It’s time to let this one go. I’ve been sitting on it since some time in January, feeling it to be to imperfect and trying too hard to “get it right”. The theme for this one was feeling disconnected from the universe, floating around out in the void alone and removed. At this point, I’ve … [Read more…]
Someone give Valve a dollar so they can go buy a clue. They've announced that, at least through retail, you won't be able to buy the forthcoming Half-Life 2: Episode 1 / Team Fortress 2 / Portal bundle by itself. It will be available only as a $50 package which also includes Half-Life 2 and … [Read more…]
About a month and a half ago I finally upgraded to an HDTV. The old SD set has been on it's deathbed for a while, plus I wanted to get both an AppleTV and an X-Box 360 (the former of which requires an HDTV and the latter is certainly a much better experience in HD.) … [Read more…]
Hollywood and the MPAA are at it again. 09. Desperately trying to shove the toothpaste back in the tube in a vain attempt to cling to a dying business model. f9. The lawyers are out in full force, sending cease-and-desist letters to anybody and everybody they can find that even links to the web forum … [Read more…]
I am a gamer, going back pretty much as far back as you can go. My family had one of the original Atari Pong consoles back in the 70's, and I've been hooked on video games ever since. From the Atari and Colecovision to Sega and Nintendo on to the Mac and PC, I've gone … [Read more…]
There's an important aspect to this week's announcement from Apple & EMI that they were going to begin selling EMI's catalog DRM-free on Apple's iTunes Store that may have been overlooked. That is the entry of DRM, both as a term and a concept, into the average consumer's vernacular. Until now, I think it was … [Read more…]
It’s shaping up to be a pretty interesting week for a geek like me… On Tuesday, Adobe is having it’s media event to officially unveil all of it’s Creative Suite 3 apps. If the beta of Photoshop CS3 is any indication, sweeping changes are in store across the line. Hopefully there will finally be a … [Read more…]
I just read that Trent Reznor has released the source files for Survivalism, one of the songs of his forthcoming album Year Zero, in GarageBand format. He's done this before with a couple of songs off his last record, but he's also announced that he'll be releasing every song off the new record as GarageBand … [Read more…]
Back in Cleveland. Not sure how I feel about that. Good to be home, I guess. But another couple days away would have been nice. Amazingly, the drive home managed to be worse than the drive out. First, I apparently missed a turn somewhere in New Hampshire and ended up off course. I found my … [Read more…]
Time for the pictures, as promised! Again, it's easier to see what's going on if you click them and view the full size versions. The first photo is of me practicing self-arrest by sliding down one of the ski trails. Self-arrest is basically learning how to stop yourself from sliding with the ice axe, should … [Read more…]
Well, let's get the bad news out of the way right off the bat. I didn't make the summit. No summit for me. Frankly, I'm okay with it. I know my limits, I know what I need to work on from here before I come back, and I learned a lot. So why didn't I … [Read more…]
Okay, these first two are of the lower incline ice we started off on. Went up and down this one several times. The pictures aren't the clearest, but it should give you an idea. Keep in mind that I was standing at the base of it looking up, so it's a sharper incline than it … [Read more…]
Yesterday there was a blizzard, today it’s raining. It’s like Cleveland, that. First lesson? A foot of fresh, thickly packed snow makes things really difficult. Hiking, climbing, all of it. Heh, like I needed the extra challenge. *laugh* Today was spent on one of the smaller climbing areas, learning to do everything. Well, not everything, … [Read more…]
Oh yeah, one other thing I forgot to mention before… As I got further and further, the mountains got bigger and bigger. I was looking at some of the particularly large ones, pondering their size. Then I realized, none of these even had peaks above the treeline. So those monsters were smaller than the mountain … [Read more…]
Why do my trips always seem to start so stressfully? I originally planned to leave work by 3:00-3:30 yesterday, so that I'd have time to get home, eat dinner, load up the car, and get on the road by 5:00 at the latest. And be able to do so in a leisurely and relaxed manner. … [Read more…]