learning and maturing (Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - 12:43:46 PM) [Post a Comment]

This past weekend while I was home alone, I watched the Blade Runner DVD I got for Christmas. The last time I watched this movie had to have been sometime back around 1990 or so, and I thought it was just "ok". Time and experience really matures your tastes. This time around, I found it to be a very deep and thought-provoking movie about what it means to be "human". Harrison Ford looked really young back in 1982 when this movie came out.

Carolaina and I had an interesting day yesterday. I learned a LOT. Most of it is far too personal to talk about here, but I will say this: I am working very hard to no longer make the mistakes my parents have made and continue to make to this very day.

Carolaina finally let me order some really cool D&D dice from an online store called Advancing Hordes that I've recently discovered. Unfortunately, they're up in Canada and the cheapest shipping they offer says it takes 2 to 4 weeks to arrive. Argh. It will feel more like 2 to 4 years.

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nearly not sick (Monday, January 31, 2005 - 12:35:23 PM) [Post a Comment]

I am almost over being sick. What a bleak weekend I had: Anthony had to go to work on Saturday with his in-laws, Carolaina worked longer hours at the Carmichal Community Center than usual for a Saturday, and I was stuck at home feeling horrible. At least I got some behind-the-scenes work done on the Armchair Arcade site.

After Carolaina offered me tea all weekend, I finally wanted some during lunch today. Besides Lipton (NOT an option), all I found in the kitchen area here at work was some Chai. I never had it before, so I was a little apprehensive about trying it--I shouldn't have been. Chai is wonderful stuff, very smooth and tasty. I may go back for more.
UPDATE: I just went back for more and got curious, so I checked the label. No wonder this Chai tastes so good: the primary ingredient is SUGAR! 21 grams of it per serving! So much for this stuff.

I'm annoyed that my new webcam can't handle low light. My old camera worked so well in comparison to this new one. I'll just have to get a small desk lamp.

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webcam up and running (Friday, January 28, 2005 - 12:20:02 PM) [Post a Comment]

I've gotten my new webcam up and running here at the office. If you're on the homepage of my site, you can see, though, that it doesn't work well in the low light conditions we programmers here at Aristotle like. I've adjusted the brightness and gamma settings in the software to compensate some, but it still shows color artifacts because of the low light. For an explanation of what it's doing and why, check out the image archive page of the Mount St. Helens Volcano Cam website--their camera has a similar problem.

I've been sick the past couple of days--a sore throat, mild fever, and just feeling bad. I've been able to come to work, anyway. I have a simple rule: If I feel too bad to drive the hour+ time it takes to get to work, then I need to stay home.

Anthony will be coming over this Saturday. Hopefully I can get over this crud by then so we can play more Dungeons & Dragons.

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webcam coming (Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 12:31:30 PM) [Post a Comment]

I ordered my new webcam from ThinkGeek on Friday after I deposited my check. It seems like it is taking forever to arrive, even though the UPS website tells me it will arrive on Thursday. Do you remember the "way back when", pre-Internet days, when mail orders would take "six to eight weeks" to arrive? Back then, as now, it seems more like 6 to 8 years to arrive. My, how impatient we've become.

I had an extreme urge to play Dungeons & Dragons this weekend. Anthony was busy spending time with his wife--and in doing so setting an example I should follow more often. I downloaded some example campaigns and info from the Wizards of the Coast site. I thought I would try to just take myself on one of them (acting as both DM and player), but quickly realized that it would not only be extremely difficult to do, and no fun. A large part of the fun of Dungeons & Dragons is getting together and role-playing with friends and sharing food.

At least I got some really great D&D campaign ideas from the info I downloaded. So, we'll see how that goes.

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Filipino restaurant (Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 12:10:19 PM) [Post a Comment]

Last night, I went up to Anthony's place and helped him get his computer working again. We copied off any files he wanted to save, then nuked his computer with a fresh install of WindowsXP. It was the first time I've ever sat through an install of XP. I don't know if that says more about my lack of experience in fixing recent computers, or if it says more about the stability of XP compared to previous Windows versions--probably both.

I found out yesterday that there is a (relatively) new Filipino restaurant/grocery store in Searcy. I'm eager to check it out. It's over on Highway 16 near where it turns into Race street. According a revision date at the bottom of their menu, they must have been there for a few months now. Amazing how something neat like this can be right under your nose and you don't find out about it until later. I suppose, though, that's more because of me having 13 hours cut out of every weekday due to work and commuting to work.

I finally found the perfect webcam to replace my old one. The price is just about right, too. Carolaina has told me that I can order it this weekend. ThinkGeek always has the neatest stuff! Check out my wish list.

UPDATE (9:03 PM):
We now have a new favorite restaurant! The food at Letty's Place was awesome! Carolaina had Curry with chicken and shrimp, and I had something called Fritong Baboy--pork cooked with coconut milk, spices and veggies. I tried some of her Curry and thought it was interesting, but I don't think I could handle much of it. The owners of the place were so nice! Letty is from the Philippines and her husband, John, is an American. Since I didn't care for much of the Curry, he recommended I try the Ginataan next time. We will definitely be going back to this wonderful restaurant/grocery store as often as we can.

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