IT'S ALIVE, ALIVE!!!!!

Eventually I'll have pictures, but I've gotten a new Full tower case with a new sound card. The parts arrived this past Wednesday and with this cold I'm trying to get rid of, the transplant was slow but deliberate. I took my time moving things over from the old case and now it's just a matter of making things look a lot nicer and hook up and re-adjust some of the cables... basically tweaking things.

Once that's done, it's clean up the workspace... with all the shipping boxes and tools, my living area looks like a Mad Scientist's laboratory.... MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... *ahem* I digress slightly... I think I have my Halloween costume...


つづく ( To be continued... )

Home is not always where your hat lies...

I dreamed that I was back home. Not as in where I'm living now, but back to the place where I was born, my hometown, my birthplace. I was pretty happy that I was back home, but then after of visiting a couple of places, things started to change and what was a pleasant dream, started to turn into a nightmare.

For some reason these past couple of weeks I've been having nightmares. I don't remember the details of most of them. I remember the most recent one, but it fades from my memory.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Welcome to the Computer Upgrade club...

First rule of the computer upgrade club: Make sure your fully awake.

Second rule of the computer upgrade club: Make sure you have lots of time.

Third rule of the computer upgrade club: Make sure your fully awake.

I upgraded my computer... "Again" and this time, added more memory for a total of 2 gig from 1 gig. Added 2 more hard drives, this time Hitachi Deskstar SATA drives, one 250 and the other 320 gigs and also upgraded the power supply from a 450 watt power supply to a Hiper 730 watt power supply.

After opening up the case, I realized that I don't have enough space for the additional hard drives, so for now, in keeping with the geek tradition of computer upgrades, the side and top are off of the case, the hard drives are just sitting in the case... I'm currently looking at 2 different cases to upgrade to, one being the Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 (RC-1000) or the Gigabyte 3D Aurora, both are still full towers like my current one. I'm kind of leaning towards the Cooler Master PC Case.

Once I got everything installed, I installed Ghost 12.0 that I had also purchased for this upgrade so that my Operating system settings and configurations would remain the same. I was able to image the new drive but had some difficulties with the drive order. It took me about 2 days to resolve that and it's a good thing that Ghost 12.0 had created a backup cause I ended up having to restore that backup in order to get Windows up and running again.

At this time, everything is set the way I wanted it to.

Update: I got my Zen Vision: W back some time ago, instead of repairing the LCD (as they claimed it was the cause of the issue) they sent me a new one as a replacement. No complaints there. There are little things that appears to have changed as far as the hardware revisions, cause there are certain videos that I used to play that can't anymore and it seems that after re-converting the videos, no matter which format I have them as, the video is out of synch with the audio.

つづく ( To be continued... )

My Zen Vision: W is sick...

Little over a week ago, my Zen Vision: W stopped working. I didn't hear the internal hard drive spin up, at times will trying to get to the recovery mode screen, it would just do nothing and the screen will eventually just fill with lines till it was all one color. After a while, it would just show Hardware Problem. That was it.

I emailed Creative Labs tech support and after a couple of replies, they said to send it in and gave me a link to setup a RMA. However it was going to cost twenty five dollars, I would pay for shipping on top of that to them. I finally got to send it out today and it ended up costing almost twenty dollars with the packaging and mailing cost. While they were replying, they kept trying to sell me stuff, What the Hell kind of tech support is that? Is Creative that hard up for sales? If that's the case, then maybe they should provide better support, quality products and aggressively advertise their products to make people aware.

Look at Apple, they aggressively advertise every new product that they put out, why can't Creative Labs? There are a lot of people that don't know that they make certain products. Some people think that they only make sound cards. Also if Creative listened to what the consumers suggest to improve their products, I believe they could dominate the field, as it is, a lot of people are switching to other products.

This past weekend, I think Samantha was mad at me for something. I went out for a while to pick up a couple of things and got back and found my bamboo plant knocked off the desk from the top of the hutch. I got it cleaned up and moved to a cup till I could get a new container for it. I found a really nice one from Bachman's and some gravel for the pot.

つづく ( To be continued... )

If never fails to amaze me...

