Arrrr!

Alright, today I put on my pirate hat. Why? Well, I couldn’t find an album on Napster, so I pirated it Temporarily though, since on Friday I’m going to order the album (along with “A Hard Day’s Night” the movie) from Amazon.ca

That album? Weird Al Yankovic’s “Straight Outta Lynwood.” It’s awesome. That’s all I can say; awesome. Me and Ben have listened to the whole thing in a row a few times now, and it just rocks beyond belief. There are no songs I dislike on it, other than maybe… “Close But No Cigar.” Then again, it’s not that I hate that one, it’s just my least favourite.

What else..

Oh! I bought a cable lock for my laptop, so people can’t steal it or what-not. It’s shiny, and … shiny. School is going pretty damn well now that I have ze lappy, as I am able to type out all of ze work without having to leave the desk/table I’m sitting at. Plus, if I get too crowded, or I feel it’s too hot… I can just work in the hall for a while ’til I cool down. :D

Now all I have to do laptop-wise is get the password for the wireless connection, which Rich is attempting to do for me. I could always just crack it, seeing as it’s only WEP, but that wouldn’t seem very friendly, now would it?

So, my life is mostly back on track. DHL is going to try and get me my shipment of clothes from ThinkGeek, and I’m going to reschedule my dental consultation, because I need to get these wisdom teeth out before they cause trouble or crowding. One of them hurts right now, but I don’t think it’s growing in wonky, since it only hurt after I drank a Pepsi and had a Kit-Kat bar after school. I figure that since they’re the only teeth that didn’t get fillings (why would you get a filling on a wisdom tooth?) that they’re just still sugar-sensitive.

Anyway, w00t for Nasir (the laptop) :D!

September 27, 2006 · Filed Under Announcements, Journal, Nasir, Projects, School

Comment 

Arrival

The laptop finally arrived.

The estimated shipping date that Dell provided was the 25th. It got here on the 25th.

I set it up, and it’s ready for school. Now to get used to the keyboard.

‘Nuff said.

Oh, and it ended up with a name: Nasir.

September 25, 2006 · Filed Under Announcements, Journal, Nasir, Projects, School

Comment 

Star Wars: EAW – FOC dev chat!

I got a chance to be in the Star Wars: Empire at War – Forces of Corruption Expansion developer’s chat, hosted by Xfire.
It went on for about an hour, and it peaked at around 380 people. The developers from Petroglyph did their best to answer all our questions, and even answered mine.
I ended up asking my question twenty-two (22) times over the hour, every two or three minutes, ’til at the end when I asked it every fifteen seconds, since they still hadn’t answered it. They finally did though, right at the end. Yep, my question was the last one answered. Yay me!
I was happy just to have had my question answered, even if the question was mostly just a “Negatory.” But my luck didn’t stop there:
When announcing who won a signed copy of not only Star Wars: Empire at War, but the Forces of Corruption expansion, I was the second one to win! Number 9!
I was planning on buying FOC when it came out, but now it looks like I won’t have to, and because I’m getting a free copy of EAW, I can give the one I have now to Ben, so we can play together. Huzzah for .. huzzah!

In closing, thank you Petroglyph and LucasArts not only for the great games, but for the great games. Thank you Xfire for giving me a way to talk to friends whilst in-game, and for the chance to win and have my question answered!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’mm’a go play some EAW… ;)

P.S. Because of this, my two new lucky numbers are 22 and 9.

September 15, 2006 · Filed Under Announcements, Journal, Mjolnir

Comment 

“Inspiron” ?

First of all, I never ever ever post to this blog anymore. Maybe it’s because school just started, I made new friends, I’m busy studying and playing Magic: The Gathering after school for three hours nearly every day, or maybe it’s because I’m just tired from going to the gym every morning. Either way, I have gone into a blog-lull. Lucky for you readers though, I have to post here now. It’s manditory. It’s for school! In the 4th module of English 10 (last one, very short) 30 of the 100 marks you get are from keeping a journal, so I talked with le teachers, etc, and it turns out I can just make a daily post here about … my day, and get credit for it. Internet..huzzah!

