8:11 PM - Palin isn’t just hot....
Current mood: adventurous
Category: News and Politics

....she's "nucular."  This is yet another reason I can't vote for her/McCain.  We've had 8 years of a jackass who can't pronounce "nuclear" correctly.  I think it's time for a change, and a boost in intellect.

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10:48 AM - Travel Travel?
Current mood: luminous
Category: Travel and Places

Yeah, what she said.  After that trip, I've seen the road all the way up and down both the east and west coasts, with a shot down 70 (et al) and 80 going through the middle.  Big country.  And before anyone tells you we're overpopulated, visit anywhere between the Rockies and the Appalachians.

Currently playing : Playstation 3 Rock Band Special Edition Release date: 2007-11-20

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2:51 AM - Scattered Notions
Current mood: cantankerous
Category: Blogging

I realized today why I haven't blogged in a while, or at least why I don't do it as much as I used to.  Obviously part of it is that life is busier now.  Aside from the full-time job, I freelance write for a couple of sites regularly, and took over the editor slot at Blogcritics.org's Sci/Tech section.  It's just a lot of mental juggling.

But first and foremost, I think one of the biggest things is I have somebody to tell stuff to basically all the time, as it happens.  She lives here.  It occurred to me today when I mentioned to her how if I was late for school cuz the bus was running late, teachers still gave me that evil glare.  The same thing happens as a grown-up using mass-transit to get to work.  I still get no quarter, though the tardiness was entirely out of my hands.

After recounting this largely pointless story to the gf, I realized this was the sort of mindless nonsense I used to catalogue on here for all the world to see (for better or worse).  It's strange, how having one person around to shotgun ideas at all the time alleviates the feeling of needing to reach out through this here Internet thingy to get the same sort of connectedness.  And as I communicate less with you fine folks, I feel more isolated, and kind of alone.  I may act like a hermit, but that don't mean I'll shoot you for crossing my lawn. :)

So how you all doin out thurr in Internet-land?

Currently listening : Inhuman Rampage By DragonForce Release date: 2006-06-20

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9:33 PM - More 1up Fail
Current mood: discontent
Category: Games

So since I can't NOT get the 1up.com newsletters (you can't unsubscribe), I now merely skim them before deleting.  This latest one comes complete with a link to a supposed preview of Crysis Warhead for the....Wii?  Wtf?  So I click out of curiosity, and it's a preview of Wii Music.

Fail.  Not even the same genre.

Then it hit me.  This isn't a newsletter anymore.  It's spam.  One of the defining features of traditional spam is to mention something appealing or so bizarre you just have to look (how many emails can I get about Paris fucking her dog?) and link it to something else entirely. 

This is what 1up does now.  This case is a perfect example.  I'm actually looking forward to both Crysis Warhead AND Wii Music, but since E3 impressions of Wii Music were rather tame and Crysis stirs up trouble wherever it goes (mainly for the tech specs), let's fraudulently link Crysis to something people otherwise might not read!

If things at Ziff Davis are so bad financially that you have to bullshit people into coming to the site to get that click-thru revenue, you guys really need to hang it up.

Currently playing : Crysis Release date: 2007-11-13

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5:36 AM - PAX was good
Current mood: content
Category: Games

You can read all about the three days we were at PAX 08 here:

Day One

Day Two

Day Three and Final Impressions

You can also see a bunch of photos that the woman took by clicking right about...here.

Currently playing : Battlefield 2 The Complete Collection DVD Release date: 2007-03-13

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9:42 AM - Seattle, Day 2/PAX 2008, Day 1
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Travel and Places

Not sure if we took a wrong turn or what, but after PAX tonight, we tried heading over to see the ground below the Space Needle...and it was sketchy around there, at best.  I swear we saw what looked like prostitutes in at least two separate blocks, not to mention their gangsta pimps.  It was so cliche that it couldn't be anything else, outside of Halloween.

Laura's convinced that we just haven't seen the "good stuff" yet, which is giving us a less than stellar impression of the town thus far.  Of course, this is all relative.  Less than a week ago we were in San Francisco and had dinner Sausalito.  Anything done in the same time frame as that is going to seem bitter by comparison.

Got back to the hotel tonight to find that the housekeeping had thrown out everything we left in the fridge, as well as some maps and brochures we'd picked up and left on the dresser.  We aren't checking out till Sunday morning, but rather than verify that, I guess it was easier to throw away our papers, 3 bottles of water, two sandwiches, and god knows what else.  I asked Laura (the regular traveller) whether we should leave anything in the room.  She said it kind of depended on the hotel, and that a nicer place would be more okay than a sketchy no-name motor lodge in the boonies.  Turns out you can't judge a book by its cover, and I'll be taking all my shit with me whenever I go out for the day, wherever I am.  Kinda sucks, cuz in a place like NYC, I wouldn't want all my crap with me all day.  I asked if there's any way we can get them to NOT throw out our stuff tomorrow morning and the desk clerk seemed uncertain.  Wonderful.  I guess we have to leave a note to tell them LEAVE OUR SHIT ALONE rather than have some coordinated system where they know via the computer system here which rooms need what done to them, and whether people were supposed to have checked out or not.  And people wonder why I don't <3 traveling.

