Monthly Archives: February 2009

Feb 09 2009
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Technology

Kindle 2: Electric Boogaloo

So far, based on the initial reviews of the Kindle 2, I would rate my enthusiasm a rousing, “Meh.”

I’m not sure what I think about the Kindle 2, since Amazon isn’t likely to send me a review unit anytime soon.  I do think that the cost of entry is high, at least for me.  There are some good things, such as USB charging, that have been added, but nothing else seems to make me want to open up my wallet and order it. Without a review unit, it’s hard for me to say, I’m all for whispernet and the cloud without seeing how they work in practice.  I’ve read that the mobile versions of websites do work with the experimental browser included in Kindle 1, but again, not something I’m going to count down the days until I have saved enough money to buy it.  I mean a mobile version of wordpress would be great, possibly twitter.  I’ve read that these apps do work, but then again, it’s impossible to say whether or not they work well.

For me, knowing that these websites work would be a major bullet point for me.

Until I see a unit live, somewhere, and test it out, it’s buying something sight unseen. I mean, I can walk into a sony store and check out their reader.  It’s pretty cool, and I’d consider one, but I have yet to see the Kindle so I’m waiting.

And I’m an early adopter.  If they can’t sell it to me, they’ve got issues, although I guess they don’t have any issues because they’re back ordered and no one is even getting a Kindle 1.  In fact, Kindle 1 preorders that have yet to be fulfilled are getting “upgraded” to the Kindle 2.  Crazy.

I will say this:  If they get the price to around $250, I am there.

Until then, I’ll listen to podcasts on the iPod and wait patiently for a generous price drop or the Kindle 3: Revolution.

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Feb 08 2009
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Not my real job

I remember when I worked retail at the now defunct EBGames.  They’re all GameStops now, and they’re all glorified pawnshops.  But I’ll always have fond memories of store one seven six.

It was just about the raunchiest store ever.  And crazy things would happen.  The worst part about it was, I only worked one day a week on Saturday mornings.

There were just so many characters.  It was like a wacky sitcom just waiting to happen.  One guy was an artist.  We had a guy with a prosthetic leg because he lost one jumping trains as a kid.  There was a police officer.  The guy who always spoke in a falsetto high pitch voice when talking to customers.  Then of course, me, who was snarky all the time because I only worked one day a week and I wasn’t afraid of getting fired because it wasn’t my real job.

Case in point.  I am assisting a woman at the register.  She looks lost.

“I’m looking for a game.”  She asks.  ” I’m not sure of the title, but I think it has a robot in it.  Yes, I’m looking for a robot game.  Do you have any of those?”

I blink.  She’s going to have to be more specific.  “I’m sorry Ma’am, but can you maybe be a little more specific?”

She stops to think for a while.  “Well, I’m not sure, I think it has a robot and the word drive or. . .”

“Oh,” I say, interrupting.  “You mean the robot game.”  I yell to the back where my manager is unboxing copies of Robot Alchemic Drive.  “Rob!  Get met a copy of the robot game!”  The game comes sailing through the air and I catch it one handed and scan it in one motion.  “Fifty-two dollars and twenty-four cents.  Will that be all?”  I ask.

For some reason, she looks angry.

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Feb 07 2009
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Sovereign Nation

I had this idea about while every time you go into a corporation, you actually leave the United States and enter into the sovereign space of that particular corporation.

I was wondering how long it would take before I became persona non grata in the Wal-Mart territories.

Probably not very long.

This was brought on today by actually going to a shopping mall today.  I stopped by the old EBGames today in Pentagon City.  Old store one-seven-six.  Lots of good memories in that store, but it’s been rebranded and now it’s fully a GameStop.

For some reason that makes me just a little bit sad.

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Feb 06 2009
Games

Science!

Regarding the Cartoon Network’s free to play MMO, Fusionfall:

If it’s as half as cool as its trailer and comic, then it’s well worth the cost of entry.

Which is, of course, free.  A lot of it reminds me of the Power Puff Girls fan comic from Snafu comics.  Mainly the older characters and the darker tone.  Both take their characters a short time period into the future, both have a Japanese influence, and both are fun reads with story lines a little bit older than you think they would be.  I’ve yet to sign up for an account, but I’m thinking about it.

A lot of it reminds me of Phantasy Star Online, a game I played so much that I actually fell asleep while playing it.  I was woken up by one of my teammates, who was telling me they needed me to open a door, and was wondering where I had gone about four rooms ago.  I awoke to find my character running headlong into a corner in an empty room.

This was during its second release, on the original xbox, with voice chat.  I played it through on its initial run on the Dreamcast and then proceeded to play it again on an entirely different console because it was so fun.

So, I’m already sold on the gameplay.

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Feb 05 2009
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Catastrophic

What’s interesting about the failure is that it’s not binary.

There’s an analog variance to it that I would normally find fascinating.

Except for the fact that my shower now requires a constant adjustment of the taps in order to maintain the balance between outright freezing and scalding.

About one week ago, my building had a “catastrophic” failure of the main hot water boiler.  This was attributed to a leak in the primary coils (in the warp core, no doubt) which led to some sort of minor implosion.  We’ve got a standby boiler, but it doesn’t have the capacity that the primary has.

So showers are sort of hit and miss at the moment.  High usage times, such as late at night and early morning are right out.  Even then, outside of those times, the hot water pressure varies.  I almost think that a total failure would be better, but then I remember that it’s one degree outside with windchill.

Our management company has released a statement about the boiler, stating that it’s going to be about 14 business days in order to get the boiler repaired.  Fortunately, we’ve got a decent reserve, but I’m mainly concerned about a special assessment.  We’ll see.

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