Someone Had Better Read This

The End of This

2008-05-07T06:35:00.001-07:00

I'm simply ending the blog. It's been dead for a while, so no big deal. This is mainly due to my life going through another reset of sorts. I'm no longer interested so much in PC games and photography as much as I am science, nature, and other green stuff. This is not at all like my last life change where I went ape shat on friends to make some sort of point. This is a lot less dramatic. So yeah, here's my new blog that I will hopefully post more relevant issues and topics: http://scienceofmylife.blogspot.com/

I Tamed a Raccoon

2007-06-06T21:04:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not balding. ;)

I got home from work and saw it walking down the road. I went after it and it was pretty scared. I didn't see any other coons around, so I decided to try and get it to be friendly. It is a fairly young coon, so I knew it would be easier than trying to tame an adult. I made my movements slower and tried to pick up hints of how it would communicate with other coons. Finally it starts to cry a little. The sound is a warbly sort of chatter sound.. so hard to describe. As ridiculous as this may sound, I tried to mimic the sound, but in a less screechy way. Something I assumed a calm raccoon would sound like if making the same sound. Like magic the coon looked at me and started to get curious. Finally he/she climbed up into my lap. Whenever it would cry, I would start making the sounds again and it would calm back down. After mom, dad, and Nathan came down to see it (dad with my camera, trying to figure out how in the world to use it), I fed it some catfood. It was so cute to see him (I don't know, don't feel like say he/she a lot) grab the food with his hands. I was going to leave him, but when I stood up, he started cry. I decided I should take him up to the house after he start to climb my leg. He gets along great with the new kitten, Scotty (my older cat) just avoids him, and Patty goes from super curious to "OMG OMG I'M SCARED!" It seems that all of his base instincts are well in place and that, despite a little humanizing, he should be able to return to the wildlife with no trouble.

A Great Weekend

2007-05-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

If you look at my hand on her side, it's cupped because I'm holding the ring. At that moment, I was thinking "crap! what if she notices that?"

In fact, the best weekend ever. It was all too short, as most good things are, but excellent. I picked up Alicia and Rebecca and went with them to their family reunion in Lebanon, TN (at the state park there). It was really cool seeing all the family again since Christmas, really great people. Plus it was a chance to use the new Canon 50mm lens I got. It's a good lens for sure, but the depth of field is rarely forgiving for poorly focused shots. Heh, but that's expected from an f/1.8.

Oh right! This isn't about a lens, this is about a beautiful love story spanning a whole year and four months. Well, Saturday night, I stepped outside at one point to talk to Alicia's mother (mom! yay!) about an idea my mom and I thought up. Earlier that day, Alicia's mom had taken a photo of us with my camera. Alicia complained that I wasn't "smiling for real" in it, which was the perfect setup. So, I told her mom that the next day (Sunday) I wanted her to get another photo of us, and that is when I would ask. She totally started to tear up! Just for the record.. ;)

Sunday morning things were pretty crazy. Trying to get everything packed and everyone ready to go by 12:00 was a little hard. I ended up getting a good pic of the family, on about 4 different cameras, then I had a chance. I talked to her mom and she said she couldn't, things were too busy, but said to get her sister Rebecca to do it. So I walk over to them and say "I need you and you." Alicia thought we were going to do the picture inside since it was hot, but she thought wrong. She seemed a little annoyed that it had to be outside, and a little more annoyed that it had to be up a trail some. This was all great though since it meant she had no idea there was a ring in my pocket! Later, she says that she should have picked up on me being so sweet to her and not picking on her all morning, even though she was grumpy. I always pick on her when she's grumpy, so yes, she really should have known something was up!

So we go up the trail to some stone benches around a campfire spot. We sit down, we smile (for real this time), and I ask Rebecca to show me the shot. I glance at it and say "try it like this," using my hands to describe holding the camera different. At this moment I saw a gleam of the ring in my hand and thought for sure the gig was up! But she apparently didn't see, I think she was too busy thinking "ugh, that picture was fine, let's go back." Rebecca steps back and lifts my camera up again. I stop her and say, "wait, let me try a different pose." So I dropped to a knee and held the ring out. Alicia initially thought I was joking around and had that look of "that's not nice!" Until she looked down and saw the ring in my hand. Then I asked. There was a really big "yes" and a bunch of hugs and kisses. She cried to! Woo! That means I win. I win the cry award. But then I cried later when her Grandmother talked to me and told me some very sweet things. Then it was all hugs and handshakes from there.

Thanks for the wonderful photos Rebecca! You did great for never using my camera before.

Gosh I miss her. Sigh.. won't see her again for a few weeks! Not fair!

It's a sad day for the Deviant Art browse feature. Yesterday I attempted to find even more great artists to watch, only to be completely disappointed. I used to avoid looking at Daily Deviation picks or using the "Popular" option for recently added browsing. I went through 4 pages (120 shots each) of crap on DA yesterday. Four fricking pages! It's obvious that the emo kids are getting more computer time now since that's all that is on there. These morons don't even have the sense to properly place the categories. A picture of your fat emo friends lounging around, taken with your favorite $50 Wal-Mart special does NOT qualify as a spontaneous portrait! It's an f'ing snapshot, take it somewhere else, DA is for ART! It's not your new livejournal.

So here I am, diving through the week's most popular photos and trying to find the unknown artists through watch lists and interesting comments left on good art. Emo kids.. please, hurry up and /wrists. You're right, your lives really aren't worth it. Now go cry in your dark corner and draw another crappy picture of Emo Spider-Man.

listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Slipping Away - Things Falling Apart
(though the track and album titles to this song sound emo, it's far from it. "Classic" NIN circa 1999.)

The Puzzle (Missing Half the Pieces)

2007-05-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

Yep, you guessed it. The junge frau in the photo above (taken with my poor broken Yashica) is the reason I'm missing half the pieces to my puzzle. There are times when I struggle to understand my own feelings and thoughts. This is clearly one of those times. I am sitting here with a void inside of me. As emo as that sounds, it's true. There is no other way to describe the empty feeling that being away from her causes. I like to think of myself as in control of my emotions and such, save the few times I get completely fed up with stupidity. But here I am. Sitting in my chair, cold and alone. Yes, I just said "cold and alone" in a blog post. Don't worry, I won't be draping my hair over one eye, putting on some eyeliner, and squeezing into tight emo jeans anytime soon.. or ever. I guess you could say I really do rely on Alicia for a large part of my happiness. It's been that way with many of my relationships. For some reason, that's how I work. Don't know why, but at least it explains how poor relationships completely soured in the past.

But you know, on the verge of me asking her to marry me (no, I will not say when), I have thought a lot on our relationship together. We depend on eachother, regardless of how capable we are of functioning alone. I realize that I am allowing myself to feel the emptiness when she is away. I'm listening to "our songs" and closing my eyes, imagining she was near. Holy crap, I'm even listening to Evanescence more than ever now. When I saw Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie / The Postal Service) in Nashville, the whole time I was thinking "I wish she was here with me." Any other time I'd be thinking to myself, "why am I doing this to myself?? Ugh!" But no, not now. Now it's exactly how I want to feel. Nuts? Sure, I plea temporary insanity. I do pass go, and I do collect the bones of your pets.

Medical update, my back is killing me with pain, and my right testicle has joined in the party more so than before! WOO! Yes, I'm drinking tons of water. More than likely this is a kidney stone. I hear that passing one is worse than child labor. If that's the case, then I'm assuming this is some sort of natural balance. Alicia and I want a lot of kids (yes, this is something we were shocked about when we discovered we agreed), so perhaps my body is saying "well, it's only fair if you get to feel it too." And I'm saying "OMG WTF BBQ IN MY PANTS THIS HURTS." I said that in my mind. Just now. Because suddenly it hurt. A LOT.

But further down the spiral (LAWL NIN REFERENCE) I shall be going to the mountains in north Georgia the third week in June! It's so beautiful up there.. I really can't wait. I'll be seeing one of my Uncles, two of my Aunts, and spending some good time with mom and dad. But even better, I'll have my camera glued to my eye the whole time. I'm pretty sure I can fill the 650 shots my card allows. Too bad I don't have photoshop anymore... yet anyways. Ugh.

Next, there's a change about to occur in EVE. I'm getting tired of the corp I've been in, The Plundering Penguins. It was great for a long time, and I really thought things were going to be great once we became a mercenary corp. No one logs on anymore and one of my best EVE friends left to be in another corp. A pirate corp. So after some thought (and some annoying time spent being hunted by wartargets with no one to back me up) I have decided to join my friend in the pirate corp. I'm going to try and manage my sec status so I can continue to do L4 missions, but sometimes it's just too awesome to open fire on another player when he foolishly jumps into our "claimed" lowsec system. Should be fun. I invested a lot into the penguins, but it's not where I want to be anymore. Oh well. At least I'm not joining Band of Brothers.

Listening To: Bush - 40 Miles From the Sun - The Science of Things

Prey

2007-05-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

Prey is a game that didn't seem like anything too special from the preview I read in PC Gamer a long while back. Doom 3 engine, yay, but the idea of a spirit walking Native American being abducted by aliens and having to save his girlfriend didn't sound too awe inspiring. Little did I know that I would load up one of the best FPS games out today. Interesting weapons and the storyline honestly isn't as hokey as I thought it would be. The environments are absolutely amazing. The fear factor isn't all about things that make me jump. Sometimes it's what's all around me. The creepy, crawling, living.. "ship" that the aliens sucked me into. The game auto-adjusts difficulty, which is nice, but means that it'll go from "OMG WTF" hard to "LAWL PWNT" easy. But not nearly as much as SiN: Episode 1. It's a nice distraction since my main EVE character is still about 8 days from being able to pilot an Interceptor class frigate, my alt is grinding away at L1 missions (almost to L2), photoshop is gone as are most of my unprocessed photos (stupid HD crash), and sometimes my mouth is simply too dry to do my German lessons.
Speaking of German lessons, the CD I slapped $200 down for is GREAT. Honestly, it's amazing how much I remember from a lesson after doing one, but even better after a night of sleep. The next day I know words in German. Not just what their English translation is. Is it worth $200? I've spent hours on the Level 1 CD. Hours. I have only scratched the surface of all the units and lessons. I've gained enough knowledge of the German language to put Steam's language into German and get around in the program with little trouble. Let's just say I'll be ready to slap another $200 down for Level 2 when I'm done with Level 1.Too bad it's not like EVE where I can learn things by telling my brain to "train" it over time. Speaking of EVE, many things have happened in the past month. For one, we left the 3asy Company alliance and 0.0 sec. Plundering Penguins have returned to our original home in Empire, a comfy 0.3 system. So why would we leave the ISK and status behind in 0.0 ? Mercenary work. We get paid to do the dirty work for other corporations. Our first contract proved to be difficult, but we succeeded in our mission. Had tons of fun too.

Windows Vista... will I buy it? No, not until I'm running my next PC setup. Who knows when that will be, probably the next big price drop of Intel procs. Why not yet? For one, it takes an obscene amount of RAM to run Vista. Even with all of the pretty things turned off it's got a huge footprint. Second, DirectX 10 needs to take a firm footing in hardware. It's off to a great start, but the prices on the Geforce 8 series will need to go down (for me.. hehe). Final reason? I can run EVE just fine on XP. Hehehe...

currently listening to: filter - skinny - title of record

Staying Up Far Too Late

2007-04-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

For what reason? Fleet operations in EVE. Plundering Penguins sieged a station by a different corp. It was a long, long fireworks show, but worth the time and ammo spent. As I type this, we are working on scrambling a war target that has been harassing us throughout our POS takedown. But my eyes are getting heavy and I think Alicia is going to kill me for staying up... :)

Rosetta Stoned

2007-04-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well, you know, it's been a while since I've blogged. Yeah, busy as usual. And when I'm not working, I'm with Alicia. And when I'm not with Alicia, I'm playing EVE (or Oblivion.. or Sim City 4). But I'm in Alicia's dorm room while she's gone to a visitation. So here is my blog! What sucks is that I hardly have anything interesting to add.. well, no, actually some good stuff happened since I blogged. For one, my car got fixed (an alarm system I had no idea about had shorted and killed my car's electronics.. LOL). And I've got something for someone special in my life.. wink wink nudge nudge. But anyway. I think I'll be adding something to my busy schedule... Rosetta Stone software for learning German. Great stuff, I'm really looking forward to learning German finally. Yup, kthxbai.

Oh, and HEY Ack! Haha, I didn't expect to see a comment from you on my blog. Well, thanks and I'll see you in space. kekeke.. that sounded so cool..
---
Currently Watching - Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

2007-04-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to it. It's being streamed on the YZ website and my goodness it is amazing. One of Trent Reznor's best, definitely.

Recent Shots

2007-03-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

This is the entrance to Katz's in Austin. Apparently some Jewish guy started a chain of restaurants with super awesome sandwiches. As for the awesomeness of the sandwiches.. Check below!

Reuben on rye.. mmmm. This is only half of the crazy, over-stuffed sandwich. I ate every last bit and still wanted another! The atmosphere was nice too. It's strange that most of Austin is very.. erm.. "Northern." Oh, and lots of hippies.

Oh by the way, we ended up in Austin by doing 12 hours of this. Alicia did great, I might add. Especially going through Dallas past midnight while I was sound asleep.. oops.

Here's the capital building too. Pretty in a big city kind of way.

