"To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness." - Edgar Allan Poe

• 27Dec 09

  Quickie Holiday Blog

  I hope everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas. I'm actually in Florida right now. I drove down with my uncle from Colorado on the 18th and we arrived the night of the 20th. Then my mom flew in on the 22nd so for the first time in years my entire family was together for the holidays. We're a pretty small family but it's actually a lot harder for us to all get togther than it may seem since three of us live in CO. and the rest live here in FL. But it usually boils down to jobs or money, or both so that it's hard to coordinate. But this year everything lined up for us to all be together. For the most part everything went smooth. The arguing was held to a minimum, and other than my aunt pulling some crap on Christmas everything went smooth.

  Once the new year arrives I really have to kick it into high gear with finding a job, finishing school and getting my life together. For the last six months I've just been floundering and almost in a stasis where I've been going no where. I've been out of work since August. My schooling is on hold because I f*cked around too much and wasn't serious so I've been feeling like a real bum. This "vacation" was good in that it allowed me to kind of get an "outside" perspective about where I'm going. So hopefully I can find a job when I get back because at least that much will help alleviate a lot of undue stress I'm going through, and help allow me get back into some sort of coherent schedule again.

  • Posted Dec 27, 2009 9:46 am PT
  • Category: Other
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• 12Dec 09

  Holiday Help!

  I need advice, actually. I'm in the market for a quality digital camcorder and would like any and all suggestions from people that have them to give. I have two gift cards with $100 each left over from last Christmas, and I've been holding on to them forever because I wanted to use them on a "big" purchase and not just piss it away on movies or games.

  So I came to the conclusion that a digital camcorder is something I could really use. I was in Best Buy earlier browsing and saw some models to get a feel for what's available. I talked to an employee as well but I'm not exactly comfortable with their knowledge since they basically don't "know" or have experience with the products other than re-iterating what you can already read on the little info cards next to each camera.

  So that's why I'm turning to actual people that may know a little more about this topic. Basically what I'm looking for is something easy to use where I can upload videos to the 'Net (as the camera would double for me doing video blogs as well). Preferably HD capable, but it's not a necessity. Night vision mode would be cool to have as well, but again not necessary. I'm looking to stay around the $200-$250 range, and the most I can probably spend is $300 even though I wouldn't want to, but if it's a good deal I will.

  So if you can help please leave your remarks or links so I can check them out. I'm also doing my own research so please don't think I'm just sitting back and wanting everyone else to do this for me. I need guidance as far as which brands are good, what features are preferred, etc. I've heard Canon makes some quality cameras. And there's Sony of course. It's a bit overwhelming especially when you're not familiar with all the current tech and that's basically where I need the bulk of the help.

  Thanks!

  • Posted Dec 12, 2009 3:24 pm PT
  • Category: Technology
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• 11Dec 09

  "Chrono Trigger DS" Quick Impressions

  So I recently picked up this "classic" SNES game. I've been aware of it for a while and the massive following that it has. I've been wanting to check it out since they re-released an updated version on the DS, and this is precisely what I did a few days ago. Curious about all the hype I've heard concerning this game I was anxious to see what it was all about. Now I haven't gotten very far in the game yet so these impressions are going to be very brief and may not reflect my feelings later on after I get some solid play time in.

  Presentation - It's an old school JRPG. Retaining much of the SNES 2D sprites from that period. It's not at all bad looking, but for those "youngsters" that never played a 2D RPG like this it might be a little below their standards of the Oblivions and Mass Effects of today. With that said the colors are rich and vibrant and bring back a lot of memories when graphics like this were state-of-the-art.

  Story - Again, I'm not very far but it deals with time traveling, a princess and bad guys that you must stop in each parallel world you visit.

  Sound - No spoken dialog. Sound effects are minimal. And the music is all right if forgettable.

  Game Play - The real meat and potatoes. I have to say right off the bat I'm not a big fan of the combat system since when in combat it feels very rushed and stressful to try and get your hits off before the enemy does. Your attacks have a bar that steadily charges up for each turn. When it's your turn you select from a standard attack, magic or a combo between you and another character. And this is where it can get hectic since you kind of have to know what attacks you're going to perform in advance so you don't waste any time dilly dallying and risk the enemy getting in an early attack before you can attack them. I actually prefer if the combat paused and I believe the game does have this setting so I'm gonna have to check that out. But right now it can get a little panicky. The enemies so far haven't been overly difficult, an aside from the very first boss (or was it second?) that I had to fight several times before beating I haven't had too much trouble...yet.

  Also I don't like the fact that there isn't some sort of quest log or diary to help keep track of what quests you're on or where you have to go next. Information like that is related strictly through NPC conversations and some times the next step is vague and ambigious. Maybe it was designed that way, I don't know. But I guess I'm too used to RPGs today that include a little quest log to help point you in the right direction should you lose track of where you are or what you're supposed to be doing.

  And that's about. I know, that's probably the worst quick impressions I've ever given, but I really haven't played that much to give more in depth analysis. Has anyone else played this game? If so what did you think?

  • Posted Dec 11, 2009 12:12 am PT
  • Category: Games
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