difficulty level. Neither of these games was over eight hours btw, don't remember the exact lengths. Sadly I've heard from early reviews of the Deus Ex sequel that it is much shorter than it's predecessor. That's a real shame, since that is probably the last good really long game I played. Games that enterain for more than a day or two are always welcome.
Think that's all the geeky stuff for now. Major things happening on the military aspect of things, and I'll have to update the NIFT journal part of this blog before it becomes a JSUNT journal. Will try to get back on the daily deal here. Actually was staying up tonight waiting for a call back, I'd called someone on their birthday earlier today and they said they'd call me back later tonight, and didn't thus far. Well the night isn't over yet I suppose.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Computer Issues...
What appeared to be a big problem turns out isn't quite so big. But it took a long time to get to that point. Turns out I'll be doing a clean XP install anyway. Lots to blab/whine about though, and plenty of interesting happenings going on, will post when I get things set up again.
What appeared to be a big problem turns out isn't quite so big. But it took a long time to get to that point. Turns out I'll be doing a clean XP install anyway. Lots to blab/whine about though, and plenty of interesting happenings going on, will post when I get things set up again.
Saturday, November 29, 2003
I Finally Caved...
Man I just kill myself sometimes. Okay let me explain. First of all I did some spelunking today. Second of all I finally gave in to a fad that everyone else has been doing. NOW do you get the pun? Yes, roll with me.
Heh. Anyway, first of all you know those stupid quizzes that are quite repetitive that everyone forwards around via e-mail to everyone they know and there's always a question at the bottom saying "who is the most likely to not respond." Well that's always me, because I've always felt if people wanted to know you they'd get to know you personally rather than read about you. Strangely enough I've gone against my personality and actually posted one of them up for the world to see. Now let me warn you, I find most of these things inherently boring, and thus I'm sure mine is too. I personally probably have never actually read one all the way through, unless I was tremendously interesting in finding out everything I could about the person. Which is rare. However some people just need things to read while they eat their breakfast that don't involve cereal boxes, so there it is to the right, under "All About Me."
We headed over to the Natural Bridge Caverns today, which was even cooler than I expected. I'd never been in a major cave before, and these were pretty spiffy. Some amazing formations, and just pretty much some scenery you won't find anywhere other than a couple hundred feet underground. Highly recommended, it'll go on my list of things to take people to do if they ever come visit me. Hint hint wink wink. Hopefully the list will become mighty long as I continue to get out and explore San Antonio.
Man I just kill myself sometimes. Okay let me explain. First of all I did some spelunking today. Second of all I finally gave in to a fad that everyone else has been doing. NOW do you get the pun? Yes, roll with me.
Heh. Anyway, first of all you know those stupid quizzes that are quite repetitive that everyone forwards around via e-mail to everyone they know and there's always a question at the bottom saying "who is the most likely to not respond." Well that's always me, because I've always felt if people wanted to know you they'd get to know you personally rather than read about you. Strangely enough I've gone against my personality and actually posted one of them up for the world to see. Now let me warn you, I find most of these things inherently boring, and thus I'm sure mine is too. I personally probably have never actually read one all the way through, unless I was tremendously interesting in finding out everything I could about the person. Which is rare. However some people just need things to read while they eat their breakfast that don't involve cereal boxes, so there it is to the right, under "All About Me."
We headed over to the Natural Bridge Caverns today, which was even cooler than I expected. I'd never been in a major cave before, and these were pretty spiffy. Some amazing formations, and just pretty much some scenery you won't find anywhere other than a couple hundred feet underground. Highly recommended, it'll go on my list of things to take people to do if they ever come visit me. Hint hint wink wink. Hopefully the list will become mighty long as I continue to get out and explore San Antonio.
Friday, November 28, 2003
The Easy Life...
Boy, life is really rough. Except it isn't. Wednesday morning we had a squadron "fun run" which for most people caused a lot of groaning but I of course enjoyed. Myself and another guy were even running satellites back to the back of the group and then back up to the front along the 2.5 mile course to make it more of a workout, fun stuff. On Thursday everyone who was stuck in the dorms due to wanting to stack up leave for the christmas/new year holiday got together and had a pretty darn good thanksgiving in the day room... We had homemade pretty much everything, which was topped off with Marie Callendar's pumkin pies, which I had to go stand in line for at 7:30 when they didn't even open until 8. It was a good thing I did though because I was 10th in line and by opening there were 150 people there... The good news is we had one left over so I'm busy hoarding it and siphoning it to myself over the next few days. :) Mad props to the person who did the organizing and dictating of who should bring what, they spent a lot of time on it and did a great job.
So we have a couple expansion pack reviews for Medal of Honor, called Breakthrough and Spearhead. Basically if you liked the game you'll like the expansions, but if you're paying full price you might be disappointed. Breakthrough is challenging even on the medium skill level and is about 4-6 hours in length, but Spearhead is less so, and seemed shorter as well, closer to the 4 hour end of that range. Unfortunately expansions tend to still be like 30 bucks, so if the single player campaign is all you're interested in, it's not a very good bang for your buck. There's another one coming out soon about the Pacific aspect of WWII, with both these focusing on the Europe aspect, with North Africa and Germany respectively. Speaking of coming out, the Deus Ex sequel is due to hit the shelves in about a week, and the original is one of my favorites and based on the reviews the sequel should be too. The best thing this game had going for it was length, it was no one day affair. I think that's the one that actually tracked your gametime too, so when you finally beat it after a few weeks of dedication and saw you'd put in 40 hours or something you had something to be proud of, or afraid of and repulsed by, as the case may be.