The other day, I woke up to a very ugly brown camera bag sitting in my chair. When I realized that it probably had a camera inside it, I jumped out of bed and opened it. To my absolute joy, mom had gone to a yardsale that morning and picked up a 1974 Minolta SRT Super with accessories. The accessories included: ugly brown camera bag, 1970's lens cleaning kit, MC Rokkor PF 50mm/1:1.7, Sun Opt. 70-210mm/1:4, and a Vivatar flash head. I've got a roll of Kodak 400BW ready to be developed tomorrow. Oh, and the other camera is my Papaw's old Minolta. Look alike don't they? That's because the SRT Super and the SRT 102 are the exact same camera. The difference is that the SRT Super is the Japanese version. You'll also notice the 50mm lenses are different. From what I can tell, the 50mm PF came before the superior 50mm Rokkor-X PG. When I'm not using the zoom telephoto, I'll likely be using the Rokkor-X as it's widest aperture is an astonishing 1.4f. That's some serious light intake! Not to mention that the Rokkor-X has better action and the glass appears to be of higher quality. However, the PF will not go to waste. Other than being a beautiful classic lens (with a weight that tells its age), it'll be a great lens to use in situations where a lens might get damaged. If it gets a scratch or worse, I won't be too upset.

Currently my full collection of classic cameras! 1970's Yashica TL-Electro SLR, Yashinon-DS 50mm/1.9, Minolta Rokkor-X 50mm/1.4, Minolta Rokkor-PF 50mm/1.7, Milda 35mm/2.8, Minolta SRT 102 SLR, Kodak Brownie: Hawkeye 620, Minolta SRT Super SLR, Sun Opt. 70-210mm/4 Zoom, Vemar 28mm/2.8. The SRTSuper and the Hawkeye work. The Yashica has a locked-up mirror and the SRT201 has a hole in the shutter. I am currently looking into a project to convert the Hawkeye to use 110 film instead of its native (and extinct) 620.
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Listening To: Spoon - The Delicate Place - Gimme Fiction - 2005

Texas!

2007-03-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

This weekend will be an exciting trip to Texas with Alicia. Probably an 8+ hour drive and at night, but we'll be trading spots as we drive. I'm always up for roadtrips, especially to places I haven't been (well, not that part of Texas). YEEHAW! Yeah, typical suckfest of a blog. Welcome to the suckfest. Hey, we got some more for the suckfest here! Here's some screenies and such.

---From the Beside You In Time DVD extras! Yep, you know you're making awesome music when you can play a tambourine and your fans still say "Yeah, I can dig that."
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Well, EVE hasn't destroyed my FPS skills completely. I kept up with my kill-to-death ratio, but I still saw my dead body flung over stuff far more than I'd like. Let me tell you though, CS:S in 16:10 means that I'm not killed by corner campers near as much! Good times. As for LCD "ghosting" : not present even in fast paced situations. However, Vsync is a must as most of the game plays well over 75 fps, thus making the 75 Hz refresh rate cry like a baby.
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Made a trip to the Amarr Empire to pick up some BPC's and decided to check out Amarr Prime. Cool looking scenery, there was even a monument there that was cool looking. Adios!

I Will Be Beside You In Time

2007-02-26T07:14:00.000-08:00

A few days and I'll be receiving the Nine Inch Nails live DVD "Beside You In Time" ! Woo! For the time being, I'm still all over EVE.. heh, to the point that I'm now reading the RP forums. Yes, the RP forums.. so far into said forums that I'm reading about the politicking and political discussions of the various EVE governments. I realize the insanity of this, but at the moment it's far more interesting that today's RL government. Hahah.. but anyway. Boo Amarr Empire! lawl my back hurts...

Oh, and art is resistance. Art is change. Give it a voice.
---
Listening To: Howie Day - Yellow (Coldplay cover) - 2001

North & South

2007-02-20T22:09:00.000-08:00

In the past couple days (in EVE), I have practiced two very different play styles. The first being marketing. Yep, spending my gaming hours looking at price sheets, regional averages, trends, and setting up orders. The idea is basic for short term sell orders: find a region or system that has a common item selling cheaper than dirt and buy it all up. I set up buy orders anywhere from 100 units of sometime all the way to 5000 units, depending on the price. Once a large bit is bought, I spend a couple hours shuttling through the region, picking up all the orders. After I gather up a sufficient amount, I then set my autopilot for whatever region I found to have the best prices. This is the beauty of a player run market. My best sales recently involved selling things for quadruple their market value only two regions away. Lazy people with too much ISK, makes me rich! Well.. fake rich, but hey, I'm having fun. Sometimes the market on a certain item gets ruined before I get a proper chance to sell the large amount I have left. This is where my studying of the price trends comes into play. I can either see that a year ago the price made the same drop, but doubled in a month, or that it's been on a constant slight rise, big drop for a long time. I don't know why I enjoy this, but I do.

Oh, and I've been doing L3 missions in my new Battleship! Too bad I can't use large beam turrets yet. Goodnight.---
Currently Listening To: EVE-Radio, DJ Hijak

Imagination

2007-02-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Finding stuff like this in EVE is one of the many reasons I play. So much to explore out there. Too bad I can't buy lenses for my camera drone.. hehe.
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Currently Listening To: Norah Jones - Turn Me On - Come Away With Me - 2002

Consider This A Sneak Peek (Maybe)

2007-02-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I plan on posting a bigger update. Sometime. Valentine's = BUSY for cooks. So yeah, the corp I'm in finally got a player owned station up in Ane, which is nice since now we can research and copy blueprints and all that jazz. Plus, if anyone flies to it by accident, they get gunned down by our defense systems. Not to mention we have a safe place to fly to just in case we piss off the wrong Corp (Grumpy Old Farts for example). It's good times all around. I can finally use T2 Armor Reps and I'm fast on my way to fielding a BC well enough for L3 missions. What does all that mean to the non-EVE'er? Nothing. Oh, and I finally got a fitting for the T1 Gallente Frigate, Tristan, that can tackle and kill a Serepentis Wing Leader! Takes forever to break the NPC's tank, but it's still neat to see a noob(ish) frig blow apart the hull of a 150k bounty rat. Shields after fight? 92%. ^^

Meanwhile, my lovely Alicia is awesome and gave me a great Valentine's. She is the perfect remedy for stress during a busy work week. I am truly the luckiest man alive! Still need to put a ring on her finger though...

And Nine Inch Nails is keeping the buzz going with a crazy "Alternate Reality Game" that's got me looking at every last detail of images and text. The night of a concert in "Bilbao", Spain, there was a hidden message discovered amongst brutally broken text that finally translated to one of the opening passages from "The Hobbit" . Very clever indeed, though I don't know how that relates at all to the current "NINspiracy". Either way, I absolutely love the new track that was leaked. "My Violent Heart" and it was leaked just in time for Valentine's day. Heh, clever. Again.

My skills are set and my ship safely docked. I still want to start writing fanfiction.. I'm not even halfway through the Book of EVE though and don't want to make an arse of myself. Good times. Goodnight.

Even More A Geek Than Before

2007-01-30T23:49:00.000-08:00

Handy when comparing color quality in photoshop, chatting/browsing while playing EVE (whenever I'm not 2boxing), and just really cool. I did this before, but then it was a 17" and a 15". Not cool. I'm really enjoying the widescreen though. You know it's bed when the resolution is high enough to make digital artifacts obvious in DVD movies. True, not all DVD movies are encoded so poorly, but plenty are. Anyway, I'm tired and jumping about (as well as using far too many commas).

Not geeky enough? Well, recently I typed up a roleplay bio for my EVE character Mallikan. I enjoyed typing it and felt it fleshed out my character like no other character I've played. I mean, I've played roleplaying games, but I've never truly role played. Very geeky, but I've already got a great girl that loves me for who I am. So why not roleplay? :) The thing is, I enjoyed it to the point that I am considering starting another blog. Whenever something interesting is witnessed by Mallikan (and thus, me) in EVE, I can type a short story-like blog about it, completely roleplaying the event. Of course, this could be troublesome when involving players with names like "BigEd123" and such, but they can be easily replaced with "ore thief" or "merc" or "friend" . I don't know, could be fun. There really is an interesting level of involvement in EVE. Read one good EVE fiction in the magazine or on the site and you have to read another. Playing EVE and experiencing things that are exciting or funny causes a sort of creative spark. Plus, knowing the fiction, it's plausible for this universe to have such silly names. In the EVE universe, very young people can become pod pilots, and by the looks of some of the character portraits, they could pass for 17, 18, 19. The corp I am currently employed in is called "Plundering Penguins" . Could I involve that in the story? I think so, with a bit of fun.

Widescreen? Yes Please

2007-01-30T15:38:00.000-08:00

Difficult to get everything just right, and the color (16.2 mil instead of 16.7) causes some trouble from time to time, but all in all I am please with my 19" Samsung widescreen. I don't even know what to do with all of the extra space. Hehhehe...
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Currently Listening To: Mom coughing while she makes sloppy joes.

I Dressed Up!

2007-01-27T00:29:00.000-08:00

For Alicia! Haha, she looked absolutely amazing.. we went out to eat at some new Italian place for our one year together. She had fettuccine alfredo and I had snow crab legs. Yeah, I couldn't decide on anything so I went for something fun AND delicious! Hahaha.. it was fun. So yeah, mom and dad got a picture of me since they never see me dressed up. Alicia picked out the clothes and I think she did a great job. ;) I love you so much Alicia, thanks for an amazing year.

Yep, I'm tired but I'm so going to stay up all night anyway. So here's my dad.---
Listening To: Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side (Live) - Mirror Mirror - 1998

Mice Are Our Friends

2007-01-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's sooo late, so this will be quick. I got a "Fancy" mouse today from Petsmart when Alicia and I were in Paducah. He's cute, hyperactive, and loves carrots just as much as my old rats used to. He's not fond of my yet, though he did take a cracker from my hand. Eventually he'll be a bit more aware of me and not so afraid. And what's the name of this cute critter? Peyton Manning of course! I mean, come on, look at him. You can tell he's got laser rocket arms just like the real Peyton Manning. Yep.. hahaha, goodnight.

---
Listening To: The permanent ringing in my ears (I wish I was joking about that)

EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

2007-01-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Birds falling out of the sky around the world? Poison being found in mail? Strange smells in New York? Fox News reporters yelling like kids with Down's Syndrome?

O M G!!!! IT MUST BE THE END OF TEH WORLDS!!!11

Oh wait, nevermind. This is all related to a far worse disaster: Election year.

Ah, America. Freedom to be sheep. Everyone remember the BIG EPIDEMEMEDIC SARS??? The bird flu? Y2k? Hmm. We might as well have telescreens in every home, always on. Remember, Big Brother is watching you. Enjoy the last bits of freedom you have America, it won't last much longer. But don't worry, Fox News is reporting in the No Spin Zone! Buy an SUV, a few gallons of gas, and smile.
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Currently Listening To: The dull drone of my computer's case fans, punctuated by brief intervals of typing.

Complete Exhaustion

2007-01-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

The Description:
It's confusing. There's a weight over my heart that's a hundred pounds. Anything and everything that is coming up in the next day or so that requires any amount of work already sounds like too much. I'm dizzy with sleepiness, and yet I'm not asleep yet. I delay sleep in order to delay the next day, the next routine, or the next possible surprise that life may bring. I constantly worry about taking care of things that should have been taken care of weeks ago, regardless of the fact that it's not my fault. Sad music is too sad, happy music is too happy, and mellow music too mellow. I don't know where to begin and I don't want to begin anyway for fear of ending. I want to be in a simple state of happiness, a simple inner calm of never sleeping and simply enjoying the present forever. Perhaps not the current present as I type this, but the present of approx. 24 hours ago when I was warm under a blanket with Alicia on a couch watching nonsense on TV.

However, being there last night is partly the reason I am exhausted to this extent right now. It was something I needed to do. But it didn't cure me of what I had hoped to be cured of. I want to be cured of the Army mainly, even though I can a good 3+ years until that happens. I'm sick of working day in and day out not knowing if the next time that f'ing phone rings will be a call from the Army saying we've been activated. If we do get activated, then holy fricking crap, let me KNOW! I am so SICK AND TIRED of not knowing! It's not that I don't want to go, it's what I bloody signed up for. It's the morons that came up with "hay guys lol letz make an 'alert' statos 4 unutz." There is NO F'ING REASON for alert status!!! All it does is put every single one of us on the edge of our seats as we try to get by with our normal lives. Stupid thoughtless pricks. I'd rather be told "we've been activated" and have a few months before going than to have "we're on alert, but that doesn't mean we're active. In fact, we can be taken off alert just as quick. So don't quit your job or anything. Oh, and don't tell your family." So basically... I might go to war, but maybe not, so don't worry about it anyway, but we might, although maybe not, oh and STFU about it kthxbai. Here's the problem. When I joined the army, I thought that was an automatic "hey, you might go to war. In fact, more than likely." And most certainly not "You might go. In fact, probably soon. But probably not. Don't worry about it. In fact, don't do anything different." So.. again.. my point is... WTF!

I am exhausted. I'm finally going to bed. I think I've decided that I'd rather get orders to go to Iraq this weekend than go another stupid week on edge. The Army Reserve would be great if it wasn't run my a bunch of farking idiots.
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Currently Not Giving A Single Crap What I'm Listening To

Midnight Ponderosa!