Gonna try to do a quick write-up for Blogcritics about PAX, day one.  It was honestly a mediocre to crappy experience so far.  I'm hopeful that Saturday will be better, but there are just too goddamn many people there and not enough staffers to handle it.  Took us an hour to "check-out" a game to play in the freeplay console room...for 30 minutes.  Waited in line for the keynote speaker for about an hour....only to find out they were at capacity, and this was 30 minutes after it was supposed to have started.  Stood in another line for about an hour to buy some overpriced t-shirts and other merch.  At any given time there were probably 100 people in line, and they only had about 3 or 4 people working the other side of the counter. 

We've missed most of what we wanted to do thus far because the theaters are too small, and it's not just us.  There was a panel/presentation on writing in video games that I really wanted to see, as did about 50-70 other people, but the "theater" (if you can even call it that) that they hosted it in had a seating capacity of maybe 100 max.  They're predicting 50,000 people this weekend.  How the hell are 100 seats for anything going to be enough?  I voiced my concerns to a few fellow attendees and they echoed my sentiments.  Four years in and it still feels like they've never done it before.

Here's hoping tomorrow is better.  BTW, we found a parking garage about two blocks from the CC for $24/day max.  Not perfect, but we'd definitely seen worse deals around, and the location is pretty sweet.  Not something I would do regularly, but for the time we're here, I can deal.

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8:10 AM - California Dreamin’ (more like driving)...
Current mood: tired
Category: Travel and Places

This starts last week, on Aug 21.

Thurs: flight delayed, then cancelled. Called airline and rescheduled for the next morning.

Fri: fly to Cleveland, then to San Francisco.  Picked up by Lolra's folks and driven down to Pajaro Dunes near Monterey, CA.  Worked that night, then passed out.

Sat: more shenanigans at PD, learn to play Mexican Train with dominoes.  Google it; it's fun.  Minor incident back home where my one uncle was convinced that the other had killed their sister/my mom....or something.  Iono, it was just weird for a few hours, mainly because people don't answer their damn phones.

Sun: drove around Carmel and Monterey, CA.  The former was lovely, the latter was...nice, but not mind-boggling or anything.  We suspect the wine the night before was to blame for the lower GI fireworks all day.  Hooray for "restrooms are for customers ONLY" signs.

Mon: back up to Sacramento, had dinner with Lolra's chums.  What a buncha screwballs they are. :)  Lovable but strange.  Long live the "shacket" and the "all-inclusive lunch."

Tue: went to San Francisco for the day.  Saw a shitload of cool stuff, love that city (imagine NYC only cleaner, smaller, and nicer people), spent the evening walking around Sausalito (omg I'm retiring there), and had dinner there at Angelino's, then back to SF for dessert at Ghirardelli Square.  Went over to the Wharf to watch sea lions try to hump each other and make lotsa noise, then headed back to Sac.

Wed: began the journey north toward Seattle.  Got as far as Eugene, OR.  Road weary and tired of driving down twisty treacherous mountain passes, we camp for the night at the Courtesy Inn (cheap rates and wi-fi).

Tomorrow we hope to hit Salem and Portland, OR for a few, then finish the trek up to Seattle to prepare for the deluge of everythingness that is PAX.  I got the woman to hum the Super Mario world 1-1 music, which established her ability to blend in with "my people."

More to come....

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11:50 AM - Why would you unroll my toothpaste?
Current mood: fermented
Category: Friends

I have nothing interesting to say, so I'll just ask everyone, "HOW ARE YOU?"  Because I care.  No really, I care.  Deeply.  Really.  So deep.  Deeper.  Yeah, that's it.  That's the spot.....

....wait, what?

Ok I lied, I do have something....we're going to go lay on the beach in California for a few days, then head up to the Penny Arcade Expo for a gaming orgy (just google PAX; I'm too tired to make links).  But this doesn't mean I don't want to know how you're doing.  You.  Yes, you.  The one who plays coy and doesn't raise their hand in class.  And you, the one with the boobs.  Especially you.

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11:18 PM - Ode To Joy, Beaker Style
Current mood: pirate
Category: Music

Found this today, and it brought my blogging out of (unintentional) retirement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A&NR=1

P.S.  What the fuck is with the Moods list on MS here not being alphabetical anymore?  Srsly.

Currently reading : Robot Dreams (Masterworks of Science Fiction and Fantasy) By Isaac Asimov Release date: 2004-06-01

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3:34 PM - Words I want to own on Google
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Buttcules
Fagcules

...don't ask.  Just google them and see if this comes up.

Currently playing : Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas Release date: 2007-06-26

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