Currently entertaining myself with Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy, a spinoff of Jedi Knight 2 which was also excellent. On deck is Call of Duty, with Homeworld 2 probably appearing sometime down the line, although the Deus Ex sequel will probably make its appearance first. Then sadly I'll have to look for ulterior entertainment, as I'll have caught back up with the times. For those who think I've been in my room for days on end that's not entirely true. I still get my exercise, so if you go run several miles in the morning and do your pushups and situps to the point you lose at least 3 pounds from the beginning to the end of a workout, you can sit on your ass for the rest of the day too. :) Actually last night we ended up down at the Riverwalk checking out some of the nightlife and receiving free entertainment courtesy of a couple of the guys in the group. Not usually my cup of tea, but I was dd'ing it and I enjoy that perspective every once in a while. It's always good to go downtown, really nice atmosphere.
Speaking of atmosphere, I think I've decided living on a military base is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Yeah having to bust out your ID depending on the fpcon status at the gate can delay you a min or two, but being saluted as you go through is still pretty nifty. You see children playing in the street in the residential areas all the time, and wandering around to places like the bowling alley without having to worry about someone snatching them. A lot of people just leave their houses unlocked, a throwback to the days when people didn't have today's worries to think about. You never really have to worry about something happening like your car being stolen, because of the eternal damnation hanging over anyone's head who commits such a crime. Ending your career on something retarded is something pretty much all military members aren't willing to do. Yeah I might be the eternal optimist, but I really think the base is a really awesome city in itself, and don't think I'll mind living on them in the future. I'm not saying I don't love going off base too for fun because I do, and I'm sure I'll always enjoy having a metropolis in the area, and would prefer Washington DC to North Dakota. But I'm now confident I could survive in places like Alaska if I do end up sent there or Timbuktu. Granted the lack of attachments plays a large part in that. We'll see how that goes in the future.
Boy, life is really rough. Except it isn't. Wednesday morning we had a squadron "fun run" which for most people caused a lot of groaning but I of course enjoyed. Myself and another guy were even running satellites back to the back of the group and then back up to the front along the 2.5 mile course to make it more of a workout, fun stuff. On Thursday everyone who was stuck in the dorms due to wanting to stack up leave for the christmas/new year holiday got together and had a pretty darn good thanksgiving in the day room... We had homemade pretty much everything, which was topped off with Marie Callendar's pumkin pies, which I had to go stand in line for at 7:30 when they didn't even open until 8. It was a good thing I did though because I was 10th in line and by opening there were 150 people there... The good news is we had one left over so I'm busy hoarding it and siphoning it to myself over the next few days. :) Mad props to the person who did the organizing and dictating of who should bring what, they spent a lot of time on it and did a great job.
So we have a couple expansion pack reviews for Medal of Honor, called Breakthrough and Spearhead. Basically if you liked the game you'll like the expansions, but if you're paying full price you might be disappointed. Breakthrough is challenging even on the medium skill level and is about 4-6 hours in length, but Spearhead is less so, and seemed shorter as well, closer to the 4 hour end of that range. Unfortunately expansions tend to still be like 30 bucks, so if the single player campaign is all you're interested in, it's not a very good bang for your buck. There's another one coming out soon about the Pacific aspect of WWII, with both these focusing on the Europe aspect, with North Africa and Germany respectively. Speaking of coming out, the Deus Ex sequel is due to hit the shelves in about a week, and the original is one of my favorites and based on the reviews the sequel should be too. The best thing this game had going for it was length, it was no one day affair. I think that's the one that actually tracked your gametime too, so when you finally beat it after a few weeks of dedication and saw you'd put in 40 hours or something you had something to be proud of, or afraid of and repulsed by, as the case may be.
Currently entertaining myself with Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy, a spinoff of Jedi Knight 2 which was also excellent. On deck is Call of Duty, with Homeworld 2 probably appearing sometime down the line, although the Deus Ex sequel will probably make its appearance first. Then sadly I'll have to look for ulterior entertainment, as I'll have caught back up with the times. For those who think I've been in my room for days on end that's not entirely true. I still get my exercise, so if you go run several miles in the morning and do your pushups and situps to the point you lose at least 3 pounds from the beginning to the end of a workout, you can sit on your ass for the rest of the day too. :) Actually last night we ended up down at the Riverwalk checking out some of the nightlife and receiving free entertainment courtesy of a couple of the guys in the group. Not usually my cup of tea, but I was dd'ing it and I enjoy that perspective every once in a while. It's always good to go downtown, really nice atmosphere.
Speaking of atmosphere, I think I've decided living on a military base is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Yeah having to bust out your ID depending on the fpcon status at the gate can delay you a min or two, but being saluted as you go through is still pretty nifty. You see children playing in the street in the residential areas all the time, and wandering around to places like the bowling alley without having to worry about someone snatching them. A lot of people just leave their houses unlocked, a throwback to the days when people didn't have today's worries to think about. You never really have to worry about something happening like your car being stolen, because of the eternal damnation hanging over anyone's head who commits such a crime. Ending your career on something retarded is something pretty much all military members aren't willing to do. Yeah I might be the eternal optimist, but I really think the base is a really awesome city in itself, and don't think I'll mind living on them in the future. I'm not saying I don't love going off base too for fun because I do, and I'm sure I'll always enjoy having a metropolis in the area, and would prefer Washington DC to North Dakota. But I'm now confident I could survive in places like Alaska if I do end up sent there or Timbuktu. Granted the lack of attachments plays a large part in that. We'll see how that goes in the future.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Now That's A Ring...