2007-01-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

I was going to go with "Late Night Ponders," but I decided that sounded too thoughtful. Though I have quite a few thoughts on my mind, it's certainly not to the point of making it sound so.. smart. Although, I don't say that to make it sound any less important. The first topic on my mind may be touchy for some, or just silly for others. However, I find it intriguing. Intriguing to the point of buying a book about it.

Ever read or hear about the ancient stories of the Hopi Native American tribes? If you have, and you've read the Bible as well, you probably noticed the striking similarity. I don't want to go into great detail yet, I want to wait until I have the book in my hands as a resource. From what I have read though, it's astonishing. It's to the point that I believe that, essentially, the Hopi tribe is Christian. Not at all the way we see Christianity though. Ever wonder about the people completely out of contact with the rest of the world? The ones that missionaries will probably never meet? I don't think that God would simply allow these people to die and go to hell without somehow giving them a chance.

The general idea for the Christian is that Christ is the one single way of salvation. I believe this is true. But let's say that one of these tribes believes in a "story" so identical to the Bible's that it could very well be the same story in different words. Parts of the story match events that are similar to things happening on the other side of the planet, no possible way for that information to reach them. I'm talking about even after the flood, so rule out the Pangea theory. I want to research this a lot more, but I'm beginning to believe that God spread His holy word in many ways other than the Bible. Am I saying that all religions work out to be Christianity? Goodness no. If you thought that for a second I either wasn't clear or you didn't read what I just typed.

The Hopi tribe speak of the ark, the flood, of a time similar to the tower of Babel (without the tower), a second coming of a saviour (generally speaking), the destruction of the world or the people due to evil (imbalance with nature = sin), not to mention several other bits of info. I really want to discover as much as I can about this. Every last bit I can salvage. I've always had a love for the Native American culture(s) and a great sadness for the cruel destruction that was brought on them. Me being a bit partial could cause me to read too much into this, but it's too intriguing to outright ignore.

At least for me...

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The second thing on my mind is marriage. Bam! Threw you a fast ball, do you like that?? No, I haven't asked Alicia; I haven't even asked her father yet. But we've been talking about it a lot recently. It's exciting and it's something that will happen eventually. Most everyone knows I was engaged for quite a while with another girl. I can admit it was quite the mistake. The fact is, I was under a lot of emotional pressure due to basic training and the fact that everyone in the Army was saying "ZOMG UR TTOLLY GOING 2 IRAWQ AFTUR BAYSIK!!11!98" For some reason, this caused my mind to think "well, if I'm going to go to war, I might as well be married." This is one of those big times in my life where I look around and think "what the heck was I thinking?" I was fooling myself.

Here is where these two very different stories come together. If it weren't for that experience, I wouldn't have met Alicia. Not only that, but I wouldn't have been able to understand what I would experience with Alicia. She made me respect women more (I already did, but trust me, after the previous 'relationship', I needed to relearn respect for women), and I realized what true love felt like. I realized that is the same love for family and friends that you truly care about, and even more. It is this undying emotion, almost tangible presence, in my heart that lets me know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I would go through death for this woman. More than that, I would go through the most excruciating pain for this woman. Of course, the day that we hopefully have children will be the day that she goes through the most excruciating pain for the joy of life.. gosh. You know, the thought of that nearly brings a tear to my eye.

So, though the mistake of my past has somewhat scarred my record, and will more than likely seed doubt amongst my friends and family about the seriousness of our marriage, I have no doubts in my heart. Now I have to gather up all that courage and bundle it into a conversation with her Dad. No comment, the expression on my face (that I know you can't see right now) tells it all. For those that know me well, the big vein is popping out of my forehead. :)
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Currently Listening To: Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Plans - 2005

Oh yeah, ZOMG ITZ 2007!!!1 WTF?!

Two Boxing: Know What I Mean?

2007-01-01T01:55:00.000-08:00

Why? Well, when you spend 23,000,000 ISK on a new Battlecruiser (the Amarrian Prophecy), it's just required. Hah, the purchase brought my funds down to a light 12 mil. Holding two accounts in an MMO is nuts. It's nuts enough to pay $15/month for a fun game, but to pay $30 to play the same game with two characters seems really silly. Oh no, it's not completely silly. It *seems* silly since there are other options to pay for game time. Word on the Corp channel is that 300 million ISK will buy a month (maybe two) of game time. The market shifts, but with two characters (once I get my skills developed on my new Gallente alt, "Pew'Pew") millions of ISK will come easy while still allowing for "fun" time. For 90 days of game time, it's about a billion or so ISK. It's funny that someone would pay that much for a game time card then trade it for ISK, but there are a bunch of rich 30+ year olds playing this game. Go figure. So yeah, I'm silly. Here's a fresh pic of my brand new Battlecruiser!

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Currently Listening To: Smile Empty Soul - Refill Me - Anxiety - 2005

Another Game?

2006-12-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true. I've already racked in about 15 hours or more into Oblivion. I went ahead and paid the $17 for all of the official plug-ins and have been enjoying them. My character was bit by a vampire, but instead of ridding myself of the disease, I've been playing it out. It's great, though if I don't feed enough I can't walk in the sun without getting major damage. Plus I'm incredibly weak against fire. Aside from Vampirism, I am a thief in the thieve's guild. Now that is a lot of fun. Picking locks, sneaking around, pickpocketing shop keys from the owners so I can raid their warez late at night. It's good. Not much else to say. I have yet to actually do any of the quests that pertain to the main story. The "side" quests are great fun and offer a really nice amount of depth. The HDR works great, the weather is enchanting, and it's a very nice game. Although, the Radiant AI system is a little.. off.

Anyway, this offers a great distraction while Alicia is out of town and I'm reaching more and more skills in EVE that require 1 day or more to train. Set the skill, check the time, play Oblivion. Hehe.. good fun.
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Oh, Steven, it's cool about not seeing you this Christmas. That's the same reason we didn't go to Clarksville. We didn't want to get anyone over there sick. :( It sucked, but oh well, it happens I suppose. I'm still coughing a bit, but much better. I really enjoyed your blog post about capital punishment, as I do 99% of your posts. :) I wish Blogger had a comment reply option...
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Currently Listening To: Paul Gilbert - Lay Off The Morphine - Gilbert Hotel - 2003

Currently Playing: EVE: Online - Mining in new mining barge, will pay for new Battlecruiser!

Currently Reading: Band of Brothers, Stephen E. Ambrose

Why?

2006-12-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

I was doing a (horrible) mission in EVE where I had to go out to Deadspace and kill a pirate. Well, the pirate was protected by 3 guards in battleships... armed with heavy missiles. Needless to say I worked on this mission this morning for 20 minutes, and then after work for 30 minutes. Very difficult, but gave a lot of ISK and loyalty points (yay for level 2 missions). As I was looting and salvaging the wrecks, I noticed something unusual in my overview. It simply said "sign" . I looked at it to get a closer view and took the above screenshot. I looked at the description and all it said was "why?"
Why indeed...

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Currently Listening To: Nine Inch Nails - I Do Not Want This - The Downward Spiral [Deluxe Edition (Remastered)] - 1994

The Fat Man

2006-12-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

Mining and hauling are two important parts of EVE. It's completely possible to go through EVE and never mine a single asteroid. But the ISK from selling ore and the value of these materials for production make it something that nearly everyone in EVE does from time to time. This ship, an Amarrian Industrial class, has enough space to transport a packaged destroyer (and possibly a cruiser with some expanded cargo hold modules). I trained up the skills and bought it for two reasons. The first is so I could transport the majority of my assets to another region, something closer to 0.5 sec space. The second reason was to put a mining turret in its single turret hardpoint for AFK mining. This is certainly not the most profitable way to mine, not even with a Miner II. Since I'd rather chat, surf, or read while mining, I venture to safe 0.9 space and mine asteroid after asteroid until all 5,000+ m3 of my cargohold is taken up. This keeps me in good terms with Alicia too.. hehehe.
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Well, I had a good Christmas even though we didn't go to Clarksville. We were all still feeling a bit exhausted, and those of us that were coughing didn't want Mamaw and Papaw to get sick. Next weekend we'll be going to Clarksville, and I can't wait. I miss the family.. so much. I don't like the fact that we've always lived so far from our relatives. But I suppose it could be worse. Yesterday was an exercise in not doing a darn thing! I stayed in pajamas and didn't even taken a shower. Oh yeah!

Alicia called last night, thus completing the greatness of the day. I was so excited to talk to her that I left my Catalyst destroyer class in a 0.5 asteroid belt... hehe, it didn't take long for me to realize what I had done and run back to the computer. As expected, some NPC rats had spawned and nothing was left of my ship besides a few items in the cargo hold and some metal scraps that later sold for 104 ISK. I laughed about it and resumed my conversation with Alicia uninterrupted. What's really exciting is that today is eleven months for us! So close to a year, I can't believe it. More than likely, I'll be in Iraq for our two year mark, but that's okay. A year goes by so fast, it'll be fine. Even better, that'll probably pay for a small house.

Life is good.
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Currently Listening To: Third Day - Your Love Oh Lord - Offerings: A Worship Album - 2001

More From EVE

2006-12-24T16:17:00.000-08:00

This is my Navitas Gallente Frigate. Small, with two turret points, and a small cargo hold. I use this when I "jetcanned" mining loads to be picked up my my Bestower. It's a common task in EVE and this is a common ship for it. Nothing special about this frigate, and this is a shot of it 8 jumps away from my usual mining/ratting/mission constellation. I used it to pick up my brand spanking new Amarrian Arbitrator Cruiser, shown below. It can hold several drones, has a pretty good cargo hold, and (best of all) a launcher hardpoint for missiles! The drawback is that it has only two turret hardpoints, so no salvager turret on this ship. No problem, I can come back around with my Destroyer and salvage. I looked up "Oblivion" in Japanese and, since EVE uses Unicode, I named my ship the Japanese characters for oblivion. Yep, this is my EVE post of the day. Hope you're not getting tired of it, I know I'm not.

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Currently Watching: Nine Inch Nails - Closure DVD converted to DivX

EVE: Analysis of a Battle: Basic

2006-12-24T00:47:00.000-08:00

Depending on the direction people take in EVE in regards to their skill points, combat can be quite regular. The most common combat situations for fresh pilots like myself would be through missions or "ratting" . Ratting is the killing of NPCs (Non-player Characters) that guard asteroid belts in lower security space (below 0.7). In the above shot, which you can click to enlarge, you see a minor battle between my ship at two rats. Due to the weapons being used, you really can't see shots being fired. However, you can plainly see my Energy Vampire draining the target ship's energy and adding it to my capacitors. Also present is the second rat apparently boosting something on the other ship. My assumption is a remote shield boost, or possibly armor repair.

Basic fight like this usually play out in a certain order, whether I'm hunting them from belt to belt or being ambushed while mining in a belt.

1. Target NPCs are noticed, I determine their strengths, ensure I have a clear route of escape and no player threats in general vicinity.

2. I choose the NPC closest to me and set my ship to Approach. As soon as I do that, I target the ships as soon as I am in targeting range (approx. 31km on my current ship).

3. I watch carefully for their speeds and distances, launch a combat drone if needed, and fire any long range weapons as soon as they are in range (both of my 125mm railguns can usually start glancing shots off their shields at about 11km).

4. Once targets are within 11km (assuming they don't keep me at range and fire from 12km, which I hate), I activate my midrange weapons, the 75mm railguns. I take any maneuver's necessary to stay at optimal range according to signal ratio, tracking, and falloff. If target is within 5500m, I activate the vamp module to keep energy up.

5. If shields begin to drop below 30%, I activate the medium shield booster placed in my ships med. power slot. This drains energy fast, but can save me from costly repairs, not to mention the pain of losing a ship. My second medium slot module is a capacitor booster. I can load this module with capacitor refills and boost some energy back into the main capacitor. Ship saving for sure. If all else fails, I bail out, warping to a starbase to dock.

6. When I hear the satisfying "boom(s)" , I loot the wrecks, salvage what I can, and go about my business.

All of this in a matter of a couple minutes (sometimes less), though I've had battles against 10 or so rats that lasted several, looong minutes and cost me a good bit of armor. This is only a small fraction of the strategy in EVE. If you happen to read this and play EVE, feel free to give your own story/strategy. Just don't bash my play style, I'm still learning. Next, the story of a thief getting what he deserves! Goodnight and merry Christmas!!!