A big barricade blocking the sidewalk with the sign "Sidewalk Closed" at the corner of the sidewalk and about 50 to 75 feet further, another barricade with another sign, "Sidewalk Closed" with a chain link fence blocking the sidewalk out to the street, leaving enough room width for a vehicle.

Typical people, seeing only what they want to see or selective ignorance keep walking on the sidewalk, then going around the fence and walk on the road just to get to the next corner, interfering with vehicle traffic, vehicles having to move over to the next lane to avoid driving close or running over them. Even if they move the fence further out, people still insist on walking around the closed sidewalk.

Also people crossing in the middle of the street with a crosswalk only 20 to 15 feet away... How stupid can these people be? I say, run them over, if they try to sue, they have no grounds for a law suite. If they need a witness, I would do it.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Evac complete, move to forward firebase in progress

As I mentioned before, I hate moving, it's like being in the military and having to bug out of a base. The part that I really hate about it is that, you can plan on how long it's going to take, but it never goes according to your time table. What was planned as a 4 hour move took approximately 20 hours to complete.

I started the move at about 2 in the afternoon yesterday and was still moving at 4 this morning. It didn't help that the humidity was so high or that the prespitation was just streaming down my face. Even with help it was a difficult move, however my friend had to leave just after midnight cause he had to get up for work the that morning at about 4, so from that point on, I was moving all by myself.

At the same time, I was cleaning the apartment so that I could get most of my deposit back, but after a certain time, I wasn't giving a damn. I cleaned most of the major areas, but the little things, I'll be paying for. I also gave up a small octogon dining table with 4 chairs and 2 lamps cause I didn't want to take anything more with me.

Right now, my lower back and arms are in a bit of pain from all the carrying stuff.

I am happy though, I'm finally out of that place and living in a way better place, quiet, clean and just better. Samantha wasn't too happy during her move, although now she seems to be a lot happier cause of all the Windows she gets to choose from to sit and watch the world outside.

つづく ( To be continued... )

I hate moving

Moving can be so stressful. Gotta figure out what needs to be packed up first, how to pack it, is there enough boxes to pack...

Just when you think your close to having everything packed, it turns out there is still more stuff left, also you tend to find a lot of stuff that you've collected over the years at one place that should have been thrown away...

I'm just hoping that I can get everything moved in time, I don't want to be in this place any longer than I had expected to leave.

つづく ( To be continued... )

A self created quote

A man who gives away knowledge freely is a fool that is quickly forgotten.

Ideas should be kept like a well guarded secret and never given away for there are those who
are unscrupulous enough to make it their own.

It is sad to know that when I go, only I will know what knowledge I had and that no other will person will be imparted with that knowledge.

The need of the one in these times always out weigh the need of the many.

つづく ( To be continued... )

and My American accent (dialict) is...

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Midland ("Midland" is not necessarily the same thing as "Midwest") The default, lowest-common-denominator American accent that newscasters try to imitate. Since it's a neutral accent, just because you have a Midland accent doesn't mean you're from the Midland.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

つづく ( To be continued... )

A most interesting weekend...

It started off when I got off of work on Friday. I walked over to Orchestra Hall Plaza to see what kind of music was playing in their summer concert series called Alive after 5. The group there was playing bluegrass music, not really the kind of music I listen to but I don't hate it.

I bought a cup of beer and some butterfly shrimp and enjoy the atmosphere. I had a good buzz going and walked to the bus depot to catch my bus home. The last stop before leaving downtown a couple gets on the bus, he looks like a geek, she looks like a party girl and I notice that she has a similar bus pass that I use which is sponsored by my employer (I pay about 30 a month for an unlimited bus pass that also gets me on the train). At first glance, it looks as shes really in love with him and so I end up falling asleep for most of the trip.

Well I wake up at one point and noticed that the guy she boarded the bus with is nowhere to be seen (apparently he moved to a seat across from here and blocked by another rider) and it seems that a lot of people had moved away from her. It turns out while I was sleeping, she threw up on the bus and the second time she threw up, someone provided her with a plastic bag. At one point she loudly states "at least now I can hold my head up... Heyyyy..."