Pretty much no one who read that title probably figured I was referring to the fictional object dominating the game known as Halo. I actually didn't have a clue what the plot was when I downlaoded it, just knowing it was a FPS. This game turned out to be a really mixed bag. It did some stuff really well, and other stuff not so well. There was more to the plot than most game, with some decent length mini movies in between levels making it seem like there was a point to what you were doing. One is even reminiscient of Aliens in that you look through the video mounted to someone else's helmet as they meet their fate. It's actually kind of interesting how entertaining it is to see things from someone else's perspective. Whether spectating a multiplayer game through someone's eyes, or watching a movie when the camera walks around as the person and you're seeing their view, it's just a neat thing to see the world from another's perspective and see the way they do things, and the way it's like on their end. Unfortunately the levels themselves were a random assortment of entertainment. Some were terribly repetitive and exceptionally boring. You'd literally fight through the exact same floorplan of a room like 5 times in succession with just a different mixture of bad guys inhabiting them. Other levels were very well designed, using atmosphere and sheer amount of outdoor space to set the tone. While some parts of the game were so boring I was just playing for the satisfaction of finishing and nothing else, some were quite fun, especially those involving controlling moving vehicles such as jeeps or tanks. The ending sequence in particular is quite exciting as ending sequences go. The ending itself is better than average, although you still kind of had that "are they really going to roll the credits just like that" feeling. The weakest part of this game I felt was the length. It's about 8 hours on normal difficulty, which is quite short for a single player campaign. Someone who plays an hour a day would only get a week or so out of buying the game, which is still full priced. There's a multiplayer aspect that as usual I haven't tried, but I wasn't impressed enough with the engine to recommend it for purchase just for that aspect. At times the enemy's movements were so jerky you could empty a full clip and a half into their general area and still come up empty. So overall quite entertaining storyline and well done set pieces, with some mediocre action in between.
I did actually get out this weekend as well, as I headed over to Sea World. There are only three nationwide and I'd been to the one in San Diego and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I figured I'd see if this one was up to par. The shows were more of the same, although as a whole I have to give the edge to San Diego. Interestingly enough though this one actually had two decent sized roller caosters in the park which were pretty fun. Since Sea World doesn't attract the major crowds of a Six Flags, being able to just stay on for multiple rides is pretty nifty. One of them was a suspended style beneath the track looper much like Batman at Magic Mountain or Top Gun at Great America, basically an identical layout to Batman. It's actually a very different feeling on that type of ride to be in the very front or the very back. Accelerating into or out of loops are two very different sensations, I recommend both to decide which you like better. Nothing beats the way back on big dips though, that over the top feeling is top notch. I continued my tradition of beating down the competition at the Whack a Mole game, and have a cute little blue dolphin curved stuffed animal thing that fits quite nice as a round the neck pillow to show for it. I also continued the tradition of getting myself onto the big Jumbotron at the Shamu show. Before this one they would put questions up on the board with choices and zoom in on someone random and they'd have to hold up fingers that represented the number of the correct answer... I of course had the dolphin sitting on my shoulder and was having it hold up fingers which apparently caught the attention of the camerawoman across the way, and boom there I am sixty feet tall. Usually I managed to get on the San Diego ones for getting thoroughly soaked when they came by on the splash run, so it was fun to be on TV without even making a total idiot of myself. Or then again maybe I was anyway. I did manage to get insanely wet, having never seen the show there I had no idea when they were going to get everyone, and I pretty much accidentally picked the perfect spot for the very first tail whacking that just hammered my whole section. It's a wonder things like my wallet and cell phone ever dry out after those kinds of things. Good times. If you ever go to Sea World, wear old clothes, and don't worry about getting wet, because it really does make it ten times more fun. Then you can go on those rides with the waterfall you go under in the big intertube and not worried about getting soaked, because you already are. In San Diego we went on that like four times in a row. Fun stuff. Alas, it's always good to let the kid in you get out every once in a while.
Tickets are purchased, I'll be arriving on Christmas morning and leaving New Years afternoon, anyone wanting to hook up between those days other than New Years Eve let me know, I'll have some down time. Speaking of which, this will probably be the only time I'm in LA for all of next year other than a quick day or two turnaround for my sister's wedding, so it'd be cool to see people before I'm back over here for the year.
Pretty much no one who read that title probably figured I was referring to the fictional object dominating the game known as Halo. I actually didn't have a clue what the plot was when I downlaoded it, just knowing it was a FPS. This game turned out to be a really mixed bag. It did some stuff really well, and other stuff not so well. There was more to the plot than most game, with some decent length mini movies in between levels making it seem like there was a point to what you were doing. One is even reminiscient of Aliens in that you look through the video mounted to someone else's helmet as they meet their fate. It's actually kind of interesting how entertaining it is to see things from someone else's perspective. Whether spectating a multiplayer game through someone's eyes, or watching a movie when the camera walks around as the person and you're seeing their view, it's just a neat thing to see the world from another's perspective and see the way they do things, and the way it's like on their end. Unfortunately the levels themselves were a random assortment of entertainment. Some were terribly repetitive and exceptionally boring. You'd literally fight through the exact same floorplan of a room like 5 times in succession with just a different mixture of bad guys inhabiting them. Other levels were very well designed, using atmosphere and sheer amount of outdoor space to set the tone. While some parts of the game were so boring I was just playing for the satisfaction of finishing and nothing else, some were quite fun, especially those involving controlling moving vehicles such as jeeps or tanks. The ending sequence in particular is quite exciting as ending sequences go. The ending itself is better than average, although you still kind of had that "are they really going to roll the credits just like that" feeling. The weakest part of this game I felt was the length. It's about 8 hours on normal difficulty, which is quite short for a single player campaign. Someone who plays an hour a day would only get a week or so out of buying the game, which is still full priced. There's a multiplayer aspect that as usual I haven't tried, but I wasn't impressed enough with the engine to recommend it for purchase just for that aspect. At times the enemy's movements were so jerky you could empty a full clip and a half into their general area and still come up empty. So overall quite entertaining storyline and well done set pieces, with some mediocre action in between.