Also...
I love you and miss you Alicia!
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Currently Listening To: Opeth - Drige For November - Blackwater Park - 2001

An EVE Sunrise

2006-12-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

Warning: I'm still on medicine and it's still difficult to think and type, probably more grammar errors than usual in this post.
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No, of course the sun doesn't rise in space. But I took this shot this morning in EVE (hey, this is substituting nicely while I'm too sick to go out in the cold air with my camera). I'm not going to go into detail about this since I've blogged so much about EVE recently. However, EVE posts are going to become quite common. It's just that cool. Eh.. I'm dizzy again. I'm sick of being sick. >.<
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Currently Listening To: Paul Gilbert - Dreamed Victoria - Alligator Farm - 2000

Late Night Drugged Geek Goodness

2006-12-23T01:00:00.000-08:00

An example, however poor it may be, of a possible series of images featuring my ships in EVE. I consider this one poor due to the large "Silvery Omber" asteroid behind my ship. And Balle isn't exactly the coolest looking system I've seen. Either way, this is my Destroyer class ship of the Gallente Federation. I named it Détruisez since that is the French word for "Destroy" . Why French? (Prepare for supreme geekdom) EVE lore states that the Gallenteans are descendants the French, so the choice in naming was obvious. Yes, there are pages upon pages of EVE lore.. and even more in the EVE magazine "E-ON" . Speaking of E-ON, what a great rag! Few magazines have impressed me. Shutterbug, PC Gamer, and E-ON are currently at the top of my list for writing and presentation. Not like I'm a great judge of that.. especially as this dose of cough syrup begins to set in.. and it's 3:30 AM... ?!?! Whoa, how did it get so late. I'm going to sleep.
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Currently Listening To: Prince - Automatic - 1999 - 1983

My Opinion: SiN Episodes: Emergence

2006-12-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

SiN Episodes: Emergence
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This is a game I got off of Steam to help pass my time while I'm recovering. I had already read that it was fairly average and that it had scored just that in PC Gamer. But at $15, it was a good download. It was a choice between this and Prey. However, Prey is $50 for a non-boxed download. I think I can grab the boxed DVD for $40 by now... Either way, I'll get around to Prey eventually.

Upon first loading the game, I could tell that the developers were at least putting a great deal of effort towards the presentation. There was a theme song complete with words and a decent sound, swift menu setup, and an easy to understand difficulty metering system. Once I start a new game, I'm greeted by... enormous breasts? No, not bare breasts, just plain daggum enormous breasts. Unnaturally large breasts. Unlike most males, I care not for large breasts.. especially when they are made of polygons and well mapped, high resolution textures.

The opening dialog leaves the main character, Blade, being injected with an unknown substance by the busty villain. Blah, blah, blah, sidekick comes in, blows crap up, and the story is fairly thin. I didn't really expect it to be on the same level as FEAR or Half-Life in terms of story quality. It's challenging, fast paced, and frustrating. Not always a mad sort of frustrating. Usually I'd fall to the ground dead and just wonder "was my health really that low?"

The dynamic challenge metering is pretty vicious. One minute you're dropping bodies like it's body dropping day, and the next you're getting dropped by a mob of three minigun soldiers. Reload last save and it might be just one minigun soldier. Reload again (if you die to just one too) and it just may be a couple of standard soldiers. There is no variety to speak of. There are soldiers with no armor, soldiers with a little armor, and soldiers with a lot of armor and a minigun. One grenade type and three weapons (pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle). Though limited, it proves to be fun at times. The physics are tweaked to be a bit closer to an animated action movie, with shotgun blasts throwing enemies into walls and objects. Cool stuff.

All in all, it's far too short. I had this beat in 3 hours. That's all. Would've been less than that had the challenge metering not flipped out on me. If this episode had been about 4 hours longer and a lot more variety in weaponry and enemies, it would've been great fun. By the standards of my opinion, I give this a sub-average rating of 60%.

Good: Fast paced action, good sense of things going boom.

Bad: Grab the nearest piece of paper and analyze its depth. Yes, the plot equals the depth of paper.

Ugly: Crude in the way that the villain enjoys wearing shirts far too small for here planet sized globes.
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Currently Listening To: Evanescence - I Must Be Dreaming - Not For Your Ears - 2003

Acute Bronchitis

2006-12-21T10:36:00.000-08:00

Taken at Wal-Mart about a year ago or so. Though it is funny, I can't help but find it a little creepy.

Went to the doctor today.. got an excuse for work that says I can't work until the 26th. Ugh.. I'm going to take up that offer as much as I hate to. I'm miserable. I honestly didn't expect acute bronchitis, but I guess I should have expected something was amiss when I coughed out blood. Bleh.. Anyway, I'm feeling a little better, but I think that's because I am currently swimming through the air around me. Or at least it feels that way thanks to the cough medicine (strong stuff).

What will I occupy my time with? Photos are out of the question, even though I am finally feeling more creative, I don't think the cool, moist air is good for my illness. Photoshop? Yeah, I've got some ideas and a fresh spark of interest in fark.com

And wtf.. I can never get the links right in Blogger. Always wants to continue the link unless I paragraph down. Anyway, I also plan on doing a little PvP on Nathan's 60 Rogue (he requested the help, I agreed), read more of the Band of Brothers book, play more EVE, and hopefully finish Company of Heroes. So how is Company of Heroes now that my interest has waned ever so slightly? Great. I never get tired of watching choke points get utterly decimated (especially by some well placed mortar attacks). I don't think I'll be joining in on anymore multiplayer games though.. for some reason, even the lowest of ranks online are vicious RTS pros. This would be a great challenge.. if I were any challenge myself. However, I'm am certainly of no challenge to these 1337 d00dz, regardless of playing the single-player campaign on medium instead of easy.

Whoa...... and now begins the spinning. Goodnight everyone, I think 1:00 pm is my new bedtime.
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Currently Listening To: Muse - Thoughts of a Dying Atheist - Absolution - 2003

My Illness: An Update

2006-12-21T05:29:00.000-08:00

I am currently coughing up dark green stuff as well as trace amounts of blood. At first I suspected that the blood was from my nose, but my nose hasn't been dry and no blood is coming out when I blow my nose. That's when I can actually blow my nose. I'm stuck with a very dry mouth and absolutely no way to breath through my nose. Going to the doc today, I'm hating the fact that I'm missing another day of work, but my goodness.. I can't imagine working like this. Besides, I don't think the customers want to hear constant coughing, especially with this junk coming out.
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Currently Listening To: Sick Puppies - Deliverance - Headphone Injuries EP - 2006
(This is one of the best new bands I've heard in a while)

Down With The Sickness

2006-12-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Oh Steven, the fun we had. Now here is an old pic... lol.
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Today, I am off work. This is only the second time I have ever called in to work. I've worked with a fever, sick to my stomach, aching all over. So to say that I am sick today is to say that I am half-dead. A fever of 102, full body aches, occasional coughing with a dash of yellow substance coming out, headache, rough voice, and general nausea (without vomit action). To much info? Yeah, I thought so.

I'm waiting for the coffee to get done and taking breaks from sitting down as that hurts like mad. Well.. everything hurts like mad. Gah.. I don't know, I'm just getting confused now. But it's okay, I haven't blogged in a while. I really wish that I could have one of those interesting blogs that people favorite and read, but I simply don't have that sort of life. Not yet anyway. ;) Hopefully I can access blogger while I'm in Iraq and make some good posts. But that's doubtful too since our maintenance unit won't really see much of anything. Sigh.. maybe I'll get some cool shots (the picture type, though I will get some shots before going overseas, but not the drink type.. you know.. crap! The medical shots!)

This is really difficult. The only medicine I've taken was two Advils. Ehhhh.. goodnight.
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Currently Listening To: Frédéric Chopin - Chopin: Prelude No. 15 in D-flat, Op. 28 No. 15, 'Raindrop' - The Masterpiece Collection: Frédéric Chopin

Upside Down Angles

2006-12-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

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Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): None
Flash: None
Shutter Speed: 1/30th of a second
F/number (aperture): f/3.5
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 18mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, unsharp mask.

TGTBATU: EVE

2006-12-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

EVE Online, the amazing MMO that laughs at such a restrictive genre naming like "RPG" . This is the MMOLife that allows you to live the future version of yourself in space.

The Good: Never, ever, ever max out your skills. It's impossible. You may have been playing since Tranquility first started, but with all of the skills and the time it takes to train them (on or offline!), not to mention the ones CCP adds, it's impossible to hit any sort of "level cap" . Enormous universe, average of about 30,000 players on at the same time during peaks (I usually see 28k + on a weekday afternoon), player controlled market and corporations, and I can focus on conversations with Alicia while playing. Har! The pleasure of knowing that CCP is using every bit of that $15/month for improvements and maintenance. Well, not every bit, but a large portion!

The Bad: Uh... I don't know. I honestly can't think of one thing that bothers me.

The Ugly: The 6.8 million ISK in my game wallet isn't real, nor is the galaxy. Sigh.. but wow, they sure do an excellent job of making it all seem real.
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Currently Listening To: Nobou Uematsu - Materia - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - 2006

Insight

2006-12-12T23:16:00.000-08:00

Why is there nothing recent here?
1. I am lazy.
2. I'm still in a rut of sorts.
3. Christmas with Alicia's family went so well, I don't even know how to start talking about it.
4. Not that much new stuff is going on.
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Currently Listening To: Cat Power - Love & Communication - The Greatest - 2006

EVE: Revelations & the WoW Patch

2006-12-05T05:08:00.000-08:00

Taken using 350D + Yashinon 50mm.
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Currently all of the WoW servers are down, as well as the one (huge) EVE Online cluster. Normal, scheduled maintenance. This is where WoW shakes all of that lag experienced after the weekend hustle, and where EVE introduces another one of its many patches. Usually, I look forward to seeing what my new honor rank when the WoW servers come online. But today's patch, for some insane reason, completely ditches the ranked honor system. Instead, honor is earned like currency, to be spent on honor items (like weapons, armor, potions). I don't like this as it takes away from the competitive aspect of the old honor system. The climb to the top was difficult, but rewarding. Now I'll never experience what it's like to obtain the Warlord set and be the only one on the server with it (until someone else inevitably achieves Warlord). But as I type this, I realize the fault of that statement. Botters. There are programs out there that are so sophisticated, that they actually can play a battleground for you and go undetected by WoW's sniffer. Not that they will rack in honor kills or capture any flags, but the ability to do BGs 24/7 make it possible to constantly drag in even small amounts of honor. Supposedly, the new system will fix that.

As for EVE, CCP has done an amazing job at keeping this game live and active. It is currently impossible to ever learn all of the skills available. The longest skill time on my current tree takes 14 days, 10 hours, 32 minutes to learn (it learns while offline). Farmers? Pfftt.. player-controlled megacorps are beating them out of stuff daily. Not to mention that groups of space pirates (again, player-controlled) are quickly able to shift the farm activity by precise strikes. Of course, as I loaded up my old character last night, Mallikan, I realized just how daunting the learning curve is. The first tutorial takes about an hour or more. I happen to remember enough to get around and work with my ship. It'll take me a little time to get back to my combat frigate though. I can't wait!
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Currently Listening To: Dream Theater - Honor Thy Father - Train of Thought - 2003

Slump

2006-12-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

Jessica, Alicia's sister, caught in a dramatic moment by my 350D using the Yashinon 50mm.

I'm in a dirty, boring, dull slump. The yucky sort of slump. I don't feel healthy and I'm getting stressed a whole lot more than what's normal. Partly it's because I have yet to receive my bonus from the Army, and partly because I am, simply put, an antisocial person. There are times that I enjoy talking to people and being around people. But a lot of times where I simply don't even want to talk to anyone. Alicia usually says I'm "grumpy" when I'm like this, and I suppose I come across that way. Trying to be social in a time like this is difficult and not exactly rewarding. It usually ends up with me not acting at all like myself (or how people that have known me for a long time expect me to act, and that's ok).

I've thought that thinking for a while I trying to find what was causing me to feel this way would help fix the situation. After all, if you know what the problem is, it's simply determination and the want for change that leads to a resolve, right? Not so in this case. I know that it will pass with time, but I also know that it will come back with time. Is this some sort of necessary feeling my mind produces in order for me to do certain things? To change different aspects of my life? Or is this an automatic, recurring boredom that strikes and I choose to change what I'm doing. Yes, these thoughts are still very mixed up, and I don't expect to make much sense at all or pay any attention to grammar.

I am emotionally drained to the point that I have no creativity. I can appreciate art but not make it. I look at my camera no sparks fly. I see a possible photo opportunity and don't take it because I know there is no way I could take it and it be good. Given up? Certainly not! I love photography. This is my reboot I think. This is how I'm able to keep going. This is how I refresh myself instead of breaking down. I drain every last bit of emotion and energy into the air around me and at some point wake up restored. Strange? Of course, do you know me any other way? I thought not.

As for what is currently going on in my life, it's not much, but still great. For one, Alicia and I are still going strong. This is great considering that previous relationships that have gone this far were hardly going this well, if even going well. She's wonderful and I'm so proud of her. Vinsten (my WoW char) is level 53 now with 3 pieces of my Tier 0 Dreadmist set, though I'm getting quite angry with the disgusting number of farmers and botters present. C'mon Blizzard, we pay far too much for this crap. We should also get the expansion for free. I got a raise at work, which is great! Furthering my move to a management position. The Army blows. The government wants you to risk your life for $5/hour, and lie to you about a large bonus. Going to take serious legal action if one more month goes by. My car is almost at 198,000 miles and still running like new.. Obviously Toyota spent all the money saved on their cheap glass by making an outstanding 4-cylinder engine. Go figure. I'm downloading the EVE Online installer since that game rules so much more than WoW ever will.
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Currently Listening To: Whitesnake - Hungry For Love - Here I go Again: The Whitesnake Collection - 2002

(Thanks Steven!)

Lucky Me

2006-11-30T06:27:00.000-08:00

This isn't the first time I have counted the months of a relationship. This isn't even the longest relationship. But one thing is very clear, and also more important. This is absolutely the best relationship I have ever been in. She is everything I ever dreamed of when I thought of my dream girl, but even better! I love her. I never truly knew love before I met her.

Happy ten months, I love you!

