Okay, so it’s been since last June that I did any kind of update. What have I been up to? A lot of the same, actually. But let me talk about it anyway.
Everyone should remember that last Lundi Gras (2009), Sonny got let out. Well, we think we know how it happened now. It seems that my niece let out my sister’s cat at her house. When asked about it, she just says “kitty went out”, meaning that she opened the door and let the cat out. We suspect that Sonny had a similar experience in 2009. No, Sonny has not been seen since. I don’t think that my niece realizes what has happened here, but just in case, we are training Princess to keep away from the front door when it is opened.
On a good note about my niece, she has tested out of the autism program and is beginning to take regular kindergarten classes. This is a very good step in the right direction. She is showing constant signs of improvement. She is talking to us more often. Just this past weekend, I went into the kitchen to get myself a drink and she came out of the back room with her cup and told me that she wants more water. While this would be something normal for any other child, this is a marked improvement for her. Being in a classroom with other children and a patient teacher is really doing her some good. And she just loves her teachers, and knows each one by name. She gets that from my sister. As a child, my sister loved going to school. How she changed from that to getting a mail-order GED, I’ll never know. Here’s hoping that my niece does better.
Moving on…
Since Sonny has been gone, we took Princess (Sonny’s mortal enemy, and notorious fat cat) back in to our house. She has been hesitant to come into my room, where Sonny lived. But she has been making good progress, often coming in to lay on my shoes (don’t ask). She has taken a shining to me because I feed her. She is currently pissed at all of us because we’ve had to give her medicine, which requires us to hold her down and squirt liquid into her mouth. She wasn’t happy about that… at all. She started peeing blood, on my parents’ bed. I took her to the vet, which was an adventure in and of itself. She complained the whole way in the car, and then suddenly got quiet when she discovered that she was in a room full of dogs. Anyway, the vet says she either has a bacterial bladder infection or some kind of urinary tract infection. We treated her for the bacterial infection, and that seems to have worked. She’s no longer peeing blood. He took a sample from her and sent it to the lab for testing. That was over a week ago. We haven’t heard anything since. But the medicine seems to have done it’s job and she’s feeling better.
Sissy (oldcat), on the other hand, we believe is getting to the point where she is either too old to make it to the litter pan, or is getting arthritic, or just lazy, even for a cat. She has been leaving messes on the floors and tables. Rubbing her nose in it and reminding her where the litter pan is didn’t help at all, so we resorted to putting down newspaper for her to ue. Mom got tired of that, and so now Sissy is in a cage. She’s not at all happy about that, but what else can we do? She’s otherwise completely healthy, even as old as she is. We’ll keep the cage clean and she’ll get fresh food and clean water daily. There’s just nothing else we can do about her, and I’m not about to put her down.
Next on the agenda…
Vidya games!
Assassin’s Creed 2. I read an article in PC Gamer that began with the sentence “Do not buy this game”. The primary reason for this is the copy protection that Ubisoft has imposed on this game. In order to play this game, this SINGLE PLAYER game with NO MULTIPLAYER option, you have to remain connected to the internet for the duration of your play time. If you lose your connection, the game stops and does not save your progress since the last checkpoint. And what happens if their servers go down? That’s right, you can’t play the game anymore! It is a completely over-the-top copy protection method, which only shows that Ubisoft is launching a completely unnecessary jihad against piracy. This goes right up there with rootkits and spyware. Aside from the horrible “big-brother”-ish copy protection method, the game is actually quite fun. Yes, I bought it, on Steam, and live with the copy protection, since my computer remains connected to the internet via a high-speed connection from Cox, plus a set of teamed NICs which give me 200mbps. I’ve played it start to finish, and collected most of the collectibles. Altair makes a few appearances too. And the way they weave in the conspiracies is just dumbfounding, and believable. If you didn’t know this was a video game, you’d swear this stuff is true. They told this story just that well.
Call of Juarez, and Call of Juarez Bound in Blood. I love a good western. And I mean GOOD westerns. Games like Gun, and Call of Juarez have permanent spaces in my games library. Thing is, you have to be a fan of westerns to like games like Call of Juarez. I particularly like how they modeled the weapons after actual period weaponry, though I doubt that the scoped rifle was actually used back then. Either way, it’s a beautifully crafted game that has all the gritty-ness of the real-world wild west. The voice acting is great, and professionally done. They really did their homework to make this game SOUND like a real western. And that’s where the difference comes in. This doesn’t sound like some cheesy black-and-white western that your parents used to watch on tv when they were kids.