I did actually get out this weekend as well, as I headed over to Sea World. There are only three nationwide and I'd been to the one in San Diego and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I figured I'd see if this one was up to par. The shows were more of the same, although as a whole I have to give the edge to San Diego. Interestingly enough though this one actually had two decent sized roller caosters in the park which were pretty fun. Since Sea World doesn't attract the major crowds of a Six Flags, being able to just stay on for multiple rides is pretty nifty. One of them was a suspended style beneath the track looper much like Batman at Magic Mountain or Top Gun at Great America, basically an identical layout to Batman. It's actually a very different feeling on that type of ride to be in the very front or the very back. Accelerating into or out of loops are two very different sensations, I recommend both to decide which you like better. Nothing beats the way back on big dips though, that over the top feeling is top notch. I continued my tradition of beating down the competition at the Whack a Mole game, and have a cute little blue dolphin curved stuffed animal thing that fits quite nice as a round the neck pillow to show for it. I also continued the tradition of getting myself onto the big Jumbotron at the Shamu show. Before this one they would put questions up on the board with choices and zoom in on someone random and they'd have to hold up fingers that represented the number of the correct answer... I of course had the dolphin sitting on my shoulder and was having it hold up fingers which apparently caught the attention of the camerawoman across the way, and boom there I am sixty feet tall. Usually I managed to get on the San Diego ones for getting thoroughly soaked when they came by on the splash run, so it was fun to be on TV without even making a total idiot of myself. Or then again maybe I was anyway. I did manage to get insanely wet, having never seen the show there I had no idea when they were going to get everyone, and I pretty much accidentally picked the perfect spot for the very first tail whacking that just hammered my whole section. It's a wonder things like my wallet and cell phone ever dry out after those kinds of things. Good times. If you ever go to Sea World, wear old clothes, and don't worry about getting wet, because it really does make it ten times more fun. Then you can go on those rides with the waterfall you go under in the big intertube and not worried about getting soaked, because you already are. In San Diego we went on that like four times in a row. Fun stuff. Alas, it's always good to let the kid in you get out every once in a while.
Tickets are purchased, I'll be arriving on Christmas morning and leaving New Years afternoon, anyone wanting to hook up between those days other than New Years Eve let me know, I'll have some down time. Speaking of which, this will probably be the only time I'm in LA for all of next year other than a quick day or two turnaround for my sister's wedding, so it'd be cool to see people before I'm back over here for the year.
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Buck Seventy Five...
As of yesterday it had been approximately 4 years or so since I'd tipped the scales at that amount. As of today, that's no longer true. Finally hit the goal weight I'd been striving towards since, well a long time ago. Since I back up my blog into a word doc it makes it real easy to do a find word and find entries about this kind of thing from forever ago, and this is what I managed to dig up. At my flight physical last December, approximately one year ago, I weighed in at 191. The previous December, in 2001, I was 201. From what I remember, my highest was somewhere around 205, I never got to 210. So here we are today, and slowly but surely the weight has come off. I've never really noticed, I can't even picture the way my body must have looked with thirty more pounds on it. People who haven't seen me in a long time tend to comment, but I always just thought they were trying to be nice. But thinking about it, thirty pounds is a lot. Interstingly enough, I don't think I'm done yet. One of the new aspects of the PFT for the AF is a waist measurement, and although I'm not sure how they do that, I do know there's an inch or two that can be lost there. I suppose everyone says that though. Now that I think about it though, I'm going to have to start adding some muscle to my arms, which isn't something I've been focusing on since OTS, but am getting ready to start. So maybe any more weight lost will be cancelled out by adding muscle. Not that that's a bad thing.
I was gonna post some more stuff, but this is kind of a neat thing I've been looking towards for a while and I figure it deserves a post all to itself.
As of yesterday it had been approximately 4 years or so since I'd tipped the scales at that amount. As of today, that's no longer true. Finally hit the goal weight I'd been striving towards since, well a long time ago. Since I back up my blog into a word doc it makes it real easy to do a find word and find entries about this kind of thing from forever ago, and this is what I managed to dig up. At my flight physical last December, approximately one year ago, I weighed in at 191. The previous December, in 2001, I was 201. From what I remember, my highest was somewhere around 205, I never got to 210. So here we are today, and slowly but surely the weight has come off. I've never really noticed, I can't even picture the way my body must have looked with thirty more pounds on it. People who haven't seen me in a long time tend to comment, but I always just thought they were trying to be nice. But thinking about it, thirty pounds is a lot. Interstingly enough, I don't think I'm done yet. One of the new aspects of the PFT for the AF is a waist measurement, and although I'm not sure how they do that, I do know there's an inch or two that can be lost there. I suppose everyone says that though. Now that I think about it though, I'm going to have to start adding some muscle to my arms, which isn't something I've been focusing on since OTS, but am getting ready to start. So maybe any more weight lost will be cancelled out by adding muscle. Not that that's a bad thing.
I was gonna post some more stuff, but this is kind of a neat thing I've been looking towards for a while and I figure it deserves a post all to itself.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Two Days In A Row...
Such exciting times are these. This morning actually was pretty exciting, as I ran a mock PFT with my section and ended up besting my PR outside of high school by six seconds. Given I only started running again a week ago, this was quite promising. It's amazing what eating right because the only food around is what you buy can do. My low over the last few days has dipped down to around 178 or 9, suddenly my goal for like the last 2 years of 175 seems a lot more reachable. This was partly because on Tuesday I went for what I planned to be about a 5 miler around the east runway, but low and behold there was no way across the taxiway at that end, so I had to run all the way across the golf course to the taxiway crossing where it meets the west runway, and then all the way back across the base diagonally to get home, where I then had to skip breakfast to avoid being late for my muster time. Ended up being the equivalent about a 10k, and I was definitely feeling it for the next few hours in my legs. I recovered enough to PR today though, so that's promising. The previous Sunday I'd run 4 miles all on grass to avoid shin splints, but the 10K I did all on pavement with no ill effects, so far, so good. I figure after a couple weeks of this I'll try to get into more running days per week. I'm at 9:48 right now for the 1.5 mile, but the more that drops the better my physical output score will be once things get crankin next year, and I'd rather than be a definite strong suit rather than the mediocrity it was at OTS. Being sub 10 is good, being under 9:30 would be better. Going sub 9 would be quite a distance off, there were only a couple guys at OTS who could do that, and they were pretty much built to run.
On a less boring note, money continues to flow in from the various direct deposits we get with regards to switching bases... A chunk of change here to reimburse for the temporary lodging at billeting, a much larger chunk of change to reimburse for all the travel and mileage expenses during the three days, and I'm still waiting on an even larger chunk of change for the DITY move and hauling all my stuff. Although a decent portion of it is money I already paid and am being reimbursed for, much of it such as the DITY isn't and it's nice to see Christmas coming early.