The Late Shift

2006-11-10T00:16:00.000-08:00

It's 2:11 AM. I'm doing post work from a photo shoot with Joel for his graduation invitation pics. It was a lot of fun and is my very first photography job! Woo! That excites me a lot. I learned a lot.. and in processing these shots I'm learning a lot still. The photo shoot was done in RAW with a black sheet (thank you Joel!) for the background, Alicia holding a white poster board to bounce light off of my Vivitar flash head, and a stool. After the photos were put through CS2's RAW processing plug-in (v3.2), they were saved as 8-bit uncompressed TIFF's for processing through either NeatImage or directly into CS2. The reason I don't run all of them through NeatImage is a matter of how well it profiles a shot. Sometimes it won't get a full color channel and the results are blurred fine lines, dulled skin textures, or an effect only described as "plastic" . Not a real issue.

Joel made a great model, even though I could tell he was just as confused as me. I hadn't done nearly enough studying for this, and that was magnified by having such limited equipment. Alicia did a great job of watching where my flash was pointing and adjusting her poster board as necessary. I feel I did alright, though I certainly need to work on several things. This definitely boosted my confidence and has more or less convinced me that this is my calling in life. I love photography. Plain and simple.

Joel... I'll get these photos done soon. But for now, it's bed time! ;)
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Currently Listening To: Massive Attack - Daydreaming - Blue Lines - 1991

My Halloween With Alicia

2006-11-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

Alicia owned me (and this pumpkin) with her carving skillz.

This is so late.. Sorry Alicia! There is no good reason why this is late. I get lazy from time to time, especially when occupied by awesome games like Company of Heroes, great jobs like B. Marcum's, and an amazing girlfriend like Alicia. However late this is, the truth is that I had a blast Halloween night. No trick or treating, no crazy pranks. In fact, if it weren't for Alicia, it would've been just another night at home. I was even sick with a fever, even more reason to stay home. But as I saw how bored my Alicia had become (probably wishing she was doing something for Halloween), I decided something had to happen.
Using the film simulating plug-in again.. I love it! Mmm.. film grain.

We got to talking and she found out that I had never carved a pumpkin before. Probably something to do with mom never trusting me with a real knife... Anyway, we struck a deal that, if she drove to Wal-Mart, I would buy the pumpkins and we would carve them. Afterwards we roasted the seeds.. but they were done wrong and really weren't good for much more than 600% of the daily value of fiber. Bleh!Taken in the dark with my flash in the vertical position.

The carving was a lot of fun. She did something traditional (and ultimately much better than mine) and I tried to be over artistic and do a line carving of a cat. Fun was had, fever was lowered, homework remained undone for longer, and it was totally worth it. Good times. Thanks Alicia for a great Halloween!
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Currently Listening To: 崎元仁 - 暗雲 (帝国バージョン) - FINAL FANTASY XII Original Soundtrack - 2006

By Alicia

2006-11-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

Patrick wanted me to write a blog. I don't have anything to write about. I might be able to write something if there wasn't the pressure to write a blog post in thirty minutes.

So for those of you that don't know, Nathan got sick and made Patrick sick. I don't think he did it on purpose though. So Patrick hasn't been felling well. I'm not quite sure what it is he is sick with (he will have to give the details later) but he's been between 90-60% a lot. Hopefully he starts to feel better soon.

Also, someone told me today that I can't wear my orange and black earrings anymore because it is no longer Halloween. I told him that I wore them before Halloween and it wasn't a problem. If I want to celebrate Halloween longer than everyone else, I can. So if anyone reading this would like to keep on celebrating Halloween, go right ahead, it's perfectly fine.

(Patrick will also be posting a Halloween blog with pictures of the pumpkins we carved, so that gives us all something to look forward to.)

Everyone have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend!

Fresh Windows FTW

2006-11-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

This is a quick redo of my photo "Windbrushes" using the Exposure plug-in. The setting is one of the many setting files they released after the plug-in release. "Polaroid - Grain On." I love the subdued colors, fine grain, and abnormal tinting. For those wondering when polaroid ever looked this good, it didn't. But it's fairly accurate to the high end polaroid films still floating around today.

I am enjoying a nice, clean, fresh installation of Windows XP. I never realized how bloated my previous install had become. I forgot all about the 15 second or less boot times and the joy of seeing over a hundred gigabytes of memory just waiting to be demolished by my games and music. And that is exactly what I'm doing right now. Wanna know how long it takes to move 74 GB's over a home network connection (10/100)? With me doing small things here and there and Nathan playing WoW, 183 minutes. WoW hardly effects the situation as it's not hard disk intensive (at least not on a 1 GB machine like mom's) and doesn't effect the net too much since I can play CS:S with a 50-60ms ping.
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Currently Listening To: Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds - With Teeth DVD-A 5.1 - 2005

Format!

2006-11-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

Rebecca striking a pose because she's a camera hog.

It's format time! I mean everything. I'm using a good 74 GB of mom's HD for my music backup and my E:\ partition for the rest. This time around I'm not installing windows on a 7 GB partition (too cramped) and I'm not ever going to install Windows Vista RC1 again. I think if I partition 10 GB out of my 160 GB, that will be plenty for the Windows install. Then I can merge the C:\ and E:\ back and use that drive for storage. My music will still have to stay on my main because of size, and games for the ever so slight difference of ATA100 compared to ATA133. Judging from the disk space my pictures are taking up, I'm going to have to purchase a large hard drive pretty soon. Anyway, I'll be back online shortly.
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Currently Listening To: Five Iron Frenzy - Get Your Riot Gear - Quantity is Job One

I Miss Film

2006-10-30T19:52:00.000-08:00

Shot using Alien Skin's Exposure. A plug-in that simulates tons of different films and settings. This simulates the legendary Ilford HP5 Plus 400 (pushed 1-stop). I really like the program's interpretation of this film. Judging from the shots I've seen using the real life counterpart, this is pretty accurate.

Or more specifically manual film SLR's. I noticed this today when I was having trouble figuring the manual settings on my 350D. Using a dial clicker and a button is a boring way to set shutter and exposure. Not only that, but there is no way to turn off the light meter. Part of the magic of my film SLR's was the fact that neither of their light meters worked (well anyway). When I got a shot that was just the right exposure, it was something to be proud of because I accurately calculated the exposure in my head while looking at the scene. When I got it wrong, there was something to correct.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Rebel. It's become a part of my vision, as did the Yashica. It's got a lot of great features and the lens options are outstanding. I can't help but miss the options of film. Knowing that the choice in film either made a shot or broke a shot. Too much grain or too little. Fine details or details lost among the tones. Even toning or hard contrast. It wasn't just point, compose, expose, post process. It was a mystery with an added confidence that "I got this right without a doubt." Well, sometimes.

Will I "go back" to film? Not necessarily. However, I either want to fix one of my film SLR's or purchase a cheap fully manual SLR (in the flavor of M42 mount or the old Minolta mount system). If I never get a great shot or a popular shot out of a film camera, at least I stay brushed up on my scene exposing skill. Something I feel I'm losing by using a camera that automates so much of what I enjoy.

Just thinking.
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Currently Listening To: A Perfect Circle - Blue - Thirteenth Step - 2003

Windows Vista RC1: Round Two

2006-10-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

Pro: Dual-boot works without a hitch, however, there are minor glitches with shortcuts and the "old.Windows" folder.

Con: Simply shutting down Vista takes about one full minute.

I was very worried about what would happen when I restarted and booted the old WinXP install. Worried that that install would no longer work. I was worried for no reason though as the only problems encountered are iTunes 6 complaining about a bad install (but working fine), Firefox taking a second longer to load up (oh boo hoo), and shortcut images going blank.

Just a couple updates about Vista RC1...

The install is a whopping 5.5 GB! WHOA! No wonder the DVD ISO was 4 GB.

nVidia's graphics options are nearly impossible to get into. Once I do, I have to get around the silly menu made up for it. This is an nVidia issue, but it'd still be nice for Vista to offer the options on the display options tab instead of being hidden in the control panel.

The application protection program is highly annoying. When any program is run (even some of the Windows internals), it asks the same "Allow" or "Do Not Allow" questions as the firewall. While I can see why this is good to an extent, it's also very silly for experienced users. But, that's why they included the option of disabling it (which makes the security manager go red).

Next do benchmarks and game tests. I'm curious to see if the 64-bit code will have an effect on my system's performance. Most benchmarks I've seen show slightly decreased performance in games by using 64-bit. We shall see.
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Currently Listening To: A Perfect Circle - People Are People - eMOTIVe - 2004

Windows Vista RC1

2006-10-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

It's hard to say exactly how I feel about Vista RC1. On one hand, it's got a ton of great features, is very slick, and looks daggum pretty. Especially in motion. I haven't had any real compatibility problems (even the beta X-fi drivers are working great). One big downside I'd like to mention though... restarting takes roughly two minutes on my machine. Two freaking minutes. Compared to the 30 seconds or less of WinXP. However, this is just a beta, so I can't really complain too much. Perhaps all of this will be worked out. Another plus: iTunes 7 runs without a hitch. Go figure..
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Currently Listening To: Massive Attack - Angel - Mezzanine - 1998

Wut?

2006-10-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

Haha, my mom is funny and she doesn't even know it. I really love how cross processing this shot really brings out mom's blue eyes. When I did the solid color muliply layer of yellow, I nudged it more towards the green than usual. I felt it rounded out the skin tones better and made everything else pop. Mom would kill me if she saw this, but I see it as fair for not reading my blog. ;) lololol
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-Technical Junk IN YOUR FACE-

(wondering when the "your mom" joke will sprout from that title)

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): None
Flash: Vivitar 2000, overhead bounce.
Shutter Speed: 1/50th of a second
F/number (aperture): f/6.3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 54mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, unsharp mask, cross-processed (E6 to C-41), framed.

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Currently Listening To: Third Day - Your Love Endures - Conspiracy No. 5 - 1997

Vivitar 2000 Flash Unit

2006-10-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

When Pawpaw gave me his Minolta film SLR, he also gave me this Vivitar flash. The batteries in it were old and I never though to replace the four inexpensive AA's. Well, this morning I did. I turned it on and heard the high pitched sound of the unit charging. When the orange light came on, I started popping off shots on my 350D. The 350D didn't compensate for the flash as it didn't detect it. But it didn't take much for me to find the right timings in manual mode. It's remarkable how much of a difference a "bounced" flash can make. This unit won't turn left or right, but the flash head will tilt up and straight. By pointing the unit up, I can bounce light off of the ceiling, thus illuminating things in a much more natural looking light. There is no soft diffuser on this unit, but I plan on getting one as the head on flash is powerful.

This is (of course) me in my sexy work shirt. This is a very unremarkable bathroom mirror shot. However, there is much more to this than initially meets the eye. If you'll notice, the flash head is pointed up, thus bouncing light back down onto me. Not only that, but I'm holding this expensive camera with one hand very dangerously over a hard, hard floor... crap.. okay, that has nothing to do with the photo, just noticing. Anyway, the thing that stands out about this shot is the fact that it was taken in the bathroom with the light off.. and the door closed. Yes, there was no ambient light in the room, at least not a visible amount. Want proof? How about a close-up of my (weird looking) dilated pupils?

Yep, this is a decent flash. These shots were taken at 1/15th of a second with an aperture of 6.3f. ISO was 100.
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Currently Listening To: Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) - The Wall - 1979

Otherworld

2006-10-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Praying Mantis are one of the strangest creatures on earth. The little black dots for eyes, the creepy form of their bodies, and their unusual behaviour. I tried to capture all of that in this shot. I chose not to relocate the mantis to a more natural location, as our electrical meter box provided a more alienated look.
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-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): None
Shutter Speed: 1/125th of a second
F/number (aperture): f/8.0
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 55mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, levels, unsharp mask, cross-process, framed.

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Currently Listening To: Institute - Secrets and Lies - Distort Yourself - 2005

9,000

2006-10-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

Yes!!! Finally, nine-thousand pageviews on deviantART! Bwahahahahaaa!
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Currently Listening To: Lifehouse - Walking Away - Lifehouse - 2005

Deserved

2006-10-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Congressman Ed Whitfield and Col. Boggess of the Army Reserve, I finally get what I deserve for joining the military during wartime. After some jerk SSG screwed my contract and lied to me, it's good to see that SOMEONE in the Army gives a crap that I signed up. Even my Unit Admin didn't put an effort to help me out in my problem. He didn't contact a single fricking person. So with dad's help, I went higher. Much higher. Here is an excerpt of the letter I received today. The monetary values have been x'ed out, but the figure is correct.

"Private Potts is assigned to a unit within the 88th Regional Readiness Command. The Incentives Branch of this Headquarters reviewed Private Potts' contract and determined he is entitled to receive an $xxxx Non-Prior Service Enlistment Bonus, a $xxxx Quick Ship Bonus, the Student Loan Repayment Program up to $20,000, and the Montgomery GI Bill.

This Headquarters has authorized an exception policy for Private Potts to receive the bonus payment due to him. Private Potts' Unit Administrator will submit all required documentation to Fort McCoy Pay Center. Upon receipt, the Fort McCoy Pay Center will process his paperwork and Private Potts will receive payment within 4 to 6 weeks. His unit will monitor this action to ensure he receives payment."