I guess the guy at first thought he was going to get lucky but after that, it looked as if he didn't want to have anything to do with her. After getting off the bus at her stop, the both of them, he went in one direction to his vehicle and she seemed to be lost but walking in the general direction of her vehicle. The guy was already in his vehicle and driving off... she was still slowly walking towards hers, carrying that bag... I felt sorry for her.

The driver eventually stopped off at a quicky mart store with the assistance of another rider and picked up a gallon of water and some paper towels, emptying the jug in order to get that stuff out of the bus and mopping up the rest with the paper towels.

Saturday I ended up sleeping the whole day away and on Sunday, ended up driving to the Northtown mall to catch the bus to go into work so that I could submit my time card that I forgot to do on Friday.

Once I got that done, I decided to walk around downtown and ended up spending some time in Gameworks and checked out a couple of games there. One game I really got a kick out of was a thing called Cycraft that had Initial D installed on it. I got my butt kicked on House of the Dead 4, did pretty well at Outrun 3, had fun with Ghost squad and did pretty badly at Need for Speed, there was also After burner ground strike and and other After burner game which I can't remember the name.

After spending an hour or more there, I walked to St. Anthony and was hoping to get to take pictures from a spot that would've been perfect, but was closed. I did get some other shots that were pretty good.

If you should get a chance, try the Strawberry lemon aid frappacino from Starbucks. It's really great for warm weather consumption and also the Frosty float from Wendy's.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Have you ever...

Have you ever woke either laughing or crying after a dream? Well, last night (or should I say early this morning), I woke up laughing because of a dream I had. I dreamed that I was trying to clean a bathtub and it was either backed up or someone had fouled up the tub and I was trying to clean it up. Someone that I knew was there and they were using the tub to brush their teeth.

I told them not to do it because it was fouled up but they said it was ok cause the toothpaste they were using would protect them. So while I was trying to clean the tub, Samantha was walking along the edge of the tub while a Siamese cat was trying to threaten me by showing it's claws, it's ears laying down.

The thing that made me laugh was the way the Siamese cat looked, when I woke up, I was laughing... Then about 5 minutes after that, my alarm went off, but I was already awake. Samantha was sleeping on the bean bag and just looked up at me like I was crazy.

So then, that was the way my day started off...

Last night I was looking for the song playing in the teaser for McNamara/Troy: Hollywood, after about an hour, I found out who the artist was, Giant Drag, playing a cover of Chris Issack's Wicked Game. I was also trying to find the song playing at the end of the Season finale of Battlestar Galactica, but right now the only version that is available was recorded directly from the TV.

So I'll keep looking...

つづく ( To be continued... )

Jury Duty

Jury duty here is really, really stupid. In Hawaii, you get notified and you show up, from there they determine if you serve or not, here, for 2 weeks, you have to call in every day. Why can't they just have a date set that you go in, they interview you and if they need you, you serve your jury duty or if they don't, then that's it.

One thing I am glad about... I'll be moving out of my apartment and into a better place. I can't take it anymore with all the dumb things going on. People just not caring about other people or the place they are living in. No respect at all. There are people there that are trashing the area, selling drugs, not taking responsibility for their guests.

つづく ( To be continued... )

You know if your a computer geek when...

You take a tour of a Mainframe data farm and you get all giddy with excitement.

You have a poster of the latest Server adorning your bedroom wall.

You have a picture frame on your desk of your home computer instead of your significant other.

You prefer to buy new computer hardware, forsaking food and clothing.

You know your a computer geek when your computer is worth a lot more than your car.

Resuming our regular programming... I finally got my new monitor, it's up and running, if your interested in seeing what it looks like, you can see it on my flickr account. I've been thinking about practicing my art again, it's been a long time and I can say that it has come in handy in the past, now it's just of the matter of finding a place to practice and acquiring the weapons to practice with or the practice gear.

Just now counting down the days / hours till I leave for my vacation. I am really looking forward to clearing my mind of all these past couple of years that I've gone through.

つづく ( To be continued... )

2 days short and 5 away...