Cut my hair again by myself today, found out it's much easier to do with two mirrors (I didn't have a second one handy), although I'm pretty sure it still worked out. Having someone do the back line in a few secs might make things easier, but it looks like I'll be saving the 6 bucks ever couple weeks everyone else has to pay. That's like $150 a year, more money for other stuff I figure. Word on the street is if you fill out a form you can get out of paying state taxes in your state of residence, because you aren't there for more than 30 days a year and you don't have a house there. That'll save me 20 something a month which works out to around $300 a year. Now as long as I keep from meeting any females, the monetary aspect of things should remain stable. Har. Oh how it's a double edged sword.
Various people have been coming across my site searching for JSUNT journal or Nav journal or Navigator journal, and unfortunately thus far this probably hasn't been too helpful. I can tell you a whole lot about casual status at Randolph, but I won't actually start my JSUNT class until after ASBC, so I can't be too helpful there.
And believe it or not folks, I actually remembered to bring the quote today:
"The past is a puzzle. Like a broken mirror, as you piece it together, you cut yourself. Your image keeps shifting, and you change with it."
You just got raised way up on the cool meter if you know the source of the above. E-mail me for confirmation and major brownie points. Being somewhat in limbo, I've had a lot of time to think about the past, and I found that quote particularly interesting.
Such exciting times are these. This morning actually was pretty exciting, as I ran a mock PFT with my section and ended up besting my PR outside of high school by six seconds. Given I only started running again a week ago, this was quite promising. It's amazing what eating right because the only food around is what you buy can do. My low over the last few days has dipped down to around 178 or 9, suddenly my goal for like the last 2 years of 175 seems a lot more reachable. This was partly because on Tuesday I went for what I planned to be about a 5 miler around the east runway, but low and behold there was no way across the taxiway at that end, so I had to run all the way across the golf course to the taxiway crossing where it meets the west runway, and then all the way back across the base diagonally to get home, where I then had to skip breakfast to avoid being late for my muster time. Ended up being the equivalent about a 10k, and I was definitely feeling it for the next few hours in my legs. I recovered enough to PR today though, so that's promising. The previous Sunday I'd run 4 miles all on grass to avoid shin splints, but the 10K I did all on pavement with no ill effects, so far, so good. I figure after a couple weeks of this I'll try to get into more running days per week. I'm at 9:48 right now for the 1.5 mile, but the more that drops the better my physical output score will be once things get crankin next year, and I'd rather than be a definite strong suit rather than the mediocrity it was at OTS. Being sub 10 is good, being under 9:30 would be better. Going sub 9 would be quite a distance off, there were only a couple guys at OTS who could do that, and they were pretty much built to run.
On a less boring note, money continues to flow in from the various direct deposits we get with regards to switching bases... A chunk of change here to reimburse for the temporary lodging at billeting, a much larger chunk of change to reimburse for all the travel and mileage expenses during the three days, and I'm still waiting on an even larger chunk of change for the DITY move and hauling all my stuff. Although a decent portion of it is money I already paid and am being reimbursed for, much of it such as the DITY isn't and it's nice to see Christmas coming early.
Cut my hair again by myself today, found out it's much easier to do with two mirrors (I didn't have a second one handy), although I'm pretty sure it still worked out. Having someone do the back line in a few secs might make things easier, but it looks like I'll be saving the 6 bucks ever couple weeks everyone else has to pay. That's like $150 a year, more money for other stuff I figure. Word on the street is if you fill out a form you can get out of paying state taxes in your state of residence, because you aren't there for more than 30 days a year and you don't have a house there. That'll save me 20 something a month which works out to around $300 a year. Now as long as I keep from meeting any females, the monetary aspect of things should remain stable. Har. Oh how it's a double edged sword.
Various people have been coming across my site searching for JSUNT journal or Nav journal or Navigator journal, and unfortunately thus far this probably hasn't been too helpful. I can tell you a whole lot about casual status at Randolph, but I won't actually start my JSUNT class until after ASBC, so I can't be too helpful there.
And believe it or not folks, I actually remembered to bring the quote today:
"The past is a puzzle. Like a broken mirror, as you piece it together, you cut yourself. Your image keeps shifting, and you change with it."
You just got raised way up on the cool meter if you know the source of the above. E-mail me for confirmation and major brownie points. Being somewhat in limbo, I've had a lot of time to think about the past, and I found that quote particularly interesting.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Three's a Crowd....
Seems I have plenty of time to watch movies these days, wonder why...
First up we have The Graduate. Ok now look. I really gave this one a chance. I tried to ignore the whole concept I referred to earlier about not being a fan of old movies everyone seems to love, but wham by the half hour mark I had a hearts game going in the background. I actually had no idea what this one was going to be about, other than the fact that Dustin Hoffman was in it. Obviously the subject matter surprised me. I just didn't get what everyone liked about this movie. Three M's for failing to hold my attention at times. There was one saving grace, in a later scene he goes to Santa Barbara from Berkeley chasing his girl, and it shows him driving the 101 north of SB which I recognized. Interestingly enough, it shows him going through the one tunnel along the route. However, those who have driven it know that the tunnel is only on the NORTH side of the 101, not the south, so it would make no sense for him to be driving through it on the way to SB. Yeah so it was about a .5 second scene in the movie, but actually was more interesting to me than the rest of it. :/
Next up we have The Thomas Crown Affair. Very fun stuff, 5 M's. Your classic caper movie, with Pierce Brosnan doing his usual I'm too suave for words thing. Some fun twists, very entertaining. No major stunts like a Bond film, but kept my attention none the less. For the sake of brevity, I'll move right along to Quiz Show. This was pretty much what I expected, if you read the preview for the movie it's nothing outside the ordinary. We'll go with 4 M's, although I'm probably more entertained than most because I enjoy trivia and those kinds of shows. A few years ago I was one step away from being flown to NY to be on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, before I was foiled by trying to put the four main Seinfeld actors in order by their age. Who knew Jason Alexander was balding, but young.