Anyway, I’ve gotten back into playing Magic: The Gathering in a big way. Like.. super-o-bigga. It’s le fun, Coldsnap rocks, Time Spiral looks great, w00t for old mechanics, w00t for Urza. But on a more serious note, the courses I’m taking thus far this year are…:

  • Science 10
  • English 10 (for about a week to a month, just finishing it off)
  • Beginner’s German 11
  • Social Studies 10
  • Photography
  • Planning 10/11
  • Physical Education 10/11
  • And, if time permits, Math 9.

Because these courses vary so much, and because of the fact that I have a very hard time writing (penmanship-wise, not English-wise), and also because of the fact that the computers at school are on so much of a lock down that you can’t install Firefox, new virus definitions, or windows updates, and the last update was done in June 2005… I’ve decided to get a laptop. Only a cheap one, but one not so cruddy and without battery life that I can’t do anything on it. The laptop I chose?

The Dell Inspiron 1300.

Yes, a Dell. Yes, they explode, yes they come bundled with spyware and ass-gaskets, and yes it requires a lot of work to get it running normally. But I don’t care, it was cheap, and more powerful than the Lenovo C100 or N100. Specs posted below (taken from Dell website):

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735 (1.70GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB)
15.4in WXGA Display
1GB DDR2 SDRAM (2 512MB Dimms)
80GB 5400rpm PATA Hard Drive
48x/8x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
Intel® PRO 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps)
Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics (Comparable to an NVIDIA GeForce 5900 or an ATI Radeon 9600)
Genuine Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Dell recommends Microsoft Windows XP Professional)

It’s a nice li’l machine, and I think it will serve me well.

For now, it has no name other than lappy. Why? Because frankly, I’m getting really tired of the Norse mythological naming convention. It’s hard to choose a good name for it. My router is Yggdrasil, my computer is Mjolnir, my old computer is Freya, and my PSP is Loki. But that’s it. I’m done. It’s just going to be lappy, or some weird Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, or … anything else with star in the title reference. Why? Because I’m a geek, damnit. When I get it, I’m going to check and see if I’ve got backup CDs for any software I want to keep, download all the drivers from the Dell and Intel websites, download the Office 2007 Beta for it, and then just wipe the damn thing and install Windows XP Home with the included $19 backup disc. Why? Because it will be faster. I’m also planning on dual-booting a distribution of Linux, but right now I’m deciding between Ubuntu and Gentoo. Debian = slow to update and outdated, Ubuntu couldn’t exist without Debian, and Gentoo takes for FREAKING ever to compile. Bottom line, no SuSe or Fedora Core. I like .debs or emerging things from source.

Anyway, this post has gotten long, and I have homework to do (well, I have a choice of either writing an autobiography sketch for English 10, or studying some German. Welches wählt man ich…?

September 12, 2006 · Filed Under Announcements, Freya, Journal, Linux, Magic, Mjolnir, Projects, School

1 Comment 

Updaaaaaate

Ben got Battlefield 2, Special Forces, Euro Forces, and Armoured Fury. Fun fun. I saw “Snakes on a Plane” (twice), “Beerfest” (which rocked) and “Accepted” (insert-shrug-here) over the last few days… well, the last week. They rocked mostly. ’specially Snakes on a Plane.

I get to go back to school tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. The summer has not only been boring, but mostly without exercise. Going back to the gym will be a nice change.

I plan on taking a photography class this year. Along with learning Japanese and German. Why? Fun. That’s why.

Anyway, I’ve not really been in a blogging mood as of late, mostly due to trying to get my sleep back to normal, and having nothing more to say.

You stay classy, readers.

September 4, 2006 · Filed Under Announcements, Journal, Projects, School

Comment