It's about f'ing time. I will definately be writing a personal thank you to Congressman Whitfield, and he most certainly gains my vote.
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Currently Listening To: A Perfect Circle - Thinking of You - Mer de Noms - 2000

Sweet Molasses

2006-10-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

Mmmm! While I was in Wynne, AR, I picked up some delicious molasses. I even watched them make molasses the old fashioned way, very cool. Anyway, here is a biscuit with molasses drizzled all over it. I am certainly not posting this as a piece of art photography wise, as the true art here is the sweet golden goodness. Mmm... The only thing better than this on a biscuit is pure honey (with the comb in it).
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-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): None
Shutter Speed: 1.3 seconds
F/number (aperture): f/5.6
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, levels, unsharp mask, framed.
Custom Function: Mirror lockup. When this function is active, the mirror will lock up when I depressed the shutter button once. It will stay locked up until I hit the button again. At that time, the shutter will fire and the mirror will drop back down. This eliminates mirror vibration, thus keeping finer details intact. Essential for macro photography.

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Currently Listening To: Thomas Newman - Any Other Time - American Beauty Soundtrack - 1999

O M G! Bow & arrow skillz!

2006-10-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

We were having some bow & arrow fun at Alicia's today and WOW.. talk about some fun! I do believe I found yet another hobby. Oh, that picture up there? Yeah. I was the first to hit a bullseye. You know how many times I've shot a bow? Never, with the exception of today. Seriously. You should've seen the look on my face. I still can't believe I got it... Wow. I believe we were anywhere from 25 to 50 meters from the target. So not a super hard shot, but very difficult for a complete beginner like me. After that point, Jessica and I kept shooting for a while and that was a lot of fun. We were both getting pretty good at it.

More photos to come, I took 237 while I was in Memphis and Wynne, AR.
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Currently Listening To: Gary Moore - Devil In Her Heart - Out in the Fields - The Very Best of Gary Moore

X-Fi SCP Fix?

2006-10-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

A most unusual thing has happened. Somehow, I was able to uninstall every last bit of Creative data from the initial X-Fi install, and still be able to install the latest 2.9.1 driver. This is great because now my X-Fi actually works without crackling (for now), and instead of taking up 843 MB, it's only taking 732 KB. No bloated install, and no sluggish interface. How did this happen? I can only find two things wrong with this current setup. One, I cannot adjust my bass redirection. This would be a bad thing if I didn't know to tone down the Window's bass slider and up the sub slider on the speakers (not exactly a 200 Hz, 15 dB gain, but it keeps my tiny sat speakers from buzzing). The second problem is not being able to access the THX setup. I can setup everything else, but I can't adjust the speaker distance and angle compensation. Not that big of a deal though.

Currently, I can't really complain. It sounds as great as it did the first time around, possibly even better. I can still use CMSS-3D* and SVM** for my music, and quickly turn them off before a game. I stress tested the card last night with the demo for Quake 4. Why Quake 4? It uses OpenAL, something that sounds great while stressing every last feature of the card. There were about a dozen fixes for this game in one of the driver updates. Worked without a hitch. Never a pop, crackle, or unusual noise. If this is currently working like this, how come Creative's most recent update on fixing SCP is to use a motherboard other than an nForce4 chipset? Sorry Creative, I like my nTune, onboard gigabit ethernet (like I'll ever use it to full potential), and onboard raid abilities. OH, and I like money. Something that's required for buying a motherboard.
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*CMSS-3D: Upmixes 2 channel audio to either expand stereo or expand surround. It runs realtime in hardware making my 2ch music seem like it's 5.1ch music. Works great.

** SVM: You know how iTunes has volume management? Yeah, this is the same thing except in hardware. Real-time calculation of all audio passing through the sound card. This is great for playing games at night when everyone is in bed, or playing music at night.
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Currently LISTENING(!) To: Snow Patrol - Run - Final Staw - 2004

FEAR! Beat Again...

2006-10-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

(not original size)
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I beat fear again today. I've been playing it on hard and it was definately a challenge. Next I might try expert.. but that's going to be insanely difficult. As is playing Far Cry on its most difficult setting. Stupid Trigens.... >.<
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Currently Listening To: Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees (Acoustic)

Happy Halloween

2006-10-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

A Halloween themed shot for an early "happy halloween" . I'm not much for Halloween, but oh well.
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Currently Listening To: Rage Against The Machine - Born Of A Broken Man - Platinum Collection 2000

Photography! Part One

2006-10-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

Grats to Steven on your new camera! I understand that moving from a consumer point & shoot to a better equipped camera can mean a LOT of questions. Things that didn't really play a big part in a point and shoot camera can play a much larger part in a better camera. With my old A520, aperture was mainly ignored. It wasn't a telephoto lens, and with an aperture range of 2.6 - 8.0, it was mainly "set it to 2.6 for macro/portrait, and somewhere around 8.0 for landscapes." I don't know your complete knowledge of photography terms and such, but I'll try to start from the top of what I know and just go with it. Maybe there will be something useful in it all. OH! My grammar and spelling sucks.

1. ISO (also known as ASA or "film speed")

This is known by most that have ever touched a camera, whether it be a film or digital. The "speed" of the film or sensor is how fast the chemicals or sensor reacts to light. 50-200 is considered slow, where as 400-3200 is fast to extremely fast. Ever buy 400 ISO film for a camera? Sure, it does what it says and is great for indoor/outdoor photography. Ever get pictures that look like they have sand all over them? This is called grain and most are already familiar with this. For film, grain can sometimes add to an image and give it a certain desired look of being aged or stressed. However, digital's equivilent "noise" is rarely desired and can really ruin a great shot. For reducing digital noise, I'd recommend doing a google search for "Neat Image." This is an amazing program that actually uses your camera's uniquie noise signature and makes a profile for it. Anyway, the general rule is: the higher the speed, the more grain/noise, especially in low light.

1a: ISO "bloom"

Using a high ISO in non-low light requires a fast shutter speed and a small aperture. I've found that by using a high ISO with a wide aperture, but using an even faster shutter speed, light seems to "bloom" around its source(s). Sometimes an interesting effect can be achieved from this.

2. Shutter Speed

This is how fast the shutter opens and closes in the camera. My camera has the ability to click as fast as 1/4000th of a second or as slow as.. well.. as long as the battery will work. Without using a timer for the "bulb" setting, it goes as slow as 30 seconds. However, by setting it to "bulb" and using a timer, it is possible to hold a shutter open for an hour, sometimes more. This is how photographers grab photos of stars trailing across the sky. General rule: a fast shutter will "freeze" action, while a slow shutter will show the course of the action (motion blur). A tripod, or an extremely steady hand, are required for shutter speeds lower than 1/10th in my experience. Remember, if mounted on a tripod, even the motion of your finger hitting the shutter button can jar that first fraction of a second, causing a loss in detail. Use a timed shot!

3. Aperture

Inside every lens there is a diaphram. When purchasing a lens (in the case of SLR users like me), we tend to look for lenses with a very wide aperture for more versitility. The wider the aperture (say, 1.9f or stops), the more light is let in. However, the more light that is let in through this wider aperture, less detail is captured from the unfocused regions of the shot. This is called depth of field. One use of aperture is getting the full shot. If you want to focus on a foreground subject, like your mom, but also want to capture the distant beach behind her, simply set the aperture to a higher f number. The higher you set it, keep in mind that it will have a drastic effect on the amount of light going to the sensor/film. This is even more pronounced when using a telephoto zoom. Sometimes you simply don't have time to mess with aperture, set it to an aperture priority mode. This will allow you to set it to an f number in the middle, such as f/8, and the camera will choose the shutter speed for the scene. Very handy. Stacking is another fun thing to try with aperture. Say you see a row of.. fence posts. Zoom as much as you can and line up where you see the posts going down the row, seemingly right next to eachother. Set the aperture to a high value (f/11, f/16) and take the shot. If done just right, the posts will appear to be in the same field of focus. Fun trick for the eyes. Aperture is usually the most overlooked part of the lens, but it is very important. Want to turn water to silk? Use a tripod, set the ISO as low as it can go, set the aperture to a higher value, and use the slowest shutter speed you can for the metered scene.

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And so ends Part One. It's pretty lame and a bunch of stuff you already know, but hey, it can't hurt. If anything it's resparking my creative interest in photography.
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Currently Listening To: Michael Buble - The More I See You - It's Time - 2005

Quick 3DMarks

2006-10-12T00:09:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER 2006:
2.16 GHz 3000+, 400 MHz 1 GB, 7800 GT @ 495/1.13

3DM03: default - 15,799

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2.2 GHz 3700+, 400 MHz 1 GB, 7800 GT @ 495/1.13

3DM03: default - 16,117
3dM05: default - 7738
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2.6 GHz 3700+, 400 MHz 1 GB, 7800 GT @ 495/1.13

3DM01: 1152x/4x AA - 22,062
3DM03: default - 16,505
3DM05: default - 7827

Overclocked (of course!)

2006-10-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

It's an addiction, honestly. But paying for a 2.2 GHz CPU and then OC'ing it to 2.6 GHz on stock HSF is extremely fun. The stock voltage was 1.35v, which is very nice and all, but as I bumped it up, I obviously needed more. First, I set the HTT multiplier to 4x instead of 5x. The MCP really doesn't like to go beyond an HTT of 1000 MHz. Besides, there is no performance difference between950 MHz and 1000 MHz. Next, I set the memory to 166 MHz so that I wouldn't get memory errors. I wanted to see how far I could push the CPU, not the RAM. If I could get the CPU high enough stable, it would equal out close to the same speed anyhow. As I hit 2.5 GHz, I began getting Prime95 errors even though the temp was still in good range. So I bumped up the volts. At 2.58 GHz, I only needed 1.375v. Not that much of an increase really. However, the jump to 2.6 GHz was an interesting one. 1.375v didn't load windows, 1.40v gave errors in Prime95, but 1.45 was the money spot. Not only did I blaze through the Windows bootup, but Prime95 didn't give on single hiccup. The temps are a little high for my liking, but certainly not in a dangerous range. 45 degrees celsius is still safe, and that's what it capped at after 5 Prime95 CPU torture tests.

This does bring in the video card though. My video card is nicely OC'ed to a quick 495/1.13, with a load temp in the mid 60's celsius. Now, two very hot components can quickly raise the case ambient temp, and thus raise eachother higher and higher during an intense game of Battlefield 2 or something. Whether or not they will be able to rise enough to crash, I don't know yet. But I intend to find out. A new case is perhaps on the horizon. But I'll get my car insurance paid off first I think.. something about priorities. ;)
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Currently Listening To: My computer's fans whisping cool air across my totally awesome overclocked goodness.

Results

2006-10-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

--Yesterday--
A643000+ @ 2.16 GHz , 1 GB DDR3200, 7800 GT @ 495/1.13

3DMark03: default - 15,799
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--Today--
A643700+ @ 2.21 GHz, 1 GB DDR3200, 7800 GT @ 495/1.13

3DMark03: default - 16,117
--------------------------------------

Not only that, but FEAR played WONDERFUL. Better than I have ever seen it play. I never realized how much games and video skipped [on my 3000] until I got this proc. Great stuff. Not to mention, the processor temp has dropped more. Down to 32*C now under slight load, but that's still not where I want it.

The Burn

2006-10-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

I must say, I love watching a temp monitor during a CPU burn in. I ran Prime95 for a while on its CPU torture test to get all the AMD goop good and set. Sure, I would've used AS3 for thermal goop, but I didn't have any on hand and didn't think to order any. AMD goop isn't too awful anyway.

Anyhow, the test was fun. The CPU topped out at 48* C, that's pretty warm for a San Diego, being that its core voltage is only 1.35v. But then, even at 100% use, the temp began to fall until it settled at 41* C. I stopped the burn in and watched as it settled back down to 36*. My case temp is to blame when it comes to these higher temps. Hmmm.

Athlon64 3700+

2006-10-10T23:12:00.000-07:00

My current overclock with my A643000. This is up from 1.8 GHz. I could push it further by bumping up my voltage slightly, but it's not always stable given the temperature in my room.
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2.2 GHz, San Diego E6 core, 1 MB of L2 cache.
I've read about its overclocking potential online with both air cooling and water cooling.
Highest OC I've read of with stock air cooling: 2.8 GHz
Highest OC with Water: 3.2 GHz
Highest OC with Peltier cooling (insane): 3.42 GHz.

Tomorrow I get in my 3700+. I'll run it through the tests and such that anyone should before they OC a new processor. But afterwards we'll see what sort of OC I can get out of the stock cooling option. I'm hoping for 2.6 GHz given my computers highest ambient temp. Also, I'd like to add that the speeds do not compare with Intel Pentium 4's. A 3.2 GHz P4 is no where the same as a 3.2 Athlon64.

My reason for waiting on dual-core: I am buying this processor cheap before all the socket 939's are phased out. Currently, the 939 X2's are being phased out to the point of being very hard to find and expensive when found. I hear that the Windows XP key is tied to the computer's motherboard, so changing mobo and CPU would require a new key. Therefore, I'll be waiting until Vista (when I have to get a new key anyway) to purchase either an Intel Duo2 setup or an AMD AM2 setup. It all depends on price/performance/overclocking. This will give me time to save my money and get something decent. Or at least I hope so. ;)
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Currently Listening To: Nine Inch Nails - Closer - The Downward Spiral (Deluxe DVD-A in 5.1)

Heartbroken

2006-10-09T00:33:00.000-07:00

With no warning today, mom and dad gave away Winston. I didn't even get to express how much I cared for the cat so I could keep him, let alone say bye! I cannot put into words how much this upsets me. I honestly cried today. Yes, they gave him to good people, but that was my cat. And I loved that cat.