I'm actually in someone else's room posting this and they're getting ready to go to sleep, so I'll have to cut it short. Not much going around here, today's duty day consisted of playing volleyball for two hours. Tomorrow we actually have a safety briefing for which we have to report at 0730, and then we're doing another mock PFT, and then I'll probably go to the second ground school session for NIFT even though it's repetition of what I've already learned through the reading and computer work. Friday we were given off, so I'll probably hit up Sea World or Six Flags or something. Gotta get on buying plane tickets to go home for Xmas and New Years too, you know where I'll be.
Seems I have plenty of time to watch movies these days, wonder why...
First up we have The Graduate. Ok now look. I really gave this one a chance. I tried to ignore the whole concept I referred to earlier about not being a fan of old movies everyone seems to love, but wham by the half hour mark I had a hearts game going in the background. I actually had no idea what this one was going to be about, other than the fact that Dustin Hoffman was in it. Obviously the subject matter surprised me. I just didn't get what everyone liked about this movie. Three M's for failing to hold my attention at times. There was one saving grace, in a later scene he goes to Santa Barbara from Berkeley chasing his girl, and it shows him driving the 101 north of SB which I recognized. Interestingly enough, it shows him going through the one tunnel along the route. However, those who have driven it know that the tunnel is only on the NORTH side of the 101, not the south, so it would make no sense for him to be driving through it on the way to SB. Yeah so it was about a .5 second scene in the movie, but actually was more interesting to me than the rest of it. :/
Next up we have The Thomas Crown Affair. Very fun stuff, 5 M's. Your classic caper movie, with Pierce Brosnan doing his usual I'm too suave for words thing. Some fun twists, very entertaining. No major stunts like a Bond film, but kept my attention none the less. For the sake of brevity, I'll move right along to Quiz Show. This was pretty much what I expected, if you read the preview for the movie it's nothing outside the ordinary. We'll go with 4 M's, although I'm probably more entertained than most because I enjoy trivia and those kinds of shows. A few years ago I was one step away from being flown to NY to be on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, before I was foiled by trying to put the four main Seinfeld actors in order by their age. Who knew Jason Alexander was balding, but young.
I'm actually in someone else's room posting this and they're getting ready to go to sleep, so I'll have to cut it short. Not much going around here, today's duty day consisted of playing volleyball for two hours. Tomorrow we actually have a safety briefing for which we have to report at 0730, and then we're doing another mock PFT, and then I'll probably go to the second ground school session for NIFT even though it's repetition of what I've already learned through the reading and computer work. Friday we were given off, so I'll probably hit up Sea World or Six Flags or something. Gotta get on buying plane tickets to go home for Xmas and New Years too, you know where I'll be.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Foiled By the 5:00pm Saturday Closure...
Apparently that means they don't give out computers past 4:30. Not even at 4:32. Gr. So anyway here I am with various things to talk about.
Let's get some movie reviews out of the way first. This weekend I actually watched three, including two with Matthew Broderick, which was funny given I didn't know he was in either. The first was War Games starring him and Ally Sheedy when they're both like 16 or something. Pretty entertaining, it's from something like 1983 and about a kid accidentally hacking into a computer capable of starting a nuclear war. This was back when U.S. vs U.S.S.R. was big and that's prevalent throughout. The technology is pretty laughable twenty years later though. We'll go with 4 M's just because it held my attention even though it's two decades old. That's pretty tough to do, believe me. Old movies that are supposedly amazing tend to not score too well.
Next up we have The Matrix: Revolutions. Now this one is going to get 4 M's for a very different reason. Saturday night I drove downtown to see what there was to see, and ended up over at a section of the Riverwalk that ends in a mall. The Riverwalk is a pretty awesome place, tons of restaurants with tables right up to the edge of the water, so if you lean towards it you'll just kerplunk on in. Literally every kind of food imaginable, although it was pretty packed given it was a Saturday. I came across my first Hooters, which I guess is a staple around these parts. Also had another first, which was watching a feature film in an IMAX. IMAX are pretty much a movie geek's dream. You've got this gigantic screen taking up most of the room, and a sound system that is pretty much top of the line. This combines to form a pretty awesome movie experience. Either the tickets cost a bit more than average (9.95) or prices are high around here, but in my opinion it's worth it. I'm sure there are discount coupons or something, and now that I think about it I didn't even ask if there was an active military discount which I'm supposed to do all the time now. So anyway, they actually assign seats so if you're a single person and show up 5 minutes before the show you might still snag a pretty nice one, which I did. I literally just happened to be walking through that section of the mall and saw that there was an IMAX, the movie was playing there which I hadn't seen, and the show started in 5 minutes. Spontaneity as usual reigns and boom I was in the theater. So yeah, the fact everyone was several stories high gave this movie a boost. I like many others have to give the nod to the first one as being the best. Still some cool action scenes in this one, but it seems like they've gone from remotely realistic to very unremotely realistic as the series has continued. You have the infamous lobby scene in the first, the "I can take 100 guys at once" park scene in the second, and then the "I'm gonna have a brawl right here in midair while traveling at the speed of light" scene in the third. It just loses its luster for me when it gets to that point, I can't even pretend like it's possible. Pretty confusing ending too, people are dead yet they're not, you think someone just bit the big one then there they are talking to someone. Maybe if I see the trilogy all at once again I'll understand more. I don't see that happening though. I liked the instrumental at the beginning of the closing credits by the way, just as a random sidenote.