Wolfenstein. One of id’s newer chapter in the Wolfenstein series is, in my opinion, a good one. I don’t think that it did well with reviewers, since it doesn’t follow what I think is the “traditional” formula for Wolfenstein games. You don’t have a health bar, and so there are no health kits, or armor. You just take damage until you either die, or move away from the people shooting at you until you recover. There are, however, plenty of weapons to choose from, and (also straying from the traditional formula) you can upgrade them! The fully powered rifle is a thing of beauty. I particularly love taking the heads off of Nazi’s with a single shot. Another point which separates this game from the others is that you’re in a sandbox world. You don’t just go from level to level, instead you find people to give you objectives, and you don’t have to do them in any particular order. Even with how they went away from the linear game formula, I think that Wolfenstein is one of the best games in the series I’ve played to date. The story has BJ delving even deeper into the Nazi’s employment of the occult in the war. And like every other predecessor to this game, BJ goes in and kicks some serious butt. Lots of stuff gets exploded, lots of Nazi’s die, lots of fun to be had.
I finally broke down and bought a PS3. I bought a PS3 “Slim” (and it’s not really all that slim) with the 120gb hard drive. I have to say, except for the notable lack of support for PSX games, I am quite happy with this machine. I’ve tinkered with it and found that I can control it remotely with my PSP over the internet. It just has to be plugged in, and have a constant connection to the internet, which isn’t too bad since it has wifi and it likes my wireless router. I’ve purchased MGS4, Brutal Legend (Jack Black FTW), and Darksiders. This thing is slowly winning me over. Slowly. I haven’t yet purchased anything from the online store, but I might… someday.
I also finally broke down and bought a DSi. It’s a good little device. The camera function and all the little doodads that you can do with it are neat and all. But I have very little need for a camera on my handheld devices. On the positive side, I am glad that they put in an SD slot so that you can load and offload your pictures. I will have to get an SD card for it one of these days. I am still unhappy that they removed the GBA slot, since my DS is the only working GBA that I have anymore. I’m still keeping hold of my DS Lite, if only for the GBA functionality. My old GBA SP no longer works, which means that my only way I can play my older GB games is via my Super GameBoy for my SNES.
I also got a hold of Pokemon SoulSilver. Back in the day, I had purchased the original Gold version, so I figured that I should get SoulSilver, and kinda complete the set. The Pokewalker is a good idea. I think that it stems from the old pocket pikachu device, back in the 90′s. That was a little tomigachi thing, but with a pikachu. I used that thing like crazy back in the day.
What else…
My old Acer laptop finally gave up the ghost. The hard drive got completely corrupted and unrecoverable. I lost everything on it. But never fear, Dell comes to the rescue! I started pricing new laptops on TigerDirect and NewEgg, and then just to compare, I went looking around on Dell. That’s when I remembered that Dell bought out Alienware. I started looking at their Alienware laptops and found one that looked promising. So I applied for a Dell Preferred account and they gave me $3000 in credit. This is good for me, because the last time I applied for credit from Dell, they refused me. So I plunked down $2000 of that credit into a brand spanking new Alienware M17x.
Stats:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8600 @ 2.40GHz
RAM: 4gb DDR3 PC3-8500F @ 1066 MHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M 1024mb (Hybridized with onboard video, nVidia GeForce 9400)
HDD: WDC 320gb
Optical Drive: Optiarc DVD+-RW
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
Years ago, I bought the one of the first Dell XPS desktop computers. When it came in, it was as big (and as heavy) as a server. I should have expected no less when this laptop came in. The thing weighs at least ten pounds. It looks like a UFO, seriously. Look it up on Dell’s site. It came with all kinds of extras too. I have an Alienware hat, an alien head sticker, and it has a little metal plate on the bottom which has my name engraved on it. It came bundled with Steam and a copy of Portal (which I already had anyway). I’ve got it pretty well tricked out too. I’ve installed Oblivion and Fallout 3 and modded those two out the wazoo. They run great, no problems whatsoever, even with all graphics settings to full. Of course, I’m also running DosBox for all my retro-gaming needs, which runs flawlessly. I’ve had time to sit and play Stonekeep from beginning to end without a single hangup. And even SCUMMVM is running without issue. I installed MS Office 2003, and it runs without a single hangup.
At this point, I would like to talk about Windows 7. Windows 7 is a godsend. Everything runs as it did with XP, except for a few old CD/DVD emulator programs, but that is solved by using Daemon Tools Lite. After turning off Aero and UAC (both of which were incredibly easy to locate and disable), it runs like a dream. Even my Sprint mobile broadband runs faster than it used to on my old laptop. Let me say one other thing. Windows 7 is the first version of Windows that I’ve purchased without waiting for a later version or service pack. I did not get Windows 95 until they put out the later version that provided USB support. I did not get Windows 98 until Second Edition came out. I didn’t touch Windows XP until SP1 came out. When I buy a copy of Windows without waiting for a service pack, then it’s good. It’s got all the shiney-pretty of Vista, but it actually works, and works good. Even applying updates is completely streamlined and painless. In short, Windows Vista is today’s Windows ME. Microsoft learned from their mistakes with ME and released Windows 2000, which was a solid OS. Microsoft learned from their mistakes with Vista and released 7, which again, is a solid OS. I’m even going to upgrade my desktop to Windows 7. Seriously, going from any previous version of Windows to 7 is an upgrade, no matter how you slice it. And the learning curve when going from XP to 7 is very easy. Yes, UAC is on by default, but it’s simple to disable. Yes, Aero is on by default and it does use extra resources, but it’s simple to disable. And I think that’s what Microsoft was going for here, simplicity.
