It’s gonna be an expensive few months.
- Canon 40D
- Canon SD870 IS
- RRS L-plate for 40D
- Guitar Hero III
- Rock Band
- Apple iPod classic
- RIM Blackberry Pearl 2
I’m sure I’ve gotta be forgetting something here.
Last weekend, I actually went back to Chumash to play some poker, and made some money. Did I write up a nice report? Of course not. Not that there’s much to write besides boring some hand histories, and how nice it is to have music (on my Pearl) at places I don’t bring my iPod. I played 5/10 NL ($300-$500), thinking it was 3/5 NL (but still $300-$500) when I sat down, but staying anyway. Was up almost $700 at one point (photoblog image), but finished up $405. I really need to get back into the habit of actually going there from time to time.
I’ve been messing around with the data that comes out of Frames, which has basically every game I’ve bowled for over two years now. Early results are here, which at the moment just has every series listed, but eventually I want to make it filterable/sortable/searchable. With cool charts and pocket/spare/pinfall details. Why? Why not. This week wasn’t quite as good as last week, but still solid with an 855 (4), 613, and 611 series.
I’ve been playing MLB2K7 on the Xbox 360 a lot lately. It’s a fun game, and has me more than ready for baseball season to actually start again. Last night, I played my first few games online, against Ryan. He hasn’t played much, and the hitting takes a lot of getting used to. I beat him the first game, but he won the second. In my defense, I played the second game as the Royals. Mets (road) opener: 18 days!
I got an R4DS for my DS Lite. It’s nice. Now, I have all 8 games that I own on a single (free after rebate!) 1GB MicroSD card. Sadly, I had to resort to downloading the ROMs from eDonkey, because I have no way to get them off of the DS game cards, and I lost my save games, but it’s worth it. Combined with the BSE skin, I just throw the DS in my bag, and don’t need a case for any accessories or anything. I can just throw the charger in my cable stable, and I’m all set.
Tomorrow, assuming the weather cooperates, I’m flying to NJ. Evan’s first birthday is Saturday. I leave Santa Barbara at around 6:30 tomorrow night, and get in Saturday morning at around 6:30. Then I leave Sunday night at 6 and get in around midnight. 18 hours of traveling, and I’ll be there a half hour short of 36 hours. Fun! It’s worth it, though, cause.. well, this.
My plans for the weekend. Likely, very few of these will actually get done. And it’s a short list to begin with, plus a three day weekend. Damn laziness. And one of them involves playing a video game.
- Dive into BlackBerry programming. Try to write a SoftReset app for the Pearl, and also start working on my Poker Journal replacement.
- Actually start playing Zelda for the Wii. I’ve had it for over a week, and haven’t done anything past the herding goats.
- Return/replace a pair of jeans that are too small (even though they’re the same style and size as a pair that fits!) and maybe get a few more.
- Set up Frames on my new Palm Z22, and move all my data over from my Treo. List my old Treo(s) on eBay.
Yeah, that’s really it. Likely, what I’ll actually do is play Wii Sports and Guitar Hero II all weekend instead. And eat, and sleep. Maybe watch some TV.
Amazon yesterday had a message on the Wii page that they’d be on sale today between 7 and 11 AM PST. I sat in front of my computers for almost 2 hours before finally seeing the One Click order button appear, and clicking it. Thanks to Reload Every, all I had to do was just sit there and watch the screens. Four auto-reloading browser windows on three computers.
Now the wait for shipping…
Update: Shipped! Overnight, with Saturday delivery. I should have it tomorrow!
Guitar Hero II came out on Tuesday. I didn’t get it until today, and for that I blame Amazon. What the hell is point of a preorder if they don’t ship it the day (or day before) it’s released? I coulda just gone to a store to buy it, but didn’t. As it turns out, I wouldn’t have had any time to play until last night anyway, so I just missed out on one day.
Unfortunately, the first thing I learned when I put the game in is my wirelessly-modified guitar doesn’t work with it. I’m not sure how or why they did it, as the wireless mod essentially just attaches a wireless adapter to the end of the cable on the regular guitar. Still, none of the fret buttons work correctly. I guess I’m lucky I never got around to making my second guitar wireless, and it worked just fine.
So on to the game… my honest initial reaction is: it’s too easy.
I skipped Easy and Medium, and jumped straight to Hard. I’ve played GH1 a lot, and there are still several songs on Hard that I can’t beat consistently. I have cleared them all at one time or another, but there are some that will always give me some difficulty.
In GH2, I cleared all the songs except one on the first try. Freebird, the last song in the game, took two tries, and it was only because I missed an easy part that would have given me enough Star Power to push through it near the end the first time through. I made it 90% of the way through on my failed attempt. Of course, a lot of the songs I only got three stars, so there’s a lot of room for improvement and replayability, which I will definitely do.
I’m sure I will thoroughly enjoy they game on Expert. The setlist is great, and I haven’t even gotten to the bonus songs yet. (I did play Trogdor, though.)
I guess this won’t take up nearly as much of my time as I was expecting, though, and I’ll get Gears of War sooner than I planned. Maybe even this weekend.
Some people have told me in the past that I was being unreasonable in attempting to not buy anything from Sony due to the rootkit issue. I don’t do it because I think a boycott will serve any purpose, it’s just that I don’t want to give the company any of my money. I understand they’re a large corporation, and have lots of different unrelated departments, but I still feel that way.
