2005 October

Tunes Page Updated - Now Chilled

The mashups have been taken down for now, and I’ve put up a collection of ambient tunes that will chill you out, enlighten you, and generally put a smile on your face. It’s relaxing music that is perfect while working, as it doesn’t distract, but complements your mood. It’ll cheer you up when you’re down, relax you when you’re stressed, and provoke positive thoughts. The Ambient Nights series are a sample platter of tasty tunes that takes you on journeys of the mind, heart, and soul. Give it a shot

Buddy, the Candy Stealer

Kimberly just got back from going around trick or treating, hording a lot of candy, and she decided to dump all of it on her bed. While she was eating some reheated dinner, Buddy apparently decided to go in her room and see what all the goodies on her bed was.

When I go to get something in my room, he came trotting out of Kimberly’s room towards the living room. The way he trot told me he had something precious in his mouth, he looked very excited, so I followed him and snatched something out.

It was a Kit-Kat bar. The little rascal found a morsel he just had to have. Five minutes later, and we found a couple other candies, one lying on the couch, another tucked inside the loveseat half-in, half-out. It seems the Kit-Kat bar was what he was looking for, as he was about to chomp down on it if I didn’t snatch it away. I found it all very amusing, as did Buddy, but Kimberly wasn’t amused one bit.

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

Valve Software released the Lost Coast update for Half-Life 2 that showcases HDR technology.  The last time a technology impressed me for PC gaming was when FSAA and anistropic filtering cleaned up the image in our games.  Now HDR promises to render realistic light in the environment, even stimulating how your eyes adjust in dark and bright areas.  The future of PC gaming looks bright, literally!

More screenshots can be seen in the Games category on my Flickr page.

Elusivity of Good Moods

It seems the older I get, the more I appreciate being able to retain a good mood throughout the day. Today I woke up with no expectations, wondering if it was going to be a good day, or a bad one. So far it’s turning out good. Here’s why:

1. Got my $40 wireless gamepad back. Ordered it back in March and put off returning it until last week. Now I can play games that require a gamepad.
2. Got a nice dinner planned for tonight. I love cooking good food.
3. Got Civilization 4 to play this weekend.
4. Nice cool weather outside. Hello fall season! Summers down here in Florida is brutal.
5. The sore under my left armpit is going away, and I’m not in pain.

Wilma - Heading for Florida?

Just when I thought we were going to be spared anymore hurricanes here in Florida, Wilma pops up on the radar and threatens the state.  It’s currently a Category 4, after briefly recording Category 5-ish winds last night.  In case Wilma does come towards Florida, and threatens where I live, we may have to evacuate.  After the bevy of hurricanes last year, this is starting to become old hat.

By the way, this post was made using Flock, which is turning out to be really nifty, although it’s not finished just yet.  It makes posting to a blog, and working with images a lot easier.

The Monster Ate the Pilot

The Captain started pushing buttons and pulled back on the stick
his co-pilot looked around and pulled out a lighter named Bic,
lit a cigarette and started coughing,
at this the Captain started laughing.

Sunny skies and blue clouds outside,
and something ugly, big, and black flew by.
It landed on the wing and ran towards a window,
it blew it in with just one single blow.
In crawled the Monster, amidst screams and fright,
and an old lady thought to herself, “This is a very bad flight.”

The Monster ate a man, a terrorist with a shoe bomb, a suitcase, and a woman’s purse,
but don’t worry, it could’ve been a whole lot worse!
He could’ve ate that little kid without question,
but The Monster hates kids, they give him indigestion.

The Monster reached the cockpit, knocking the door down with a swift kick,
the co-pilot, in a fright, threw the lighter named Bic,
but the Monster is too swift, it missed, now the Monster is pissed!
The Monster ate the Pilot, the co-pilot, and the flight stick.

This had the unfortunate side-effect of making the plane descend fast,
making the Monster think this life may just be his last.
The Monster felt fear for the first time, he puked up everything,
and I do mean everything, even a shoe bomb shoestring.
What about the terrorist you ask? He killed himself in the Monster’s tummy.
What did you expect, he wanted to meet the 72 virgins and make his family some money!

Suddenly the old lady who thought this was a bad flight, came in,
she scolded the Monster, and replaced the missing flight stick with a bobby pin.
The Monster wanted to eat the pin, but the old lady slapped it,
she told the Monster he had to fly the plane, and ordered it to sit.
However, the Monster’s hands were too big. It grunted, shrugged and whined.
Just then the kid came barging in, said in a high-pitched voice, “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

The little kid grabbed the bobby pin, and yanked back,
the plane lurched upwards, sending the Monster flying back into the air with a crack.
The Monster got an ugly bump on its head, all it saw was black.

The kid, without fear, cried Mayday! Mayday! into the mic,
the air traffic controller said not to worry, flying a plane is like riding a bike.

Once the plane landed, the kid became a hero,
the bobby pin went to a museum in San Francisco.
The Monster became a test subject for a bunch of scientists,
making it wish it stayed at home eating grits.

I Think We’re Alone Now

I’ve had a rough past week, due to two afflictions that decided to hit me at the same time. First my sinuses started acting up. The works; runny nose, sore throat, coughs, etc. Then I’ve developed an infection under my left armpit. I would wake up every morning cleaning up blood-soaked dressings. I plan on getting a doctor’s appointment to find out what this is, it just won’t go away, it seems. Between these two, I haven’t had much to do on this site, work, and having much of a personal life.

Fortunately, the only thing left is the infection under the armpit. I can bear with that. Pain I can handle, but flu-like symptoms are just too aggravating. Which brought me into a line of thought as to how I would prefer pain over sickness, and I think it’s a defining characteristic of who I am.