I am looking forward to my trip, sitting in my parents backyard, watching the quails, jack rabbits and prairie dogs go by. No loud noises, no stupid neighbors, no idiots with loud trucks at 06:45... If my brothers want to go drinking, since I won't be driving, I'll have a couple, just to get a good buzz going, nothing more. I'm wondering what Samantha will be thinking for the 5 days I'll be away. I'll make sure my friend and his son goes to check up on her, I'm sure she'll be slightly distressed.

The 22" monitor has arrived and I'll be going to pick it up after work and you know your getting old when you have a hard time seeing things on the screen with a 17" monitor. Of course with the larger monitor I'll be able to watch movies a lot better from the couch than having to sit so close to the computer.

With my music playing after hours here at work, I have the sub going, everyone who hears it and passes by thinks that the small portable travel speakers I have sitting on my desk, has really good sound, until I point out the portable sub under the desk... usually I'm tempted to just not point out the sub, but then again... I want to get a travel dock for the Zen Vision W, but Creative Labs hasn't designed one yet, so until then...

Last week, I got hooked on Mini Charleston Chews that I purchased at a store in downtown Minneapolis, I'm currently working on my second box of these darn things... The other candy I'm hooked on is the Sponge Bob Krabby Patties, it's the gummi type and tastes really good. When it comes to sweets, I can be pretty bad, to the point that since I was little, it has done a number on some of my teeth.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Forgive me father, but it's been almost a month since...

I guess it's been a while since I last made an entry, although it's been a busy month, Digital Cable, Command and Conquer 3, cleaning up the apartment (and clean I did!). I found things that I haven't seen for a while and also reclaimed a lot of space, throwing out old law enforcement magazines. I'm hoping to move out of there and rent the basement of my friends house, which is in a lot better neighborhood and a lot quieter.

Also, I've been converting movies so that it'll transfer and play on my new media player. Last week I got a silicone skin for it and also a SD Card adapter so that I can transfer pictures from my camera (which I haven't been taking much lately) without having to wait till I get home and move them over to my computer, to the media player. I'm also looking forward to a new monitor, my friend offered to pay for it now and I pay him back later. I'll be getting a Sceptre 22" LCD DVI/VGA Monitor with a 2 ms response time from newegg.com. The current sale price is $248.00.

Next week I'll be gone, but will be back after that. Going to Colorado for a couple of days, I really need to get out of Minnesota for a little while. At least all my past issues are no longer current issues and thats less stress that I needed. I'm still debating on writing what they were, but for now, it's mine and mine alone.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Spring Cleaning

Spring is finally here and for some reason I got the cleaning bug. After of just piling my junk mail on the kitchen table, kitchen counter, living room shelves, on the floor and other places, I ended up sorting out what I needed to keep and dumped the stuff I should've thrown away. Part of the clean up is also a pre-cursor to packing it up and moving out of this place. A friend offered to rent out the downstairs part of his house.

His house is located in a quiet neighborhood with decent people and families living there. Now if he would only finish that part and if he's reading this, GIT 'R DUN!!! I'm just tired of putting up with all these inconsiderate unintelligent jackasses, with their loud parties till 4 or 5 in the morning, friends with their loud vehicles, gunning their engines, playing their music loud, washing laundry after 10 pm, slamming doors, disabling the security doors, throwing trash all over the place and even being lazy to the point of just dumping their garbage in the yard next door.

These are not people, they are animals, plain and simple. I moved out of downtown Minneapolis several years ago to get away from this kind of dumb sh*t, but it seems to have moved with me... I'm about to go to war with these people, I do have a full can of Freeze +P and am willing to use it all. I can get more and if possible, get the party version.

つづく ( To be continued... )

New mp3 (Portable Media) Player!

It's been a while, but Ihave been busy with work, lately it seems that after getting done with work, I just don't want to do anything or be with anyone... any way...

I recently got a new Portable Media player, a Creative Labs Zen Vision: W. It has a 60 gig drive, holds pictures, plays full length movies and a whole lot of music. Right now there isn't a lot of accessories available for it but I'll keep watching their site to see when it becomes available. I want to get a Compact Flash Adapter so that I can transfer my pictures from my camera to the Vision and also I'm waiting for either the leather case or a hard case instead of that cloth pouch that comes with it...