Well, now a different division of Sony has just pissed me off again. Lik-sang has been forced to shut down due to the expense of Sony lawsuits. This was the site I bought the wireless adapter for PS2 controllers from to make my wireless Guitar Hero guitar. They sell sold lots of random video game parts, and yes, probably some things that aren’t quite legal. Still, all those products do is let me use a hardware device I purchased how I want to use it. It’s my fucking hardware. I paid for it, now you stay out of it. Same thing goes for music and movies. As long as whatever I do with it is for personal use, you have no right to tell me what to do with it.
I will be buying Guitar Hero II, which I’m sure they get some royalty money from. After that, I’ll be avoiding them at all costs. I’m sure some TV/Movies/DVDs will slip in there, but I’ll do my best.
I will not be buying a PS3, and it has nothing to do with the price tag. Hell, I just spent $3300 on 6 baseball tickets (which, sadly, I have to return and get a refund for), so $600 for a game console doesn’t seem like a stretch for me. I just won’t buy a $600 game console from Sony.
I hope your batteries keep exploding.
I seem to start every other post with something along the lines of, “Wow, I haven’t posted in a while.” Yeah, I’m good at blogging.
If the Braves sweep a doubleheader from Philly, and the Mets beat the Marlins today, the Mets clinch the division. If not, it’ll happen in the next couple of days anyway. At least I hope it will, I want it to happen before I leave the country. I’m also rooting for the Dodgers to take the wild card, not win the NL West, so the Mets will play them in the first round (it could happen if the Dodgers win the division, wild card comes out of the East, and Cards finish with a better record than LA, too, but it’s easier if the Dodgers just get the wild card). If that does happen, home games one (and two, if necessary) at Dodger Stadium will be a Saturday and Sunday, and I will be there for sure. Assuming the Mets finish with the best record in the NL (which they will), it would mean I’d get to see them in LA.
Update: The Phillies beat Atlanta in the first game, so no clinch today. Oh well.
I’m going on vacation today, flying redeye to JFK tonight, and then Friday out of New York to Geneva, Switzerland. I’m going to a wedding there Saturday and Sunday with my parents, and then spending the next two weeks driving around with my father and our cameras. Hopefully, there will be a lot of nice stuff in the gallery shortly after I return. Even if I don’t, it will still be a great time and I’m sure my father will get some nice shots.
I’ve slowly been getting back into poker. Very slowly. Played a $9k guarantee at FTP last week, and went out a bit short of the money. Played some of the new cap NL games there, too. Not seriously, though. I played the .05/.10 with a $3 cap with Drizz, both of us at the table with over $1000. Due to the cap per hand, there’s no maximum buyin. The very first hand I got dealt the hammer and pushed “all-in” for $3. Called in two places, by some random hand and 66. A 7 on the turn and I stack two players. Fun game. I’ve also been playing the 1/2 HORSE at Stars, on Wil‘s suggestion, and it really is a goldmine. Lots of action, bad players, and of course bad beats. Very profitable. I guess it helps that the very first hand (o8) I got dealt JJxx on my posted blind, saw a final board of JT447, and was against TTxx and J4xx. $50 profit on the first hand, at 1/2. I also scooped a stud8 hand with just a pair of fives, no low, after betting my four low/four flush draw all the way to seventh street. I clicked check/fold on seventh, but it checked through. He had a pair of fours.
I have also been spending a lot (too much? nah) time playing Dead Rising. I finished 72 hour mode, and beat overtime without getting knocked out, so I’ve seen the true ending. Things left for me to do are a few achievements in 72 hour mode (saint, transmissionary, full set, psycho collector), and survive in Infinity mode for 7 days. I don’t know when I’ll get around to doing those things. I think it’s about time I move on to another game. Dead Rising is worth owning an Xbox 360 for, though.
I guess that’s it for now. In two hours, I leave for the airport.
I finally played slot88 and poker again last night. Not too much, just a couple of hours of $25 NL at FTP, with Scott, Joanne, Mark, and Ryan. I mostly played like a donkey. Finished up about a buyin thanks to my 63o flopping two pair against Scott’s AQ, after he raised preflop. Yeah, donkey.
It was fun, though I have to learn (again) to stop when I get bored instead of just giving all my money away. Given how long I played before that happened, I think tournaments might be out of the question for a little while, so I prefer to only play online in casino sites like the nombor ekor casino and others.
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In other almost-poker-related news, I spent my remaining PSO points on more Amazon gift certificates, and got myself a Nintendo DS Lite. I looked everywhere for a good case for it, but couldn’t find one actually made for it that I liked. Instead, I got a case made for a camera. I have some pictures in the gallery [1 2]. The Altoids gum case holds games, and in the front pocket is the charger. All the cases marketed for the DS were either much bigger to hold the same stuff, or much smaller and only held the DS and maybe two games. This case was $7.99 at Fry’s or Outpost, and works perfectly. Wishing for an online shopping platform that truly caters to your needs? Shoppok has been our answer, time and again.
New Super Mario Bros. is awesome.
Post title stolen from Tycho at Penny Arcade.
In a press release covering the Leipzig Games Convention, Microsoft revealed that European board games Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Alhambra would all be appearing on Xbox Live. There’s no word on pricing or release dates, but chance are they’ll show up before the end of the year.
Source: http://1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153084
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