15,002 Songs

2006-10-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

Oh yes. It's true. I've cleaned up a bunch of music and I'm still breaking 15k. More to come actually... muhahaha! And I now have the new Skillet album. Finally. One day after Steven, and I pre-ordered the dang thing! Haha, good stuff. And Company of Heroes came in today.. oh my goodness. I can completely see why PC Gamer gave it a 96%. Game of the year, I'm calling it.
---
Currently Listening To: Dream Theater - Octavarium - Octavarium - 2005
(24 minutes of Dream Theater goodness.)

X-Fi Review

2006-10-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

Kaboom! Or something like that. Yes, after several hours of scratching my head, uninstalling drivers, reinstalling drivers, hitting random objects in the room, one blue screen, opening my computer, unhooking, hooking, unhooking again, and hooking again... I finally got my new x-fi working. And trust me, once I did, I was thinking that this better darn well be worth it!! Lucky for me, it totally was. The sound on my Audigy was good and I really didn't think I would notice that big of a difference moving to an x-fi. But the minute I heard the WinXP login chime, I knew this was much better. The highs were sharper, the lows were more defined and the mids were right where they should be. I immediately loaded up iTunes and starting playing some music while the x-fi control panel was up.

First I tried the "24-bit Crystalizer." This was something I was both excited and worried about. I mean, even though the processing power of the x-fi chip rivals that of a slightly older desktop processor, the idea that it could "up-mix" music in real time to 24-bit quality was something to laugh at. Until I actually turned it on. Without a single delay, without a split second of distortion, the audio became even more dynamic sounding. It's difficult for a audio-noob like me to explain, but it all seemed to.. punch more without being overblown (like the "sound enhancer" itunes offers).

The next "test" was for the hardware EQ (controlled by software of course) and the CMSS-3D. The hardware EQ reacts instantly to adjustments, with no hint of distortion. The presets available are accurate, but limited. As for CMSS-3D, it's neat to hear stereo music in "simulated" 5.1. Some sound actually do seem to travel from rear to front and from front to rear, while some simply stay in location. Vocals tend to come from the center channel more often than not. It's pretty impressive given that it's been a gimmick for such a long time. It's still a gimmick for the most part, but it will do until multi-channel audio becomes the norm.

In games I have noticed a slight increase in framerate, but a huge increase in quality and stability. I never realized how much my poor Audigy struggled with Advanced HD until now. Surround in soooo much better and far more believable. The whispers coming from random locations in FEAR are far more frightening. Which brings me to another thing... this has onboard DTS decoding as well as Dolby Digital. And that's not all.. oh no, this board is THX certified and completely customizable. I can adjust all of the THX settings for speaker distance, volume comp, and even the speaker's angle relative to the user! I totally give the x-fi two totally crooked thumbs up (and this isn't even one of the versions with onboard ram).(The other thumb is on the camera)
---
Currently Listening To: Nobou Uematsu - Divinity II - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - 2005

X-Fi

2006-10-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Winston. Picture was shot using the Yashinon-DS 50mm (from the old Yashica) using my 350D. Combination of a polarizing filter and the camera's internal B/W Yellow filter used to deepen detail and contrast. The lens is stuck wide open at f1.9, thus the shallow DOF* and swirling bokeh**.

Got the new soundcard in. I'm about to install it pretty soon. If I go away for a long, long time, I obviously did something terribly wrong.
---
Currently Listening To: The lack of audio drivers present on my PC.

* D.O.F. meaning "depth of field." Term for the range of focus on a lens according to the aperture used.
** Bokeh is a term given to the out of focus areas present in images. The more the colors "blob" and "smudge" together (sometimes swirling), the more "bokeh." If the out of focus area appears even and colors are still pretty well defined from eachother, the less bokeh. This is from my small understanding of Bokeh, for a better explanation, look it up on Wiki.

F.E.A.R. : Extraction Point (Demo)

2006-09-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

It is at this moment that I am scared beyond what I could have expected. As many of my friends know, I completed the game "F.E.A.R." over the course of one single night (in celebration of my 7800GT). There were many times that night that I thought about stopping, mainly because I was getting scared more than I wanted to be. Or at least that's what I thought. It was only after completing the game that I felt a certain relief, though that may have been because of the sun rising outside. During the course of the game, I was so troubled at points that I did not dare turn around and look behind me. Or even get up and flip the light on. Even though I knew it was "only a game," I was truly afraid!

That fear has been redefined. You know that feeling you get when you know something has gone horribly wrong? That sick feeling inside? Add that to chills up and down the spine and goose bumps rushing down your arms and you have the effect that this demo brought. If you click the image above, you'll see one of the enemies encountered during this (very) brief demo. As shown, it doesn't seem very frightening right? Okay, well imagine walking into a dark room only to see red lights and shadows moving around ever so faintly, suddenly they're behind you, next to you, in front of you. The way they move, the way they sound, and the way the rest of the game's ambience plays out, this is the most haunting moments I have ever experienced in a game. I typed this blog to try and rid myself of the chills and paranoia, but no such luck. I guess the only cure is killing more Nazis. But I am definately getting "Extraction Point." I might just have to play FEAR again soon...
Oh.. and the new minigun is awesome. Freakin' awesome.
---
Currently Listening To: Nothing... I have to listen for the shadows. o.O

Don't Touch Me

2006-09-28T22:22:00.001-07:00

Really.
---
Currently Listening To: The Cranberries - Zombie - No Need To Argue

Who Said I Was Addicted?

2006-09-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

Funny thing about being gone from home for a while combined with playing a really, really good game. It can make you do crazy things. Things like... Quit World of Warcraft. Again. Yes, I quit WoW. Why? Because I came home and logged in only to be bored. I took a step back and realized the futile goal of the game was the same nonsense with no sense of achievement. Add that to the fact that I've been playing the Company of Heroes demo ALL the time and it's pretty much a no brainer. When a demo is good enough to play all the time, it's good. It's really good.

I was worried that Nathan would be put off by my leaving, but then I realized he has made several friends in-game. And I sent him nearly all of my gold from both main chars (nearly 200g). Who could complain about that? So I just figured I'd inform everyone of my big life changing event. Hahahaha.. riiiight. It is good to actually get stuff done now.
---
Currently Listening To: CCP: Jon Hallur & Reynir - Modern Thinking - EVE Online Soundtrack - 2001

Alicia

2006-09-27T00:17:00.000-07:00

Happy eight months baby! The best eight months of my life. Thanks!

-Technical Stuff-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): None
Shutter Speed: 1/160 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/9
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 55mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, levels, saturation, color balance, border.

---
Currently Listening To: Muse - Stockholm Syndrome - Absolution - 2003

What's Going On

2006-09-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

---

Usually I say that there really isn't much going on in my life right now, but that would be far from the truth in this case. In fact, I think there's more going on right now that in any other point in my life. I'll start with the simple stuff and work my way up.

1. I adjusted the placement of my soundcard yesterday in hopes of alleviating the buzzing in the speakers whenever the graphics card had a heavy amount of processing. It fixed the problem (moving it the the bottom PCI slot), but now my right channel is gone regardless of any driver changes or audio output. How the right channel could go but not the left, I have no clue. Either way, I have replaced it with a new X-Fi off of Ebay. Got it for $45 cheaper than retail.

2. We had our range fire drill this past weekend. Since we're in the middle of unit transfer (from 281st to 733rd) we have no weapons or ammo. So how do we do range fire? The brand new simulators of course. Imagine screens a little less than half the size of theater screens. Then imagine replica M-16's dongled through an air powered system, to a computer, and with awesome sound. Now, with the simulator, there are dozens of training plans (range fire qualification, battle zero) and scenarios (room clearing, convoy ops, checkpoint ops, guard, reaction, the list goes on). The examples use videos of very realistic (but not) scenarios, such as a mob of angry locals walking up to the checkpoint throwing rocks. First reaction is "Hey! They're throwing rocks! I have a gun!" But trust me, that's the wrong answer.. hahah. Anyway, so when you think that you're not going to shoot and that it's not an issue, some guy slips out a gun and there is about 1 second of reaction time before he starts firing. After the firefight is over and the video stops, it shows you how many shots you fired, how many missed, and how many were lethal shots.

3. Our new 733rd 1st Sgt. has informed us that our unit's window of deployment is more than likely late 2007 to mid 2008. I am not worried about it, I have to be personally prepared for it otherwise I won't make it a month over there. Hehe.. But it's all good, we'd be supporting a unit from behind the lines. Of course, where the lines are in Iraq is a little screwy.

4. Today is 8 long months with Alicia! Woohoo!!! I love you baby.
---
Currently Listening To: BogusRed - Zelda 3 Into the Golden Sunset - http://www.ocremix.org - 2004

(remember that song at the end of The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past? Yeah, this is a beautiful piano version of it.)

Wind Brushes: For The Siege

2006-09-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

I hope this makes your day and keeps you smiling!
---
-The Tech Stuff-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): None
Shutter Speed: 1/200 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/11
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 41mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, levels, saturation, color balance, border.

Oh Yeah

2006-09-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that downloading iTunes 7 was the worst decision I've made in computers? It's almost dwarfing that time I installed Windows ME.
---
Currently Listening To: Nothing. Nothing at all thank's to Apple's weiner loving testing department.

TGTBATU: iTunes 7.0.0

2006-09-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

iTunes 7.0.0 : Latest version of Apple's popular music player and download service.

The Good: It downloaded fast.

The Bad: It sucks. Bad. Scratchy, skippy, audio glitches abound. Only plays audio through the left speaker.

The Ugly: Did they even test this?! They should've kept 6.0.5 as the current and offerent 7.0.0 as a RC or beta. Bad move Apple.

(For those of you who are ready to defend Apple and say "buy a mac," this has been reported on Mac systems as well. I have tried all the "fixes" out there and the only one that cleans up the scratches still has only 1 channel audio output. I wish WMP11 and WinAmp didn't suck so bad.)

Happy Birthday Joel!

2006-09-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Happy 21st birthday to Joel! He's 21 now. Dude. That's crazy. Leik, wtf we're growing up lol.
---
Currently Listening To: Eric Clapton - Old Love - Unplugged - 1992

Yes, He Will

2006-09-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

I have returned from my trip to Memphis with Alicia and Rebecca! It was filled with fun, good food, and a freezing cold Baptist church. Even though I had such a great time, I'm still pretty sad that Snow is gone. I am confident that he's going to have a much better time down there, but he's not here with me. Especially sad since he was so sweet and good during the car ride! He never once got really freaked out. Most of the time he was peeking around and purring. Interesting right? I know, it was fun nevertheless. Speaking of "nevertheless, " that seems like newspeak. Doubleplusgood.
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Currently Listening To: Evanescence - My Immortal - Anywhere But Home - 2004

Snow

2006-09-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

This is Snow. He is cute. And loving. Alicia and Rebecca are hopefully adopting this bundle of joy.. sigh. He's been trying to live behind my workplace for a little while now, I finally decided to grab him and "do the right thing." By "finally decided," I mean to say that I just noticed him today. Such a cute ball of fur! Pure white.

TGTBATU: World of Warcraft

2006-09-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

World of Warcraft, popular PC Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game.

The Good: Highly addictive, fun, excellent graphics and gameplay.

The Bad: Highly addictive, sometimes repetitive (but improving), really stupid people.

The Ugly: OMGWTFBBQ, Barrens Chat, n00bs, Alliance level 60's that must be completely retarded.

---
Currently Listening To: Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs - And All That Could Have Been - 2002

Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

My prayers go out to the friends and family of Steve Irwin.
---

Park Sunset v3

2006-08-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

One of those sunsets from Collierville. I added just a little bit of magenta to the midtones. If you couldn't already tell. ;-)
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-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Polarizing Filter
Shutter Speed: 1/4 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/29
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 25mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, levels, blended, saturation, color balance, dust cloning, border.

---
Currently Listening To: David Bowie - Diamond Dogs - Singles Collection Vol. 1 - 2000

2006-08-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hi. This is Alicia. I am the reason Patrick hasn't posted really anything lately. He has been pretty busy. So I am finally back in Martin and starting classes again Monday. The first couple days of classes are never fun, but luckily I have some friends in most of my classes which should help the situation. My younger sister is a freshman at Martin this year. WOO HOO! I am pretty excited about that (obviously). It will be nice having her around. Luckily she is tons of fun so Patrick and all my friends love her too.

I really feel like this would be a good spot to put a picture. First of all, I have none to put on here. Second of all, trying to change one of Patrick's pictures on photoshop as a joke could go terribly wrong. Third of all, the only thing I would be able to do on photoshop would be to change the picture to black and white or duotone (and even then, it would probably take me a while). But just me talking about not having a picture took up a lot of space and time, so I'll move on.

So to everyone, have a great year whether you are starting school again, or working, or you know...doing other things. Stay safe, try not to get too stressed out about unimportant things, and choose good activities.

o rly?

2006-08-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

The developers must've noticed Barrens chat and figured "hey, let's make a joke." Because really, who ever heard of the name "Yarly" ? Even in a fantasy game. Haha.. oh well, funny stuff.
---
Joel came over the other day! That was awesome.
---
Alicia comes "home" tomorrow! That is awesome.
---
Currently Listening To: Prince - Little Red Corvette - 1999 - 1983

Confused?