Okay last on the list was last night's fare of Glory. Now this had come very highly recommended by someone I've known for quite some time, and I finally got around to watching it about five years later. This one takes home 6 M's for a few reasons. First of all yes I'm probably biased, because yes it's a military/war movie. Second of all, I felt the acting as a whole was pretty amazing on all fronts. The one kink in the armor I felt was casting Matthew Broderick as the lead. Now obviously I'd just watched him as a teenager just beforehand, so trying to imagine him as a Colonel leading batallion is a large pill to swallow. But he just didn't give me the I'm in charge aura, seemed to unsure of himself. Afterwards thinking back I figured part of that was intentional, because he was young and not entirely positive of what he was doing. But even when he was laying down the law, he didn't exactly have me quaking in my boots, whereas any of his costars would have. Still, this one tugs at you, and as usual the fact it's based on a true story gives it even more power.
Yikes longer than average post here, I'll leave some more babbling for the next one (yes, I forgot the quote again).
Apparently that means they don't give out computers past 4:30. Not even at 4:32. Gr. So anyway here I am with various things to talk about.
Let's get some movie reviews out of the way first. This weekend I actually watched three, including two with Matthew Broderick, which was funny given I didn't know he was in either. The first was War Games starring him and Ally Sheedy when they're both like 16 or something. Pretty entertaining, it's from something like 1983 and about a kid accidentally hacking into a computer capable of starting a nuclear war. This was back when U.S. vs U.S.S.R. was big and that's prevalent throughout. The technology is pretty laughable twenty years later though. We'll go with 4 M's just because it held my attention even though it's two decades old. That's pretty tough to do, believe me. Old movies that are supposedly amazing tend to not score too well.
Next up we have The Matrix: Revolutions. Now this one is going to get 4 M's for a very different reason. Saturday night I drove downtown to see what there was to see, and ended up over at a section of the Riverwalk that ends in a mall. The Riverwalk is a pretty awesome place, tons of restaurants with tables right up to the edge of the water, so if you lean towards it you'll just kerplunk on in. Literally every kind of food imaginable, although it was pretty packed given it was a Saturday. I came across my first Hooters, which I guess is a staple around these parts. Also had another first, which was watching a feature film in an IMAX. IMAX are pretty much a movie geek's dream. You've got this gigantic screen taking up most of the room, and a sound system that is pretty much top of the line. This combines to form a pretty awesome movie experience. Either the tickets cost a bit more than average (9.95) or prices are high around here, but in my opinion it's worth it. I'm sure there are discount coupons or something, and now that I think about it I didn't even ask if there was an active military discount which I'm supposed to do all the time now. So anyway, they actually assign seats so if you're a single person and show up 5 minutes before the show you might still snag a pretty nice one, which I did. I literally just happened to be walking through that section of the mall and saw that there was an IMAX, the movie was playing there which I hadn't seen, and the show started in 5 minutes. Spontaneity as usual reigns and boom I was in the theater. So yeah, the fact everyone was several stories high gave this movie a boost. I like many others have to give the nod to the first one as being the best. Still some cool action scenes in this one, but it seems like they've gone from remotely realistic to very unremotely realistic as the series has continued. You have the infamous lobby scene in the first, the "I can take 100 guys at once" park scene in the second, and then the "I'm gonna have a brawl right here in midair while traveling at the speed of light" scene in the third. It just loses its luster for me when it gets to that point, I can't even pretend like it's possible. Pretty confusing ending too, people are dead yet they're not, you think someone just bit the big one then there they are talking to someone. Maybe if I see the trilogy all at once again I'll understand more. I don't see that happening though. I liked the instrumental at the beginning of the closing credits by the way, just as a random sidenote.
Okay last on the list was last night's fare of Glory. Now this had come very highly recommended by someone I've known for quite some time, and I finally got around to watching it about five years later. This one takes home 6 M's for a few reasons. First of all yes I'm probably biased, because yes it's a military/war movie. Second of all, I felt the acting as a whole was pretty amazing on all fronts. The one kink in the armor I felt was casting Matthew Broderick as the lead. Now obviously I'd just watched him as a teenager just beforehand, so trying to imagine him as a Colonel leading batallion is a large pill to swallow. But he just didn't give me the I'm in charge aura, seemed to unsure of himself. Afterwards thinking back I figured part of that was intentional, because he was young and not entirely positive of what he was doing. But even when he was laying down the law, he didn't exactly have me quaking in my boots, whereas any of his costars would have. Still, this one tugs at you, and as usual the fact it's based on a true story gives it even more power.
Yikes longer than average post here, I'll leave some more babbling for the next one (yes, I forgot the quote again).
Friday, November 14, 2003
One Bad Thing About Surfing in the Library...
Well other than there not being any decent waves, when their internet goes down you're pretty much SOL. Luckily there wasn't much to speak of yesterday, and there wasn't any today either. Conveniently forgot the quote that I was going to post again, one of these days I'll get it up there. Got paid today, that's kind of exciting as it's more than I was getting at OTS now that I'm officially O1. Keep coming up with random things I need to go buy... Was all set to inhale some Campbells chunky clam chowder and low and behold I discover I have no can opener... I'm such a smarty sometimes. We did a mock PFT this morning, and my time was pretty much the same as it was at the end of OTS, which was 30 seconds off what it was in the middle unfortunately... A good sign though given I hadn't touched my running shoes during the two weeks in between. Time to get crackin again.
Ah actually I can post a blurb on The Pianist which I finally got around to watching last night after having it sit on my hd for like a year. I figure with all this free time I'll finally get to watch some good movies, and this was one of them. Held my attention throughout, some very powerful stuff about life as a Jew in Poland during WWII. Or lack of a life, as it became apparent. Not for the weak stomached, but a strong 5 out of 7 M's. I'm pretty sure Brody if that's how you spell his name won an Oscar for his performance.
Got squared away down at Wright Flyers for my NIFT training, picked up all the computer based info and will probably give that a look this weekend to get ahead. The optional ground school starts Tuesday, still iffy on that, if I end up blasting right through the computer based stuff I probably won't need it reiterated and I'll just wait the week for my form to be approved and then get flying. They sure are smaller planes than I expected, I guess that's what makes it easiest to learn. Least I'll have more to busy myself with, this no internet no tv thing continues to suck.