Next up…
Life is trying to kick my butt. Trying, is the keyword here. I’m keeping my head above water, but just barely. My dad has run into some tax problems and as such, his wages are being garnished. That means I put out more money now. On top of the bills I already pay, I am now buying groceries every week, paying vet bills, buying gas, and whatever else that isn’t the mortgage. This, on top of a bunch of projects going on at work, is making me very tired. My friends and I haven’t gamed in awhile. We really need to get a game started again. We’re talking about starting up Subiad again, and that’s a massive undertaking in and of itself since we want to use Pathfinder instead of core 3.5e (and there’s no way in hell that we’re using 4th ed). I have a couple of games in mind. Having finally taken the time to read listen to the audiobook of Lord of the Rings, and playing a lot of Oblivion, I want to run a high-adventure fantasy game. But since I’ve also been playing a lot of Fallout 3, and having found a homebrewed tabletop system, I want to run a Fallout game as well. I can even get my hands on some music to play in the background. A few friends are interested. I just need a few more people… and I need to actually write up everything. I need to stop developing games and not writing them down.
In short, I need to get out of the house.
So, I kinda took an inventory of all the guns that I got from my grandfather. Here’s what I have:
M1911 Colt .45 (Property US Army), plus 3 empty clips, my grandfather’s sidearm from WW2
.30 cal Remington 03-A3 Springfield (Property US Army), my grandfather’s field rifle from WW2
12 Gauge Shotgun that belonged to my grandmother’s father
12 Gauge Shotgun, police issue, that belonged to a cousin of my grandfather
.22 Winchester rifle that was my grandfather’s first rifle when he was 16
.22 rifle from Sears
.22 Ithica M49 rifle
.22 Colt Challenger pistol that my dad used to use when fishing
Assumed to be a 30-06 rifle, unknown make & model… need to research this one more
B&S 4.5mm air gun, which even though it is at least 40 years old, they still make this gun
I spent a little time working on some of them. I’ve got a couple of the .22 rifles cleaned and ready for firing. I cleaned up the clips for the .45, and they really needed cleaning. They cleaned up real nice. I cleaned up the air gun and bought some pellets for it. This isn’t an airsoft rifle, it doesn’t shoot BB’s. It shoots lead pellets. I sighted it in over the weekend by shooting at some cans. It shoots wonderfully, meaning I did a good job cleaning it up. I’m gonna get the retired Kenner police officer across the street to come over and help me clean the .45 and then one of these days we’re gonna get him to come with us to a shooting range. I want to go through all the safety courses so I can get a license to carry the .45, since I don’t want it to just sit in a box and rust. I found the manuals for the .45 and the Springfield. In fact, the Springfield manual was scanned from the library at the Pentagon, which is awesome. Now I have enough information to strip it down and clean it up. I wonder how difficult it would be to get ammo for it.
Here’s a little history for you, as well, since I’m on the subject of guns.
The .45 that my grandfather gave me has bone handles on it. I asked him if he still has the original handles. He said that he threw them out. They were made of wood and were smooth, so it was hard for the soldiers to keep a grip on the gun, so they went looking for new handles. Well, at the time, they were just starting to use plexiglass for windshields on vehicles. So what they would do is that they would go down to a shop and find a good-old-boy to cut some grips out of plexiglass that had “fallen off a truck”. It was being done so much that the guys in the shops would just cut the grips and have a stack ready to go for when soldiers would come in asking for them. What they would do then is put pictures of their girlfriends under the plexiglass, so on those long lonely nights of guard duty, they could just pull out the gun and see their girlfriends. And so that’s what he replaced the wood grips with. Around the end of the war, the bone grips started becoming popular with the soldiers, and so he threw out the plexiglass grips and bought the bone grips.
Another bit of history revolves around the Springfield. There were several versions of the Springfield. There was the original, which was a leftover from WW1, and three other versions, including a modified version called the Air Servicemen Rifle. My grandfather was a pilot in the Army Air Corps (later became the Air Force), but he wasn’t issued the Air Servicemen Rifle, instead he was issued the 03-A3, which was the last one developed by Remington. Kinda strange, huh? But the really good thing is, my grandfather took care of these guns, so much so that even today, after a little cleaning, they will be in firing condition. My dad, when he was younger, fired off the Springfield… and nearly dislocated his shoulder in the process. But that gun is still in good condition and can be used, and so is the .45!
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this round of updates on my life. I really should take the time to update more often, that way whoever may still be reading this won’t have to go through a wall-o-text.
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