Kleine Häuser

2006-08-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Shot these at Grand Rivers, KY. They've been there for years, I don't guess they're for sale. Anyways, they remind me of this old Polish movie I saw years back. It was about a witch that lived in a house much like the green one towards the center of this picture. I don't remember much, but I know it was friggin' awful. I really liked the colors of the original, but it didn't make it stand out. It was "okay" but not "special." So I decided to go with the memory of the old movie I saw. I remember it had a greenish tone (like expired film), but the color red jumped out. So I went for a happy median. A Curves layer for cross-processing set to an opacity of about 60%.
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-Technical Mumbo Jumbo, Just In Case There Wasn't Enough Of That Above-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Polarizing Filter
Shutter Speed: 1/15 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/3.5
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 22mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, levels, cross-process, saturation, border.

---
Currently Listening To: Yngwie Malmsteen - Braveheart - Facing The Animal - 1998

Hey Alicia

2006-08-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comments babe, a very welcome surprise! Even twice. ;-)

I love you!

Vinsten's Re-Education

2006-08-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

The road to being promoted in the guild "Evil Ones" is a little more than... bumpy. Try taking a trip across the world to a forest full of beasts I can't even see the levels of (Feralas). Then being ordered by Big Brother to take off everything except my guild tabard (though I still have my Azure Silk Hood on here). Then to be summoned to none other than The Two Collosals, with the rest of the guild there (including my brother). These are places so tall, that when viewing from the bottom, the game "fog" meant to clip out terrain at max distance (my slider is at max too) begins to clip the mountain. Well, when I was summoned, I dropped right on the very edge of the cliff, but not off. I was supposed to fall. So BB duels me, I don't attack. Whoever attacks BB is a traitor and guilty of treason against The Party. He casts fear on me, intending for my body to go running off the cliff. My uncontrolled body runs all along the edge, but not off. Again, I was supposed to fall. So finally, he tells me I must prove my loyalty to BB by throwing myself off. I say "gladly!" and throw myself off.

Bam, dead. The funny part is, the rest of the guild thought they were supposed to jump to... and they jumped right after me. BB and I were unlucky enough to fall just short of the bottom floor, and (we're both locks) neither of us thought to Soul Stone so we could rez ourselves. He didn't think to because he didn't plan on everyone jumping. I didn't think to because I didn't know what we were going to do. Haha.. so a good 40 minutes is speant ghost walking from the graveyard to our bodies, and then figuring out how we were going to get to them. Kaputt managed to hit the bottom floor, as did Pub I think. Anyway, it was good fun and a comical unintended mass suicide. And I am now a member of the Outer Circle. Woo! Didn't think that remembering so much from 1984 would benefit me in WoW.

My bones, Derbose's (BB) bones, and the bones of I think.. Kaputt after trying to leap down so he could rez us. Hehehehe...
---
Currently Listening To: System of a Down - Needles - Toxicity - 2001

Magical

2006-08-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

One of those times when I look at something that no one else would look at and see it in black and white. Suddenly, it clicks and becomes something beyond real. Something that doesn't exist beyond imagination. Even though I can post process any of my shots into black and white, simulating any filter I want, it's always good to know I'm shooting B&W and only B&W. Lucky for me, I don't have to change out film rolls to take the same shot in color. Even still, I didn't take this one in color. To me, this only belongs in B&W. And its story belongs in my imagination.
---
-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): 350D's B&W Parameter Setting with Yellow filter
Shutter Speed: 1/60 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/9.0
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 55mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, levels, border.

---
Currently Listening To: Yngwie Malmsteen - The Bogeyman - Unleash The Fury - 2005

Gaming (For Fun)

2006-08-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ah, yes. I have returned to the warm fires of Orgrimmar, the burning hot sun of middle Kalimdor, and the insanely idiotic banter of "Barrens Chat." This is not my first venture into the World of Warcraft, though it has been nearly a year since my last visit. At this point I can't help but think "why did I ever quit?" I'm a level 25 Undead Warlock. This is the farthest I've ever played an Undead, let alone a Warlock.

Enough has changed since last time to respark my interest. First of all, the weather effects are amazing. Never had I played a game and felt as if I was really walking through a forest in the rain. Besides the weather effects, there have been many significant improvements to all sorts of things. For one, fishing is much more practical as they've added sagefish pools (special fish that restore mana as well as health) and debris (increased chances of "catching" items or boxes of stuff). This is very good, especially since I'm an Alchemist. This means I can catch some cool stuff while fishing for Oily Blackmouths or Firefins.

Anyway, a lot of this is making no sense, I'm sure. It's like describing D&D to my parents. The whole time they're trying to be nice but can't help but bring up the fact that I'm a total nerd and that "someone killed themselves because of D&D" even though that was more than 20 years ago. Well.. at least the sistuation they would be thinking about. But I've never attempted to discuss D&D with my parents, nor have I ever had enough reason to tell mom and dad everything I know about D&D (which is limited anyway).

Nathan made a rogue and played for a while, but has recently stopped for no good reason. Oh well, suit yourself I say. I'm enjoying the heck out of it and plan on making level 60 this time. Tomorrow I have a promotion "ceremony" in Feralas. This is more or less the entire guild (Evil Ones) coming and watching me do whatever the guild leader says... around a bunch of high level mobs. I can already see the hefty repair bill for all my equipment. But it'll be worth the guild rank of "Outer Circle." Oh yes, the guild uses the same ranking system as George Orwell's 1984. Sweet.

(Falling from the Zep before having enough health to survive the fall is a bad idea)

The Realm: Dalvengyr
The Name: Vinsten
---
Currently Listening To: A Perfect Circle - Weak & Powerless (Tilling My Grave "Mix") - aMOTION - 2004

Woohoo!

2006-08-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

She's coming back soon! I can't believe it's already been so long. I can't wait until she's only 30 minutes away. But I really can't wait until she's right beside me in time. This is a silly picture of her mini-golfing. Hehe.. just for fun.
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-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Circular Polarizing Filter
Shutter Speed: 1/6 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/4.5
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 35mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, minor saturation increase, border, levels.

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Currently Listening To: Rammstein - Seemann - Live Aus Berlin (CD2) - 1999

Spore

2006-08-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to say here, just some fungus I found while taking a walk one day. I wanted to get the full row of fungus, but knew that the shot would be too busy if I kept it all in focus. Lucky for me, the first couple pieces of fungus are in focus and not much else.
---
-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Circular Polarizing Filter
Shutter Speed: 1/60 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/5.6
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 55mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, minor saturation adjustments, border, levels.

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Currently Listening To: Third Day - You Are So Good To Me - Offerings II: All I Have To Give - 2003

Dizzy

2006-08-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

This really makes me think of a desert, or maybe a really cold day. Working this shot was fun. I liked the way it was naturally, but I really found something different when I adjusted the colors and flipped it clockwise. So yeah.. I didn't shoot it planning on this much post processing, but it worked. Comments are welcome!
---
-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Circular Polarizing Filter
Shutter Speed: 1/200 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/9.0
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 55mm
Post: Processed RAW in CS2, color balance, border, levels, clockwise flip, 70% opacity cross-process layer.

---
Currently Listening To: Evanescence - Call Me When You're Sober - Promo - 2006
(Promo is not the name of the album, DUH... But currently it's radio only, which means that it's on radio promo discs. And my brother downloaded it.. and.. wtf was I talking about. Why are you reading this? You're bored. Idiot. Don't talk to me like that. SFTU! OMG WTF. kthxbai

Happy Birthday Alicia!

2006-08-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

I'll be back Thursday.
---
Currently Listening To: Jewel - You Were Meant For Me - Pieces of You - 1994

Life: v5

2006-08-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

This was a shot I had really been wanting to do for a while. I had never seen it done before. I know someone out there has, but I didn't see it. It's pretty hard to find a skinny tree with a bunch of other skinny trees several yards behind it! But I found this one and snapped off a few shots. I wish I had my tripod with me, I could've done an HDR. That or multiple layers to bring out the exposure of the foreground tree a little. Anyway, no big loss, I still love this picture as it is. My favorite part is the texture of the foreground tree compared to the trees in the shallow depth of field blur. But I will still take any critique. :)
---
-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Circular Polarizing Filter
Shutter Speed: 1/13 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/5.6
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 39mm
Post: Processed RAW in CS2, color balance, border, levels, stamp tool on the of the blown out highlights towards the canopy.

---
Currrently Listening To: Shiro Hamaguchi & Seiji Honda - Cosmo Canyon - Final Fantasy VII Piano Collections - 2003

No Hiking

2006-08-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hmm, by signing and paying my ticket, not only do I plead guilty, but I waive my right to a TRAIL by the court. That really sucks! I had plans for that trail. I was going to hike that sunnuvagun. Oh well, seems I'll just miss out on the TRAIL by the court. This is a crop of a (bad) picture of my stopping violation. It actually means to say "TRIAL by the court." Obviously, someone screwed up. I wonder if this voids the ticket... Or if there really is a trail by the court and they really don't want offenders to be on it. "NO! This is a LAW trail! No criminals!"
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Currently Listening To: David Bowie - Always Crashing In The Same Car - Low - 1977

WHO KNOWS BOWIE???

A Small Moment of Truth

2006-08-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

Matt... I've just got to say this. I think He Is Legend is one of the worst bands I have ever heard. They rank right there with Nickelback and all those crappy pop stars on my list of hated music. Seriously. I know you want so bad for me to like them, and enjoy cranking them in your car those few times I rode with you, but no. I refuse to like a band that sounds so friggin'... awful! If I could, I'd punch every single one of those talentless losers in the throat. Then I'd cut in between their toes with a dirty razorblade.

Other than that, you're not exactly on my good list. Between drinking and tobacco use, among other annoyances, I can't really see why I would want to hang around you much. First off, don't you ever bite Alicia again when she comes back. That pissed me off. Second, don't you ever try to kiss me on the fricking mouth again. I don't care if they dared you too.

That is all. Just got to thinking a lot tonight and decided it was time to get some stuff off my chest.
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Currently Listening To: The Fray - Fall Away - How to Save a Life - 2005

Life: v1

2006-08-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, the "water on the grass" shot. This was shot after a fairly heavy rain one day after work. When I RAW processed it, I was sure to take out some of the warmth. I wanted that look of constant growth and health. It's usually a photography no-no to frame a shot so that the subject is centered. However, in this case I saw the subject as the "X" where the blades cross. Even then I wanted it close to the center since the flow simply worked better that way.
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Thanks for the comments Steven! Olympus has some good cameras. I would've got an E-system camera if it weren't for the price difference and lower selection of lenses. I love how their SLR's have a vibrating sensor to keep dust off. That is friggin' awesome.
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-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Circular Polarizing Filter
Shutter Speed: 1/100 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/8.0
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 55mm
Post: Processed RAW in CS2, minor saturation decrease, border, levels.

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Currently Listening To: Dream Theater - Lines In The Sand - Falling Into Infinity - 1997

Lloth: v2

2006-08-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

I love this little spider! I barely caught this little guy (or girl) as he/she was repairing its web after a heavy rain. Once it was done, it just curled up in the fold of a leaf. One of the 90 shots I took today after work. I was annoyed with most.. this lens is awful. Boo stock 18-55 Canon lens! Hooray Sigma! Or at least that 60mm Canon macro lens...
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-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Circular Polarizing Filter
Shutter Speed: 1/40 of a second
F/number (aperture): f/11.0
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 54mm
Post: Processed JPEG in CS2, minor saturation increase, border, levels, noise reduced in NeatImage (the best noise profile app out there, in my humble opinion).

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Currently Listening To: CCP: Jon Hallur - Rose of Victory - EVE Online Soundtrack - 2001

Park Sunset v4

2006-08-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

One heck of a gorgeous sunset from one of the parks in Collierville, TN. I had a fairly good time getting this set of photos, despite the mosquitos, heat, and dust on the CMOS sensor. The only subject more beautiful that evening was Alicia. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this photo, I put a lot of work into it, mainly in post processing!
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-Technical Mumbo Jumbo-

Camera: Canon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)
Lens: Canon 18-55mm
Filter(s): Kenko Circular Polarizer
Shutter Speed: 1/2.5, 1/2, 1/1.3 seconds
F/number (aperture): f/22
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 18mm
Post: Processed RAW in CS2, three photos merged together using layers, variable exposures achieved by using reveal masks and white to black gradients. Minor saturation increase, color balance, levels adjusted for contrast, High Pass overlay for sharpening, and cloning out of dust specs caused by a dirty CMOS sensor (now clean).

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Currently Listening To: DragonForce - Once In A Lifetime - Sonic Firestorm - 2004

Resolved

2006-08-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

I did something strange today. Someone from my past came in to eat today, someone that had hurt me pretty bad. I had struggled with it for a long time, hating her now and then. Ever since meeting Alicia, I have been happy about the way my life has been. Happy for every turn, every moment that brought me to her and made me someone that she could love. At first I didn't know how to react, no other customers were in the building, and I wasn't sure if she'd recognize me. I still don't know if she did. But even if she didn't recognize me, there was something I had to do for myself. A "I forgive you" and a "thank you for doing what you did." So I paid for her and her friend's meal anonymously. It seemed to have made their day, and I've felt like a huge weight just released itself from me. Thanks Leah, for doing what you did years ago. I'm with someone now that is everything I ever dreamed and more.
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Currently Listening To: Metallica - Outlaw Torn - S&M - 1999