Speaking of which all you people I normally chat with continuously do feel free to call, when I'm not busy (which is basically always) I'm quite available for conversation. I have a strange affinity for ending up in people's voicemails when I call them, funny how that is sometimes. :)
Well other than there not being any decent waves, when their internet goes down you're pretty much SOL. Luckily there wasn't much to speak of yesterday, and there wasn't any today either. Conveniently forgot the quote that I was going to post again, one of these days I'll get it up there. Got paid today, that's kind of exciting as it's more than I was getting at OTS now that I'm officially O1. Keep coming up with random things I need to go buy... Was all set to inhale some Campbells chunky clam chowder and low and behold I discover I have no can opener... I'm such a smarty sometimes. We did a mock PFT this morning, and my time was pretty much the same as it was at the end of OTS, which was 30 seconds off what it was in the middle unfortunately... A good sign though given I hadn't touched my running shoes during the two weeks in between. Time to get crackin again.
Ah actually I can post a blurb on The Pianist which I finally got around to watching last night after having it sit on my hd for like a year. I figure with all this free time I'll finally get to watch some good movies, and this was one of them. Held my attention throughout, some very powerful stuff about life as a Jew in Poland during WWII. Or lack of a life, as it became apparent. Not for the weak stomached, but a strong 5 out of 7 M's. I'm pretty sure Brody if that's how you spell his name won an Oscar for his performance.
Got squared away down at Wright Flyers for my NIFT training, picked up all the computer based info and will probably give that a look this weekend to get ahead. The optional ground school starts Tuesday, still iffy on that, if I end up blasting right through the computer based stuff I probably won't need it reiterated and I'll just wait the week for my form to be approved and then get flying. They sure are smaller planes than I expected, I guess that's what makes it easiest to learn. Least I'll have more to busy myself with, this no internet no tv thing continues to suck.
Speaking of which all you people I normally chat with continuously do feel free to call, when I'm not busy (which is basically always) I'm quite available for conversation. I have a strange affinity for ending up in people's voicemails when I call them, funny how that is sometimes. :)
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
When is the Library Open Again?
Apparently not all the time. What an inconvenience. No 3am posts for a while I guess.
Been just sort of wandering around base doing various things on my little inprocessing checklist thingy... I ordered my local phone # and DSL but apparently although they'll come hook up on the phone on Friday they won't hook up the DSL until the 26th, sheesh... I'll be hittin up the library until then.
Found out I have incredibly boring eating habits, was able to buy two weeks worth of food for $50 thanks to the tax free and somewhat reduced prices of the commissary. I get something like $250 or something a month for food, so I guess the rest will go towards eating out, or just end up in my pocket. My room is finally all put together, after more than one later trip to buy stuff I had totally forgotten I'd need, like toilet paper, or a trash can... It's funny how you don't think about things until you go to use them and are like Hmmm... Haven't gone to try out the dining facility yet, been raiding Subway and various other local places, something tells me as I get going and am over in that section of the base costantly I'll figure out that full meals for two bucks is a much better deal.
Managed to break the rotating portion of my watch off somehow, going to have to not recommend anyone get this kind. Seems like a nifty way to change the mode until it's broken off making it almost impossible to do so... Most watches last me at least a few years, pretty sure this one didn't make it to one.
Someone had asked so I'll go ahead and post here, yes I'm allowed to have visitors, and yes you're allowed to stay on the base, it's just sort of an unofficial policy to not have lengthy overnighters in the room, meaning don't move anyone in. Of course you can always stay somewhere off base, but the price of free tends to work out better. I just have to call the main gate and get you a pass before you get here, so unfortunately surprise visits won't actually work.
I see people are beginning to find the Guestmap to the right, which is cool, looking forward to seeing where people are from. It's editable, but I'll leave that Greenland one up there, since something tells me that'll be the only one from that area.
Darn had a good quote for today and left it at home, will have to put that one up in the next blog.
Hm, yeah pretty boring last couple of days. Going to get the NIFT train in gear probably tomorrow, and see what the deal is with finishing that before ASBC.
Apparently not all the time. What an inconvenience. No 3am posts for a while I guess.
Been just sort of wandering around base doing various things on my little inprocessing checklist thingy... I ordered my local phone # and DSL but apparently although they'll come hook up on the phone on Friday they won't hook up the DSL until the 26th, sheesh... I'll be hittin up the library until then.
Found out I have incredibly boring eating habits, was able to buy two weeks worth of food for $50 thanks to the tax free and somewhat reduced prices of the commissary. I get something like $250 or something a month for food, so I guess the rest will go towards eating out, or just end up in my pocket. My room is finally all put together, after more than one later trip to buy stuff I had totally forgotten I'd need, like toilet paper, or a trash can... It's funny how you don't think about things until you go to use them and are like Hmmm... Haven't gone to try out the dining facility yet, been raiding Subway and various other local places, something tells me as I get going and am over in that section of the base costantly I'll figure out that full meals for two bucks is a much better deal.
Managed to break the rotating portion of my watch off somehow, going to have to not recommend anyone get this kind. Seems like a nifty way to change the mode until it's broken off making it almost impossible to do so... Most watches last me at least a few years, pretty sure this one didn't make it to one.
Someone had asked so I'll go ahead and post here, yes I'm allowed to have visitors, and yes you're allowed to stay on the base, it's just sort of an unofficial policy to not have lengthy overnighters in the room, meaning don't move anyone in. Of course you can always stay somewhere off base, but the price of free tends to work out better. I just have to call the main gate and get you a pass before you get here, so unfortunately surprise visits won't actually work.
I see people are beginning to find the Guestmap to the right, which is cool, looking forward to seeing where people are from. It's editable, but I'll leave that Greenland one up there, since something tells me that'll be the only one from that area.
Darn had a good quote for today and left it at home, will have to put that one up in the next blog.
Hm, yeah pretty boring last couple of days. Going to get the NIFT train in gear probably tomorrow, and see what the deal is with finishing that before ASBC.