This past Friday, I went to see a movie with a friend, saw the movie Hills have Eyes 2 and I have to admit that I wasn't impressed with the movie, it's ok, a little bit of flesh (both ways, if you know what I mean), lots of blood and thats pretty much about it. What I really want to see and can't wait for is The Transformers Movie that is coming in July and Spiderman 3.

On the upcoming Friday, I'll be picking up Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, i've been playing the demo and am really impressed on the improvements that have been made since the first couple. It's a lot faster, both in play and loading and the graphics are very good. Don't get me wrong, I still play Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2: Special Forces, but I really enjoy a really good strategy, top down game. So if your ever online, look up tekbandit66.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Creative Labs and the Zen Micro mp3 player

On the 19th of this month, I attempted to contact Creative Lab's Technical support to fix a known issue with the Zen Micro and the Headset Jack. The headset jack is known to come loose from one of the solder points when the headset is accidentally yanked out from the plug. Well, the first time, I was able to RMA the Zen Micro This time, I knew that the Zen Micro is out of Warranty and I was willing to pay for repairs.

Well, I get an automated response to check the knowledge base, however upgrading the drivers or firmware will not fix the headset jack problem due to poor workmanship. I give them about a day or two to reply after responding to the automated email that non of the suggested resolutions are related to the headset jack on the 19th.

On the 21st, I still didn't hear anything from them and sent a follow up email inquiring if anyone is monitoring the emails coming in? Still no response, then finally on the 23, today, I sent this:

There was a time that I regarded CLI's customer
support really good, however recently it appears that
this is not correct.  No reply since my issue was
first mentioned and no replies to any of my replies to
the initial email that was automatically generated.

I was not looking to get the headset jack on the Zen
Micro fixed for free, but I was willing to pay for the
repair which is no longer needed.

I have been a creative labs customer since the late
80's and have continued to purchase creative labs
products without any issues, until now.

I would also like to mention that experience with
purchasing products within the past 2 years directly
from Creative Labs have been rather poor.  I get the
feeling that Creative Labs Attitude is "So what if you
have bought our stuff, go away and don't bother us."

At this time, I'm not really upset, but somewhat
frustrated because of the lack of response.  I hope
that this can be improved, I feel that Creative Labs
has the potential to come out on top and feel that you
have the best sound products out there.

Still no response...

I have since purchased another mp3 player, but not because of the headset jack, but because the new one (another Creative product) the Vision W in a 60 gig model. I wanted to get the headset jack issue repaired because I was giving away my Zen Micro to a friend and didn't want her to have to go through the trouble of the sound cutting out when the jack is moved...

If this is the way a company treats it's customers by ignoring them, then I think it's time to reconsider in future purchases of that company's products. I was pretty forgiving when I had made purchases directly from them and they got my order completely wrong, but I don't think I'll be as forgiving the next time, if there is a next time, which may not happen.

つづく ( To be continued... )

If I were to meet and date a Female Superhero, I guess it would be her...

つづく ( To be continued... )

New Stuff!

This past weekend, spent too much money, upgraded my cell phone and re-upped my contract for my phone. I picked up a new Microphone, Mic stand and Headsets for my podcast. Other than that, it was a great weekend. I'll also be looking forward to the middle of the month, I'll be upgrading my cable service to digital cable.

With the digital cable, I'll be able to watch programs from Japan (mostly Japan) but they also cover China, Korea and India. The AZN Television station has some really interesting looking programs, so I can't wait till it arrives. As for the Cell Phone, I upgraded from a Black Razor V3 to a V3xx, which doubles as a mp3 player and also has G3, which is what Japan currently everyone there has. The Mic, I recently got was a Audio-Technica dynamic mic with a stand and Pop filter to get a cleaner sound. I also picked up an AKG K 240 Studio quality headphones. I really like the AKG headphones, but am really impressed with the K 240's, I get a richer bass and the sound quality is crystal clear.

With the audio upgrade, I'm currently on working on this months podcast, which should be up by the middle of this month. It seems that I'm averaging about 20 hits a day. If those numbers increase, I'm considering on doing a live show, but that's later...

つづく ( To be continued... )